I swear, if there's a Retail Packagers' Association, its mission statement must be: "Forcing You to Use Something Other than Your Bare Hands, Preferably a Steak Knife, to Open the Shit You Just Bought."

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Oh, come on Capcom - you can do better than this, surely?

This dodgy diptych of box art features a slightly too muscular Chun Li (c'mon she may be a strong lass, but as drawn here she could throw shot at the Moscow Olympics) a Ryu who looks like he is trying to do long division in his head and typography that looks like the artist was doodling band logos during double geography.

If you look closely, you will see that Ken is striking exactly the same pose (even down to the spray of mud at his heels) when fighting both Chun Li and Ryu at the bottom of their boxes.

Ryu, incidentally, is demonstrating an ancient fighting technique, known in the East as Goatse Hadouken.

[Thanks to MarkMan for the tip]

PC games in jewel cases aren't just for discount titles at Walmart and Target anymore. Electronic Arts has announced a distribution agreement with 1C Company which will see the latter releasing the former's newer PC titles throughout Russia in jewel case economy packaging. The first titles coming out this fall in the tiny plastic packages will include Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Crysis Warhead, and NHL 09.

"We release jewel games for the first time especially for Russian market. Owing to 1C's optimised distribution system our cooperation will become the next step in expanding EA games on regional markets of Russia and CIS", - says Murad Shapiev, Sales Director for Electronic Arts Russia.

Of course jewel cases means that the folks in Russia, along with Ukraine and Kazakhstan (careful, they're sensitive) will probably be missing out pack-ins like bulky manuals, maps, posters, and other goodies, but considering the giant piles of such items cluttering my apartment that might not be such a bad thing.

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The typical method of keeping games in glass cases works like a charm when it comes to reducing theft, but stymies impulse buys — something the game industry is working to change as companies attempt to appeal to ever broader markets. The San Jose Mercury News has a reasonably interesting short piece on what companies are doing in an attempt to broaden their appeal, get games out from behind glass and locks, and encourage people outside the target 'gamer' audience to pick up games on a whim. Of course, there's the problem of dealing with retailers' wants and needs:

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