Bioshock Infinite: The latest victim of the Stupid-American-Box-Art Virus.

[Gearhead mk2]

On the bright side, the cover has a burning American flag and Americans aren't threatining to boycott it, so maybe the whole "America Fuck Yeah" attitude has finally passed and AAA shooters can start being smart again.

 

[Ljs1121]

Not sure why we're bothering to make such a big deal of the box art. It's not going to make much of a difference on the game itself. I mean, if you think about it-

Wait just a second.

In the background. Is that...?

OMG THEY BURNED AN MURKAN FLAG I WANT THIS GAME BANNED BEFORE IT TEACHES OUR CHILDREN TO BECOME COMMUNISTS

 

[Christian bay]

Box art is just poor these days, I was hoping for something a bit artsy and well different but in truth once its in my collection I will only ever really sea the spine.

 

[OManoghue]

It's going to sit sideways between other games on my TV stand anyway, who cares what the front looks like? All the Mass Effect games had totally butts box art as well, and even the first BioShock had shitty box art on Xbox and PC

 

[Auron]

This reminds me of Spec Ops the line, I thought it was just another stupid shooter until I started reading the amazing reviews. Why? The ad on Steam made it look like just another tps.


http://www.nerd4sure.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Spec-Ops-The-Line-Wallpaper.jpg

And this didn't help.

 

[lapan]

Yes, that box art is pretty ridiculous, but let's not act like it's only American box art that sucks; or that American box art is inherently bad.

It isn't inherently bad, but it has a higher rate of silly changes than the other continents. Things like giving Kirby an angry face, changing the Farcry villians expression and reusing similar poses a lot.

 

[Jordy Hartog]

EDIT: I'm not implying that this is swaying my decision on whether I'm getting the game or not, for I certainly am. I'm merely saying Bioshock's previous entries have both had incredibly well-made art for their covers, so to have such low...standards for Infinite seems incredibly jarring. They can and should have done better.

I actually do let my decision on whether or not to buy a game fall on its box art. It may have something to do with my having been educated and trained as a marketer, but if they're trying to sell me a game by opting to go for a generic box art that has zero connection with the series' previous entries, then it's pretty clear to me that at least some of the people who worked on this didn't have enough faith in the product to have it stand on its own merits.

The same applies to other political and commercial campaigns that focus more on how much the opposition sucks rather than telling me why they would be a better choice.

 

[PrototypeC]

You can say it's nitpicking ("whining", though? Really guys?), but you know what? At least one person's job was to create this box art, and it went through a lot of hands before we saw it. That means a ton of people whose paychecks are deeply invested in this game looked at THAT and said, "generic tough guy turning away from particle effects explosion? WORKS FOR ME YEE-HAAAWWW" without even one person saying, "um, wow. Why is the faceless protagonist holding a shotgun the only thing on this cover? Don't we have an epic world full of character, and doesn't the story revolve around Elizabeth?" Even the tattered American flag was already on the logo; it wouldn't have been that hard to add some fire.

For those of you who don't think it looks that bad, compare with this:

Spoiler

or even this:

Spoiler

 

[Vault101]

then it's pretty clear to me that at least some of the people who worked on this didn't have enough faith in the product to have it stand on its own merits.
.

how do you know that? it could just be PR...dead space 2's advertisments werent refelctive of the game istelf

I find attitudes like this to be petty TBH...mabye because this all strike me as odd, the fact that I'm one of many who regualy keep up with whats what in the gaming world it seems stupid that boxart factors in at all in somones purchasing deicsions....I know what games I will or wont get before I leave the house...I asume most of us all do

 

[Vault101]

For those of you who don't think it looks that bad, compare with this:

Spoiler

or even this:

Spoiler

I dont see what point your trying to make..aside from the fact americans love them some gun holding men (though to be fair gun resting on shoulder isa universially badass pose)

interestingly here in aus I remember far cry 2 only had a jeep I think...(mabye the guy in the background with the machette but I dont remember)

uncharteds original boxart I think had drake running mabye aiming a gun I can't remember

 

[Vault101]

Still not as bad as Fuse.

Spoiler: Just look at this shit

It's the kind of cover one would use as a parody.

