I most certainly do as I'm collecting them. For sharing my games with other (retro) gaming heads, I decided to turn my collection of over 847 boxes* into shiny 3D

The tech behind the 3D boxes is simple: first up the game boxes sides are scanned. Then, those textures are attached to a 3D mesh based upon the boxes' actual dimensions. All boxes can be zoomed and rotated and some can even be looked at from top and bottom angles. Also, double click/tap a box with a gatefold cover to pop it up.

The site is a one-man show and done in my spare time. I do try to keep it as up-to-date as possible but sometimes, well, life happens and the time from picking up a new box until it's available in 3D with all bells and whistles does vary quite a bit. I'm trying to keep you all posted via the blog though.

Anyway, I better stop babbeling and let you jump right in. Use the search in the top right corner or start with one of the games listed below.

Enjoy,
Benjamin

* Well, lots of boxes and some not so boxy ones

Rotate: drag with left mouse button or with one finger
Pan: drag with right mouse button or with two fingers
Zoom: mouse wheel or pinch
Open/close gatefold: double click or double tap

Here's a selection of articles published about bigboxcollection.com

• Print
• Retrogamer Issue 247, 06.2023
• Pixel Addict Issue 12, 05.2023
• PCPro Issue 338, 11.2022
• CustomPC Issue 227, 06.2022
• Computer Shopper Issue 391, 09.2020

• Online
• Multiplayer, 01.2024
• Time Extension, 12.2023
• Aftermath, 12.2023
• GameSpark, 12.2023
• PCGamesN, 12.2023
• Adrenaline, 12.2023
• The Maw @ Rock Paper Shotgun, 12.2023
• PCGamer, Engadget & Co, 05.2020

There's 847 games available in 3D on this site that have been viewed 270,444 times since the site's new version went live on Nov 24, 2023. That's 31 games per hour. Piling those 847 games all up would result in a stack 30.1m high and with a volume of 1.31m³. When adding up all sides there's 93.62m² of boxart, not counting the 69 gatefolds available to explore on this site. Further, there's a total of 791 photos showing the games' contents.

I'm not done yet getting all the data in regard of media included, but with 708 boxes indexed, there's a total of 1,431 media. Here's a breakdown

In regard of fidelity, 480 out of the 847 boxes have all six sides scanned. I'm working on adding more but this comes down to finding the time needed for scanning and editing. There's also 69 boxes with a gatefold cover that can be flipped open by double-clicking the box. Also, 128 boxes do have specific textures for their reflectiveness. It's a subtl effect but IMHO worth all the work, just look at Morrowind or Beneath a Steel Sky.

After launching bigboxcollection.com back in June 2015, I have been in touch with like-minded folks willing to spent some time creating their own 3D Big Box Collections with either re-using or building upon my code and starting from scratch with their own vision. Either way, it's fun to exchange ideas with each other on how to improve our projects and to keep one another motivated in your quest to bring dustly ol' cardboard boxes to life.

Here's an overview over other 3D Box projects. Go, check them out:

• 07.2018: Maurice Evers' SCUMM game collection
  (using my old 3DBB script with some own tweaks)
• 01.2019: Steven Lyon's personal collection
  (using my old 3DBB script with some own tweaks)
• 03.2019: Andreas Ochs' personal collection
  (using my old 3DBB script with some own tweaks)
• 06.2021: Michel Mohr's Gamebox Museum (also as VR app)
  (own implementation using Unity)
• 12.2023: Christophe Fontanel's Dungeon Master Encyclopaedia
  (based on my current script but with own edits)
• 01.2024: Adam Zwakenberg's BigBoxDB
  (shared my current code, ended up with own implementation)

I'm a nerd living in Vienna, Austria and host of this site. You can get in touch with me via benjamin@bigboxcollection.com.

It all started back in 1988 on the humble C64 before moving on to DOS/Win with GameBoy, SNES, and N64 on the side, so to speak. I'm not only a gameer but also a collector, although I didn't set out to be one; I just kept all the games that I've bought over the years. Well, until 2005ish at least. That's when big box games got replaced with first smaller boxes and then later DVD cases until Steam and gog.com came around and we all went digital on PC.

However, back in 2012, I stumbled upon a new release for Commodore 64 called C64anabalt, and guess what?

It's a physical release! In a box! A (very) small one, but a box!

