boxart
Latest
Blast Works media reveals more of editor, underwhelming boxart
For a game as inventive and unique as Budcat's Blast Works, that sure is some vanilla boxart. Okay, so it's functional in a Ronseal-kinda way, but it's also far from pretty or imaginative (like the game itself). Then again, sporting the kind of cover you'd expect to see on the blandest of Wii budget shovelware didn't harm Game Party's chances, so perhaps this will do the trick, and millions will get to sample Blast Works' original premise and amazing item editor. We can but hope.Speaking of the item editor, it's the center of attention in the fifteen new Blast Works shots in the gallery below. It looks as deep and as engrossing as ever, and there's some encouragingly weird ships being created in those screens.%Gallery-4821%
99 no Namida says yes to boxart, release date
Coming from Namco Bandai, 99 no Namida (Tears of 99), is a title that is sure to make you cry. Well, Namco Bandai thinks it is, as the title takes a few bits of information about yourself and uses it to spin some yarns about what would most make you cry. Why? Well, it works on the principle that after you cry, you feel better.The Famitsu update today drops a boxart for the game, as well as a release date (June 5th), on us. While we're interested in seeing if this game can make us cry (we're the most manly of men, don'tchaknow), we're pretty darn certain this game would never be localized for the U.S., even though we've got plenty of training games of our own.%Gallery-15389%
Family See-saw Fighting Trainer
Namco Bandai has released new screens of the events in Athletic World: Family Trainer, including a couple of new games that weren't covered in the last roundup. "Kenken Step" involves dodging stone idols that move toward the player (we think), and "See-saw Fight" is actually a kind of Twister/Simon/DDR thing in which players hit a specific spot on the Family Trainer mat in response to onscreen cues, with see-saw level representing performance.Amazon now has a boxart for the American version of the game, called Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, as well as a potential September 20th release date and a $60 price. Since it's impossible to talk about this game without comparing its sales potential to Wii Fit, we'll say this: ironically, this game's game-ness may be its biggest liability. Wii Fit makes a concerted effort to be an exercise program with some little minigames in it, focusing on things like weight tracking and exercise training and such. Outdoor Challenge is a video game that requires movement. The "expanded audience" will be more interested in the "serious" exercise tool, and gamers will still find Outdoor Challenge too non-game-like. But on the other hand, $60 is probably less than Nintendo will charge for Wii Fit.
BOOM BLOX boxart ensures the game's success
What's a genius marketing strategy for EA's upcoming puzzle game, BOOM BLOX? Putting Steven Spielberg's name on the box, of course. Casual gamers have no doubt heard of Spielberg (he's the guy who did that jewel thief movie, right?), and will flock to this video game box that so shamelessly flaunts his name. Brilliant move, EA.We're actually surprised that they didn't make Spielberg's name bigger. The thin white text kind of gets swallowed up in the loudness of the box. Maybe they should have put "Steven Spielberg" in big letters and "BOOM BLOX" in small text, to be safe.The boxart is quite eye catching (although -- dare we say it -- not exactly nice looking), and will certainly help the game to rack up some big numbers. It looks like EA has already won the sales war before it even began.%Gallery-15446% [Via Joystiq]
Promotional Consideration: Behind the boxart
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.We spend a lot of time analyzing boxart, partly because many consumers are first introduced to a game by its cover, and partly because we're people with odd interests. We've brought in designer and illustrator Julie Giles to give us some insight on the packaging process. Julie has worked with Konami to lay out the covers for titles in the Castlevania and Metal Gear series. She also helped put together the award-winning Castlevania 20th Anniversary package, arguably the finest preorder offering for a Nintendo DS release.Are you ever curious about how your favorite boxart pieces were put together? Or what decisions influenced a particular cover's look? Read on for our interview!
Shiren the Wallpapers
Despite the endless praise Shiren the Wanderer's fans have for the new DS remake, you need only look to the nearest gaming forum to find examples of curious gamers immediately turned off by Shiren's US/EU boxart. Of all the marvelous concept art Sega of America had at its disposal, this is what the publisher decided on?In a post at Jeremy Parish's (of 1UP fame) blog holding roguelikes up as "the quintessential desert-island-game genre," commenter Emilio shared a link to wallpapers fashioned from that official artwork, and, as you can see in the cropped shot above, they are divine.You can grab 1024x768 and 1280x1024 versions by loading up the official Japanese site and selecting the fourth option in the top-right menu scroll. Or you can just page through the wallpapers in our gallery! Make sure to view them in "Hi Res" for maximum effect.%Gallery-11488%See also: 2008's Biggest Blips: Shiren the Wanderer[Via Toastyfrog]
Special Rosario + Vampire boxart lets you choose your own generic anime girl
Capcom's anime adventure game Rosario + Vampire will include a very cool preorder bonus: a pair of reversible replacement boxarts, for a total of four possible boxart choices. Each one focuses on one of the game's female characters, of course. The second reversible cover can be seen after the break.We aren't really that taken with the Rosario + Vampire cast -- they seem like pretty standard anime characters, who no doubt confound the hapless protagonist with their one personality quirk each -- and we don't care much about anime in the first place. However, the idea of alternate boxarts as a bonus appeals to us. We don't really see our DS boxes all that often, but we find the idea of customizing them fun.
