Big Boxes.
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- Опубликовано: 2 июл 2024
- Next up: Flamethrower.
Patreon: / ahoy
Soundtrack: xahoy.bandcamp.com/album/big-...
Also available to stream on Spotify etc.
0:00 Introduction
1:16 The Big Box
2:11 Big Boxes on the Amiga
3:30 Early Big Boxes
5:38 The Mid Box
7:05 The Tall Mid Box
8:10 Gatefolds
9:42 Book-style Packages
10:33 Early Large Boxes
14:00 Applications and Edutainment
15:20 Timeline of Emergence
16:20 First Wave (1982-1985)
17:27 Second Wave (1985-1989)
18:42 Final Wave (1990-on)
19:36 The Death of the Big Box
20:48 Conclusion
22:12 Credits 
Игры
I'll never understand your ability to take an almost nothing kind of topic and turn it into an interesting and visually appealing video
Can’t wait for your next yearly video!
Almost anything can be interesting if presented well.
I like boxes.
Stuart is pure talent.
these big boxes aren't dull though
not to be dramatic but these videos describe video games as beautifully and thoughtfully as i've always considered them to be. it's like listening to someone who "gets it"
hi mr wallace
Worthy of a museum
yeah, its an artform and people start to treat them like it. heck they are more complicated than most artforms. took long enough.
im not even surprised to find you here dangelo, you got great taste
Oh really
Teacher: Your final project can be on any topic
lul
This comment is giving me a bad vibe
i read this exact comment on Lemmino.
I have a masters degree on publishing and one of my essays was on pc game manuals
I’ll give him a diploma on the spot.
"Actual ownership. Other than a rental agreement none of us read."
Simpler times
Sorry, bud, but it was same back then as it is today.
@@sujimayne not really you used to actually get the game and still to date play it unlike now where they require you to be online or own other programs to play and you only downloaded the game not the dlcs and everything else you dont own ontop of your 4k textures even though your not using it.
@@isaacfoster1377 back then you still needed to pay for those programs and for dlc
@@tribot_leader But once you bought a game and that DLC, they couldnt take it away from you at a later point. It was yours unless you were to lose it somehow for reasons that were either your fault (say divorce settlement or some other real world reason or accidental damage or something like that) or out of everyone's control.
Nowadays, if you lose your Steam account for whatever reason (whether its your fault or not), you lose all your games. Not that I think I will ever lose my account anytime soon, i don't really engage with other people on Steam and I have two-factor authentication set up, but its still a reality. Hell, if for whatever reason Steam goes under and their servers go down, thats gonna be a lot of purchased games that people are just going to lose access to forever. And when (or at least if) that time comes, i'm not going to feel any guilt about pirating games i've already purchased before, but I will surely be pissed that I had to resort to pirating in the first place just to retain my feeling of ownership for games that i've purchased which i don't really own.
So when i'm able to and I have the extra money, I like to be able to own games physically.
@@four-en-tee yeah I prefer physical too. I never pay for a virtual game unless it's my only choice. All my games are disc's or free. So If I get banned or what ever I can always get my gams back because they are all free
Were you expecting crates in games as a follow-up to explosive barrels?
Yeah, I thought so too.
i sure as hell was, but am i disappointed? no
Reminds me of the Battlefield Easter egg
Crates do hide items in them.
Although I would love cd packaging in the style of an explosive barrel
considering games were sold exclusively in jewels here so as not to make customers pay for empty cardboard
I saw some guy comment on one of ahoy's video saying "He'll talk about a box and people still watch it cuz it's so good" Well he wasn't wrong
Yeah I saw that as well, I think he made this video to prove him right
Don't let this distract you from the fact that I am the ugliest RUclipsr worldwide. I also smell like 100 de*d orangutans and have two hot hot hot girlfriends as you can see on my highly stimulating channel. Greetings, dear ta
Which video?
@@VincitOmniaVeritas7 yeah I'd watch a whole series on it
They probably just read the description, it says what video he’ll be doing next.
He looked at his shelf of game boxes and went “yeah this is content”
Probably.
Honestly? That's all it takes sometimes, I've had moments where I saw one little thing then just went "I need to expand/research/talk about this"
He was right
@@finmueller7827 Could you look at a banana and explain nuclear fission while in relation to the banana?
@@AArbiter Bannas are radioactive, meaning decay (fission) is occurring. This goes for anything really, it's the way our universe works. So in theory, you could use bannas to power a fission reactor, perhaps a fission bomb if you want
"Take my amiga collection for instance, its fairly modest comprising of a couple hundred box titles"
That's more than all the games I ever had for all my systems, boxed or, uh, of less noble packaging. Fairly modest collection...hah!