With finding C64anabalt, my love for boxed games was reigneted, and I began to track down all the games I had only owned as budget release, as well as all the classics that I had always wanted to play but never had the chance to. Classifieds and eBay offered almost everything for a few bucks, and soon enough, I had more games than I could keep track of.

To share my growing collection online with other retro gamers, I started taking photos of my games. Although it worked, managing multiple photo albums and a private spreadsheet with all the data became quite cumbersome and far from ideal. I realized that combining both elements was the way to go — building upon my spreadsheet and creating a website that would showcase a virtual copy of my NerdWall™.

In 2015, I launched BigBoxCollection.com. Here, I host 3D models textured with high-resolution scans of my boxes, allowing visitors to click through and explore. The site has changed over the years staring with a more dark and gritty look before restarting with a clean one in May 2016. In 2023, I thought I'd add a dark theme but instead of just tweaking the CSS files, I've reimplemented the whole site, reworked mouse & touch controls and added features that I've always wanted to have but never found the time for like panning the 3D boxes as well as visualizing gatefolds.

Purpose of the privacy policy

This privacy statement is for bigboxcollection.com, a site run by me, Benjamin Wimmer, and according to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I have a duty to protect your personal data. In this statement, I outline which data is reached during the use of bigboxcollection.com, how it is collected, and also what I use this data for.

Data capture

Your data are collected by the following data processing operations.

Log data

Each time you access the website, the visit is recorded in a log file (server logs) for a period of 190 days with the following log data:

• IP address of the enquirer
• call method (GET, HEAD, PUT)
• target address without HOST
• minutes with version (e.g. HTTP/1.1)
• name of the file retrieved and amount of data transferred
• date and time of the retrieval
• notification indicating whether the retrieval was successful
• processing time of the request in microseconds
• user agent used
• SSL version used
• referrer

This data is used for system security verification, error analysis and for statistical purposess.

Statistics

bigboxcollection.com counts how often a 3D box is viewed, from where the 3D box was accessed from and also tries to map those views to sessions. For this, the following data is processed:

• 3D box accessed
• IP address of the enquirer
• user agent used
• referrer

For mapping views to sessions, an anonymizised fingerprint is generated using a combination of the IP address and the user agent data. The fingerprint is generated using a one-way hash function with the given user data and other, internal data as input values. The provided input will always result in the same fixed length set of characters but it is impossible to determine what the original input was because the encryption algorithm only goes one way.

Adding other, internal data that's only known to bigboxcollection.com to the set of input data is done for forcing the result set's uniqueness, increasing its complexity and thus hightening the level of anonymization.

The fingerprint is used to clear the "Games, that have just been looked up"-panel on the starting page from the boxes that have been looked up during your current session and thus only show boxes from other sessions. Further, it is used to help spam detection.

The 3D box viewed, the provided referrer and the generated fingerprint are stored and used for internal statistics as well as for generating content for bigboxcollection.com, e.g. how often a box has been viewed so far and for generating the "Games, that have just been looked up"-panel.

Cookies

bigboxcollection.com does not use any cookies.

Data storage

To ensure the availability and reliability of bigboxcollection.com, I utilize the services of an external web hosting provider. This hosting provider securely stores and processes data associated with your interactions on the site. While I maintain responsibility for the data collected, certain technical aspects of data storage and server management are outsourced to the hosting provider. I have chosen a reputable hosting service committed to data security and privacy, and contractual agreements are in place to ensure compliance with relevant data protection laws.

Other than that, there is no transfer of your data to any other third parties.

SSL encryption

To ensure the secure transmission of data between your device and bigboxcollection.com, I utilize SSL technology. SSL is a cryptographic protocol that provides a secure connection by encrypting the data exchanged between your web browser and bigboxcollection.com. This encryption safeguards your personal information, such as IP addresses and user agents, during the transmission process, enhancing the overall security of your interactions with our website.

By using SSL, I aim to protect your data from unauthorized access and ensure that your online experience on bigboxcollection.com is conducted in a secure environment.

Data subject rights

You have the right to information about data concerning yourself, as well as the right to have data rectified or deleted. You have a right to restrict or to object to data processing, as well as the right to transfer data.

If you consider that your rights are not being complied with or are not being ad-equately complied with, you have the possibility to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority.

Contact details

Benjamin Wimmer, Vienna, Austra
benjamin@bigboxcollection.com

bigboxcollection.com is a private website run by

Benjamin Wimmer
Vienna, Austria

benjamin@bigboxcollection.com

What's the best looking box?