American Box Art Sucks

[ANImaniac89]

I agree whole heartedly with you Yahtzee, as an American gamer I hate the overwhelmingly bland look that most game's box art get in it US release.

I think I realized this first when I bought Batman: Arkham Asylum and I found myself thinking, My God, I own hundreds of Batman comics and trades and 90% have infinitely better cover's. But with this $60 new game I get Batman standing on a cliff looking somewhat confused.

 

[Arawn.Chernobog]

Because Americans like frowning protagonists with moody expressions showing off their physical appeal (or just a female character filling out the latter) and any form of artistic expression in the box-art superior to "Generic Hollywood-esque Poster" is hated and assumed as "pretentious".

Bottom line, you have to make something that appeals to a violence-loving, beer-consuming and escape-reality-and-pretend-to-be-the-main-character-fighting-off-monsters-and-actually-touching-a-woman-desiring community... that unfortunately isn't just found in the states but it's probably more glorified by mainstream media there then anywhere else. Hopefully the minority will fight against it... or just apathetically say "Meh" and shrug.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Yup. We sure get some weird boxart over here in the States. I also submit for this discussion, Kirby:

Spoiler

http://www.brawlinthefamily.com/?p=288

Last one is a joke obviously, but really, why did they keep making Kirby angry on our box art?

That's a good one. It reminds of those Dreamworks Animation covers. The whole "Yeah, we're up to no good" face.

American marketing just doesn't like to take any real risks. When Four Weddings and a Funeral was being distrubuted in America, they apparently wanted to change the title because they thought it would be too long and confusing for the American audience. Marketing really needs to stop treating Americans like they're the frikkin' princess on the pea.

That Ico cover was the first thing that sprang to my mind when I saw the title of the article... God, the horror!

 

[Otto42]

Yahtzee, you egomaniacal madman... What have you got against tits?

I mean, yes, good design, and yes, layout and drama and angst and soul-enhancing artwork can really spice up the presentation of a game and make the player feel a lot more happy about it overall, sure.

But also, TITS.

Also, F the French.

 

[etocadet]

As soon as I read Delphine software I thought "Yahtzee is this another flashback plug" amazingly I was right but more amazingly I missed the picture art until I finished the article, i must be the reincarnation of Tasman a joke probably only the australians will get or geography enthusiasts, definately not americans then. you know what Americans are like, they haven't just butchered box art, they've butchered tv shows, games and movies to make more sales, their film trailers are the worst, most of them misrepresent a film entirely giving out the wrong impression, and while this makes the most money it doesn't do the content any favours, they fail to realise if they market their show to the right crowd then that crowd will spread it amongst themselves via word of mouth and they'll make a nice some of money and their game will be praised, instead they market it to everyone and the amount of negative reviews vastly outweighs the good but what does it matter they made a mint, case in point assissins creed 1, tried to please too many instead it pissed them off. A good game that hasn't made a lot but has had praise would be amnesia the dark descent, which developer would you rather be, rich but hated, or not rich but loved.

 

[Kumomaru]

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.

Europe has twice as many people and a dozen times as many languages, and completely different cultures every few hundred miles too. Don't try selling that varied culture crap.

We have a state where the culture changes every few STREETS.

And while Europe's culture changes, it's not one country. It's a continent. It's a different ball game

 

[Verlander]

Europe for the win

You realise it's because of Star Wars, right?

 

[Otto42]

Europe has twice as many people and a dozen times as many languages, and completely different cultures every few hundred miles too. Don't try selling that varied culture crap.

Europe also has everybody pretty much *hating* each other's guts. There's virtually no crossover. Or are you seriously suggesting that Germans all watch the same shows that the British people do?

The thing is, while the US is indeed a wide varied set of cultures, just as Europe is, very few people are trying to sell something to the whole of Europe at once. They localize, and tailor content to each audience. That's not the case here, because apparently we just can't be bothered or something, so everything ends up having to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

It's not that you can't find intellectually stimulating and satisfying material in the US, it's just that from the outside looking in, you'd have to see through the 20 layers of stupid nonsensical BS to get anywhere near it. And this is the case in the reverse too, obviously. There's a lot of crap coming out of the BBC these days, and while the Brits obviously know what is good there, you have to admit that there's a lot of bad as well.

 

[superline51]

Yes, the reason we buy games is because the box art, that sits on a shelf and only gets looked at when getting the game out, is pretty.

The moral of the story: who gives a crap. Dead Space 2 could have had a literal steaming pile of shit on the front cover and I still would have bought the game immediately.

 

[Deathkingo]

The Statue of Liberty ain't French! It's Mmmmerican!

