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Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood confirmed by Ubisoft
[Destructoid] Kotaku has been sent an image of the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood's placeholder box art, presumably by a rogue GameStop employee. Ubisoft confirmed the image as legit, officially revealing the next title in the Assassin's Creed series starring Ezio Auditore de Firenze, and in turn confirming the veracity of a handful of details contained on the back of the temporary box art. The blurb reads, "Live and breathe as Ezio, now a legendary master assassin, in his struggle against the Templar order. Lead your own brotherhood of Assassins and strike at the heart of the enemy: Rome. And for the first time, take part in an innovative multiplayer layer allowing you to embody an assassin of your choosing and define their killing style." As you've likely guessed by now, this is the spinoff that Ubisoft revealed to be in production a few months back -- the same spinoff spotted in a domain name registration just two weeks ago (which lends more credibility to the possibility that the next Driver game will be based in San Francisco, we suppose). The tiny screenshots seen on the back of the placeholder art additionally boast "A never-before-seen online multiplayer experience" and the ability to "Lead your own brotherhood of assassins, as Ezio, and conquer Rome." As you can see on the right side, a pre-order sticker advertises the pre-order bonus of an "exclusive multiplayer character." Kotaku thinks it could be Altair, but we're gonna be rebels and hope for Renaissance-era Sam Fisher. That's synergy, baby! Update: A Ubisoft rep told Joystiq, "Ubisoft confirms the authenticity of this image and will provide more information next week."
Super Mario Galaxy 2 box art has your Yoshi needs covered
Click to see full cover art In just under two months, Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be on shelves. Today, Nintendo released the final North American box art so you can print it out, stick it in an empty Wii game case and pretend you have the plumber's latest platformer right now. Okay, so that's probably not what the Big N had in mind, but really, who doesn't do that? Not you? Well then, you can at least use the art to help you spot the game at the store. Although, now that we look at it side-by-side with the original Super Mario Galaxy's box art, they appear strikingly similar. We've placed both after the break so you can study the subtle differences and not end up with the wrong game on May 23. We're slated to play the latest build of SMG2 next week, so we'll have updated hands-on impressions of Nintendo's next big platformer soon.
Raskulls box art decided, disappointing
Well, congratulations, internet, you got it completely wrong. The image above and to the left is the "democratically" chosen digital box art for the upcoming XBLA title, Raskulls. It won over the image to the right by a minuscule 15 votes. Just look at it. It tells you nothing about the game. It's just a skull king dude pointing. Now look at the image to the right. You see that the king is searching for something, a precious gem of some sort. What's more, he is clearly not the only one, as he is pursued by many competitors and what appears to be a giant, flying pirate ship. Also, there is a laser. This is box art. This is the stuff of great literature. Alas, the public totally flubbed it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we have the electoral college.
Remade NES box art almost as awesome as our childhood memories
The fruits of a deviantART "art jam" concept pitched by user lerms in late 2009 has finally been revealed, rekindling our love for classic NES promotional design (and how awesomely bad it was). The art jam's rules were simple: Select a classic title and reimagine its box art, while also keeping the spirit of the original in mind. Suffice it to say, the results were superb and only make us want to print each of the designs for use in our own classic gaming collection. (Or at least purchase poster sized prints of them all.) In all, ten classic designs were re imagined, including covers for Contra, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, and (finally!) an Iron Sword: Wizards & Warriors II cover sans Fabio. [Via Tiny Cartridge]
PSA: Print some not-terrible Heavy Rain box art
How far would you go ... to have better box art for Heavy Rain? Thankfully, you won't have to go much farther than a color printer. The "wet t-shirt" Heavy Rain box art shipped to North American retailers today can now be replaced by the much classier -- and far more representative -- European box art. Make sure you use high quality paper and ink. "I'd recommend printing it on an 11 x 17 and cutting along the lines so it fits just right," SCEA's Cristian Cardona advises. If you haven't picked up Heavy Rain yet, you may want to check out our review. Then, check out a new trailer after the break.
XBL Indie Game cover parodies ICO cover
[Siliconera] Who doesn't like cover art inspired by Giorgio de Chirico and, more directly, Ico? Monsters, that's who. That'd be like saying you don't like playing games that require the combining of three objects in various patterns to earn points, especially when said games use Japanese food items. 'Cause it's those two things that Yaruhara no Omochi meshes on the Japanese Xbox Live Indie Game channel, mesmerizing Siliconera as it does us. As if the idea of playing an XBL Indie Game with the premise of stacking "mochi (sticky rice cakes), fish, and seals" in a match-three-style game weren't enticing enough, it would appear from these screens that the game is gaijin-safe (read: in English). Time to fire up that dusty Japanese Silver account you've got sitting around, eh?
