I follow a convenient sustainability line.  It is convenient for me to turn my consoles and gaming PC off when I'm not using them, thereby saving energy.  

Would I hypothetically buy a PS3 versus a Xbox 360 if the PS3 used less packaging and energy?  Well not solely on those merits.  
I choose consoles based on my peers, content availability, and console capabilities.  I build my gaming PC based on price per performance, noise, and aesthetics.  

Now, green-ness might skew where I purchase the console and games, if one retailer used less packaging than the other.  I'm astounded by the wasted packaging that most PC software comes in.  Some major software providers (ehem...Microsoft...ehem) even have hard plastic cases that seem to serve no other purpose than to annoy me when purchasing them knowing that I will probably have to throw the pretty beveled package into a landfill.

Thanks Guy. You may have noticed that we removed ALL of the plastic keepers at Sam's Club last November. We use a great solution in club via the photo center to help control shrink while being sustainable! Our Members seem to love it and the sales back that up. Hopefully, you too are buying more games at Sam's Club!! We have more work to do, but this is a step in the right direction. We have some new prototypes that will be hitting clubs in the upcoming months. We will announce some of those here.

>"Switching to cardboard packaging would be like taking almost 4,000 cars off the road in terms of equivalent green house gas emissions."

 

NONONONONONO!!!  Joe, what are you doing to me!

I *HATE* when games that I spend $20-$50 *or more* come in crappy little cardboard sleeves that damage the disc contained inside over time.  CDs and DVD simply do not travel well in cardboard sleeves and really don't store well in them.

Nintendo *finally* switched to plastic cases for their handheld games - and I couldn't be more thrilled.  They look so nice on my shelf together.

Look, if I want to go "green" with obtaining my media (Games, movies, music), I'll just download them.  No packaging (cardboard, plastic or otherwise), no fuel wasted to ship the disk to the stores - just pure, downloaded goodness.

Do not take away my plastic cases.  I'll be very upset.

Please don't take away my plastic cases. It is impractical to ship discs in this fashon, and cardboard boxes get flattened all the time, resulting in a very ugly shelf.

This article can't be serious. -shakes head-

First off, I don't know of anyone that leaves their game console on 24/7/365. Because technically, it's not even possible. The game system would over heat before 2 weeks went by (talking from a 360 or PS3 P.O.V.). Second, people need to stop picking on the video game industry, why don't you go take care of some things that really matter like actually IMPROVING cars instead of modifying very little details from the video game industry.

Cardboard boxes? Seriously? Give me a break. If you did that you have no idea how many gamers would be severly angered. As a gamer, I know I don't want my games comming in a cardboard box where it can be easily crushed, thus damaging the game. Which then leads to a waste of money on my part because they put the game in a CARDBOARD BOX.

Yes games use up a lot of plastic but I see my games as a collection, as prized possessions like a house or a car. I have them in their boxes on shelves together looking neat and tidy and nice.

 I take pride in having them look nice and having them in a cardboard box only for a mishap like water or slight pressure destroying the case absolutely pisses me off. Plus the glue sometimes unsticks (My Oblivion Pc game case has done this) making the cardboard case slowly come apart.

I totally agree! Being able to save your game would be a great innovation that would revolutionize the way games are played. Though 1986 has been a slow year for video gaming, I've heard that Nintendo is toying with the idea and may have a save battery ready for The Legend of Zelda when it releases next year on August 22, 1987. Look forward to it!

What? Are you crazy? I'd like to get the game home to play it without it being crushed. I'd also like something to keep it in. If they start coming in cardboard, people will just buy generic plastic cases to put them in. That means you'll have created more waste now that everyone is tossing out the cardboard and putting them in actual cases.

If you really want to go green, encourage more digital distrobution. There is NO physical material traded there.

 "I *HATE* when games that I spend $20-$50 *or more* come in crappy little cardboard sleeves that damage the disc contained inside over time."

