American Box Art Sucks

[Nojh]

I dunno. Maybe it is because I am American but when comparing all the non-america covers to the American ones, I have the distinct feeling almost every time that I'd be more likely to pick up and look over the American cover than the others. I agree the others tend to have a better artistic sense but marketing isn't about art, it's about grabbing the eye enough to get you to look at the back, like Yahtzee listed. Actually the majority of the American box art covers meet the first two criteria if not the third (viewable from a distance).

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 think this is also a plausible theory.

 

[Ekit]

Who knows really.

I don't have any particularly notable games to mention, but I do have my own personal gripe.

The Secret of NIMH

Fucking. Amazing. Film.

It was a family flick filled with all the adventure and fantasy animated films about talking woodland critters were required to have as rule of thumb, but it still managed be pretty damn dark, serious, fairly intellectually driven and out right beautifully artistic. It was a family movie that defied conventions and was actually about stuff.

I haven't seen it yet but I've been wanting to for a LONG time, too bad no video stores seem to have it.

OT: Many have said that box art covers doesn't really matter since it's the game itself that counts.

A good, memorable box art can make a good impression in the marketing campaign. Something that draws your attention when put on billboards or websites and makes people that don't keep up with gaming news know that the game exists and what it's about. And it's a real advantage in marketing if you have some unique imagery when competing with hundreds of other products for the consumers attention.

 

[Zom-B]

box art is an interesting and funny subject. way back when i was but a lad, i bought flashback, despite the weird box art that actually had nothing to do with the game. luckily for me, the game was good. and then just a few years ago, i came across Ico after getting my PS3 (never had a PS2) and panned it because of the horrible box art. of course now i know that the game is great and i should have purchased it, but the box art was so horrible, so off-putting that i missed out on the game. now i have to wait for the HD bundle i guess.

i really wish that we up here in canada didn't have to suffer with the US box art. i'd much rather have the european or japanese box art in most cases anyway.

 

[Danzaivar]

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.

Maybe, maybe not. We all get the same box art though.

Oh and you guys all hate each other too. Be it politics, or north/south, or east/west. Whatever.

 

[Lord_Ascendant]

As an American, I will respond for my people by saying: If we don't have a picture of titties with lots of color and flashy filters we wont buy it....why? Because our attention span is so minuscule unless its ungodly flashy and screaming "OH GOD PLEASE LOOK AT ME!" then we can't notice it because we are too busy buying other, flashier things.

 

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

I am from England and i can't stand american box art.

Other examples of this are Final Fantasy. The EU and JP box art id just a white case with the logo on it, rather than the mess americans have.

And the worst one i have seen is pretty recent and i know Yahtzee will hate it.

Amnesia.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9024/boxartj.jpg

Guess what one belongs to who.

 

[Maldeus]

It's all apart of the hate-cycle. See, ever since becoming a world power, we've decided that holding a grudge for all those wars in the second half of the 18th century (plus we decided to protest your naval shenanigans by going to war with Canada in 1812, which ended about as well as you could expect for a war run by people who accidentally invaded the wrong country) was too petty for our new international Superman image. Instead, we decided to take out all of our hatred on France, because France hates you British people already. The more we pick on France, the more France takes it out on you.

EDIT: More seriously, there are plenty of American gamers (possibly even a majority of the market) who only like games that allow them to live out their juvenile male power fantasies. However, only a vanishingly small amount of that demographic is going to show up on the Escapist, so you're preaching to the choir.

 

[AgentNein]

You should have brought up resident evil 4 boxart.

here is the pal version:

It's very stylise and a litte scary too.

Now here is the american:

So generic. Nothing about this cover is good. It's so damn bland.

American box art is just more descriptive of the game.
So if you are browsing the store, you see both of these game cases, knowing nothing about the game, you are more likely to get a better idea of what the game is from it.

It's not a creepy dark game where you are in a empty desolate place like the top cover suggests, you are in a village packed with zombies carrying chainsaws, like the bottom.

I don't know, the first one definitely conveys the feeling of being alone in an alien and threatening environment, that feeling that something can pop out from any corner at any time. The problem with the American box art in my opinion is that it's far too literal. The PAL version, if it were text, says to me "lost in the dangerous, unknown woods" which sums up the game quite nicely in some ways. The American box art says "look your this guy with a laser sight and you get to shoot these assholes behind him look how many their are but you're a tough guy".

Also when are American marketing teams going to realize that just because a character model is perfectly suitable for gameplay, it doesn't make it good box art? Are they afraid that people will mistake a game with a beautiful painting on the cover for a game about painting? "oh no, I'm not picking up this game. I want a game with polygons".

 

[ramboman88]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AmericanKirbyIsHardcore

http://www.infendo.com/america-makes-kirby-pissed-off-japan-makes-him-smile/

There are better examples but I feel lazy.

The same goes for all (most?) other kirby games, check em out if you want.

 

[LadyRhian]

I am from England and i can't stand american box art.

Other examples of this are Final Fantasy. The EU and JP box art id just a white case with the logo on it, rather than the mess americans have.

And the worst one i have seen is pretty recent and i know Yahtzee will hate it.

Amnesia.
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9024/boxartj.jpg

Guess what one belongs to who.

That monster on the cover looks like it has a beak for a mouth.

