Stone Age Gamer's NES BitBoxes

[StoneAgeGamer]

So, youtube isn't working for me right now.

Is the selection an upload or do you have a list of covers?

Its a list.

EDIT: I see we went to a new page, so just in-case some miss it here is the video: http://youtu.be/i2c_3AR_3HU

[scarmullet]

I got 1 bitbox from Stone Age Gamer, and here are my first impressions.

I saw people compare them to the old Disney VHS cases in the days of yore, and the assumption is not too far off. There is some give when you press down in some spots, obviously, but they feel better made than the disney ones, a more rugged feel with better plastic.They also have a more professional feel, as the cart does not rattle around inside the case. The place for a manual is a nice touch.

Note it is slightly thicker than a UGC, and they are more expensive...but they are made in the USA, and I can get behind this. I also don't like how the artwork gets stretched in the bitbox. The case does smell of vinyl, and it does worry me a touch.

[e_brugal]

I think the vacuum formed plastic cases weren't good options, when the time pass the plastic begins to "toast" and then start to brake in little pieces every time you grab it

I don't know if this happens to this 8 bit cases

Note: in spanish when the plastic start to do that we call it  "plastic toasted", i don't know how you call it 

[StoneAgeGamer]

I got 1 bitbox from Stone Age Gamer, and here are my first impressions.

I saw people compare them to the old Disney VHS cases in the days of yore, and the assumption is not too far off. There is some give when you press down in some spots, obviously, but they feel better made than the disney ones, a more rugged feel with better plastic.They also have a more professional feel, as the cart does not rattle around inside the case. The place for a manual is a nice touch.

Note it is slightly thicker than a UGC, and they are more expensive...but they are made in the USA, and I can get behind this. I also don't like how the artwork gets stretched in the bitbox. The case does smell of vinyl, and it does worry me a touch.

Thanks for review. I think your assessments are fair. Thanks for at least checking one out.

Here's what it came down to in the end. In reality retro game cases are not something most people are clamoring to get. Cases are more of a bonus item, something people buy when they got some extra cash. They aren't sexy or fun because in reality their only purpose is to protect your games and maybe make your collection look a bit nicer.

Basically, you aren't going to get very rich making and selling retro game cases (not saying that should be your only motivation). If they were high demand items then you would have seen a Hyperkin or similar company already making them. The upfront engineering and production costs of injection molding are very high for these types of injection molded products and can take considerable time (assuming you want to make a quality product). Its not like I did not look into this as an option, but in the end I didn't see the initial investment to be worth the possible gain. I may be wrong in this assessment of this market, but I have been in the retro gaming business since 2007 and I feel I do have at least a good feel for it. That being said I wish anyone who may be working on their own cases luck and I do not want to discourage them. I was actually waiting around for someone else to make a case because I needed one for the EverDrive-N8 (NES). It didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon, so I took it upon myself to do it.

Personally I like the BitBoxes. I actually like them more now than I originally did when I first got the prototype and have gotten more familiar with them. Obviously cost is probably people's biggest issue with them. However depending on how the first batch sell I may be able to get that down in the future. Also I personally feel our cover art printing service we offer is a great added value and part of that money goes to this site as well.

[scarmullet]

I got 1 bitbox from Stone Age Gamer, and here are my first impressions.

I saw people compare them to the old Disney VHS cases in the days of yore, and the assumption is not too far off. There is some give when you press down in some spots, obviously, but they feel better made than the disney ones, a more rugged feel with better plastic.They also have a more professional feel, as the cart does not rattle around inside the case. The place for a manual is a nice touch.

Note it is slightly thicker than a UGC, and they are more expensive...but they are made in the USA, and I can get behind this. I also don't like how the artwork gets stretched in the bitbox. The case does smell of vinyl, and it does worry me a touch.

Thanks for review. I think your assessments are fair. Thanks for at least checking one out.

Here's what it came down to in the end. In reality retro game cases are not something most people are clamoring to get. Cases are more of a bonus item, something people buy when they got some extra cash. They aren't sexy or fun because in reality their only purpose is to protect your games and maybe make your collection look a bit nicer.

Basically, you aren't going to get very rich making and selling retro game cases (not saying that should be your only motivation). If they were high demand items then you would have seen a Hyperkin or similar company already making them. The upfront engineering and production costs of injection molding are very high for these types of injection molded products and can take considerable time (assuming you want to make a quality product). Its not like I did not look into this as an option, but in the end I didn't see the initial investment to be worth the possible gain. I may be wrong in this assessment of this market, but I have been in the retro gaming business since 2007 and I feel I do have at least a good feel for it. That being said I wish anyone who may be working on their own cases luck and I do not want to discourage them. I was actually waiting around for someone else to make a case because I needed one for the EverDrive-N8 (NES). It didn't seem like that was going to happen anytime soon, so I took it upon myself to do it.

