Bioshock Regular Edition Cover

This cover just screams out, "Buy me, or I'm gonna punch you in your face right in front of this little girl!"

Games like this make me wonder if regular edition box art is purposely made to look lame in order to encourage people to buy the Limited Edition.

I mean, come on. Bioshock is one of the best looking games ever made, with an umistakable art style, and they slap a goofy looking Big Daddy in an awkward pose on the cover. Does he really need to be throwing a punch at the person holding the game? It looks more like he's holding his fist out, waiting to be acknowledged with a little return fist punch. That's how Big Daddy rolls. Don't leave him hanging now...

Personally, I think people might be disappointed when they find out you don't get to play as Mr. Driller's misunderstood sibling, punching anyone who tries to get near his Little Sister.

That'd be a cool twist in Bioshock, if there was a hidden mode where you get to play as one of those drill handed muh-fuh's. I probably wouldn't punch guys so much though, seeing as I've got a 4 foot drill mounted on my other arm.

Shadowrun 360 & PC

Shadowrun is an interesting case not because it is a particularly good cover or even because the PC version is different from the 360 version. What's odd is that they're different while being almost exactly the same. I'm not sure why Microsoft decided to make the cover art different for the different platforms but having it be the same exact design just with slightly variant art makes it even stranger.

I assume it's supposed to symbolize the PC/360 cross platform play as the guy with the sword on the 360 box looks like he's the guy with the shotgun in the bottom corner of the PC box. Likewise, the guy with the shotgun on the 360 box is the guy with the sword on the PC box.

I'm thinking, either way, that guy with the sword is screwed.

Bioshock LE Cover/Contest Winner Revealed

Bioshock publisher 2K Games recently enlisted (read: bribed) fans on its Cult of Rapture community site to design the cover of the Bioshock Limited Edition for them. I can't blame them, that's more time they have to play the game! Thousands entered, but only a few won.

Without further ado here are the three winners:


3rd Place(Alun Bestor)






















Not too shabby, but certainly a little too abstract. I'm not sure if that symbol has any significance in the game but it seems kind of random to make the focus of a box cover. It also looks unfinished, with nothing going on in the periphery of the cover. That said, still better than anything that I would've designed, especially if the symbol was created by this guy.


2nd Place (Jason Montgomery)





















Wow. Now THAT is a nice design. It completely incorporates the art deco style so prominent in the game itself and just overall looks awesome. I love how it features the image of the city from the logo and depicts Rapture as it was no doubt originally conceived, as a beacon of light. This guy definitely put some thought and creativity into his design. Congratulations on winning Jason, I can't wait to bring this bad boy home! Wait...what's that? This isn't the winner? You mean, there's a cover better than this? Well alright then, bring it on!


1st Place (i.e. what you'll be bringing home on August 22nd) (Adam Meyer)






















Alright, I'm ready, where's the cover that's better than the 2nd place entry? Oh, I see, it's inside this envelope with the logo on it, cool!

Hey, this isn't an envelope...

Oh. This is the winner. No, no, it's cool. See, it's got the logo and...umm, the logo. Damn, that's a nice looking logo.

In all fairness, this design looks the most producable out of the three finalists and the 2nd place design didn't feature the logo at all (even though the entire design is inspired by it). It's not bad by any means, just compared to the 2nd place entry it's not even in the same league.

Here's to hoping Jason Montgomery's design gets used somewhere in the packaging, perhaps on the back of the case or at least the cover of the instruction manual.

What they should do is use Jason's design as the etching on the metal case and put Adam's logo on the slip case. Bam. Problem solved, everyone wins. Well, except the third place guy. I'm sure he'll try harder next time.

The Cult of Rapture via Kotaku

Big Brain Academy Wii Degree

Now this is more like it, US and Japanese box art that couldn't be more different right down to the different names. My Japanese is only advanced enough that I can read the hiragana (which is in romaji underneath it anyway) not understand what it means, but I'm guessing Wii de Yawaraka Atama Juku doesn't translate to Big Brain Academy Wii Degree.

The first thing that comes to mind is: What is up with Nintendo of Japan and yellow box art lately? Regardless, the Japanese design looks nicer, particularly the images of the puzzles in the background. The US box art is way too goofy and slapped together looking (as most US box art usually is). I'm not a big fan of Mii's either and the Japanese version doesn't make them the main focus.

It's interesting that this game is being branded with the Touch Generations logo in the States. So far, Touch Generations has been used exclusively for Nintendo's DS games that appeal to everyone and focus on touch screen use. Perhaps we'll see a Waggle Generations line of games in the Wii's future.

Also of note is the "Game Experience May Change During Online Play" on the US box, indicating previously unannounced online play. I can only imagine the kind of smack talk one might hear after a particularly rousing match of "Count the Boxes".

Super Paper Mario

Super Paper Mario just might be one of those rare cases where the American box art is actually superior to the Japanese design. Not that the Japanese cover is bad by any means but the US art is a bit more cohesive and decidely less...yellow. The US cover also incorporates the "into-the-screen" 3D aspect of the game into its design, which is a nice touch.

I do like the strange fellow peeking out from the flap in the corner of the Japanese cover though...

I also find it interesting that every character on the Japanese cover, including the butterfly, is facing the opposite direction on the US cover. It's like whoever was in charge of the US box art had to make it as different from the Japanese cover as possible.

GTAIV fake box art...

I wouldn't normally post fan made box art but this one is pretty funny. It never ceases to amaze me how some of these things get passed off as legit for as long as they do (that is to say: at ALL).

Unless Elisha Cuthbert, Vin Diesel, and Michael Madsen(?) are not only doing voices for GTAIV but actually lending their likenesses to it(I must've missed that press release!), then you've gotta believe it's a fake.

Source: Grand Theft Auto IV Box Shot - Real or Not? - IGN PS3

Crackdown vs. Riot Act

The localization process for a game sometimes brings about more than just a change in cover art for a game and this is evident in Crackdown's localization for Japan, although being renamed Riot Act sounds more like a trademark issue than a localization issue.

The anime style art on the Riot Act cover is definitely an attempt to make the game more appealing to a Japanese audience even though the in-game graphic style is better reflected on the Crackdown cover.

I can't say I'm overly fond of either cover and there's definitely not a clear winner in this case. The anime characters of Riot Act seem to have more personality but the main guy is just so goofy looking it brings the whole thing down. The US cover is way too inspired by the Grand Theft Auto covers for it's own good but I'm sure that's intentional. The game itself is inspired by GTA so they might as well ape it's box art too.