Ahoy is someone who can unironically put "Gaming Historian" on his business card.
Surely, I had the same idea.
And what would "The Gaming Historian" put on his card?
@@zerocool5395 Hahaha
ruclips.net/user/gaminghistorian
This man can put a lot more than that on his business card.
Ahoy’s videos are like that one friend you don’t see for ages but when you do, you have a golden time.
True
It's the same thing with InternetHistorian
I recently found ahoy, and I went to binge watch the channel soon after. I understand what you mean now.
yeah
Just lemino
Ahoy: *digital distribution* - "This is brilliant"
*BIGBOX* - "But I like this"
yes
ah jeremy clarkson
When I read "next up flamethrower" I dropped my phone.
Same
ze flamenvufer is taking a long time
@@an-2253 muther hugger probably was like "let's start with oil pots, go to Greek fire, and then at some point we'll get to the video title."
@@grantdotjpg so true so true
Wake the f up mate! The flamethrower have arrived
Ahoy: How do I show off my collection of retro games AND write them off on my taxes?
This Video:
Hit the nail on the head!!
How?
He british they got barely any taxes
@@noveris6538 We actually have a lot of taxes here in the UK its just that employers usually complete out taxes to HMRC before you are paid. Does a country with taxes like Value Added, Income, Corporate, Capital Gains, Salt, Sugar, Window (former tax), Council, Poll (replaced by Council) taxes sound like we barely have any taxes here? and I've barely scratched the surface since theres so many taxes here that the average joe couldn't count them let alone an accountant that works for Standard Chartered Bank and has worked at Canary Wharf since its inception in Greater London lol.
“Ahoy could talk about the most mundane thing ever and I would still watch it.”
Ahoy:
@Keegan Young These guys just keep stealing each others joke then slightly changing it for likes.
It’s like watching How It’s Made
Keegan Young Watch the older videos they do it there too.
@Keegan Young OLDER VIDEOS
Reminds me of lindybeige, he also has a video about boxes
Next up: Flamethrower
Iconic arms is coming back boys
Really?
Eventually, this is Stuart Brown we’re taking about.
@@MaxwellAerialPhotography quality over quantity and i respect the hell out of it
@@Healthandwealth9422 He always leaves what his next video will be about in the description of the video.
OMG
"Boxes are supposed to fit their contents. Anything more is wasteful."
Nintendo: *starts sweating profusely*
The fact that they made Switch boxes with hooks in the cover for an instruction manual and then put absolutely nothing in the case besides a bad-tasting cartridge that feels more like a memory card than a game will never make sense to me
@@WyoteCoyote Yeah, why wouldn't they add a manual? Even if no one will ever use it, I think it's cool to have one.
in fairness it'd be pretty hard to sell a box that's an inch squared, i have a few DS cartridge cases from years ago that come to mind for what that would look like
They probably did it because it’s more catching to the eye at the store. If it was only like two square inches, it would like weird next to PlayStation and Xbox game boxes. They reduced the size enough so they don’t waste as much, and made it big enough so that people see it more
it's also probably that size to prevent shoplifting, since a smaller case would be easier to pocket
"This box is taller than the mid box so I call it Tall mid box"
Trying to reach the word count
Ahoy: "This box is taller than the mid box so I call it-"
Me: "The tall box?"
Ahoy: "The tall mid box."
Me: "Ah..."
**Ahoy uploaded a video*
*_"Oh my god, okay it's happening, everybody stay calm"_*
Most of the cover art for these games are just amazing, kudos to the developers back then
*”What’s the procedure”*
This man disappeared for 7 months released some heat then dipped i love this man
lol he did the same thing again but this time he literally released 'heat'
@@coolman-mf3xl LMAO
now this comment is from 7 months ago
@@KrystalTheFox I dropped a comment 7 months ago then dipped and now I'm back
until again... in 7 months
if you need motivations to make even a powerpoint presentation, remember that this guy is making bar charts out of his video game boxes
Me in 2010 after school: Watches Ahoy SCAR-H weapon guide for Modern Warfare 2
Me in 2020 before work: Watches Ahoy guide on PC game boxes
It's been a hell of a decade.
Aye it has, how time flies man...
Only been like 3 Ahoy videos in that time too lmao
@@tylerpixel true but we'd all be lying to ourselves if we didn't admit the fact that they're all pure 24 karat gold.
