From TVTropes' "American Kirby Is Hardcore" trope:
Is it just me or did Yahtzee totally rip off that paragraph?
American Box Art Sucks
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
Unfortunately, I think the people who make box art are stuck in the past (about 30 years ago, to be precise... and they're also failed movie poster designers, not game box-art designers). I often don't keep the box art a game comes with anymore; I printed out the Japanese box-art for MGS4, the PAL box-art for ICO, and a few other games I've done the same thing for (the names escape me right now). On the otherhand, on the rare occasion that we get good box-art, it's usually not because we did it well, so much as because the other box-arts just failed harder. I can only think of a few legitimately good American box-art's, and those are almost all from games made here in the U.S., like God of War and GoW II, thought GoW III's box-art was awful.
And the box art matters in games when we have shitty game design, terrible voice acting, repetitive stories and worst of all broken game play why?
I don't think anyone else has posted this but an article on cracked.com [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Struzan/] today but if his work making movie posters has been so prolific here then it makes sense that his style would be so integrated into our way of thinking about promotional art. Just look at the samples of his work in the cracked article... the floating heads and collages seem to be, if not his doing, at least popularized by him.
1) American Individualism. This aspect of our culture puts emphasis on individuals over the collective and insists that individuals make the most impact on the world, when really, the relationship between people and their common goals (fantasies, desires) matter.
2) American Marketing Departments.
2) American Marketing Departments.
AAAGH! KILL IT WITH FIRE! KILL IT WITH FIRE!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!
OT: These days I didn't notice that it happened too much. I guess I've never really cared (or played Mega Man). Although I do agree that some of these look much better in Japan and UK. Whatever, I guess just more proof on what lazy stupid lame boring uncreative fat insensitive undereducated insuperior people us Americans are.
I hate boxarts with 3D renders of the main characters plunked on top. This was especially bad in ICO's era but even now, many of the realistic 3D renders are so uncanny valley that it just creeps me out. MGS4, with a closeup of old Snake's face, is especially bad. For this reason, even though I typically anticipate purchases ahead of time, a good cover for a game I'm on the fence about will usually prompt a buy. And usually, those games will have hand-drawn covers, which tend to have much better design elements because they had to hire an actual artist and not just grab a random intern/committee-influenced "designer" to compile a collage in Photoshop.
And for those who don't care about what's on the box, remember: Your parents and family probably aren't nearly as educated about games, and WILL judge a game by the boxart. They aren't targeting you. They're targeting your naive parents and/or grandparents.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/first-personmarketer/8525-First-Person-Marketer-So-You-Got-a-Bad-Game-for-Christmas
This is an excellent supplement article for this column.
And for those who don't care about what's on the box, remember: Your parents and family probably aren't nearly as educated about games, and WILL judge a game by the boxart. They aren't targeting you. They're targeting your naive parents and/or grandparents.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/first-personmarketer/8525-First-Person-Marketer-So-You-Got-a-Bad-Game-for-Christmas
This is an excellent supplement article for this column.
typical american video game boxart is designed after typical american movie posters, and i think the logic behind those are "shove every characters face on the poster and hopefully people will identify with at least one of them".
secondly, our boxart is NOT meant to convey what the game is about... it is all floaty heads as you said, and it is meant solely to get someone to buy it, with no mind to what the hell its actually about. look at the whole add campaign for dragon age, heavy metal action scenes for a damn RPG, and what does it say about our box art that superimposed witches over a field of swords inside a dragon shaped blood splatter is probably one of the most minimalist boxart designs for recent games? also take the famously atrocious ME2 boxart; not a week after it was shown, forum goers posted their own vastly superior photoshopped boxart pleading for bioware to use that instead, but nope, they had to have as generic a boxart as possible, as apparently no one seems to catch on that doing that makes your game just blend in with all the other floaty head boxarts in the video store.
secondly, our boxart is NOT meant to convey what the game is about... it is all floaty heads as you said, and it is meant solely to get someone to buy it, with no mind to what the hell its actually about. look at the whole add campaign for dragon age, heavy metal action scenes for a damn RPG, and what does it say about our box art that superimposed witches over a field of swords inside a dragon shaped blood splatter is probably one of the most minimalist boxart designs for recent games? also take the famously atrocious ME2 boxart; not a week after it was shown, forum goers posted their own vastly superior photoshopped boxart pleading for bioware to use that instead, but nope, they had to have as generic a boxart as possible, as apparently no one seems to catch on that doing that makes your game just blend in with all the other floaty head boxarts in the video store.
Let us not forget, Sega developed Shadow the Hedgehog because they thought that was what American's wanted.Pugiron said:
Consumers don't always have a say, we're just expected to like some things. That being said, some American box art is much better than other countries.