Promotional Consideration: Toy soldiers
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.We had so much fun presenting fan-made commercials these past two weeks, we decided to create our own ad, repurposing an old page ripped from a 1970s comic book, its pages yellowed with age. Strap up your boots, grab your rifle, and report past the post break for this week's edition of Promotional Consideration!
Barnyard Blunder
Before we huff, puff, and blow our Barnyard Blast: Swine of the Night review down, let's have a quick look at the Castlevania parody's cover design. Notice anything wonky? Look directly underneath the game logo and awesome subtitle!
Don't fear the fire in these fresh Alone in the Dark screens
Atari's upcoming Alone in the Dark game will have lots of fire in it, apparently, as that's all we've had to look at from the game as of late. The game's website just updated with a trio of fresh screens from the Wii version of the game. And, as you might have guessed from the headline, they all involve fire in some way. Be sure to check them out in our gallery below.What do you guys think of Alone in the Dark? Are you excited for it?%Gallery-10200%
Taiko Drum Master boxart wants you to be excited for the game
When it comes to dissecting boxart, there's usually one man who can get the job done. However, when it comes to Taiko Drum Master, there's little stopping this blogger from destroying all in his path to the delicious news. The latest on 7-tsu no Shima no Daibouken (known as Taiko Drum Master: 7 Islands' Adventure to us English-speaking folk) presents us with the boxart you see above. Looking at the boxart, we see the overly-cute taiko leaping high above the islands that make up the game's title. The slight sparkles surrounding the taiko implies that this game is fresh and clean, one that is new and waiting for an anxious player to pick it up. Also, you can see the taiko is directly above the volcano, causing us to believe it shot the little guy out toward the clouds, smile upon its face, so that it may leap to your attention and have you pick it up off the shelf. Of course, if you were to jump into a volcano in real life, you would probably not be the same anymore.You'd probably be Vader.
Koei to roll Opoona out late March
If your days are spent yearning for a game in which you play a bald kid with an orange orb hovering over his head, circle March 25th on your calendar, the date Opoona, that other Wii-exclusive epic RPG, makes its stateside debut. Then you can put a happy face in that circle, draw a smaller circle above the face, and, will you look at that, you've got a picture of the game's titular hero!After a spaceship-wreck interrupts his family vacation, Opoona finds himself stuck on Planet Landroll, forced to begin a new life in the strange world while searching for his siblings and parents. Opoona's hardships range from trying to find a job to fighting against the Dark Rogues terrorizing Landroll's people. We assume he also has to deal with the self-esteem issues that often come with balding at such a young age.As with the entire game, combat during the turn-based battles is handled with just the Wii's nunchuck -- you can fire projectiles and direct the trajectory of your attacks with different nunchuck movements. Without having tried the single-hand controls out ourselves, we're still not sure about them yet, but it won't be long before we'll get that chance! Hit the gallery below for Opoona's packshot, artwork, and a huge pile of screensshots from the US release.%Gallery-15530%[Via press release]
Super Dodgeball Boxarts
According to Amazon, Super Dodgeball Brawlers now has a release date: May 27th. That's pretty far away, but okay! We don't mind having just Dodgeball to play during what is usually a lull in game releases. That's totally fine. Also, take a look at that boxart! It uses the same artwork as the Japanese boxart (which is welcome), with the characters all rearranged and the background replaced with some purple lightning or something. Most interesting to us is the little "Kunio Series" label on the box. Since there aren't that many Kunio fans who wouldn't already know about this game, we totally take that to mean that Aksys is looking forward to continuing the series. Or they're just making us happy.See also: 2008's Biggest Blips
Metroid Prime 3's Japanese boxart is Prime
Japan isn't getting Metroid Prime 3: Corruption until March, but Nintendo is making up for it (in a gameplay-insignificant way) by releasing the game with a boxart that looks nothing like Sonic Adventure 2's. We're not complaining about the tri-Samused American boxart, just stating that the Japanese boxart is quite nice -- the kind of thing we wouldn't mind having on a poster. The color scheme is unique among Metroid games, as is the decision to feature some characters that aren't Samus.This (arbitrary) Boxart Victory is even sweeter for Japanese Nintendo fans, who have been subjected to some fairly rough Metroid Prime series boxarts.
