The Granddaddy of all Box Art

Another component for any gamer is the actual game. To get people to buy these games the game cases itself which goes through a long process of design, has to be attractive as well without being offensive. These box art designs as they are called have to be able to reach everyone without driving people away in disgust or anger. It’s a fine line to balance especially if as a game developer a lot of your game has mature content or themes. One of the most controversial game series ever just launched a new title two weeks ago and they sold like hotcakes. Grand Theft Auto 5 published by RockStar games and developed by RockStar North sold over a billion dollar worth of copies or 16 million copies in just 3 days. I guess the box art really worked after all.

One thing you must know about this box art is that RockStar and their graphic designers have used the same template for all the games in the Grand Theft Auto series. You have windows or panels with little snippets of images that represents scenes in the game itself or some function that the game has. One example is the man with the gas mask. In one of the missions you play the character in the gas mask. An example of a function of the game being represented is the dog. You could actually use a dog in the game to attack. The box art might seem just like any other video game box art, but there’s a catch. What I found most interesting is that the game itself is in 3D or computer generated. The box art itself has a hand drawn or painted cartoon quality to them. I love the subtle contradiction that RockStar has chosen. Their game is placed in a 3D universe while the box art is created as a 2D universe.

The title of the game is centered perfectly in the middle in bold white font. The white font contrast with the darker colored background to really make it standout. The number 5 which means the 5th game in the series is designed in roman numerals. This design choice was used from Grand Theft Auto 3 and up. The five in roman numerals also has a banner wrapping around it and it gives off this money or cash vibe. The banner is something that you would see in a bill and the green color is the color that money is usually represented.  In the game itself your actual goal is to earn money using whatever means possible so the design choice for the number 5 was chosen carefully so it would adhere to the goal and story of the game. The relationship between what you see on the box art and what you get to do or see in the game have to coincide or else customer would be asking why is that car on the cover, but I can’t find it in the game. Customer would feel cheated or lied to.

Just like everything else in the game the Box Art was designed beautifully with care and precision.

One of the Best Controllers of All Time

This is one of the tools I use for my favorite past time which is video games. Finding the right controller to play a video is both difficult, but necessary. Created by Microsoft for the XBox 360 video game, The Xbox 360 controller is the successor to the original Controller S which was on the original XBox and is considered to be one of the best controllers ever created. Millions of dollars by Microsoft was spent on both research and testing just to get the button layout right so gamers everywhere can play for hours without as much as a cramp in their hands. The middle of the controller has a gorgeously placed guide button that also serves as the logo for the Xbox 360. What you can’t see since the controller is off is that once you turn the controller on the clear green accent surrounding the middle logo and guide buttons actually lights up. The circle is divided into for equal parts. After the entire circle flashes for a couple of second the only part of the circle that stays on is the section that indicates which player is currently playing. Player 1 controller would have the top left section of the light circle lit up. The circular light serves as both an aesthetic design and also has functioning purposes. 

The controller I have is a black controller, but this controller is also available in white with grey accent pieces on the joystiqs and the directional pad which is the button that looks like an addition sign. Another interesting point is the face buttons as people called them. These buttons are the Y,X,B,A. Common colors for buttons in gaming are green, blue red and yellow and these are exactly the colors that are seen on the XBox 360 controller. Just look at any of your local arcade machines and you’ll see that they also use the same color pattern. For gamers the colors are nostalgic and recognizable and that’s why they are so commonly used on buttons for both the arcade and also with handheld controllers. The XBox 360 is an amazing controller. It is considered to be one of best designed controllers of all time and doesn’t look too bad serving it’s purpose.