 

[mjc0961]

Let's hope Apple puts out a console next generation.

So we can have a console that costs $999 and games that cost $99 just because of the special "you will pay way more than this is worth" stamp [http://www.maclife.com/files/u57/apple-logo1.jpg] on them? No thanks. I'll take bad box art over overpaying out the ass any day. Plus it's stupid to try and blame Microsoft anyway; North America has been getting shitty boxart before even Sony got into the game market.

 

[Jonluw]

"Highest rated game ever."
-Computer game review.

Lols

OT: I agree wholeheartedly here. Those covers were really sad things.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

Snip

For America, out box art problem comes from to issues:

1. Hollywood always puts a picture of the actor on the film poster if they are even slightly bankable. If somebody is the slightest fan of the actor, they hope to attract them based on the actor. Putting the director on the poster makes little sense since you never see them, and trying to sell a movie with the story is a joke hollywood would laugh for hours at. Paying somebody like Drew Struzan (who did the perfect posters for E.T., Star Wars, and the Indiana Jones movies) who could show both the characters and give a feel for the story was considered to expensive with the invention of photoshop. It is a trend we've had since their has been famous actors and it is one that were stuck with, which has infected American video game box art design, so no box art isn't complete without the characters of the game.

2. American audiences want stuff that looks hardcore: The target American audience for both Hollywood and the video game industry is 15-30 year old men. Box art is often made to look hardcore so the person buying it doesn't feel bad about the fact they are buying a "game."

Spoiler: Here is comparison of some Kirby box art if you don't believe me

 

[Maldeus]

I don't know, the first one definitely conveys the feeling of being alone in an alien and threatening environment, that feeling that something can pop out from any corner at any time. The problem with the American box art in my opinion is that it's far too literal. The PAL version, if it were text, says to me "lost in the dangerous, unknown woods" which sums up the game quite nicely in some ways. The American box art says "look your this guy with a laser sight and you get to shoot these assholes behind him look how many their are but you're a tough guy".

Yeah, sure, it's easy to give the win to the PAL contender when you translate the PAL box art into words by trying to convey the emotions on the cover and translate the American box art into words by trying to make a joke about it. The PAL version looks like it's advertising a Silent Hill game, one that focuses on isolation and real, actual horror. The American version is more honest about what Resident Evil 4 actually is: Shooting lots and lots of zombies.

 

[Delicious Anathema]

The Resident Evil 4 is my immediate example too, that ethereal image of Dr. Salvador in a sunset-red bathed woods is so atmospheric.

American boxart has always been lousy, not only in games. Check any sci-fi movie from the 50's and you'll find a huge unbelievable monster holding a woman, standing tall over the cast who look scared as if he's about to barf over them all.

 

[Awexsome]

I'd say the majority of marketing towards Americans focuses on their stereotypical two traits they prefer compared to other markets: Action and Violence.

Sure I wouldn't say I fit that stereotype even though I'm American but stereotypes exist for a reason. A lot of people fit it. The purest and simplest way to see this, IMO, is the Kirby box art already seen in this thread. I mean... they don't need to add the angry expressions. But they do. Because stereotypical Americans will buy that before the happy-fun game. Even if it is still Kirby.

I agree that a lot of box art tends to be more... cluttered when it comes to here in the Western hemisphere. That probably is to appease the action-oriented stereotype. "Look at all that stuff in this game!"

 

[Sanglyon]

This stuff reminds me of a contest that was done by Korn, maybe 10 years ago: fans could submit videos they made for Korn last single, and the best one chosen by the band would actually make the official music video. There was a lot of good stuff, and the winner was a guy that used only footage from security camera, giving a very particular feel to it.

Filming starts, then the marketing from the record company steps in, saying "you need to show the band playing". This doesn't match the artistic direction of the video, so the guy protest, Korn themself protest. Marketing doesn't give a shit, it's "do as we say or we'll get someone else. In America, people want to see the band playing in the video". Down the drain goes the inspired, original video, welcome back generic stuff.

Marketing: the last defense against originality.

 

[Azure Knight-Zeo]

Wow, just looking at the original Out of this World/Another World box art mad me want to go dig it up a ebay or something.

The main reason we Americans suck at cover art is because most of us wouldn't know subtlety if it came up and stabbed them, hell I forgot how to spell it when writing this.

 

[Fredvdp]

Final Fantasy XII in Japan. Euorpean box art is the same minus the Japanese text.

And in the United States.

Same goes for Final Fantasy X:

 

[sucoono]

Simple answer? The people behind the American Boxart are fucking morons... thats about it...

Man i wish that was the truth but alas it is not, simple answer is the people who CHOOSE box art are not stupid. They also have little to no interest in what is artistic. They know that gamers (if you are on this site this probably is you) who want to play the games they make will know 90% of the games content before the game even comes out. The job of the box art is to draw the attention of the Joe f***wit (not sure if I'm allowed to swear here lol)who is wandering around the electronics section of Walmart. Think about it. games like gears of war and halo. big tough manly games with manly men on the cover holding giant guns of DOOM. Price check on aisle 5. Now imagine if you will you take out the manly man and the gun. you lose the idiot crowd thats a big audience to lose to please some people who have already made up their mind if they want to buy your game right. yeah i thought so.