Movie-GAF can be just as bad as ConsoleWar/SalesAge-GAF, especially when it comes to a movie likely to be popular with GAF's demographic (Avengers, TDKR, etc).
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Ken Levine Explains BioShock Infinite's Box Art
- Thread starter Nirolak
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Movie-GAF can be just as bad as ConsoleWar/SalesAge-GAF, especially when it comes to a movie likely to be popular with GAF's demographic (Avengers, TDKR, etc).
Deified Data
Banned
It's like his statement was custom-built to maximize fan backlash. It's uncanny.
*looks at official boxart*
Yeah, I can see why fans would be disappointed. This isn't a hugely important issue to me, but I can understand how some might feel they're being thrown under the bus.
*looks at official boxart*
Yeah, I can see why fans would be disappointed. This isn't a hugely important issue to me, but I can understand how some might feel they're being thrown under the bus.
"-- Which of the following haircuts would you prefer for the main character of Duty Calls: shaved head, flattop, flattop with fade and shaved stripes, or helmet with mysterious visor."
YEAH, PUTTING THIS GAME IN A DISC SLEEVE AND TOSSING THE BOX.
I KNOW THE GAME WILL BE GREAT BUT I CAN'T HAVE THAT EMBARRASSING FILTH ON MY SHELF, DISTRACTING THE ARTFUL FENG SHEI I HAVE THAT DISTRIBUTES MY FIGURINES ACCORDINGLY. IF YOU THINK MY GURRAN LAGANN RARE GUNMAN DIECAST FIGURINE SIGNED BY ARTIST KOTARO MORI IS GOING TO HAVE THIS DISTRACTING DUDEBRO MARKETING TRASH ON THE SAME LEVEL.
WOW, JUST WOW.
VIDEOGAMES ARE DEAD.
I KNOW THE GAME WILL BE GREAT BUT I CAN'T HAVE THAT EMBARRASSING FILTH ON MY SHELF, DISTRACTING THE ARTFUL FENG SHEI I HAVE THAT DISTRIBUTES MY FIGURINES ACCORDINGLY. IF YOU THINK MY GURRAN LAGANN RARE GUNMAN DIECAST FIGURINE SIGNED BY ARTIST KOTARO MORI IS GOING TO HAVE THIS DISTRACTING DUDEBRO MARKETING TRASH ON THE SAME LEVEL.
WOW, JUST WOW.
VIDEOGAMES ARE DEAD.
Sleeplessnights
Banned
That would be awesome but it would cost a lot more than what it is worth.
It sits in front of my face for a couple of days, when I see it years after I am done with the game I wanna go instantly "ahh, BioShock Infinite" but now I will go "What's that? eeeeh. Oh BioShock Infinte!"
Confidence Man
Member
Pretty innocuous were it not for the inevitability that this mainstream grabbing attitude didn't leech it's way into the design of the game. We know it did for Bioshock and turned what could've been an incredible game into something less so. God knows how much further they had to go to dumb that down and make sure that the frat boys will want to keep playing it after being bedazzled by the rugged but handsomely featured male on the cover.
SkyMasterson
Member
So true. I definitely appreciate him explaining it and being frank about it.
Though I would love a reversible cover! Make it happen 2K!
Heart of Black
Member
In the end if you haven't heard of Bioshock before this, the new game's box isn't going to just magically sway you to play it.
Take a risk and make an eye catching box, not a box that just has another dude with a gun on the cover, because if that's all it took to sell games, all games would be selling better.
Take a risk and make an eye catching box, not a box that just has another dude with a gun on the cover, because if that's all it took to sell games, all games would be selling better.
Box art is a selling point for those who do not know about the product. It is supposed to be interesting and convincing. People are acting like every box cover should be like a Criterion Collection release, which are done tastefully (most of the time) in line with the content. They're not there to sell you on the product, they're re-releases of the product for those who want it and are already interested in it. They also offer more benefits like video and audio quality, but that's beside the point. Box art is promotional work for those who don't know jack shit about the game.
A bunch of presumably grown men and women acting like children because a demographic they term "dudebro" is being marketed in a way that develops on the fact that they don't know anything about the game is embarrassing. Nah, not embarrassing, it's pathetic.
