61 Frames Per Second

The Tale of the Identical Box Art

Posted by Bob Mackey

The blogosphere is rumbling with news of an industry lawsuit that isn't very interesting, and it's all about box art. Seems like Activision had a little bit of "inspiration" for the cover of their latest Baja game--an inspiration that came from THQ's own library. GameDaily reports:

THQ's box art has been out in the open since this June. The company contends that Activision's box art uses "virtually identical" artwork. Activision's game, developed by Left Field Games, is shipping to retail this week, but THQ had asked the court to enjoin the release of the title. THQ apparently got in touch with Activision earlier this month to request that they create a different box art for SCORE International Baja 1000, but Activision refused to comply.

And here's the evidence:

Aside from the hilariously blatant plagiarism, there's really not much to this story--or is there!? My ulterior motive for reposting this news is that it finally gives me a chance to talk about an observation I made during my dark, dreary days at GameStop. You see, Baha games alone do not inspire thievery; there exists another pair of games with shockingly similar box art. And the truth is so stunning I'm going to go ahead and hide it behind a cut.

Okay, okay; it's not quite as bad as the Baja example--and poor little Klonoa is clearly being misrepresented. But the similarity between these two pieces of box art has always bugged the living hell out of me. Especially considering that Klonoa 2 and Tarzan came out so relatively close to one another.

So can anyone else think of more examples of games with deceptively similar box art? This post needs to fuel at least three more lawsuits.

Related Links:

Mega Man 9 Box Art is Further Proof That Inmates Have Taken Over the Capcom Asylum
Help Activision Choose Box Art for Spidey
Klonoa's Truimphant(?) Return

+ DIGG

+ DEL.ICIO.US

+ REDDIT

Posted Oct 29 2008, 05:30 PM

Filed under: xbox 360, ps2, klonoa, bob mackey, box art, lawsuit, baja

Comments

Demaar said:

Can't say I can recall anything like that. I probably HAVE seen examples of it, but they escape me.

October 31, 2008 7:46 AM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

If unsatisfied, please return unused portion for partial refund.

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.