Naughty Dog "Flat-Out Refused" to Change Last of Us Cover

[neoontime]

Somehow I don't reason this would of sounded controversial unless the issue with bioshock infinite cover. Honestly, I can't really imagine that people thought this even a little controversial without that previous story.

 

[kburns10]

Beautiful. All the more reason for me to buy this day one.

 

[chadachada123]

There's still a man in a stance reminiscent of soldiers walking to the camera looking off in the distance. It's still a main characters focused image which is much more of an epidemic than male dominance in video game covers. I'm sick of just characters on a cover like the photoshop face collage plague.

What do you want to see on the cover then?

There are a million things that could be done instead of the standard "show a bunch of faces" crap that everyone (in the US at least) does these days. It's based on some marketing bullshit that can be summed up as, "Americans don't like art or theming, and have to see the faces of the main characters," according to advertisers.

It's not only with video games, either. Movie posters suffer just as much. For video games, at least, I give you just a couple of the MANY articles out there about this trend, and why it sucks for the Americans that aren't your standard braindead consumer:

http://www.gamesradar.com/why-japanese-box-art-is-better/

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/8631-American-Box-Art-Sucks

OT: That said, I do really like this cover, because it just "feels" realistic and barren and desperate, like a post-apocalyptic game SHOULD feel.

 

[nonhoration]

2 words...Tomb Raider...

Yep, and Mirror's Edge, Bayonetta, one of the ME3 cases too

Considering how many people actually bought Mirror's Edge, that might not be the best example.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Well good for them. There's a time to compromise and there's a time to stick to your guns. This would be the latter.

 

[Souplex]

I'm worried about Naughty Dog. First they don't release Uncharted Racing, now they move on to a game where a racing game wouldn't fit.

Spoiler: For those of you who don't get the joke

I thought of that joke so long ago, shame I didn't act on it and make that picture.

OT: Good, ND is one of those studios that broke a lot of molds, and I'm glad they can continue being their own person other than an industry slave.

You could always make the joke that Naughty Dog and Insomniac are secretly the same developer.

 

[Jfswift]

The only time I look at cover art is when I'm browsing unfamiliar titles at GameStop. Usually I look for concepts or environments that look appealing to me. The title is important too. I don't care if the cover has a female protagonist though.

 

[Grabehn]

Even though I don't even care for this game cuz it's on a console, I guess them standing for their cover art is quite admirable, at least seeing how much control some publishers want over the game to make them earn more money. But still, the whole "male gamers want male characters in the cover" only shows how stupid some people can be.

 

[Your Gaffer]

The woman on the cover won't cause it to have poor sales, the fact that it is a PS3 exclusive will cause it to have poor sales.

 

[Risingblade]

People complained about this? Sigh...gamers are such a whiny lot

 

[Toaster Hunter]

I don't see how this is controversial. She's a central figure in the game, so what's the problem. People will find controversy over anything.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

I want to buy a PS3 just so I can buy this game and support Naughty Dog. The Last of Us looks really interesting, and I hate how some people are trying to drag it down to the same level as CoD to make it more appealing.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Gotta admit, this kind of seems like it's trying to capitalise on the issues about bioshock infinite's cover. Not the cover itself of course, just naughty dog saying this. It's like "HEY! LOOK AT US! WE'RE TRYING TO MAKE SOMETHING MORE THAN A GENERIC SHOOTER AND WE'RE PREPARED TO HAVE A COVER THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A GENERIC SHOOTER, UNLIKE THOSE OTHER GUYS!"

I'm not saying naughty dog are bad, I can't blame them for taking such an opportunity to point it out, but that's how it comes across.

At the same time, I feel the need to say that I really don't have a problem with the bioshock infinite cover. Generic? As hell. Still pretty cool? Yep.

I look at it this way: People who know what bioshock infinite's really going for, who have been following infinite for ages, will already buy the game, meaning irrational don't need to aim for them. Thus the generic cover. Hopefully, someone suckered in by such a cover will take the plunge with the game, and find a better experience than they expected.

It's a decision geared towards profit, sure, but I don't think it's one that deserves the backlash it's got.

That's the feeling I got from this. This doesn't seem like something anyone would make a fuss about. As far as I (and apparently just about everyone on this thread)am aware no one thought that this was at all an issue until Naughty Dog came in and told us it was. Seems like they're trying to show how "progressive" they're being.

Regardless, still excited for this game, it looks rather interesting

 

[lunavixen]

though I do feel that the main character shouldn't even need to be there on the cover, I mean remove the guy from the cover, and you actually have a lot more interesting image to deal with. you would have the ruined city scape, a anxious if not scared young person (in this case female), who looks that "I have this rifle, and I hope that I can use it to protect myself"

not only do you break away from the "women are weak" sentiment, but you also deliver something interesting, and almost cinematic on its own, but I could see some backlash that "there is only a girl on the cover, and I am playing as a guy without the option of playing as the girl."

bing bing bing! right on the money! i was going to say something similar but you beat me to the punch, so i can point to your post and just say "pretty much this".

OT: I doubt the backlash would be that bad, if you look at all the promo art so far, the girl, Ellie has always been closer to the front of the frame, as women can generally get the emotions behind the picture out there better (younger, more so), so keeping Ellie closer to the front of the picture the emotions can be more easily seen, besides, if you look at the persective you are facing, the male lead (I don't know his name) is leading Ellie into the distance, while she's looking back towards where they've come from.

 

[Strazdas]

ok so apperently some people wanted to change their cover? what the hell? who was THAT stupid. if anything female should sell to male audiences because, well, porn sells right?

 

[Legion]

It's a PS3 exclusive? Damn it's about time a recent one came out that I wanted.

I think the whole "Angry male on the box" is more of a developer misconception than an actual thing gamers give a damn about. There are plenty of games without it that have sold well, and plenty that have it that have been financial failures. Sadly a lot of game development is still centred around focus groups and meetings to discuss the colour of font, rather than treating games as a creative medium.

 

[Unsilenced]

Needs more flying sparks and debris. Also dramatically looking down and/or to the side. Badasses don't look at the camera any more then they do at explosions.



I like that they're making a deal about this, but at the same time they still have a mid-30's brown-haired white guy mid-stride holding a gun in dramatic lighting. I can only imagine how they decided on that.

"So... how can we get attention for breaking the mold... without actually taking any kind of risk?"

 

[The_Darkness]

Ok, now I really want to play th-

PlayStation 3-exclusive

Dammit.

 

[Khrowley]

All I can think when I see the cover is; "If that kid has a gun and the setting is post-apocalyptic; then the stakes have got to be pretty high." Thus generating curiosity/interest. Also Ellie looks a little too much like Zoey from Left 4 Dead and the guy looks like Nathan Drake's relative. Kinda questionalbe there......