Bless Your Soul
This documentary is just a reason for Ahoy to flex his Amiga collection
I would have been disappointed if he didn't.
even the editing was a little funkier
The quality of this video is beyond everything I'm used to seeing on RUclips.
Thanks for bringing me here Luke
Definitely an absolute gem of a channel he showed us.
This is not a documentary. This is a love letter.
i agree he is the passion of gaming.
yes
*his Channel* is an entire non-exhaustive love letter
it's a documentary
@@j-hackhammer6078 I'm not sure his videos about using cod weapons feel that much of love letters.
I just watched 20 minutes of rotating game boxes and timeline charts and didn’t regret a thing
This is the absolute power that this channel holds
Time well spent!
I just watched 23 minutes of a man talking about boxes...
I do not regret it
This is officially the most nostalgic video I've ever seen on YT. So many games that I thought no one else really knew, all listed out, like a diary of my childhood. Beautiful, thank you for this.
Seriously... I don't know how many times I saw a box and yelled out loud.. OH man, I remember that game. (Mostly Amiga stuff) Awesome production as usual from this channel.
Your editing style is just so hypnotizingly beautiful.
hey what are you doing here babe
hey
you like ahoy too
cool mate
gamer
I liked the video at 0:01
Your vids are awesome too. Whens the next one?
The video we need right now
indeed
wack
Nice to see you watch Ahoy too :D public bool ModernVintageGame=truer;
Waiting for Metal Jesus Rocks to show up. Big boxes are a bat signal for him!
Comment 420
A hundred years from now, people may still watch these videos. They'll be seen as early records of the history of early video games.
You're making cardboard sound like a wonder of the world.
Please never change.
Isn't it, though? It's a wonderful material.
It totally is. Cardboard is this perfect material that has emerged from attempting to balance the competing forces of cost, weight, durability, flexibility, and sustainability. From shipping packages to moving house to containing coffee, it has impacted our world and our global civilization in a way few materials have. I think it would be uncontroversial to call the current era of human development "the silicon age," but there's a pretty solid argument to be made for cardboard as well.
This guys can literally talk about boxes for over 20 mins and I’ll gladly listen
That's it; I've finally lost it.
Quality over quantity, a rarity these days. And yes, his narration is brilliant, I'd be surprised if he isn't snapped up for professional VA and narration work.
God bless you and all the people affected by the current farce.
@@lcmiracle What?
Only Ahoy can make me excited to watch a 20 minute video about boxes.
He did and you did
Next up: Flamethrowers...
It’s hot, It’s sticky, but it’s not what you want in your bed sheets.
i dont like where this is going
Speak for yourself BUDDY
PersonMon I think he means kerosene or napalm or something
@@personmon3296 flamethrowers don't just "throw" flames; it's ignited fuel, which is often sticky
HANS! GET ZE FLAMMENWERFER!!
I'm not even kidding Ahoy could literally explain the simplest thing on Earth, and make it interesting asf
This channel is the definition of quality over quantity
Ahoy: "Six rounds, no compromise. Any questions? Didn't think so."
Also Ahoy: "mhm box"
Lmao
"b o x"
This guy really listened to our meme of “He could make a box sound cool” and took it to heart
And yet he has proven us right by making a box sound cool
69 likr
We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Growing up in the nineties as a late 80s kid, I can recall many of these beauties. I considered them monstrosities at the time. So big for me to lug out from under the desk to fish out the disks (usually CDs by this point, thus highlighting how massive the box was compared to the media if there were no extras inside) that I needed to play my game. But looking back at them now, there is a level of appreciation I didn't give them at the time.
Two of my favourites were Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds and Empire Earth. With their massive foldout tech trees and chonky manuals. That gave you the low down on the game mechanics with a flavour of the game itself. Even sourced a few older ones as I was leaving my teens that we had played elsewhere. The Castle of Dr Brain that I sourced off of eBay came in one of these glorious big fellas. A bit worse for wear by the time it arrived. But there is just something about the old Big Box that fills that nostalgia niche in the brain.
I think mum still has a bunch of them at her place. Might need to see if I can grab a few to keep for nostalgia's sake, if nothing else. As all of the games I remember playing that came in boxes I now have digitally through GOG and the like.
yeah, at time, we thought it a bunch of things you don't need. Now day we realized they dont't give us that bunch of things anymore. Online game only, shut their server down, and we realized that even the game itself we merely rented. GOG games is probably closest to full package possible.
