And the bottom line, of course, is that thinner cases ultimately means more games fitting on your shelf!
I'm all for the eco-friendly approach and shelf space is something of an issue for me, so this is good news. Hopefully the cases in western countries will follow suit.

Would anyone support this for home consoles?

It would certainly prevent overheating.

Nintendo already started doing this with Wii cases last year (Sin & Punishment: Star Successor was the first to use the more eco-friendly cases).

The eco-packaging for the Wii games scares me a bit. There is only the thin cover art paper to protect the back of a large area of the game disc for the eco cases. I guess I'll just have to be extra careful how I move my Wii games around.

The case is still 10x larger than the game card. I guess it's done for retailers who don't want these consumer products to be so small (and thus easier to steal). I personally have little love for game cases, or indeed physical game media -- digital download is much more eco-friendly, and cheaper too!

You also need some box space to put the box art and backside text on. Especially in Europe where they have to squeeze three game ratings on the front and five languages on the back.

They go on about the eco-friendly stuff but I'm not a sucker.  If they use less plastic, they save money.  The environmental stuff is just the excuse because if they just cut a huge hole in the case without any explanation we would all freak.  Tie the cost-cutting in with a feel goody PC cause and you can get away with it.  It's about money and nothing else.

Yeah, and what's worse is that there are ways they could cut down on materials used without compromising the integrity of the case. First off, if they were so concerned about using too much plastic, they shouldn't have made the cases larger than the disc to begin with. Even now, it isn't too late to shrink them down, though I s'pose some people would complain about the lack of uniformity it'd create. Furthermore, we're reached a point where paper game manuals are unnecessary. Manuals could easily be integrated into games, and, for example, be accessible from the Home Menu on the Wii at all times.

Do you mean the first Nintendo-published title? Because the first Wii game to use the cases is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. Even then, I'm pretty sure some copies of Super Mario Galaxy 2 used the cases... though I can't confirm that because mine doesn't.

Yes, first party. As for SMG2, I can't verify that but I remember seeing stories at the time of S&P being the first with these new cases.

As for motive, does it matter? The cases are still better for the environment, so I don't care why they did it. As for the size, that has become the default standard for games and movies (except Sony, who decided to make weird sizes for PS3 and PSP cases). I suppose they could do what Sega did for Dreamcast and just use jewel cases.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=28383.msg610896#msg610896

There's no pictures, but a couple users state their copy was one of the green cases. I remember this because I was glad I didn't get one.

Jewel cases are less flexible than DVD cases so they break more easily. I don't see why at least Nintendo couldn't use DS-size cases for their disc games, they are big enough to hold a disc from what I recall, or at least could be by just barely increasing the size.

Releasing the games in a paper sleeve would be even better for the environment but I would rather they not do that.  Motive matters a lot to me.  If the passed the plastic savings to the customer then I could consider the motive to be pure.  But intead I pay the same price as before but get a crappier case?

Maybe in the end, the software on the cards evens it all out?
But I really don't mind getting a crappier case, since it means they will take up less room on my shelf.

Ian, that is how I feel about in-game advertising. Was there any reason any reason for Fight Night Round 3 to be $60 considering it was basically just one big commercial with some game elements? Every 5 seconds you had stuff like "That punch was brought to you by Burger King". There are plenty of other games that have tons of in-game advertising but are still $60. At least these eco cases are providing some good.

Yeah, I'm totally in agreement here.  A good cause with some self-serving motivation tainting it is still better than blantant selfishness with no positive side effects.

I would much prefer smaller cases, anyway.  They're easier to store.  I would rather Wii game cases be the size of DS cases, and DS game cases be the size of something a bit smaller that I can't think of right now.