If games came in cardboard boxes they would cost a lot less so you wouldn't  be spending to much on them.

That said cardboard boxes for gaming systems don't work because the discs are too delicate. Even if you compare cardboard vs plastic in handheld gaming. The plastic has been considered HUGELY beneficial to the consumer. Most of us don't throw them away we actually keep them to store the games. The cardboard packages in older handheld games are the one that get thrown out consistently because it's near impossible to maintain them.

Two very important points need to be addressed in this article. 1)"Developing software and hardware that allows us to save the game so we do not have to leave it on would allow us to turn it off during a meal break or overnight without loosing[sic] our place." 

Admittedly you can't save instantly in most games on a home console like you can with a handheld or a PC game but game consoles for over 3 generations have had save functions. I have to wonder if those present are familiar with 'memory cards' which are common devices used to store game save data that have been used since at least Dec 94 in the original Playstation.  

2)"If we left one of a sample of our next generation consoles on 24/7/365, we consume as much energy as TWO refrigerators in that same timeframe!" & "Additionally, come clever programming would allow the console to go into a lower power, standby mode when not in use."

This point iterated twice seems to imply that gaming consoles are a major power drain in the household. To address them in reverse order any current generation system (Xbox360, PS3, Wii) has a low power mode which it will engage if left idle. Since this idle mode kicks in automatically leaving a game system on for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week would be unlikely to match the power consumption of two refrigerators. Perhaps if the console was being used for the entire duration but outside of the occasional marathon sessions for charity this is a rare event. This would be analogous to measuring the power consumption of a refrigerator with the door ajar without regard to the fact that with the door properly closed the power consumption drops drastically.

The idea of using cardboard for packaging is laughable. Gamers everywhere (me included) would revolt. It'd be anarchy.

And also... almost EVERY SINGLE GAME to come out in the past 12 YEARS has had a save feature. And the "clever coding" that would allow consoles to dim screens? Go leave yyour 360 on for more than five minutes. Watch clever programming work it's magic.

Please. Get your facts straight. We don't like you as it is, Walmart.

Cardboard cases defeat the purpose of a case-- to protect the contents inside. Cardboard is easily susceptible to damage from ripping, tearing, water, etc. With something as fragile as an optical disc, cardboard cases do not work as well as plastic. I hate it when CDs or DVDs use some sort of "unique" cardboard case as I know I will have to baby it to keep it protected.

I don't throw away my cases, so they're not clogging up a landfill-- they're protecting the game/music/movie that is inside of them.

I will purchase fewer games if they come in plastic cases, especially if they cost as much.

If WalMart pushes for cardboard boxes for video game software and movie discs I will no longer purchase anything at WalMart.

Those plastic cases are great!  They're much better than the crappy cardboard boxes VHS titles came in and one of the things I love most about my BluRay and PS3 titles is the smart, sturdy, high quality plastic cases.

Digital distribution is obviously the  most environmentally friendly solution.    There would be no more plastic packaging, and no need to cut down trees to make cardboard packages.  Cardboard packages don't work well for media storage, anyway.

As far as making software that allows you to "save the game," well that's been around for quite a while!  20 years or so, LOL.  All the current consoles all have standby (or shutoff) modes as well.

The final point of reducing power consumption while improving the experience is impossible.  Computer graphics processors still have a long way to go before they can produce truly realistic looking games.  Graphics will continue to require bigger and better processors that will need larger amounts of electricity to operate.

As for reducing power consumption during media playback, that's a great idea, but I'm not sure how feasible it is.  Playing back HD movies is incredibly processor intensive, so it's not like you can turn off the GPU or CPU and it will still work.  So they'd have to add more chips which would drive the cost up and have some negative environmental impact itself.  With the high prices of the 360 and PS3 already slowing the adoption rate of next-gen machines and the fierce level of competition in this industry, I'm not sure how good an idea it would be to drive prices up even further.