As we say in Russia, this video was truly душевное (soulful, creating this cozy feeling in celebration of something that we all can cherish and enjoy on a spiritual level)
Even though these are 'just' carton boxes with paper and plastic inside manufactured to make money, we can see how much effort, creativity and, again, soul, was put into these
Or at least, we can attribute these qualities to these carton, paper and plastic, as tokens of an age when games were more tangible and thus had a bit more texture to them
This is the opposite of what I expected. I was thinking of the boxes inside games, but these are the boxes with games inside them.
Same here. I figured it was a discussion about how most levels in games use boxes despite the lack of realism etc. (i.e. boxes on every counter-strike map)
My first though after reading the title were hitboxes
I thought he was going to talk about shipping containers lol
"My Amiga collection is nothing special, only a *few hundred games* "
Weird flex but ok
Thats Ahoy
We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but
You're too shy to say it
Inside, we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
@@rempuia69 keep imagining someone actually pressed read more.
Yeah, that's actually impressive.
@@santhoshsridhar5887 every single one will press the read more. I know I did.
@@santhoshsridhar5887 You clearly did lol
I love how he still makes videos till this day. It's good to come back once every few months to see a video made with actual quality.
used to watch you back in the black ops 2 days as a student
then I stopped playing games as I entered my phd program
now as a doctor who recently got a ps5 and found new interests in gaming...I somehow "re-found" you
oh the nostalgia but with a surprise to find your new ventures!
Congrats on PhD
Man, there's just something about the little stutter before "outrageous" at 11:22 that's just great.
i think he was saying "..(at a) frankly outrageous.."
When I saw the title, I was expecting this to be about the large crate-sized boxes that are prevalent in games.
the thicc boxes you push around for physics puzzles
Ah yes, the ancient Old Man Murray "Start to Crate" review methodology. www.oldmanmurray.com/features/39.html
@@jimijenkins2548 Ah yes, the Companion Cube. Why do we have to wear these ridiculous ties?
"A _humble_ collection of a couple hundred"
imo 2001-2006 were peak year for boxes, especially the paper gatefold cover with a bulky plastic shell that wasn't too thin like a standard console DVD case. Sturdy, compact, and not too flimsy, yet also housed inside a great manual and extra potential goodies.
“Next Up: Flamethrower”
ICONIC ARMS RETURNS LETS GOOOOOOOO
Edit: To my friend Kallionic reading this comment....
gotcha
Yeeessss!!!!!!!!
Yeah, im excited for it.
HE'S BACK
Yooooooo
Any TF2 pyro mains here?
Flashbacking on the legendary crit-boosted pyro.
"Actual ownership, rather than a rental agreement none of us read"
The real future of gaming. With next gen and all digital gaming, physical games will rocket in value and sentiment.
Even vinyl has had a comeback as of late, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw boxes and whatnot return in due time.
@@BigGainer98 spoken like a true millennial stfu and don't put your words in our mouths
With how popular subscription based models are, we will be renting a digital licence for everything. Embrace physical media while you still can.
"With next gen and all digital gaming, physical games will rocket in value and sentiment."
And then people will basically be scalping new games and overpricing the retro ones...
@@BigGainer98 Legally speaking you're buying the intellectual property and usage license for any piece of media, sure you own the CD but you technically just own the right to use it.
You should do a video on aim down sights, it's almost always expected to be in shooters and it's something not many people really think about
CoD popularized it but the standard nowadays should be like Insurgency does it. It just makes so much more sense.
Man, these videos are so great. Calming, relaxing voice, explaining things that I had never really thought about, yet, expanding my love and knowledge of computer games as they changed through the years, and it all turns out to be fascinating.... and I love every, single minute. I am perfectly fine with the time between uploads for these kinds of videos!
I've been binge watching Ahoy's videos recently.
"hmm... I don't remember this video. Maybe it's one of his old videos"
(looks at upload time)
"OH SHIT! HE'S BACK!?"
I periodically come back here to rewatch the videos. I don't even know why. When I saw this in my notifications I thought maybe RUclips just recommended me something I have somehow missed hahaha
A'den Kyramud ikr ill just randomly watch a mfing ghost setup vid lmfaoo
Ahoy never leaves, he only takes his time.
The US: has nostalgia over big boxes with manuals, booklets and artwork
Russia: all games bought in jewel cases from pirates on a street market with abhorrent amateur localization, and music and cutscene videos cut entirely
I thought Russians torrented everything, lol
@@CaveyMoth not everyone had an access to fast enough Internet in early 2000s
Ahhh the nostalgia of being a young PC gamer in Romania with no Internet at home.
@@maxshykhov7518 That's true. We're talking about the olden days of 56k dial up.