God of War III Ultimate Trilogy Edition: The Ultimate Box
Sony Europe has released an image of the European box for the God of War III Ultimate Trilogy Edition -- which, like the American God of War III Ultimate Edition, contains another box within. The European packaging is much more colorful (at least much more red) than the North American box, though, and features an all-important acetate window, through which shoppers can gaze upon the majesty of the replica Pandora's Box that comes with the set. Aside from the colors and the view, the European set also includes one other thing that the American bundle doesn't: the God of War Collection, which features HD remakes of God of War and God of War II for PS3, and plenty of logos.
Retail version of Machinarium comes with some extra goodies
If you haven't already been point-and-clicking away at Amanita Design's gorgeous adventure game Machinarium over the past few months since its digital release, you're gonna have even less of a chance to avoid it when it hits retail (in a box!) on March 5. Lace Mamba Global announced the re-release this morning, noting that the retail version comes packed with some extra bonuses -- a 54-page "concept art document" (seen below), a poster, a printed walkthrough and the game's soundtrack (standalone disc). If you needed any more reason to grab the $20 title, we have to imagine this bag full of goodies certainly can't hurt. %Gallery-83953%
Yakuza 3 box art localized for the US
When we saw this box art for Yakuza 3 on GameFly, we sighed in relief. Thankfully, Sega has followed the time-honored legacy of making spectacularly terrible box art for the West. Amazingly, this new art manages to say even less about the game than its Japanese counterpart, neglecting to show any of the Japanese cityscape that made the game so compelling to its fanbase. More ridiculously, Kazuma Kiryu appears to have grown a goatee comprised exclusively of an ESRB rating. Of course, if you're seriously offended by the box art, you can simply import the original Japanese version. Just don't expect any of the bonus English subtitles included in Sega's upcoming release. [Via VG247]
European Heavy Rain special edition looks wet, classy
If you're still a little incensed about the totally boobular North American box art for Heavy Rain, you might want to skip right past this post. See, Sony Europe recently revealed the EU-only special edition bundle for Quantic Dream's mystery/thriller, and it looks pretty wonderful. It's got stylish fold-out packaging covered in realistic, imprinted raindrops, and comes with a DLC voucher, a page covered in helpful notes and some do-it-yourself origami. More importantly, the front of the game doesn't look terrible. Europe's current ratio of not-terrible Heavy Rain covers to terrible Heavy Rain covers is an impressive 2:0. They are batting 1000, as far as not-terrible Heavy Rain covers are concerned.
US Heavy Rain box art attempts sex appeal
Click to Titanic-size. Are you afraid that Quantic Dream's PS3 adventure game is going to be lost in the Q1 flood of games? Our preview notes that the heavily story-driven game is missing mainstream appeal, something SCEA is trying to rectify with its American box art. As revealed on David Cage's Titter, the North American Heavy Rain box art does away with the simplicity of its European counterpart. While the origami bird still remains, the US box emphasizes Madison, wearing a form-fitting tank top, wet from what we can only assume is the titular heavy rain. If we didn't know better, we'd assume this game was all about wet t-shirt contests. That should sound absolutely titillating to the average GameStop and Wal-Mart shopper, right?