Personally I like the BitBoxes. I actually like them more now than I originally did when I first got the prototype and have gotten more familiar with them. Obviously cost is probably people's biggest issue with them. However depending on how the first batch sell I may be able to get that down in the future. Also I personally feel our cover art printing service we offer is a great added value and part of that money goes to this site as well.

The case is quality, it feels more elite than a UGC. Naturally it will be damaged if mistreated, but the people buying it will be adult gamers, not little kids. Maybe I am defending it because it is made in the USA, but these are nice cases.

[JDavis]

Do we have cover dimensions for these yet? I'd really like to make some covers for these, and I'd rather make them at the correct dimensions rather than make them at UGC dimensions and resize after the fact.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Do we have cover dimensions for these yet? I'd really like to make some covers for these, and I'd rather make them at the correct dimensions rather than make them at UGC dimensions and resize after the fact.

Here are insert dimensions:


There are three methods that could really be used:

• Quick Method: Just upscale UGC art to total insert dimensions given (this looks okay, but not great)
• More advanced method: Using UGC art cut out the back cover, front cover, and spine. Up scale back cover, front cover, and spine separately. This requires and upscale of width and height for front/back covers and an upscale of only height fro the spine (this looks better than quick method IMO, and at least keeps spine at 1").
• Made specifically for case method: Basically make the art specifically for the case, obviously most time consuming, but would look the best

I offer cover art printing with these cases (which can be seen: HERE). The method I used was the 2nd (More advanced) method. I created a script in PSP (sorry I don't use PS) and did a batch conversion on all UGC NES art. I can offer this to TCP, but I would need a an easier way to upload it to the site.

If anyone decides to do the 3rd method, I suggest trying to keep spine labels and art within the usable area. Due to the nature of the case there is about a 1/8" curve on each side of the spine. Although it doesn't look terrible is graphics and art extend into this area, it would probably look better if they did not. Also if there are any of you that decide to do this e-mail us at support@stoneagegamer.com we could possibly work out and exchange for free cases or possibly even store credit because obviously its to our advantage if people start making them specifically for the the cases.[/list]

[shenske]

@StoneAgeGamer

Email sent about 3rd way. Some will have to be done the 2nd way w/out new scans.
Adjustments to the spine should be made regardless of method though.


EDIT:
My '8-bit Nintendo Template" that has many variations of styles has been converted to the bitbox format.
It also has extra guidelines to help assist making the spines in the visible/usable area.

Download not available at the moment as i'm still working out a few kinks and working on some covers.  


EDIT: I think this is what he is aiming for as far as reworking / rebuilding covers to fit the bitbox dimensions


Spine rebuilt to fit new size (no warping/stretching) logo reconverted to fix in "usable" area and away from the rounded corners, etc.

[shenske]

Opinion time: Sidebar or no sidebar?

So we know that the BitBox has slightly different dimensions than the UGC.  With the case being a bit wider should we just stretch the image to fill the area or should we maintain the ratio from the original retail box and add a sidebar to fill up the extra space?  It doesn't look bad stretching it by that little but i know we have our purists so before i go about converting a bunch of these i'd like your opinions.

A) Stretch the Image


B) Add a Sidebar



What do you think?

[Arseen]

In the case of Zelda and probably near all other covers just fill the empty space with the background color.

[StoneAgeGamer]

I will have to check it out on actual case, but I like side bar better from the images. However, some people may not because its not like the original.

[shenske]

In the case of Zelda and probably near all other covers just fill the empty space with the background color.

Most covers would not allow this as they are not a simple color. Many would require an insane amount of work. I also want to keep everything consistent. I will continue to play around with the template and hopefully do a couple test prints when I get one of the cases.

[KaiserWAVE]

The stretching is barely noticable but I vote for "sidebar".

[Arseen]

In the case of Zelda and probably near all other covers just fill the empty space with the background color.

Most covers would not allow this as they are not a simple color. Many would require an insane amount of work. I also want to keep everything consistent. I will continue to play around with the template and hopefully do a couple test prints when I get one of the cases.

Sidebar then is my vote.

[Blumpkin]

I like the sidebar for the simple reason that it creates a guide when cutting those pesky white covers.

Are you already married to the black sidebar, or have you considered other colors and designs for it?