Sega Superstars Tennis boxart misses a Beat
Come on, Sega. We're doing our very best to love your new mascot tennis game, and for the most part it's been quite easy. Putting wonderful Sega characters into a wonderful Sega tennis game (Virtua Tennis) is exactly what we'd ask for if we were asked, and if we were clever enough to think of it. Virtua Tennis is excellent enough when it's all boring humans, and can only be made better with space reporters and two different varieties of cartoon monkey.But the European boxart for Sega Superstars Tennis dampens even our enthusiasm somewhat. We understand the reasoning (he's very popular) but we still would have chosen not to put that hedgehog front and center. But in their zeal to sell this to Everybody, Sega has failed to emphasize the most amazing thing about the game: the wide variety of Seganess found within. And in so doing, they've given a bland box to what looks like an extraordinarily jubilant game.Some other characters are indeed on the box (in the area not taken up by Sonic), but where's Beat? Where's NiGHTS? Where's Alex Kidd (who we have yet to see)? Where are the wacky Sega backdrops? With the Sonic-themed stage (which looks the most like a normal, boring tennis court of any of them) and the centered Sonic, somebody could walk by and mistake this for a Sonic Tennis, which nobody wants.[Via GamesPress]
Light gun for wannabe regulators (geeks off the street need not apply)
To be a regulator, you gotta be handy with the steel, if you know what I mean, earn your keep. Regulators! Mount up! Hoping to win back the street cred it lost after selling a zapper shaped like a damn shark, Pega has improved upon the 2-in-1 Machine Gun and Pistol shell design, adding a metallic paint job and black grips for an extra touch of realism. The peripheral still looks like a cheap toy, but it should be adequate for whenever you need to lay some busters down.DealExtreme, a haven for nearly every crummy Wii accessory you can think of, carries the Pega piece for $16.54. Hook a left on 21 and Lewis, and take a look at a couple more product shots. We also have some wacky packaging that you don't want to miss!
Yes, it's a GUN
We felt extra motivated to throw this Zapper clone up here after seeing some of you complain in our Ninja Reflex post that we never talk about the boxart that we actually like. Well, here's an awesome packshot for you from Pebble Entertainment. Accessory manufacturers take note -- this is how you should be designing your boxes. Wacky packaging with kooky bulleted lists and random video game characters dropped in aren't going to sell your product. It's all in the presentation (and, uh, quality and price)!You probably already guessed this from the watermark, but import shop Play Asia has these Wii remote shells available for preorder for $19.90. As far as we can tell, the only advantages it has over Nintendo's official Zapper are its badass box and magazine-molded handle.
Ninja Reflex boxart screams, 'No ninja, no ninja, no'
What game will win the title of "Worst Ninja Boxart" this year? The battle is fierce, and only the most specially trained in the art of the bad box will prevail. In one corner is the stealthy Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the DS. So stealthy, in fact, that it remained hidden during its November release date. The challenger is Ninja Reflex, a game involving the most sacred of ninjitsu techniques: partying. What box will reign supreme in the sacred art of fail? And will there be any newcomers brave enough to enter such a grueling competition? Patience, young student, will reveal the answers to these questions.[Via GoNintendo]
CVG picks the Best and Worst Box Art of 2007
Regardless of your loyalties to any particular console, we think we can all agree that 2007 was a damn fine year for video games as a whole. Every system had a number of well received games over the past year, as reflected by the fairly diverse Game of the Year lists springing up around the video game blogosphere. The gaming industry has grown and further caught the attention of the mainstream business media. A video game broke the one-day entertainment sales record in the States. It was a year that all of us, gamers and professionals alike, can feel very good about.Except for you, box art designers. While the rest of the video game industry strove to bring their "A game", or rather, their "AAA game" this year, you chose 2007 to be the year when you collectively dropped the ball. Computer and Video Games has a chronicling of your failure; from Shadowrun's poorly drawn case, to the nightmarish box art for Cheggers' Party Quiz; and who could forget the decadently homoerotic cover for Fire Pro Wrestling Returns? Not us. We've tried.
Japanese Contra 4 tones down boxart, numbers
var digg_url = 'http://www.digg.com/nintendo/Japanese_Contra_4_tones_down_boxart_numbers'; Perhaps to distract Japanese gamers from Contra 4's western origins, Konami has replaced the game's cover with art more fitting to the country's sensibilities. Manga-fied and emasculated, our two heroes are mere shadows of the beefy commandos seen on the North American box, the manliest art we've come across since Haggar piledrived a shark. Lance Bean, the former badass on the right, was once pictured hefting up a rocket launcher, sneering at enemy troops while taking aim at their crotches. Now he is shown staying his rifle, a contemplative -- some would even say mournful -- expression on his face.We've heard rumors of other wussifying changes to the actual game, but we've yet to confirm them: Virt's synth-metal soundtrack has been switched out with Air Supply's "All Out of Love" on infinite repeat Tapping in the Konami code halves your manhood and causes nearly all of your facial hair to instantly fall off, leaving behind a pencil moustache The final boss battle has been replaced with a cutscene in which you shake hands with the alien villain and agree to disagree One alteration that we are sure of is that Contra 4's title in Japan will be Contra: Dual Spirits, keeping in line with Contra 3's Japanese title, Contra Spirits. Konami plans to ship the run'n gun game to stores in Japan this March 13th. You can see the US cover and a somewhat bigger version of the Japanese packaging art past the break.
