9. The art of boxes

While video games continue to see massive increases in popularity and sales, there are certain aspects of them that many simply do not think about. Though sales that happen entirely in the electronic world are becoming more and more common, the style of the box that goes through retail transaction is often the public face of the game, showing up in promotional images and tying it directly to the image of the game people hold in their head. And much like promotional movie posters, this can sometimes be a bad thing.

Like wrapping a delicious caramel in used hypodermic needles.

The early days of gaming were much more at fault when it came to using horrible box art; as technology has improved so has the general quality of design for the covers of games, no longer relegated to horrible hand-drawn images or 8-bit representations.

Another interesting aspect of video game box art is the way that it changes from place to place. Just as games need to be localized by a team to fit the specific needs of the region, such as spoken dialogue or in-game text, so to does the cover often change. Many wonderful examples of the differences between Japanese games and their North American counterparts can be seen over at BOX VS. BOX.

It's interesting to think about the ways that game design companies and their publishers market a game. In the past, choices were often decided by word of mouth or by what game had the flashiest cover, instead of the current methods of beta testing, community reviews and extensive gameplay footage.

Also, take a look at some of the worst video game art ever at Heavy.com.