Quake3World

As you may or may not know, BioShock Infite is going to get very dull, very bland, very generic box art:


Peoples all over the interwebs have been up in arms about this because they didn't like it at all. Ken Levine, big boss over at Irrational Games (the developers) has stated that the cover is not designed to appeal to the real fans, but to draw the average gamer into buying it. With the popularity of the gun wielding man style boxart, the marketing ploy here is obvious. It's all a bit nonsensical acting like this about box art that you're barely going to see anyway, but it does show the passion many people have for this series.

Still, in response to the whole hubbub, Ken Levine came up with the idea to have a reversible cover: so the front of the cover is the original design and on the back, normally not visible in stores, an alternate cover will be printed. If you buy the game, you can reverse the cover and use that. He's put a number of covers up at their website and you can vote which one you like best. The one with the most votes will be printed on the back. Additionally, they're going to put up a number of additional covers on their website which you can print out and use if you want.

I think it's pretty cool to see a company with this much passion for their work and their fans to come up with an original solution to a problem like this (even though it's kind of a mundane problem)

From the title, I thought they were going to actually take submissions from fans.

Two things: self-entitled fans who would complain about something as trivial as the cover art; and marketing geniuses who can sell self-entitled fans the idea that they somehow have any real choice on the matter.

Personally, not that big of a fan of the Bioshock series and never could tell what all the fluffing about was for anyway.

i voted for design #3

#3

Memphis wrote: 'here's the standard hollywood sparks/debris/guninhand cover, because we're sackless sheeping it, but you can pick the picture on the reverse'.

exactly. fuck that victim-role those devs are donning lately. we can't make a fitting cover cause then the misinformed people won't buy it.
wait, are you making this *sequel* for new players or your established fanbase?
fuck you.

The devs probably have little influence on the cover. It's usually the publisher that deals with those things.

Memphis wrote:i'd rather don freddy gloves and fist myself than get involved in such menial pointless toss. 'here's the standard hollywood sparks/debris/guninhand cover, because we're sackless sheeping it, but you can pick the picture on the reverse'. Fuck off.

It's almost like they are doing it to get more people playing the game so they make more money
I mean, what the fuck are they thinking, hoping to make money back on the £75 million or so that would have been invested in a triple A title like this. I mean FUCK THEM. They should totally cater for the fanboys who rage against something as totally pointless and meaningless as this.

People need to get used to the fact that once you have so much money invested in something like a game, the marketing and the like gets less specific, less targetted. The audience needs to be broadened to get the return on the investment and more games can be made.

The game will be a Bioshock game, no doubt about it, and it will be awesome. THAT is the important thing. Because some people don’t like the cover doesn’t mean it will be any worse of a product. The fact that the people who are making it are listening to the reactions of the fans needs to be commended. They are offering you the chance to have an alternative to something that they could have easily said “This is what it is. End of” Instead they offer some of the images that I bet the designers would want to use as a little sweetner for the deal and still people get pissed off. Bleh.

I haven't looked at the cover for a game in years anyway. Voted for #3.

#6

Though #5 is a safe bet given the amount of lens flair

I voted for #pretty sure we're all buying this on Steam, so who the fuck gives a shit.

They should make box art that appeals to the parents buying used games for their kids at Christmas. They're the only ones who don't know WTF they want before they walk in the store.

Not only do I agree with Memph, but I'm also turned on by him right now. Sorry Donny, but I think we should just be friends.

U4EA wrote:I voted for #pretty sure we're all buying this on Steam, so who the fuck gives a shit.

Not so sure, might give this one a pass.