The Alternatives

If you take a look at Figure 2 you will see another type of (much less widely used) EA case (this time for Black & White 2.)

Figure 2: Black & White 2 case. Reflection authors own.

This sort of retainer is less damaging than the first. Much less pressure has to be applied to release the disc from the case, and if EA were to change the type of case they use, then this wouldn't be a bad option.

Last but not least, in our limited look at the different types of cases on offer, we have the one that I have been using the longest and most frequently of all - which also happens to be the one that has caused no damage to the discs using it. This Flexbox design, used by CDV for the European retail Combat Mission 3, allows the disc to slide on freely and retains it with the slightest of overhangs. You then slide the disc off of this overhang, rather than pressing anything down onto it like the other two designs.

Figure 3: The sliding case.

The lesson learned in case design is pretty obvious: you start applying pressure to discs and they will break. You remove said pressure and they don't. Fancy that, eh?