How many pages is this thread? How many pages was the other one the cover was first released?
This is fucking "art games." The same pandering shit you ridicule whenever you think you've come up with some clever devil comic featuring Bobby Kotick.
Damn. Ice cold truth right here.
*flips case over and reads game description*
shinobi602
Member
Thrown under the bus? For a damn boxart? Come on people...
You see, "take a risk" is probably not something take 2 is willing to do right now. If by some chance the boxart doesn't appeal to the target demo (or the largest demo, in this case) it will impact sales. Because they don't know there is a good game in there - as you said, they haven't heard about bioshock.
The movie posters posted above are the perfect illustration of this.
Look at sony for marketing with "risk" and how horribly it can backfire. Ironically their most successful IP this gen is also the safest one (and features a white dude with a gun on the cover).
Cerebral Assassin
Member
Deified Data
Banned
Didn't say that I felt that way - just said I'm not surprised that people do. Are you?
Next thing you know, people will start saying they'll buy games digitally to fight back against bad box art.
My bad, far too highbrow for gaf
PopcornMegaphone
Banned
CloakedPuppet
Member
Yep. Highbrow.
If people where that fed up with playing the same thing again and again the gaming landscape would look very different and we wouldn't have the homogenisation of mechanics we see today.
It is sad because Bioshock managed to sell by pushing it's unique (to the populace, you steampunk junkies) art style to the forefront. Ads of nothing but "Look at how fucking weird this game is." A crazy metal giant and a little zombie girl on the cover. And it sold. It sold well! It's characters and settings becoming iconic. For a moment you could think "See, you can sell on well executed creativity."
And then Ken Levine said "NOPE. This is salad dressing." We've learned nothing. All is doomed.
Doomed.
And then Ken Levine said "NOPE. This is salad dressing." We've learned nothing. All is doomed.
Doomed.
CosmicGroinPull
Member
It's not a make or break thing for me, but when I look through my collection once in a while, I see a game I rated highly and if it has an equally well-made cover, it's a nice feeling. When the design of the game's boxart is representative of the quality of the game, and maybe even its content.
Deified Data
Banned
Why in the hell would I even buy a FPS without multiplayer, modern combat, and copious calls to duty?
Fudgepuppy
Banned
Make it reversible and I don't care if the promotional cover is the the dude-bro'iest of covers.
Focus-grouped box covers are probably the least of this games issues at the moment. Do people really display their boxes or something? I normally keep all my discs in protective sleeves because I'm paranoid about smudges, bendging, and scratches from some of the death-vices in those things (or the nubbins break and the discs rattle around).
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
Wow. This is basically NeoGAF's worst nightmare made manifest.
Anyway, the cover is the least of this game's concerns. Did you see the VGA trailer? Oh man
Anyway, the cover is the least of this game's concerns. Did you see the VGA trailer? Oh man
At the end of the day, he's not going to change the boxart and most "gamers" would check to see if the game is good or not via reviews. So this, like the FUSE boxart, that are not really reversible and the only way to see an alternate boxart is to either get the CE/LE or make your own.
So yea, no real point bickering about it.
So yea, no real point bickering about it.
unpurposed
Member
I know right? The cover of a game is terrible.
What GAF doesn't understand is that for a AAA game to be successful, a lot of people need to buy it. Making the cover something that would appeal to a lot of the shooter audience is step number one in marketing the game.
GAF is and always will be the vast minority of a game's audience, and don't expect that to change anytime soon.
Besides, it's just a cover. I don't stare at the cover of a game, I play the actual game.
It all depends on what point they are unaware of the product; hence why there are usually various forms of advertising for the same product(s).
But will it be meaningless if going in this direction (that's new for them) causes the game to get more attention?
It doesn't matter if it isn't the first box art of this mold; as long as it gets the attention of people, it works. Period.
Heh, are you going to answer the question or not?
What unique retail games that haven't tried to fit the mold done well recently?
But if they didn't do it, the games would more than likely fare even worse.
There are different levels of "doing bad". You do know this right?
LOL; why are you even in this thread defending in the fashion that you are then?
What's better though? Doing things to try and make people of different audiences try the game out that doesn't involve changing the game itself -or- changing the game itself from what the devs wanted?
