Anyone else think that VG box art has gotten kinda...Cruddy?

All that matters is the game...Yeah, no. I agree that the games themself are what's most important. But awesome looking game cases are what really make the games look attractive. I have to say, the boxart on game cases these days just look...Meh.

(Had a hard time finding the boxart, so I'll just use what I could find.)

Look at this. The front is Ok...But the back just looks like something made in photoshop. Just a black background, a few cruddy screenshots, and a 3D rendered model....And some text.

Here are others.

Could of been much better. (Assuming this the final version.)

Front looks awesome. Back looks like they just stuck text boxes by the pictures.

....It's literally just some dude's face. THAT'S ALL.

.... Facepalm. Facepalm. FACEPALM.

I dunno. It just feels like they just don't care anymore.

I know most of you don't care. Game cases have always been a really cool gaming thing for me. There is nothing I love better than an awesome looking case. Some of the cases I've seen these days just make me facepalm.

Examples of great looking box art, IMO.

My issue with Sunshine (as well as 3D worlds) is all the blank white space. Also the Euro/Japan WWHD cover is much better. Tbh I hate Nintendo's obsession of using gold for everything Zelda in America. The Skyward Sword box art suffered as well

In the don't care camp I'm afraid. Could come in a plain white box with just the name on and it wouldn't bother me really.

Because the average person won't buy a game with cool art. They look at the case and decide in under 1 second whether to pick it up and look at the back. They see a guy with guns=shooting=cool. They see a guy with a sword/blood=cool. They see a guys face with a bunch of scars with highly detailed graphics=wow=what is this?

Walk into a McDonalds. Look at their photoshopped pictures that are highly detailed and in perfect lighting. It grabs your attention and makes you want it.

Imagine that same burger except it was drawn in a cartoony/cool art style. Sure it looks cool, but you probably won't want to pick one up and eat it. It is just marketing purposes. Deal with it.

If it bothers you that much, get a high quality printer/paper, click the internet and go download fan made box art.

its boxart for **** sake

You were that kid that had loose cartridges with brown gunk all over them, fucked up game cases and had his game CDs inside a shitty dirt-smelling Billabong CD folder-pack, werent you?

Go put skate stickers on your consoles and let the big boys appretiate art in a thread about box art :)

nope. im that kid who has immaculate game cases with uncreased manuals and receipts in box. i trade in my shit so i keep it clean. i just think out of all the things to bitch out gaming wise, boxart is the stupidest

Boxart is part of the identity of the product inside it, and since DVD/CD cases are meant to be stored its something that will likely stick with you for as long as you own said product.

So no, I dont see why bitching about shit looking visual representation of games is stupid.

Yes, boxart nowadays is usually terrible. Unless the game comes from Nintendo. SNES boxarts were particularly awesome.

I'd love to have a job as a boxart designer, if there is such a thing. I love good boxarts, and it makes me annoyed when they go and make a really ugly one for a game that could've had an awesome one. There are lots of times I've been thinking that I could've done way better.

Some awesome ones:

Since I just realized there are tons of boxarts that are awesome, I'm gonna stop listing them now..

You consider Mario sunshine's box art great? really?

"But the back just looks like something made in photoshop"

Creative Suite is the industry standard, so trying to downplay it as 'something made in photoshop' doesn't make sense.

The Nintendo box art is usually spot on. The only issue I had with boxart was when they went with the yellow background instead of the clouds for Captain Toad. The original cover was perfection.

I hope this cover doesn't change, it looks awesome. Hopefully the game is actually good so I'll buy it.

I think that Bloodborne cover will look good as a Steelcase. The regular edition should something else in the background to liven it up a bit.

I've never really been concerned with the back of the box. Cover and side art are more important.

(Kirby - Text won't show up on the post where I'd like and not completely editing it) This one comes out in less than a month so don't think it will change, looks sweet.

Never noticed really. Seems about the same as last gen where there were good ones as they're were bad ones.

