61 Frames Per Second

Browse by Tags

(RSS)

Criterion Collection + Videogames = Best GAF Thread Ever

Over the years, much has been made of Mega Man's hideous box art, and of the general pimplyness of game art's 8-bit pubescence. But ere we hurl stones at an older era's ugly glass houses, let us first look to our own, or something!

Like this, for example. Now that is some garish shit. Even the boxes for major games like Metroid Prime 3 aren't likely to win any design awards. Most of the time, they evoke summer-blockbuster viewing more than the subtler experiences their contents (hopefully) provide. They also tend to be stuffed full of colorful characters, when, more often, the unique experience of a game comes not from its characters but from the texture of its world.

Perhaps realizing this, some clever commenter over at NeoGAF started a thread soliciting game box art designed in the vein of Criterion Collection DVDs — playful, inventive, minimalistic, gorgeous. It is — ahem — the best thread ever. So much the best that even I, not much for Photoshop, spent a few hours mocking up some covers myself. Hit the jump for my efforts and my favorites from the thread.

Posted Apr 09 2009, 08:00 PM by Peter Smith with | with 3 comment(s)

Chrono Trigger's Box Art Still Makes My Head Buzz

I've never been a big fan of Chrono Trigger's box art. I love the game to pieces. I love its story, its music and its character designs. “Akira Toriyama” will be the last words to burst from my mouth in a bubble of blood when Mouseketeer revolutionaries, seeking to empower western animation, unsuccessfully try to force me to renounce my love for the manga-ka.

But I just don't dig on Chrono Trigger's cover illustration. It certainly doesn't rank anywhere in Mega Man's Hall of Box Art Horrors, but it's too busy, there's an inflated sense of intensity, and it was a jarring change from the quiet RPG labels I was used to in the 16-bit era. The boxes for Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III on the SNES weren't as stylish as their Super Famicom counterparts, but they were recognisable. The “T” styled as a sword in the American Final FantTasy logo, though not especially creative, was iconic. Square RPGs outside of Final Fantasy still featured calm box art that carried a hint of mystery about the contents within. Secret of Mana, for instance.

Chrono Trigger's box art, on the other hand, is bold and loud. Though it's obviously a finished piece of work, it feels like a piece of concept art that was randomly selected to represent the entire game. I look at it and I'm helpless to stop my mind from wandering into Geekville.

I start thinking, “Why is Heckran on Death Peak? Why is Crono alive on Death Peak? Wait, maybe that's 12,000,000 BC? Those winter clothes are actually kind of badass, but we never see anything like them. Why would Frog even bother to look for a contact lens that's buried in two feet of snow?” (I know, I know, it's the Arc Impulse Triple Tech—for which Marle is incorrectly casting a Fire spell).

Posted Feb 20 2009, 10:07 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 5 comment(s)

Filed under: nintendo ds, snes, rpg, chrono trigger, final fantasy II, retro, 16-bit, nadia oxford, box art, final fantasy III

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.

Posted Oct 29 2008, 05:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s)

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

The Street Fighter IV Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come

Capcom recently released the box art for their upcoming home version of Street Fighter IV, so here it is--in case you missed it:

Overall, not too bad; when it comes to the Street Fighter series, Capcom has done much worse. What's troubling, though, is the emphasis on Chun-Li. It's not that I have anything against Chinese women with gigantic legs; I just don't like to be reminded that another Street Fighter movie will soon exist. That's right, if you've been trying to forget about it like me, I really hate to bring you back to reality--but Street Fighter: Chun-Li Girl Detective Mysteries (title embellished for mockery) is something that well-meaning people are making on purpose. And nothing will stop them.

Posted Sep 24 2008, 08:30 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: street fighter, capcom, street fighter 4, bob mackey, box art, street fighter the movie

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.