Oh wow, that's just amazing. Overstrike fell a LONG way. I honestly don't know how that box art made it through even a single person, let alone the entire publishing company. Just... fail, on so many levels (especially love the 'NTSC' tag over the token black guy's mouth...)

it looks like a mockup/prototype imagae to me

aside from the bad cropping and thing over thr guys mouth I don;t mind it so much...assuming it isnt a joke, I;d still say the Bioshock infinate cover looks more like a parody

anyway I'm going to be a great big old hypocrite and say (not directed at anyone in particular)....GET THE FUCK OVER IT!!!*flamesheild*

who gives a fuck? yeah it sucks..yeah 'Mericans are stupid [footnote/]I dont actually belive that[/footnote] blah blah blah
you know what? its just advertising....its PR..its trying to apeal to a bread audience...its trying to rake in money "oh but hurts the artistic credibility of-" oh shut the fuck up and pull your head out of your ass, there are many many MANY things that are worth complaining about in the world of games

this is a drop in the ocean

 

[Vault101]

If you look closely, you can see that his left hand has a slight orange tinge to it...

Spoiler

Ingenious!

now that I think about it..where is shepard? is he floating in space?.....at least the first one was more abstract in movir poster style but I dont know whats going on in the ME3 cover

 

[DementedSheep]

Isn't propaganda one of the central themes of the game? Seems fitting.

That is true, given the themes in the game it makes sense to have a guy on the cover looking like your typical American hero with the flag burning in the background.
Still not very appealing to look at though.

 

[Jordy Hartog]

then it's pretty clear to me that at least some of the people who worked on this didn't have enough faith in the product to have it stand on its own merits.
.

how do you know that? it could just be PR...dead space 2's advertisments werent refelctive of the game istelf

I find attitudes like this to be petty TBH...mabye because this all strike me as odd, the fact that I'm one of many who regualy keep up with whats what in the gaming world it seems stupid that boxart factors in at all in somones purchasing deicsions....I know what games I will or wont get before I leave the house...I asume most of us all do

Why wouldn't it? Box art serves a marketing purpose, it's what is supposed to catch the eye of people walking in a store and looking at all the games when deciding what to buy. If your strategy to catch a potential buyer's eye is to ape whatever's proven to be popular, you're frankly doing it wrong. You won't stand out, you're not providing a potential customer with a reason why they should choose YOUR game over everyone else's. And at $60 for a new game, it's likely that they're only going to pick one game at a time.

And I know that some of the people won't have faith in this product because several people involved in it approved of a generic-looking marketing tool instead of something that actually fits the game. They're not trying to sell a Bioshock game here, they're selling a generic shooter with a white protagonist who has rakish brown hair and a gun.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

I don't think it is bad, just not how I would have designed it.

Japanese Boxart

Thank god I live in the UK where many games have the Japanese cover. Although Japan does have more cartoon tits though.

Excuse my ignorance, but what game is that? It looks interesting.

 

[RedDeadFred]

For all of you are having a major hissy fit over this. They did it so that more frat boys would be interested in it. It's not like they made a whole bunch of unnecessary changes to the game.

Also, if this really bothers you that much, Levine has hinted that the cover may be reversible with a much better image on the other side. He's also stated that Irrational will be making a bunch of different covers that you will be able to download from online. Some will be generic, some will be absolutely crazy.

There. Now the moaning can stop.

 

[Mikejames]

Eh it?s not that bad, it?s just...uninspired. Still I would have expected better from them, its not like they don't have better art they could have used.
Its certainly not as bad as the ME2 cover art.

Seconded. Now if it were something like Booker slapping shades on with Elizabeth scantily draped over his lap, that could warrant some concern. As is, it's just a decently drawn picture that unfortunately isn't really capitalizing on anything unique to the game.

Ah yes ME2; if they were going to go that route it would have been nice to emphasize on more of the team, rather than just the potentially fanservicey ones. lol

 

[AgDr_ODST]

Def wont buy now.

if box art quality is really so big of a deal to you that this reveal really pushed you over the age and ultimately dissuaded you from getting it...then I'll from now on see you as nothing more than a sad strange little man.....you have my pity.

OT: This really is a mind-numbingly stupid move...its so generic looking(baring the burning flag) as has been said a million times already, and putting Booker's face front and center when it will likely be seen little to none over the course of the game makes it worse...putting the Songbird on the cover along side Elizabeth in some form or fashion would have been a much better move

 

[BakedZnake]

Maybe they needed the extra month by delaying it to improve on the box art, because I really doubt the generic excuse of "were makin da games moar pollish n lessa bugs" developers tend to pull out of their arses