Custom Boxarts: Why Do We Like to View Them?
Whenever I get bored and am on the PC, I head over to a site known as VGBoxart, a site where users can upload their own custom-made boxarts for real and non-existent games. Viewing them, to me, basically gives me a new sense of excitement for the game based on how good the boxart looks. Sometimes I’ll get excited for a bad game even if the boxart looks good. Looking at non-existent game boxarts gives me a sense that this game may come to be, and the boxart is a boxart you really want to see on store shelves.
The boxart you see above is a Kingdom Hearts: The Keyblade Wars boxart by Sentry of VGBoxart. This can be described as one of those games that doesn’t exist (yet, hopefully) that gives you hope than it can exist (thus my parenthesis right before those). When the boxart looks really good, such as this one, it gives you even more excitement that one day you could possibly see it on store shelves.
Now lets move on as we examine a few other boxarts.
All Points Bulletin, or APB, is an upcoming Grand Theft Auto-like MMO for the Xbox 360 and PC. It really is one of my most anticipated games to ever be released (I like being a thug in video games, what can I say) and even though this boxart isn’t perfect, I can certainly imagine picking this up on store shelves. It gets me even more excited for the game’s release.
BioShock is finally coming to the PLAYSTATION 3. Although, this boxart was made last year when the game wasn’t even announced for the system. This is what I call the “Steal Boxart”, where you steal the exclusive from another system and make a boxart for the system you’d hope it would come to. And look now, BioShock is actually coming to the PLAYSTATION 3. I was one of the people back when I did not have an Xbox 360 hoping this would come to the PLAYSTATION 3, looking at fake boxarts.
Champions Online is another MMO for the Xbox 360 and PC, probably the 360 equivalent to PS3’s DC Universe Online. I’m psyched for DC Universe Online and although I’m not really keen on the Champions series, I’m really stoked for this game. The boxart looks magnificent as well, raising my anticipation above the bar.
Fallout 3 is probably my most anticipated RPG this year, even though it’s from a western developer. Although the game already has a boxart, there is always something better you’d like to see on shelves. This is one of those cases. Compare this boxart to the final boxart and you tell me.
Here is another non-existent game (at least on the PLAYSTATION 3, not the PSone) that everybody is in hopes for. Final Fantasy VII fans have been begging for a PLAYSTATION 3 remake of the game ever since Square Enix teased their Final Fantasy VII PS3 tech demo at E3 2005. This boxart gives us hope that one day, maybe we will actually see that remake that we’ve been longing for.
Final Fantasy XIII by FinalFantaseer22
Final Fantasy XIII was revealed at E3 2006 and we are soon entering 2009. The North American and European market probably still won’t receive this game until 2010 due to the fact that they need to port it to the Xbox 360 while Japan gets the PLAYSTATION 3 version when it is finished. Who wouldn’t want to see this on shelves, no matter what boxart it gets? Although, this one would be nice.
God of War III was just revealed at E3 2008 at Sony Computer Entertainment’s press conference. Although, Sony has a habit of teasing us with CG trailers during their events when they should of just shown gameplay. I think this boxart gives us a little more anticipation until we see that gameplay, even though it is using art from Chains of Olympus.
Infinite Undiscovery by ViviDamage12
RPGs are my favorite type of genre next to third-person shooters, and when you’re an RPG fan and you see a boxart that you like but you think could be better, you look around for others. This Infinite Undiscovery boxart definitely suits me better as an RPG fan as the characters are usually the core of the story, and that is exactly what this boxart displays.
Square’s upcoming The Last Remant doesn’t have an official boxart released as of yet, but this gives boxart gives us something to hope for. Remember, characters are the core to the RPG’s story, and this boxart shows us the main characters of the game.
Although Mass Effect was already released and has a boxart, there could always be something better. I just picked up Mass Effect yesterday for an easy $25 and I would say I’d love pulling the boxart above off of my games rack rather than the current. Then again, the current is really nothing to complain about.
As you can see, there are various reasons we like viewing custom boxarts. For one, it gives us a sense of hope of a future game announcement. For two, it can anticipate us even more for an already released game. For three, it could give us something better than a boxart for a game that already has a boxart. I’m sure there are many more reasons, but these are just a few. As for now, I think I’ll head back to VGBoxarts and check out some more.