Confirmed, MS screws us again. Lost Odyseey another packaging nightmare.

Wow that pisses me off and there is absolutely no need of it.

That is pretty stupid, but I suppose its only a problem if you get a scratched one. Buy it somewhere that will allow you to return it, or better yet open it in the store. Why is there 4 discs anyways?

I don't know if I'd call this a nightmare but it's definitely pretty lame. 257Tony, there are 4 discs because the game won't fit on 1, 2, or 3. It was quite common on PlayStation and now it's back.

They're doing this so that when people claim that they have scratched disks, MS can say "Well, this is proof that we're shipping scratched disks, not that the disks are being scratched by the drive in the 360."

^^

That made no sense whatsoever.

It was a ha ha.

I purchased CoD4 from Walmart that had a circular scratch around it. Took it back and they gave me a new one without any hassle. I'll have to buy this game from there as well, just in case.

Not to rain on anyone's MS bashing parade here, but stacking disks is not the problem you guys are making it out to be. Spindles of CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are sold every day stacked the same way and if you actually take the time to examine the dimensions of a disc, you'll find that the area near the spindle hole is thicker than the rest of the disks. So, when you stack them on one spindle, only the area near the spindle is in contact between adjacent disks. The recorded surfaces are NOT in contact with each other. If you look from the side, it's easy to see that there is a space there. You can see straight through to the other side of the stack. But hey, don't let any facts quiet the ranting here!

P.J.

I have returned scratched disc to Best Buy and Amazon. I didn't tell them it was scratched, I just stated that it would not play in my console.

This sort of thing - bad packaging, inferior box art, inferior manuals was quite common in the past. But nowadays, the US is the top game market in the world. It's also the only region that is really interested in the Xbox 360. Lost Odyssey might have been designed for Japanese RPG fans but it will sell more here. Microsoft should care a bit more about their most important customers.

I remember lots of PS2 titles that came on at least 3 discs and they all came in a box that was standard width but had a inside plastic leaf that could hold a disc on each side. Why can't they use that packaging for Xbox games?

Dang, must be an epicly long game I guess? I remember having some multi disc games on the original PS, never really bothered me though.

"packaging nightmare" "screws us" come on, a packing nightmare is estrogen in your Viagra (if you need that sort of thing) that'll really screw ya. Come on guys, your overreactions have overreactions.

I just picked up my copy of Lost Odyssey from GameStop. The discs are stacked three high (just like Blue Dragon was reported to be) with the 4th disc placed in white sleeve. The small case was packed so full of stuff that there probably wasn't enough room for any of the discs to pop off the spindle. All the discs appear to be in perfect scratch-free condition.

Paper sleeve - LOL.

Reminds me of the first budget PC titles I saw on CD-ROM. You're all excited to get Wing Commander 3 for $19.99, and then you get home, open the box and are greeted with three discs in paper sleeves with a note telling you the manual is on the CD.

Except this time it's a $60 game at launch.

The thing is it's technically not a big deal but it's annoying when you consider how pointless it is. Why couldn't we get the same packaging Japan got? It looks better, it doesn't run the risk of scratching the discs, and it doesn't feel incredibly cheap. Seriously a paper sleeve?

I think the idea is to punish people who actually buy crappy games like blue dragon. Maybe next time you'll learn your lesson.......

This packaging is just... poor. But, of course, we've been seeing this same sort of thing on the PC for some time now, where full CD jewel cases have been replaced with thin paper sleeves.

Still, I find it odd that it's inconsistent; either all the disks should be in sleeves or all of them should be on one or more spindles (as with Blue Dragon), not some sort of "mix and match".

This is true, PCs do come in such paper sleeves. The difference is that PC games are installed onto your HD and are launched with out the disc. Repeated stacking and unstacking/moving the case has led to tons of Blue Dragon discs being scratched as well (big topic on NeoGAF somewhere about this).

The worst part is that the NA market is the only one in the world that received this treatment, with PAL and Asian regions getting a proper double stack DVD case with individual places for each disc.

Lets not forget that this is Microsofts AAA first rate JRPG that is supposed to go up head to head with Final Fantasy. Even though its not that big of a deal, this is a game that is for hardcore gamers. Hardcore gamers are perturbed by things like this...

I guess blu ray disc arn't looking so useless after all

^prediction: Final fantasy (ps3) will be multiple blu rays

Question to the forums: what are the options one has to replace these messed up packages? Anyone have weblinks to any dealers of the wider bodied HD DVD packaging akin to the Asian versions of this game? Or close to the Planet Earth HD DVD's?

Ok, but DVD9 on a 360 is only 7.4GB after DRM. A BD50 disc is around 46GB (none yet to verify on the PS3, but SL top at 23GB). Even so all BDs have scratch protection coatings, so at least shipping them won't ruin them.

Why not just go and purchase a proper case? I've done it before and I like it. So what if you have to pay a few dollars more? It's cheaper than trying to replace damaged discs.

Mine don't do that.

It's simple, just open it right there at the cash in front of the cashier as soon as you've paid for it. I saw lots of people doing that Halo 3 launch day/night. What are they going to say if you open it up in front of them and it's scratched? "sorry, we can't take it back because it's opened." Worse case scenario you'd call in a manager and ball them out.

simple because over in Japan and other regions they wouldn't tolerate that crap, and you'd be surprised how in the US people will just say "oh well"

Just about any B&M place will replace a game with the exact same thing, it's policy. They just won't let you exchange a game for a different one after it's opened.