Like, that's what I don't get about this "controversy"... I can understand being upset at a game itself being forced to change in ways that the devs didn't intend but to have a fit over a box art trying to bring a game to a wider audience? Really?
You guys complain about "dudebros" playing nothing but COD and sports games yet at the same time you don't like it when companies make efforts to get the same group to try something new. Doesn't make any sense.
"Hey! Stop trying to promote your unique game that we already know about to people who don't know about the game! That's wrong! You should be promoting it to us! Promoting to people who already know about the game isn't a waste of time & money at all!"
???
So advertising to more people is worse than advertising to a smaller group? What in the...
The most significant thing that I've noticed about cover-art is that pictures, specifically on the back, with ingame shots showing off lots of colors, magic and such made me almost-dislike the game just by that. And I did realise that if I got into the game, it might be enjoyable/cool, but those kinds of pictures didn't make me interested whatsoever.
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
And yet the original BioShock managed to succeed without its marketing pandering to the lowest common denominator.
Those frat boy dudebros are gonna get a nasty surprise when it takes half a magazine to kill a guy.
Which was exactly the sort of behavior I took Shawn Elliot's GFW piece to be poking fun at, yes.
I never said this lowest-common denominator strategy was influencing the game design.
Muffdraul
Member
I blame any developer who radically alters their character designs after they've been revealed to the public. Happy to say, it actually doesn't happen too often. Most devs seem to know better.
unpurposed
Member
Obviously not as much as they expected it to, otherwise they would have continued with their original style.
And really, the original cover art wasn't much better at all.
CloakedPuppet
Member
I'm actually more surprised by the amount of people that say that they could not care less about game covers than those that are concerned about the BioShock one (another case of the complainers about complainers FAR outweighing the actual complainers to begin with, but oh well).
I guess I'm one of the only ones that enjoys the aesthetics of media in addition to the the actual media. :/ To me, they are both important.
Not that I really oppose the BioShock cover in question, but this thread has exposed that most of GAF couldn't give a shit if their game disc just came in a green Funcoland plastic/paper sleeve.
I guess I'm one of the only ones that enjoys the aesthetics of media in addition to the the actual media. :/ To me, they are both important.
Not that I really oppose the BioShock cover in question, but this thread has exposed that most of GAF couldn't give a shit if their game disc just came in a green Funcoland plastic/paper sleeve.
After having watched the Plinkett reviews of the Star Wars prequels last night I get the feeling that Levine is doing what Lucas did: making something that attempts to appeal to widely disparate audiences and thus pleasing none of them.
Thanks, this is exactly the segment I was thinking of.
Thanks, this is exactly the segment I was thinking of.
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
This is actually a huge concern. If they've sold out on the cover, who's to say this philosophy hasn't extended to the gameplay?
What if Ken Levine is thinking "Hmm, those frat house guys would stop playing the game if we started with this emotional character sequence. We'll put a CoD-style blockbuster set piece here instead and cut those lines of dialogue."
The cover could be the gateway drug to the complete destruction of the franchise.
Treefingers
Member
wtf.. why?
Mackenzie 92
Member
that is indeed some horrible box art
I'm pretty sure that Bioshock 1 exceeded pretty much all expectations of both Take2 and Irrational. Just because they've changed strategy doesn't mean the original approach was a failure.
As long as the game itself is good, I couldn't really care less.
Levine is doing that via a box art? Really?
Muffdraul
Member
Because it sucks to see something in a preview, decide it's cool and like it, and then not get it in the final game. Complex idea there, I know.
FWIW, I'm not not all that butthurt about it. All in all a very fucking minor quibble. I think people on both sides are making a bigger deal out of this than it really is.
I wasn't aware unique automatically equals "attractive".
If the generic box art is in line with what many people are known to be attracted to then yes, of course it will.
airmangataosenai
Member
Me: "Oh it can't be that bad."
*Opens Link*
Me: "Damn..."
*Opens Link*
Me: "Damn..."
CyclopsRock
Member
The level of stock people put in game boxes on here is crazy. At least the dudebro fratboys have the excuse that they aren't that interested in games and so a cover that makes them pick it up means something; For the people to whom the cover makes no difference whether or not they buy the game, I really have no idea why they care what's on it. If it helps sell the game, who cares?