American Box Art Sucks
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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I'm sorry, fellow escapee, but I could never identify with a main character that looks like this abomination over here:LadyRhian said:
What the fuck is this?
[/small]And the punchline? MEGAMAN DOESN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE THAT!
There's a third option. American marketing executives think the purchasing public are a bunch of idiotic tasteless morons and commission their hard-working slave-trade designers to cobble something together to meet some form of aesthetic that's guaranteed to sell. Forget if it has anything to do with what's being sold, as long as it sells.
It's the same thing that happens to web design, as the Oatmeal accurately describes [http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell].
I was going to say something like this. Only I was going to say thats what marketers/people who handle the importing think.LadyRhian said:
I personally think its bullshit, and would love to change it. The reason I didn't buy ICO at first was because of the insanely awful box-art.
Then I bought Shadow of the Colossus, because of its box-art, and upon learning the same people made ICO, I set out to buy it.
EDIT: Also, what he said:
BlueInkAlchemist said:
What I find more perplexing is the assumption that the North American market somehow requires different, and invariably shittier, cover art. The very notion of needing to localize covers art is implicitly insulting.
I just try not to think about it, but every game I get that includes the original box art somewhere always makes me think "God damn it, localization team." Trust me, Yahtzee, it annoys the hell out of a lot of Americans too.
For those who want to see more examples of things ruined in this manner, I direct you to (where else?) TVTropes. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AmericanKirbyIsHardcore
For those who want to see more examples of things ruined in this manner, I direct you to (where else?) TVTropes. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AmericanKirbyIsHardcore
Future wars one made me laugh, the Amarican one looks like 2 soldiers are trying to hold off an octopus while a happy doggy tries to get in on the actions too.
Edit: Oh and the soldiers have fire plooming out from their arseholes
Edit: Oh and the soldiers have fire plooming out from their arseholes
Well I'm Canadian and we don't really don't like to be bunched with the americans. But unfortunately we are when it comes to games. We get all the american versions. I kinda wish we would get the Pal version of games. I would have loved to have the pal version of Final Fantasy X.
Short version:
This sort of thing is done by people who have no sense of subtly or had it beaten out of them. They know they have at best 30 seconds to make the game stand out on the shelf. So they create the busiest mess imaginable so the average passerby has to stop and make sense of it.
A good chunk of the American history of marketing relied on being as obtrusive and obnoxious as humanly possible and this is just the latest iteration of it.
This sort of thing is done by people who have no sense of subtly or had it beaten out of them. They know they have at best 30 seconds to make the game stand out on the shelf. So they create the busiest mess imaginable so the average passerby has to stop and make sense of it.
A good chunk of the American history of marketing relied on being as obtrusive and obnoxious as humanly possible and this is just the latest iteration of it.
holy shit, i've seen some bad american box art in my time, but that takes the cake.Russian_Assassin said:I'm sorry, fellow escapee, but I could never identify with a main character that looks like this abomination over here:LadyRhian said:
[small]What the fuck is this?[/small]
And the punchline? MEGAMAN DOESN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE THAT!
Im glad us brits get mostly awesome covers, and awesome cases as well (see Dreamcast, those of which came in nice blue jewel cases, unlike the US ones that came in music cd like cases).
idk, but for some reason, I can't get over the brilliance of this cover
it's just, genius
like Spoony said: "it's like, how much more black could it be?
and the answer is none
nonemoreblack"
it's just, genius
like Spoony said: "it's like, how much more black could it be?
and the answer is none
nonemoreblack"
I don't really give a crap about how cover art looks, but somebody answer me this... WHY DO PEOPLE HATE FLOATING HEADS SO MUCH? Seriously! Every time I see any kind of cover with a disembodied head of any kind, people ***** about it, even if it looks perfectly fine! Why?
Actually, speaking of how covers look, I wanted to get Yahtzee's "Mogworld" book for Christmas (family tradition dictates we never buy ourselves gifts), but my mother refused to get it because she thought the cover art was too hideous to even consider. It's a funny ol' world, isn't it?
Actually, speaking of how covers look, I wanted to get Yahtzee's "Mogworld" book for Christmas (family tradition dictates we never buy ourselves gifts), but my mother refused to get it because she thought the cover art was too hideous to even consider. It's a funny ol' world, isn't it?
Because Marketing in America is not about something that looks artsy, but something that looks sellable... Which means it has to be as generic, dumb and familiar as possible. And nothing is more generic and overdone as the faces collague in a poster (half a face looking at the camera is another, more recent example).
Clearly it's because of Microsoft's position in the gaming industry, and we know what they think of minimalism:
Let's hope Apple puts out a console next generation.
Let's hope Apple puts out a console next generation.
I think you're confusing Americans with marketing executives who are not only unamerican but also tend to not be human.
(present company excepted)
(present company excepted)
Are the links in the article not working for anyone else, or is it just me?
Anyway, I couldn't help but have Batman: Arkham Asylum's box art nagging in my mind while reading this. If I had my way, I would have gotten a high-profile artist to do the art for game covers. Maybe someone like Drew Struzan [http://www.drewstruzan.com/illustrated/portfolio/], who knows how to draw you in with his work.
Anyway, I couldn't help but have Batman: Arkham Asylum's box art nagging in my mind while reading this. If I had my way, I would have gotten a high-profile artist to do the art for game covers. Maybe someone like Drew Struzan [http://www.drewstruzan.com/illustrated/portfolio/], who knows how to draw you in with his work.
The thing about America is that it is fucking huge.
When they brought over the Office, they had to change quite a bit about it before it would be palatable?not to An American Audience, but to an incredibly massive and varied one. Lowest Common Denominator doesn't mean that we're a pack of idiots, it means that we're a nation that's so loosely connected, there's very little that we can all legitimately enjoy.
Design by Committee happens so often here because we usually Enjoy by Committee, too.
That's changing, it should be noted. Inception, Mad Men, Even Kanye West. The vision of a single auteur seen through from beginning to end is coming out more quality, and getting the critical recognition and commercial success we hope for it.
As for why we hate the French, it's partly that we're jealous of their cheap wine and delicious bread, and partly because they take every chance they can to just up and quit working, and that looks too much like laziness to be ignored.
When they brought over the Office, they had to change quite a bit about it before it would be palatable?not to An American Audience, but to an incredibly massive and varied one. Lowest Common Denominator doesn't mean that we're a pack of idiots, it means that we're a nation that's so loosely connected, there's very little that we can all legitimately enjoy.
Design by Committee happens so often here because we usually Enjoy by Committee, too.
That's changing, it should be noted. Inception, Mad Men, Even Kanye West. The vision of a single auteur seen through from beginning to end is coming out more quality, and getting the critical recognition and commercial success we hope for it.
As for why we hate the French, it's partly that we're jealous of their cheap wine and delicious bread, and partly because they take every chance they can to just up and quit working, and that looks too much like laziness to be ignored.