Brazil: Most games bought in plastic sleeves w/ poorly photocopied covers from a stall next to a fruit and groceries stand on the Saturday Farmer's Market, at special price 3 for $10. And, if you are lucky, 1 of those 3 CDs will work fine
Your voice, combined by the editing style and the fact that you actually do research makes you one of the best documentary channels. Keep it up!
The script is out of this world. I can't imagine how many hours went into writing it. I always enjoy your videos. So entertaining. The choice of words, the illustrations used and the puns made every now and then makes your content very easy to watch. I'm sad that the video is over. Now comes the wait, for the next master piece!
“Next up: Flamethrower”
OMG LETS GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Hans... Get ze Flammenwerfer!
Milk Man - Iconic Arms will return.... 😃🙌🏼
hmmnmm mmph mmm
- flamethrower man, group defensive structure secondary
"For centuries, humans have used their environments resources to their advantage. Trees, metal, and so on. But what about weapons? Well, there's one weapon, that uses nature's fury to its advantage. The flame thrower. A terrifying weapon that puts fear into your enemy like nothing else can. A force to be reckoned with, it's both incredibly terrifying and badass. So, what makes the flame thrower so cool in entertainment? Why is it feared by so many? And is playing with fire really that dangerous?"
Ah yes...
WARCRIMES.
that ride home with ur parents when you just want to play the game in your hands but you just have the box to look at for the longest short ride of your life
OMG, I lost count of the amount of times I read the Battle Realms manual back in the day when my parents bought me the game during a vacation. The anticipation was off the charts
Desperately trying to read the manual in quick bursts of light from the passing street lights.
@@fistymcbuttpuncher6419 Despite the fact that reading in the car made me sick as a dog.
Heck, most of the time, just riding in the car wasn't much better.
I just wanna say your editing style is easily the best on this whole website. Amazing work as always.
ahh yes.. the fond memories of walking into a computer software store and their shelves looking like a disheveled mess with boxes of all sizes jutting out horizontally or vertically and overall looking completely disorganized regardless of actually being organized alphabetically, due software developers attempting to make their boxes stand out among the rest..
My favorite was always the weirdly shaped boxes that weren't square or rectangle but some custom shape (i.e. a star or diamond/trapezoid shape) or whatever and had to be stocked on the bottom/floor because they couldn't stand on the shelves without falling off.
"Boxes hold their contents, but anything more is wasted space. But maybe there's value in the box itself. Perhaps not in the cardboard, but at least in the box signified ownership. Actual ownership, instead of a rental agreement that none of us read"
This will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Same.
iNdIe GaMeS wIlL SaVe Us AlL1!1 OwO
Almost cried when he reminded me that I don't currently have a physical copy for 40%ish of the games I've purchased in the past decade, including some of the most significant ones. And some of those would be very difficult to get my hands on today, let alone in the future. Y'know, for the sentiment, and the security.
"Next up: Flamethrower"
My man
If he don't talk about pyro tf2 imma riot
"For centuries, humans have used their environments resources for their survival. Trees, metal, and so on. But what about as weapons? Well, there's one weapon, that uses nature's fury to its advantage. The flame thrower. A terrifying weapon that puts fear into your enemy like nothing else can. A force to be reckoned with, it's both incredibly terrifying, and badass. So, what makes the flame thrower so cool in entertainment? Why is it feared by so many? And is playing with fire really that dangerous?"
He literally made a video about boxes and made it interesting.
This man right here has a power that no mortal will be able to recreate ever again.
Mate, your videos are one of the best around. I have been savouring your history of computer gaming video for a while, watching bits every now and then so it doesnt end quickly :) And you have an amazing voice to go with that amazing skill, knowledge and passion. Keep it up!!
"How high is your quality of planning, script writing, animating and voicing?"
"Yes."
"How often do you upload?"
"No."
You wouldnt watch these videos if they didnt take that much time to make
not to mention the soundtrack he made for this specific video
Quality over quantity, my friend.
quality over quantity i guess
The container used to be the absolute about ownership, nobody would ever consider buying digital music, movies or games for full price until piracy, streaming and broadband internet became more convenient and people were willing to sacrifice actual ownership for having instant access. Apple built their entire Ipod empire on pirated music, years before the Itunes store even existed. Steam took a digital market that was only being catered to by indies and pirates and turned it into a standard. However we are too eager to give up so much control for this convenience, we are now seeing anti competitive behaviour and pricing as a result of a digital only marketplace, especially turning games into gambling machines for real money targeting children. The integrity of gaming itself is at threat, let alone just ownership or having a lovely box and contents you payed your hard earned money for.
