Ken Levine: BioShock Infinite box art for the uninformed

Seriously, who hasn't heard of bioshock?  My grandpa?  He hasn't btw....   ;]

ermahgerd people! Its just art >:( get over it!

Ken Levine has a point people. Kick ass dudes on game box art sell. Plain and simple. If I knew nothing about Bioshock Infinite, and I saw a babe on the front, my immediate assumption is that I would be playing as a babe and probably ignore the cover. And as a guy gamer I would personally like to play as a kick ass dude (with a few exceptions: Tomb Raider reboot, Bayonetta). I can't tell you how many RPG games I've ignored due to the box art being uninteresting because its littered with a bunch of anime looking girls. Also, its an industry where the majority of the market are dudes. You don't see male models modelling for makeup products or adds. So for all those ultra feminist pricks that are trying to stamp a vagina on everything male dominated, these are the facts of life. Deal with it.

Of course people at frat houses are not going to know what Bioshock infinite is.  All they know is Call of Duty, Gears of War, and maybe Madden.  Besides I find it hard to believe that the advertisements wouldn't reach those people in the frat house because they probably play on xbox and on the dash board I am sure they will see it in some way or another.  

To me, this type of boxart is nothing but an expression of cynicism. It's kind of depressing to see a game with such a truly unique artstyle, fall victim to the conventions of the modern shooter.

Granted I won't be playing the boxart, I'll be playing the game, and so in the end it shouldn't matter. But it's just sad to see that developers have so little faith in humanity. That they feel the need to slap together a generic piece of boxart, that in no way expresses just how fresh the artstyle is. When the boxart for your game tries to be something it's not, it's just sort of pathetic, isn't it?

Regardless, I will be playing this game anyway, as the issue isn't big enough to spoil the experience the game delivers. Here's hoping it will turn out to be a good game! :)

I liked the the announcement cover or whatever it's called, the one with just the title. I voted for #4 anyway.  

Why in the world does anyone care THAT much about the cover art? This is a bizarre thing for "fans" to get pissed off about...

And after all the problems with Infinite's dev. And esp. The multiple long delays, you'd think Levine would sure as hell do everything he could to first please the people who have been waiting so long and riding out the messy dev. Cycle, versus people who have no clue what Bioshock even is!

So to me, that's the other big issue here - since they are trying to pull in such an unlikely crowd to support their game, it smacks of them not having faith in their fans and more crucially of the end product potentially being sub par.

To those who think the main issue here is whether or not the box art is cool, I think you're not seeing the bigger concern. To me, it's Levine and team's attitude towards their established fans. I take his remarks to mean that to a large degree, they basically take us for granted (how many here have already said they would buy Infinite regardless of the cover!) How dare you say that the cover art isn't for your fans - we who have been the biggest reason you are even financially able to make Infinite in the first place. Moreover, to then mull the opinions of the common frat boy and find out most hadn't even heard of your game, only to assume they will want to buy it more if you machosize the cover is just ludicrous. If they hadn't even heard of your franchise by now in the first place, I highly doubt anything you alter or change will make them actually go out and buy the game, let alone become a new fan!

At this point, I think Levine is starting to or has already lost his mind.

what's wrong with the original?

i like how columbia or anything that makes this game unique is not featured on the cover but a giant burning american flag is instead cause you know flag burning really sells games. 

I like the box art. I also like boxes that have 3D effects on them, such as the WOW boxes. I still have my box of my Deus Ex copy which you can open up and look at tons of pictures. After games started being packaged in small boxes, there was hardly any space for pictures to know what the game was about. Now I download most of my games but every so often I go to the store to get a physical copy to save some bandwidth and to keep the box art.

personally i like the box art altough it seems like its ty burrell holding a shotgun

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a magazine called Salad Dressing Weekly. There are magazines about all kinds of stuff.

Salad dressing? Wow, that was a good one Ken! Classic!