 

[MasterChief892039]

While I generally agree with this article, I hope everyone realizes that a) consumers have no say in what the box art for their games look like and b) many of these could be considered a matter of opinion. Obviously no one can argue that the Megaman cover sucked balls, but personally for the last example Yahtzee gave, I preferred the second "Out of This World" box art -the "old pulp sci-fi" American version- to the blandly coloured, hand-painted original... just look at that blocky ape man in the lower left hand corner. Looks awful.

 

[Bloodstain]

Americans want their covers to look thrilling and gun-fighting-y in order for them to appeal to the mass audience.
The thing is: Because all covers try to pull that off, they all look all the more boring and generic. They all look the same.

That's why simple and question-raising covers (one might call them artsy) are - even though it may seem paradoxical - stand out and thus attract more attention.

It's the same with book covers (at least here in Germany). They all try to look shocking and mysterious, most of them are in black and red. So simple, white covers attract more attention (at least more of mine).

 

[Farlander]

Which reminds me. Russian releases usually use European covers. But sometimes there's shit shittier than American shit (although, not all American covers are bad). Like this one.

 

[AWhite107]

As an American I can honestly say, minus the fact that the only country I ever find myself hating because they got the game before me is Japan, we screw with games way too much. From changing titles for the American version, to changing images etc. I dont know why we have to try to be so unique.

 

[Kegluneq]

To everyone arguing that minimalist box art doesn't tell you what the game is like: DVD cases have two sides. The back of Ico has screenshots and writing telling you what the game is about, as does just about any other game, regardless of the art on the front. But anyway, the box art for Ico (and the art design in general) is amazing and the cover is one of my favourite for any form of media.

To add another example that hasn't been brought up yet: The Metal Gear Solid 4 cover. The US versions of previous titles in the series weren't too bad and there's only one real difference between the two, but it's an important one. By not going for the handrawn look, the US version goes against the theme of the series art beforehand and thus fails.

Edit: Wow, Farlander, that's even worse than the Rats of NIMH one. Speaking of which, is Watership Down a cuddly cute film about bunnies [http://www.dvdcorral.com/viewmovie.php?id=15486] or the awesome yet horrifying product of a broken mind [http://pics.livejournal.com/escapecomplex/pic/0004qfxy]?

 

[James Raynor]

It's because developers pander to the american sterotype. So it's a self-reinforcing process.

 

[The Floating Nose]

I completely agree ! I hate americans box art. I was at a video club last weekend and i was looking at the games and i thought to myself: Man, they all look the same ! IT IS NOT APPEALING TO THE EYE ! PAY A FUCKING ARTIST TO THE BOX ART ! If you want video games to be recognized as an art form well, a beautiful hand-painted box art is a point in it's favor not against it.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Why does America hate French videogame developers?

I think that's just Fox News. Why do the English hate the French?
....
Okay, why do you Still hate the French?

I think the reasons that the US gets such horrible cover-art is because the person who wants to play the game doesn't care what's on the cover. For example: I really liked Mega Man.

The marketing dept designs the cover for the mom in the store buying it for their kid. So they try and design the cover to catch the eye, rape it, then leave it for dead. The idea is for it to be like an overwrought romance novel cover that shows a lot of what they can pass as being in the game. So the mom can say "oh this will be good. Johnny likes aliens, guns, AND tits."
The more they can fit on that image, the more likely some uninformed parent will see it and buy it.
No offense but the escapist kind of does the same thing with the front page of this site.

 

[LadyRhian]

Because America is all about identifying with the main character- becoming the main character, so that's what we want to see on our box art. Admittedly, not always, but mostly. And we can't identify with a character (or characters) if we don't know what they look like.

I'm sorry, fellow escapee, but I could never identify with a main character that looks like this abomination over here:

[small]

What the fuck is this?​

[/small]

And the punchline? MEGAMAN DOESN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE THAT!

::Laughs.:: He looks like he's in the midst of a desperate potty emergency.

 

[Fleaman]

It's because the people who do American boxart don't know shit. Hollywood does floating heads because they spent a ludicrous amount of money buying Harrison Ford's head, because they know that movie-goers will spend a ludicrous amount of money to buy tickets to see Harrison Ford's head. Games do not have actors. Our floating head fetish makes no sense.

A game like Bayonetta that sells on the strong character design and sex appeal of its lead, sure, put her on the cover. But there had better be some goddamn tits, because no one is buying her hairstyle. RE4's cover, we started out with a decent shot of filthy, crazed villagers, that's what the game is about, that's great, and then we stick Leon's stupid face on top of it; ugly, I think you ruined it, but a pretty boy and a gun could help, so I see where you're coming from. But for Ico... Jesus, it's the most meaningless thing I've ever seen. No idea what the game is about, but I'm playing as A KID WITH HORNS, FUCKING AMAZING. And there's a GIRL'S HEAD involved somehow, holy shit. I weep for the money spent on this shitty box.