honestly, it's always been corporate greed and lust for power. especially with their precious copyright extension they swear "protects artists" [thanks disney you piece of shit] they will ruin anything and everything they can. the boxes over time probably would break-down, and so would the disks. copying the data hundreds, thousands, millions of times over was the only way to ensure this never happened. internet was a great way to do that. ofc, companies are slowly taking absolute control over that because the free flow of information is truly dangerous to their real objective of word domination as well. and copyright ofc entitles them to apparent ownership of ideas and culture. internet or not, that was their goal. seeing how they created all this DRM even for boxed software, and now the tendency to make physical objects break, this would have happened even without the internet. look at apple, they engineer everything to break and then they [ab]use IP to make the devices impossible to repair. disks/cartridges/tapes/SSDs would have just been engineered to fail, and things like capcom's "suicide battery" would have just been more common. they also probably didn't expect the games they wrote 30+ years ago to still be so popular today. i doubt when nintendo created zelda that they planned to re-release it, or any other game. maybe they intended to re-use its source like they apparently did to prototype BotW, but i suspect they figured the NES and its games would simply be history by now.
anti-competitive practices are nothing new. look at supermarkets. the government [deliberately] allowed companies to grow too large... now we've got a monster we have no choice not to feed, and a government that continues to let it grow.
even with the box, you never truly owned the game. the "rental agreement you didn't read" still existed in the form of a EULA, which said "no copying". sometimes there was less-than-clear wording about exceptions for back-up and transfer. the game always belonged to them, at least under the law. you owned that box and whatever plastic + metal was slapped-together to store the information to play the game. box art also isn't yours, either. we only now fully realize this as the corporations pull-in the reigns on the one thing that always managed to defy them. even still, they have a ways to go, we must ensure they fail.
gambling machines targeted at children arguably started in the arcades. rigged 'skill' games and paid re-spawns decades before bejeweled : the clone of a clone of a clone had even been thought of. also a failure of the government to act. then truly lazy, greedy developers like KING came-along. they also make sure anything that's not a .99 cent cash grab fails to turn a profit. we also have free to play games, noteably MMOs that needed to cover server costs, at least, originally.
i'd rather see a harmony with physical and digital. and not just physical DLC. think of the everdrive64. download any game, any hack/homebrew, or several at your leisure and play it on the real hardware. at some point, downloading copies or copying data had to come into play both to preserve these games, and to make them available to people in the future. the problem is the companies that despite billions of dollars in profits complain about the damages of piracy [debunked several times now] , so now they attack the internet that continues to pirate content far and wide. but i don't really believe the internet or digital marketplaces are solely to blame. it's the companies and their copyrights... and i don't doubt for a second they would make cartridges/disks/whatever that self-destruct if physical storage media remained the norm. they tried it before, and they failed. this time, they might just succeed. Look at Apple...
anyways, since government won't help deal with these companies unless somehow FORCED to... we need to do the other impossible thing : not support them. they can't force us to buy their products, which frankly, aside from indies typically suck anyways. unfortunately, that won't happen. but digital/physical, companies just became more scummy as the goal turned strictly towards profits and control. i don't believe the internet in the long run did anything but change their strategy. the goal was always the same.
Physicality of media is orthogonal to ownership. Digital goods could be drm-free and PC games on discs come with online activation since forever.
@@shortcat
i was watching... was it flytech's video? about windows activation keys. that was interesting... amazing how basic DRM used to be.
as for DRM-free digital goods: honestly, that'd include MANY of the web games. and even then, site-locks aren't that sophisticated. and that doesn't count the devs that intentionally offer DRM-free games.
physical copies had/have all manner of DRM schemes, a few being especially aggressive/sneaky. some even damaged computers. i really wonder what they'd do if digital distribution never really became a thing. i'm surprised even now all they do is authentication servers, AGGRESSIVE DRM, and encryption, because all continue to be defeated. YoYo did a self-destruct type in Game Maker, and even all the fall-out from that backfiring has not killed them, or changed their stance on DRM... game publishers/devs don't seem quite as inclined for some reason. they already get-away with doing things as bad as if not worse than engineering physical media to fail, especially if attempts were made to copy it
The bigger issue causing the predatory practices you describe is that gaming has fundamentally changed because the companies made a deliberate effort to design games to include more people, and making gaming more mainstream. Gaming will never be the niche hobby scoffed at by the average person as a "children's hobby" as it was before and even well into the 2000s. For big players like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, etc, the expectations have changed -- both on the side of what the developers expect from their players, and what the players expect from the developers. As a result of this huge new audience, it is much easier to sell these predatory business practices you're describing. The less-ethical players in the industry have been testing their limits on this newer audience for years and are perhaps only recently finding how far they can go. The only parts of the industry that appeals to the "enthusiast" side of the audience that existed before the mainstream push are indie studios and small publishers now, although they would be considered normal sized studios back then I think.