People who are complaining about the negative reception - get your heads out of your butts. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, and it's not always going to be yours. No one's making a huge deal about it, but yes, there are people who care and there are valid reasons to not liking it. Some of us grew up in a day where box art was very artistic, inspiring and original. This type of box art is just lazy and doesn't grab most people's attention, whether they know about the game or not.

I read their "reasoning" in the article, yet I find it extremely hard to believe they talked to a bunch of supposed gamers yet NONE of them knew what Bioshock was. Unless the stereotype that frat gamers only know of Halo, CoD and sports games. In which they need to stop complaining when it's brought up, because there's two possible scenarios - it is, in fact, 100% true, or Ken Levine is full of crap.

Do a Google search about the newest movie poster trend. A hero, weapon in hand, cloudy background, flying debris, and sparks. Now, the "cloudy" background is going to be given either way with this game, but it follows the entire formula of recent lazyness when making a poster/cover.

And in the end, is it a huge deal? Not at all. But to say they're not just being lazy about it is a lie. And to say everyone should not care because you don't is stupid. I'm also not saying everyone -should- care, just don't be ignorant about the subject.

I'm not seeing it.... just looks like a generic box cover to me, someone enlighten me as to why it's so bad.

So, how are the people at Salad Dressing Weekly going to market a new salad dressing to make Ken Levine switch to this new brand?

I showed this cover art and Crysis 3's to my dad last week and ask him which one he's more interested in. He prefers Infinite but he thinks the game is a shooter about circus...

I've found many people that read IGN to be somewhat uninformed too...

...Save the speech, a burning American flag, a woman who could be considered dressed only because she has clothes on ONE PART of her body and an M-rating...there's nothing that we need to know more than that.

It's box art, no one really cares.  The dissent found online will always be there so there's really no need to placate it.

do they really had to make the girl's tits so big and obvious ?? it just doesn't fit her personality and is a bit cheap move by devs to make her stand out in other female characters.

If this game actually ends up not sucking, I'll get it on Steam - No box art cover there, no problem for me.

If it does bother people which buy a boxed copy in a shop - print out another cover (like the cleavage shot of Elisabeth) and use that as cover instead.

i'v seen better

the cover art is not the kind that inspire one to buy the game when they dont know what the game is about

I always thought it was weird to place the main character of a first person shooter on the cover (maybe except for duke nukem), because you don't actually see his face that much in the game. It's somehow okay, because you place a face on the character you place, yet still....

Anyway, no real damage done. The cover, even if generic, is nice looking and will sit nicely on my shelf.

It's a game cover. Of all the things for people to rant about....really.

yeah i'll be print and use the alternate art cover. 

i'm for sure picking it up, but that little nit picky side of me really doesn't like the cover. to me it is an incredibly generic cover that doesn't come close to capturing what Bioshock Infinite is all about. 

I fail to see what's wrong with the cover here... Looks interesting to me, I'd pick it up in a store and flip it over to see what it's about, had I never heard of BioShock before. That's their goal, right? So no problem from me. :P Especially if they're offering alternate covers... though I'd prefer if their alternate cover was on the backside of this cover instead of having to print it out myself.

but who doesn't like doctor who as his box art ??

Will dudebros really buy your game if you make the cover all manly?

Well, this cover looks kind of cheesy indeed. I would've prefered something more elegant.

It's just a freaking cover.  People are freaking out over game covers now. 

No problem at all with the cover.  In Ken and Irrational we trust.

From what I've been hearing, the game is just as, or nearly as fantastic as the original, and although the intro gives you a little more detail into where you're heading, and what you're supposed to be doing, it's still as amazing to experience as it was when that plane crashed into the Atlantic ocean making you swim to a lighthouse to go to Rapture. I hear it's very much a game that rewards you if you just go off the beaten path, which sounds very appealing to me.

Ken Levine and the team at Irrational seem to know exactly what fans like, and the ones that are informed, like the ones who comment here and read here or other gaming sites, should be excited for this. It's understandable what they're trying to do with the box art, and I believe when Ken says what his intentions are when it comes to the box art, it's sincere and he's not just saying it to make sure he has our attention still.

This wont be as good as the first Bioshock