To Microsoft: Why is the 360 PH Box so damned ugly?

[HotShotX]

Seriously, everytime I see the XBox 360's Platinum Hits box art I cringe. It's like they flat out did not give a crap. So much so that I would personally seek out the original box over getting a PH box cheap and easy.

Anyone ever bring this up with Microsoft? Perhaps we should fire off a letter :)

Honestly, to me it's the difference between something like:

"You just bought Dead or Alive 4."

http://www.firingsquad.com/games/dead_or_alive_4_review/images/doa4boxshot.jpg


"OH MY GOD! YOU JUST BOUGHT A PLATINUM HIT FOR THE XBOX 360! Coincidentally, it also contains Dead or Alive 4."

http://i22.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/b7/ed/a2a5_1.JPG


~HotShotX

[triforcer]

that's why i finally got dead rising when the PH were coming out.

[evilmax17]

It's a passive aggressive way to encourage you to buy games when they're first released and at full price.

[terborx]

similarly offensive, and IMHO, funnier:

https://www.videogamesplus.ca/images/ds_castlevania_kb_boxart.jpg

[HotShotX]

similarly offensive, and IMHO, funnier:

https://www.videogamesplus.ca/images/ds_castlevania_kb_boxart.jpg

I couple more shots and it could be a damned Escher painting.

So, wait, the KB box itself is rated Teen? Since the game itself seems to have its own rating.

~HotShotX

[eswat]

The trend is to make PH/PC/GH covers to look more fugly with each generation.

[terborx]

not a ph/gh/whatever, but same idea:

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=8&cId=3158260

and now i'm done linking :)

[Rig]

They want them to stand out for the parents and for gamers that don't care about the package. That box shows a hit game, at a cheaper price. It's meant to stand out like that.

I'm not a fan of them, but that's why I find non-PH boxes before the PH cases are all you can find.

[triforcer]

i remember when million seller would just have a little seal on the corner of it.

[Corvin]

similarly offensive, and IMHO, funnier:

https://www.videogamesplus.ca/images/ds_castlevania_kb_boxart.jpg

Worst cover, ever. Took the throne from Mega Man.

[Surferflames]

I'll never understand the picture-in-picture boxart. As much as I dislike the red GH bar, it's better than the p in p approach. Why not just give me a bargain dvd case with a polaroid of the game taped on.

[Halo05]

It's a passive aggressive way to encourage you to buy games when they're first released and at full price.

That's pretty much what sprang into my head.

At the moment I'm waiting to see if the PH version of Marvel Ultimate Alliance Gold contains anything new (like the random DVD from the PS2 GH version). If it does, I'll endure the crappy new box. If not, off to scrounge about for the $29.99 non-PH version.

I'm saying all this as someone who has probably 20 of the PS2 GH titles. They don't bug me at all. The red is still classy. The front of these are terrible.

EDIT - That CV one doesn't bug me too much. It reminds me of JP games where each major publisher has it's own line of budget games rather than one unified design. The worst part about the 360 PH is the faux texture of the border around the game picture. At least the CV one looks "clean".

[crunchb3rry]

The problem with the covers is they really just needed a new banner on the top of both the front and the spine. What is below the banners should not be touched whatsoever. Same shit everybody but Microsoft does. Same shit even Microsoft did last generation until they spontaneously went retarded.

They mutilate the box art. It's reduced in size AND cropped by the "ring of light" border graphic. Compare Dead Rising, where the Dawn of the Dead legal disclaimer is harder to read on the PH box because of the reduction in size from what I assume is a sized copy and not a master copy, and a good portion of the artwork is missing behind that stupid "frame." The spine for some games is like playing Where's Waldo when you're trying to pick it out from your shelf.

I just ordered Dead Rising fearing it would be replaced by the PH box and that's exactly what showed up in the mailbox. I might try and convince my brother to take my sealed PH copy in trade for his original one.

Start a petition. Get those here to sign it until the activity levels off. Then go to GameFAQs with it for a week or so. Then TeamXbox. And so on. Hit enough of those sites and you'll collect enough sigs to actually get Microsoft to realize consumers don't want products that look like the remastered rereleases of Blue Oyster Cult albums you find on clearance at K-Mart.

[jlarlee]

It's a passive aggressive way to encourage you to buy games when they're first released and at full price.

Doesn't work on me because I could care less. Covers just going to be hidden on a shelf.

[triforcer]

just looked at a gamecube player's choice and they're doing right. small banner on the top that only movies the gamecube name down slightly and the section on the spine where it says game cube is yellow rather than black.

[spoo]

Doesn't work on me because I could care less. Covers just going to be hidden on a shelf.
:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

Every time I have the slightest thought that I'm a geek I remember that I'm not because I could never in a million years care about what a game case looks like.

[deathweasel]

Maybe they make the boxes ugly so that you'd rather pay full price for the original boxart. I'm sure they'd rather sell you a copy of the game at $60 rather than $30.

[Puffa469]

It's a passive aggressive way to encourage you to buy games when they're first released and at full price.

well put, and 100% true.

[hiccupleftovers]

They look hideous

[crunchb3rry]

Maybe they make the boxes ugly so that you'd rather pay full price for the original boxart.

They're not the same price though. The PH boxes usually don't come out until well after the original hit $30.

And since that's the new "low" price, people just figure they should buy the game at $30 before the PH announcement even arrives. Usually you've got about a month long window (some case more) before you have to worry about a normal edition being replaced. You can find Saints Row all over the place and I have yet to see a PH version of that.

[Friend of Sonic]

I heard Xbox 720 games are going to be shipped in cases made of fossilized dinosaur crap.

[crunchb3rry]

Shit, by the time a new Xbox comes out we won't be able to buy hard copies anymore. It'll probably be digitally distributed crap on typically insufficient HDDs.

[crunchb3rry]

Shit, I just got Oblivion from Amazon and the thing is in one of these horrible cases. I didn't think Oblivion was a PH yet.

[JWK]

Actually, I'd rather have these new PH cases over the old stye ones. At least when sitting on my shelf, the spines of these don't make them stick out. I hate looking at my PS2 shelf and seeing the reds mixed in with the blacks.

And yes, I have mild OCD.

[Gentlegamer]

For those stuck with an ugly Platinum Hits cover, see if someone has uploaded a high res scan of the original at www.thecoverproject.net and print it out.

[SNKMat]

lol

[Achilles]

i have no idea, but i just watched DOA the live action movie, and man the girls were hot.. . =D