@@ETXAlienRobot201 The Artists are often underpaid freelancers who are let go after the art completed or the project ends, who do not even own the copyright. Support independent game devs.
Nostalgic overload... SO MANY games I remember from my Amiga days... And the conclusion almost made me tear up... This is powerful stuff. What a masterpiece. I hope you never stop making content like this.
one of the first couple people who started making video essays, but the only one ill ever watch. i love this channel.
"Ahoy could talk about a box and make it sound interesting"
Ahoy: Hold my M1911. Antique. Veteran. Patriot.
lol
If he owns a 1911, it's demilled or has a 10 inch barrel and shoulder stock
@@cottonballs185 A carbine 1911, sounds hilariously impractical, I'd take 5
@@ArcturusOTE I'm not sure how much work that would need to get the tilting barrel system to work properly with a longer and therefore heavier barrel, but it wouldn't even be that impractical. 1911s with shoulder stocks were made, so that part is simple.
My country has officially been in quarantine long enough for Ahoy to have uploaded twice.
WOW. Just WOW. This video was fantastic. Loved hearing the history, seeing the boxes, and hearing your own thoughts. I specifically like, and echo your closing thoughts. (Which I wont spoil for others). That is a big topic in itself.
I always look forward to your videos, they are always an treat to listen to, appreciate the quality! keep up the good work!!!
" Computer games used to come in boxes" I don't know why but that ending really hit me deep.
Me too. I heard that and felt how old I am.
The way his voice cracks at the end gives the impression he feels the same. It speaks volumes without saying a word.
Not gonna lie, choked up a bit at that....
Same
It almost gave me a tear in my eye when i heard it. Guess nostalgia snuck up on me.
i thought this was going to be about the boxes that were everywhere in early FPS maps, like the boxes on dust2 or something
Well, there's only so much you can do with six polygons.
I thought it was going to be about 3D graphics in some way.
I thought it would be on hitboxes
NEXT TIME ON AHOY...
I'm sure you get this all the time (I hope you get this all the time) - You're wonderful! Your style of treatment, your attention to detail, the research you do, and your choice of topics; All these things add to create an experience that's completely worth my attention. Thank you very much!
I'm glad to see you're still posting brother, I used to watch your black ops 2 gun overviews. Love the nostalgia trip this video and your others bring me!
"Next up: Flamethrower."
*Pyro intensifies*
No mention of the trapezoidal tomb raider boxes? Those were always my favorite. Is it mentioned and I missed it?
And no love for the Blizzard Battle Chests either. I'm clearly showing my (lack of) age here, but those are the most iconic PC boxes for me.
Bro, video's named Big Boxes.
@@4deiq484 Yes... it is.
And?
Trapezoid is a shape, not a size. The Tomb Raider boxes, based on my Google search, appear to be the same size as a "big box" but shaped differently.
So, what exactly were you trying to convey by pointing out the title that we can all see?
A quick google search seems to suggest those boxes were either a regional thing or a temporary thing. For one, I do not recall ever seeing the trapezoids in stores at all, but maybe that's because I'm from Portugal. When I bought e.g. Tomb Raider The Last Revelation, it came in a B i g B o x, but I was really disappointed all it included was a pitiful CD jewel case and a fitted manual in grayscale. I was so sad it didn't come with a poster or a map or something. A map would've been a really cool addition, actually, since the game does feature large open areas that connect and loop into each other and you could revisit them if you wanted to, whereas Tomb Raider up to that point had always had linear level design. A physical map would've been a "wait, what?" moment as soon as you opened the box, teasing you for what was to come.
I have Final Fantasy 7 for PC. It came in big triangle box that was the same size a big box
When I open an Ahoy video and hear his voice coming up the speakers I always smile.... A smile of admiration, appreciation of the content and respect...
Thx man :)
His voice reminds me of Mark Strong voice... Specifically in Body of Lies as the charismatic head of Jordanian Intelligence Hani Pascha
Are you bloody kidding me? Here I am clinging onto every word about the boxes games came in as if it's the best adventure story ever! Well done man..!
