In a recent poll by the Content Delivery and Storage Association (CDSA) and Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) surveying over 500 gamers, 88 percent keep their games' original packages and use them to store their game disks. I myself live in a rubbish bin of useless game boxes stacked almost to the ceiling.

So why the unusual fascination with packages? EMA CEO and President Bo Andersen clarifies:

In packaged home entertainment, consumers view the packaging cases as part of the product and not something to be tossed. The cases provide product protection, allow easy title identification, and carry the artwork that is integral to the consumer’s association with the title.

Bottom line, throwing the case away or losing it drastically hurts the value of a game. A game is more than the digital content, it is also the physical materials that house it.

Given that over 50 percent of all gamers opt to sell or trade the games they grow tired of, value is not something we take lightly. Few would agree to buy a disk alone at full price and keeping the game's box around seems a reasonable concession for maintaining the value, and possibly sale-ability, of a US$ 50 investment.

Perhaps this is why, despite drastic improvements to the download speeds and the reliability of service, direct-to-drive downloads still can't quite dethrone the humble local retail store.

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