Speaking of featuring a bunch of people on the cover: (Original first, then American)
Yeah, we get some crappy box art. So do other countries. We also get some box art that is much better. Specifically, Valkyria, or improving Drake's stupid face on the Japanese UC2.
It's true, most American box art sucks a fat one.
I think it's because the marketing people who develop these things are under the impression that all Americans are big spazzy, attention-deficit-having, neanderthals who couldn't possibly appreciate anything remotely artistic or stylized. We need the cover crammed with 5 million different things to look at or we will get bored. We can't just have some artsy fartsy landscape, or simple logo art or something! That's for pansies!
I'd love to see some more examples of this. I'm not sure why I like pissing myself off...
I didn't even know Amnesia had a retail box, I thought it was download only. that's atrocious
I think it's because the marketing people who develop these things are under the impression that all Americans are big spazzy, attention-deficit-having, neanderthals who couldn't possibly appreciate anything remotely artistic or stylized. We need the cover crammed with 5 million different things to look at or we will get bored. We can't just have some artsy fartsy landscape, or simple logo art or something! That's for pansies!
I'd love to see some more examples of this. I'm not sure why I like pissing myself off...
holy frekaing god! is that real!?Dannyjw said:
I didn't even know Amnesia had a retail box, I thought it was download only. that's atrocious
Wait... Amnesia has cover art? Well, I can't view the popup. The internet is being an idiot when I try to open it.imnotparanoid said:Oh lord no, no NO!LadyRhian said:That monster on the cover looks like it has a beak for a mouth.Dannyjw said:
How could they do that!
EDIT: Nevermind, it works now. WTF? That HAS to be fake. Amnesia is only sold on steam and on Frictional's website. It isn't sold in retail, therefore can have no cover art. It looks like it was made on Deviantart or something.
If it's any consolation, PAL box art for SNES games were terri-bad, while the US covers were, for the most part, okay.
Art Lesson #1: Giant, obstrusive borders make for bad box art [http://timewarpgamer.com/features/box_art_disparity_snes.html]
Art Lesson #1: Giant, obstrusive borders make for bad box art [http://timewarpgamer.com/features/box_art_disparity_snes.html]
Oh I generally shop in game, gamestation, (uk stores) and the new big releases, or just new things usually have their own sections, but most 'left over' games have only spines showing unless arranging with the first cover towards the corridor, then no-one gets a spine...Akalabeth said:
I'm sure it's different elsewhere, but I suppose I was making a generalisation based on my experience of medium-sized uk cities..
There's one title I really have to bring as another example of what American marketing does with box art. But, due to how obscure the game is, I'm going to approach this a little differently...
The game is Chulip -- a game that can only be described as a "kissing RPG." In the game, you and your father have just moved to a new town. You don't know anybody, and you have to start your life anew. But almost immediately, you meet the girl of your dreams. You want to kiss her, but you're not good enough yet, so you have to go and get better at it...by kissing everyone you possibly can. It was odd, for sure.
I'll start with the cover art it got here in the US:
Now, granted, it does somewhat convey what the game is about. You're trying to kiss everyone. But...they sure don't make it look good. I mean, would you buy that if you didn't know what it was?
In Japan, however, the cover art they got was incredibly different:
[spoiler][img src=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Coverchulip.jpg]
It may not convey the action of the game, but it sure communicates the aloneness the protagonist feels at the outset, as well as illustrating the setting.[/spoiler]
Now, same title notwithstanding, if you saw two games on a shelf, one with the American cover and one with the Japanese...which would you be more interested in?
The game is Chulip -- a game that can only be described as a "kissing RPG." In the game, you and your father have just moved to a new town. You don't know anybody, and you have to start your life anew. But almost immediately, you meet the girl of your dreams. You want to kiss her, but you're not good enough yet, so you have to go and get better at it...by kissing everyone you possibly can. It was odd, for sure.
I'll start with the cover art it got here in the US:
Now, granted, it does somewhat convey what the game is about. You're trying to kiss everyone. But...they sure don't make it look good. I mean, would you buy that if you didn't know what it was?
In Japan, however, the cover art they got was incredibly different:
[spoiler][img src=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Coverchulip.jpg]
It may not convey the action of the game, but it sure communicates the aloneness the protagonist feels at the outset, as well as illustrating the setting.[/spoiler]
Now, same title notwithstanding, if you saw two games on a shelf, one with the American cover and one with the Japanese...which would you be more interested in?
The real answer is that America is more consumerist. We expect our products to convey information about the game that we can use to buy it. Collages give you several aspects together, while the minimalist or abstract approach might look better, it doesn't tell you much about gameplay. The main idea behind the American style is to cram in as much information as possible. Let the consumer see the hero and the villain, etc.
This is one of those things my brain knew about but I somehow never noticed. Now that you've pointed it out, goddamn. Wow. That some bad boxart.