I feel like I'm watching a tv quality documentary. Mesmerizing.
I know, right?
How It's Made
When i wasn’t watching i felt like I was listening to a sex hotline
"Actual ownership, rather than a rental agreement none of us read"
GOG has offline backups you can download giving you the same kind of ownership you would have with a physical copy.
Oftentimes even more so as GOG games are striped of DRM.
Just saying that a better future for games is possible.
Don't count on it.
ootdega ... but do support it if you care about it.
@@LKRaider Agreed.
And if GOG goes bust, what then?
@@huskie0069 You will still have all your games that you backed up. With no DRM and all the rights to use them.
So excited to see other people remember and love the old Infocom games. I have a bunch of those I couldn’t bear to throw away because of how neat all the included items were. Enchanter, Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, they each had all the infocom standard pamphlets for the hint books, start up guides, game catalog, all that good stuff. But then a set of trading cards, a big red “Don’t Panic!” button, so many fun trinkets. I think the disks are long gone, since those came out of the box to stay in a floppy storage container that sat on my desktop, and that got stowed in a closet a long time ago, along with my IBM PCjr that I played all those classics on. But the boxes themselves all stood on my bookshelf with role playing and board games, and still do.
I love your content. I originally joined for the iconic arms series but I have become so attached to the way you explain history. You have a great story telling voice and your editor is amazing! I really love your content and I really hope you continue to post more of it.
When was 9 or 10 years old a teacher gave me baldurs gate 1 because he knew I was interested in fantasy and roleplaying games. He said he was done with it and that he wanted other people to experience it. I’m so happy that he gave me that game. Changed my life
A teacher gave me one of the age of empires game. I remember I couldn't get it to work and he called my mom and walked her thru the installation process. Great memories
Remember when you had to call actual wizards to help you install programs on early computers?
Damn, a cool teacher, who would've thought
You are doing the Lord’s work, my friend. Loved this video! 😎
You guys are preserving the physical history of this amazing medium and art-form.
...uhhhh
Are lord and savior METAL FUCKING JESUS!!!
I miss these days! Great seeing you posted comment Metal Jesus! It’s the early morning didn’t realise till now! Oh boy I bet you had the biggest nostalgic rush than us all working at all SIERRA ENTERTAINMENT way back
Bless Your Soul
I love the design elements in all your videos, they are very pleasing to the eye and hold my attention
Im glad your still trucking on through all this pandemic stuff, I still remember watching your bo2 builds with my brother.
Guess who's back. Back again. Ahoy's back...tell a friend
Guess who’s back
Guess who’s back
Guess who’s back
Guess who’s back
Baaack
wich friend?
Back when Electronic Arts lived up to their name, lol.
@mozamioo _ Not just that, the respect they gave to their developers on them. Treating them like rock stars, that stuff is something you don't see at _all_ anymore outside of Indie games.
But now a days EA is relying on the fact that you buy a $60 game and have internet connection to pay $60+ worth of DLC's to enjoy the full game. They're also giving us the same damn sports games every year but with a slight update on the Athlete roster.
@@michael1234252 I think they abandoned paid DLCs for awful microtransactions if I am not mistaken
Can we just appreciate Ahoy’s beautiful camerawork, visuals and overall dedication to this gem of a channel
Also this video is just him flexing his collection of vintage video games
It's insane how your background music is among my most listened music last month.
Everyone: CORONA ELECTIONS RIOTS CHAOS
Ahoy: Boxes.
He knows what will last.
Pretty much no one in the UK gives a shit about the US elections or riots. Big boxes are far more interesting!
@@neuro_davinci Not just the UK, that holds for pretty much the rest of the world
The virus is holding an election? Or did you perhaps forget your punctuation?
It’s a needed break of sanity
My god, I could watch/listen to this man talk about anything.
Ahoy: "let's talk about boxes"
Me: nods eagerly
Ahoy: "specifically, video game boxes"
Me: "oh hoooo......pray continue!"
I was like 'Ahoy just made a new video... about boxes... YES!"
Fantastic work Stuart
this video unearthed so many old memories and attached emotions
i cried over a video about boxes
When the world needed him the most, he returned
I love the surreal, Prog Rock style covers to a lot of these games.
That's because at least a few of them (I'm thinking of the Psygnosis ones specifically) actually had a progressive rock album artist behind them: the legendary Roger Dean!
Ahoy!!! Love your videos. Been waiting for the next! Hope you upload soon.
3 months late and I finally see that the flamethrower is the nexy project. Damn Ahoy, that's gonna be a feisty video. Looking forward to your amazing work