I haven't even seen any fighting games with boxart as terrible as Tatsunoko vs Capcom's yet.

@scottpsfan14 said:

Perfection.

That is a great example of the usually banal 'serious dude with a serious gun' done really well.

Well there was the time when every box art just seemed to be the main character walking straight forward a la MW2

It totally depends and isn't relative to a trend or year. I would like to see more reversible box art covers though.

I also don't see many different box arts these days. They all seem to be the same unlike in the past.

E.g

i'm completely agnostic about boxart because it has no effect whatsoever on my gaming experience, or buying decision.

Boxart usually affects me when I'm on a whim purchasing a game that I wasn't hyped for or planning to buy. Especially used titles.

Dragon Age Origins, Uncharted 1-3, The Last of Us Remastered, Halo 4, and all the Zeldas are great imo, and the saboteur.

My all time favorite has to be..

@polishkid99 said:

Boxart usually affects me when I'm on a whim purchasing a game that I wasn't hyped for or planning to buy. Especially used titles.

Dragon Age Origins, Uncharted 1-3, The Last of Us Remastered, Halo 4, and all the Zeldas are great imo, and the saboteur.

My all time favorite has to be..

You're into purple skin?
I found out recently a ton of people prefer people with blue skin.
100 years from now people will have genetically modified blue/green/purple skin, I just know it.

Let's see what the FFXV box art is like... And Bloodborne's doesn't seem that bad to me

@KungfuKitten: It's mostly nostalgic to me. I like how classical fantasy it is without going over the top. Dwarf with a gun, and an elf.

Yeah, but I really don't consider this a recent development.

@Litchie said:

Yes, boxart nowadays is usually terrible. Unless the game comes from Nintendo. SNES boxarts were particularly awesome.

I'd love to have a job as a boxart designer, if there is such a thing. I love good boxarts, and it makes me annoyed when they go and make a really ugly one for a game that could've had an awesome one. There are lots of times I've been thinking that I could've done way better.

Some awesome ones:

Since I just realized there are tons of boxarts that are awesome, I'm gonna stop listing them now..

Doom's (and Doom II's; the cyberdemon gave me nightmares as a kid) boxart is freakin' awesome and it's freakin' scary to boot. Especially with that one demon looking back over his shoulder on the bottom. Creeeeeep-yyyyyy.

I'm happy do see that some people also think that some boxart has kinda gotten cruddy over the year. I know most of you don't care, but boxart has always been realy cool, ya know?

I think that it's always going to be like that...FOREVER. I just think it's kinda gotten worse this gen. Some look detailed, and some look lazy.

@gameofthering said:

I also don't see many different box arts these days. They all seem to be the same unlike in the past.

E.g

now that's one pretentious box art for such a shallow game. haha

Picks poor examples of almost all current gen games.

Posts pictures of Nintendo games that look like generic garbage and old Nintendo games before this gen. Tries to throw in LBP to through us off.

Looks legit.

>doesn't care for a stupid box
>must treat his games that have actual value to the person like shit

smh

Yeah, I guess, but I don't think many people care. Back in the day, the box art was needed to sell you on a game, so you'd see really cool drawings. Just from what I have, my intellivision games probably have the best box art, which makes sense. Now we have reviews, youtube, plus games look good enough to put the real images on the cover, so not as much effort is needed.

@Bardock47: I have the US version of Wind Waker HD for wii U, but the artwork is not gold.

It is made in Japan, but on the bottom it says "Plays on Wii U systems sold for the Americas only."

It's weird.

You could have just made a thread titled "Nintendo is the best" and the same message would be delivered, except with less bullshit.

@ramster: Thats the new updated cover art for North America, looks pretty sweet.

@mesome713: Yep, it's better. I really like this one over the gold.

This thread is over six months old. Flagged.

@ramster: Wish mine was that kind, stuck with the gold standard:P

This matter is subjective.

As opposed to these?

or

@ramster: You could've just made a new thread and not bump this one which is 6 months old.

Don't bump threads that have been inactive for more than 30 days.