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The Tale of the Identical Box Art

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.

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.

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