Gran Turismo 5 is real enough for box art
Click for high-resolution box art. 2010 is totally the future. How can we tell? Gran Turismo 5 will actually come out. Half a decade after Gran Turismo 4, Polyphony Digital is finishing up a true successor to the self-described "real driving simulator." The evidence? Box art! Mercedes-Benz's gull-winged SLS AMG has the honor of gracing the GT5 cover. It's a terrific marketing decision, if only to trick Back to the Future fans into thinking this is a game all about time travel. (It's not, we're afraid.) Check out a brand new video of Sony's long-awaited PS3 racer after the break. %Gallery-81744%
MAG: Massive Amount of Game data
Click to MAG-size. There's been some confusion about MAG, Zipper Interactive's 256 player super-multiplayer game. Some had wondered if the game would be made available as a PSN download, similar to Sony's other online efforts, like Warhawk and SOCOM Confrontation. However, Jeremy Dunham replied on the PlayStation.Blog confirming that the game will be "disc-based only." Dunham also added that "the game is so huge when moving everything off-disc, your hard drive is secretly thanking us." Anyone that participated in the beta will likely complain about the massive amounts of data that had to be downloaded during each game update. Considering the beta is but a taste of what's to come in the full game, the necessity for a retail-only release seems all the more evident. %Gallery-51370%
Lightning strikes the UK and US cover art of Final Fantasy XIII [Update]
The Final Fantasy series has been known to have some truly epic box art in the past, such as the man vs. machinery motif of the Final Fantasy VII cover, or the lovely, all-inclusive tableau featured on the front of the last entry in the core franchise. Imagine our surprise when we received the images above from Games Press -- it seems the cover for the UK version of Final Fantasy XIII will be considerably more simple than the box art of its predecessors. [Update: The US version of the box art will be identical to the UK version.] We've posted larger versions of the two boxes in the gallery below. Check them out, but don't let those eyes of yours wander. Yes, we know her skirt is hiked to a precarious degree. We also know that the baby Jesus is watching your every action. %Gallery-79216%
BioShock 2 cover is familiar, absolutely filthy
Not to be overshadowed by BioWare's latest effort to depict Mass Effect 2 in one epic cover, 2K Games has released the box art for BioShock 2 -- and it doesn't win any points for originality or cleanliness. Just like the first game's cover, it features Big Daddy (this time he's you!) and Little Sister (not you). Only now, everything's behind cracked, grimy glass and the logo's covered in barnacles. Eww. You can lay your eyes on high-res versions of the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC covers for the sequel in the gallery below. You might want to put on some rubber gloves and grab a can of Scrubbing Bubbles before you click on 'em, though. %Gallery-78401% [Thanks, Geoff]
Mass Effect 2 box art affected by massive change
Click image to apply mass effect BioWare has apparently changed its mind about the Mass Effect 2 box art, as the developer announced today that it has revealed the "final" image for the game's standard edition release -- the Collector's Edition box art was shown off a couple weeks back. The new box differs from the original version in that the characters and guns are more prominent, the Wrex-lookin' Krogan is replaced by Thane the Assassin, Miranda Lawson is trying harder, but still failing at a solid Dead Space Girl impression, and Default Shepard from the original Mass Effect cover is again the sorry stranger of the bunch. Who is this cookie-cutter mancake BioWare insists cramp its covers? We've never seen him in our game!
These are the box arts of Star Trek Online
Okay, well there's only one of them, so saying, "these are the box arts" was more of an excuse to make a Trek reference. However, we do find ourselves wondering if there should be more than one cover here, since half the game is dedicated to Klingon play. Sure, you've got some Birds of Prey in the background, but the iconic Federation logo, Constitution-like ship and Captain are most obviously the center of attention. Then again, so long as the game is fulfilling our deepest Star Trek desires, we suppose it's all a moot point. Plus, we're sure many of you are just going to buy this on Steam or some similar magical online store. That's been our prerogative at Massively as of late, especially since it cuts down on unwanted PC games box clutter that turns into a mountain of excess over several years. You can check out a much larger version of the image right here in our gallery.
DSi LL is too big for its own box art
The box design for the Japanese DSi LL has shown up on Amazon.co.jp, and, as usual, it is classy and fairly minimalist, featuring little more than a picture of the hardware on a white background. We're childish enough to be amused by the fact that the whole DSi LL doesn't fit on the box. You know, because it's so big. Look how much room is on the DSi box! Somehow, despite not fitting on the box, the DSi LL fits in the box -- we can only assume it's in there disassembled like an IKEA desk. [Via GoNintendo]
Doom cover artist dies at 73
Doom is one of the most influential games in history, and at least some of that credit has to go to the iconic cover, which features an aesthetic that's still pervasive in the industry a decade-and-a-half later. The man responsible for that image, artist Don Ivan Punchatz, has passed away. He was 73. Though Punchatz created cover art for numerous books and magazines, ranging from Playboy and National Geographic to Boys Life and Newsweek, what we'll always remember is the lone space marine with the curiously exposed abdomen facing off against the legions of Hell. Our best wishes to his family and friends. [Via BigDownload]
Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate Box Art of All-Stars
Capcom has finally uploaded the massive box art for its latest Vs title onto the internet: Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. It's very similar to the Japanese box art for the original release, in that it's a bunch of the game's characters set against a white background. The difference between the two is that our localized version shows the characters staring each other down, likely thinking about how they're going to kick the crap out of each other. What a violent world these folks live in, eh? Head past the break for the full box art. %Gallery-32421%
