Comments on: The Stunning Art & Design of the Atari 2600 http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/ Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:13:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Readings Round-Up #5 – mutually occluded http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/comment-page-1/#comment-423 Readings Round-Up #5 – mutually occluded Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:31:19 +0000 http://brilli.am/writes/?p=188#comment-423 [...] brilli.am/writes »The Stunning Art & Design of the Atari 2600 “I’m probably not the only one, but I am ready to throw up. The current generation box-art is computer-assisted, committee-designed, samey samey samey crap. The only exception is the oft-referenced Japanese box for Ico, but other than that, even the “good” stuff isn’t inspiring.” [...] [...] brilli.am/writes »The Stunning Art & Design of the Atari 2600 “I’m probably not the only one, but I am ready to throw up. The current generation box-art is computer-assisted, committee-designed, samey samey samey crap. The only exception is the oft-referenced Japanese box for Ico, but other than that, even the “good” stuff isn’t inspiring.” [...]

]]> By: lineout http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/comment-page-1/#comment-415 lineout Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:03:15 +0000 http://brilli.am/writes/?p=188#comment-415 I totally agree with you, and on a surprisingly high-brow note I'd like to share the series of "classic box art" from Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday that appeared over the last month. http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/classy-video-games.php http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/classy-video-games2.php http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/classy-video-games3.php While I read these I thought that, basically, the industry has been doing it wrong. I totally agree with you, and on a surprisingly high-brow note I’d like to share the series of “classic box art” from Something Awful’s Photoshop Phriday that appeared over the last month.

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/classy-video-games.php

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/classy-video-games2.php

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/photoshop-phriday/classy-video-games3.php

While I read these I thought that, basically, the industry has been doing it wrong.

]]> By: brilliam http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/comment-page-1/#comment-383 brilliam Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:20:22 +0000 http://brilli.am/writes/?p=188#comment-383 Cool! Kronski, I didn't know about the Tom Waits song... I looked it up though, and he put that on the album in 1992. This game came out in 1983. Apparently they're both inspired by a 1965 science fiction film of the same name-- even though Tom never saw the movie. See the bottom of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Earth_Dies_Screaming Cool! Kronski, I didn’t know about the Tom Waits song… I looked it up though, and he put that on the album in 1992. This game came out in 1983. Apparently they’re both inspired by a 1965 science fiction film of the same name– even though Tom never saw the movie.

See the bottom of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Earth_Dies_Screaming

]]> By: Kronski http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/comment-page-1/#comment-381 Kronski Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:48:51 +0000 http://brilli.am/writes/?p=188#comment-381 FYI, "The Earth Died Screaming" is from a Tom Waits song on the album Bone Machine. Odds are one of the developers/producers was a fan. FYI, “The Earth Died Screaming” is from a Tom Waits song on the album Bone Machine. Odds are one of the developers/producers was a fan.

]]> By: Game covers aint what they used to be « Cornfed Gamer http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/comment-page-1/#comment-379 Game covers aint what they used to be « Cornfed Gamer Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:48:59 +0000 http://brilli.am/writes/?p=188#comment-379 [...] brilli.am/writes » Blog Archive » The Stunning Art & Design of the Atari 2600. [...] [...] brilli.am/writes » Blog Archive » The Stunning Art & Design of the Atari 2600. [...]

]]> By: Grand Text Auto » Box Art Ain’t What It Used To Be http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/comment-page-1/#comment-378 Grand Text Auto » Box Art Ain’t What It Used To Be Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:33:44 +0000 http://brilli.am/writes/?p=188#comment-378 [...] Some claim that today’s video game box art isn’t up to par with, say, … Atari 2600 box art. [...] [...] Some claim that today’s video game box art isn’t up to par with, say, … Atari 2600 box art. [...]

]]> By: slutsky http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/comment-page-1/#comment-358 slutsky Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:59:28 +0000 http://brilli.am/writes/?p=188#comment-358 Here's the thing. Old game covers will always have the advantage, the main reason being that they couldn't actually show the game in any remotely realistic way. They'd be laughed out of the store! So there was a lot more artistic license and an understanding, I think, on the consumer's part, that the cover was just supposed to give you an idea of what the game was like. These days, where you can produce imagery in games equal to pretty much whatever you'd want to stick on the cover, I think there's a lot more fidelity required, and thus fancy isn't going to fly. Also can I just say that the Xbox 360 banner is terrible and pretty much ruins any composition unfortunate enough to be below it? Here’s the thing. Old game covers will always have the advantage, the main reason being that they couldn’t actually show the game in any remotely realistic way. They’d be laughed out of the store! So there was a lot more artistic license and an understanding, I think, on the consumer’s part, that the cover was just supposed to give you an idea of what the game was like. These days, where you can produce imagery in games equal to pretty much whatever you’d want to stick on the cover, I think there’s a lot more fidelity required, and thus fancy isn’t going to fly.

Also can I just say that the Xbox 360 banner is terrible and pretty much ruins any composition unfortunate enough to be below it?

]]> By: .tiff http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/comment-page-1/#comment-356 .tiff Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:40:35 +0000 http://brilli.am/writes/?p=188#comment-356 I agree with you, and I think the shift in crap-crappy-unenthused-design box art is due to the upwards trend of commercialization in the gaming industry. Now that gaming is a bit more mainstream it's beginning to adhere to the visual style of it's media cousins... box art like on Mass Effect or Halo for example are very movie poster like and it's awfully tiresome. Related links for you though: BOX ART (http://boxart.tumblr.com/) - I already shared this with you, but it has a really consistent feed of some of the nicest boxart from the past... I nostalgigasm all over this site every day. Spacesick (http://spacesick.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-can-read-movies-series.html) - I'm positive you've seen these, but there's been a meme on the nets translating videogame box art to the oldskül "I Can Read" design. That link has a bunch of Spacesick's movie cover interpretations, but there are a bunch of game cover interpretations around the web too.. i just forget where they're located. I agree with you, and I think the shift in crap-crappy-unenthused-design box art is due to the upwards trend of commercialization in the gaming industry. Now that gaming is a bit more mainstream it’s beginning to adhere to the visual style of it’s media cousins… box art like on Mass Effect or Halo for example are very movie poster like and it’s awfully tiresome.

Related links for you though:

BOX ART (http://boxart.tumblr.com/) - I already shared this with you, but it has a really consistent feed of some of the nicest boxart from the past… I nostalgigasm all over this site every day.

Spacesick (http://spacesick.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-can-read-movies-series.html) - I’m positive you’ve seen these, but there’s been a meme on the nets translating videogame box art to the oldskül “I Can Read” design. That link has a bunch of Spacesick’s movie cover interpretations, but there are a bunch of game cover interpretations around the web too.. i just forget where they’re located.

]]> By: Travis http://brilli.am/writes/2009/02/27/the-stunning-art-design-of-the-atari-2600/comment-page-1/#comment-353 Travis Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:48:08 +0000 http://brilli.am/writes/?p=188#comment-353 Video game box covers remind me of fantasy and sci fi novel covers. Generally, they are the product of crude, immature aesthetics, of kids who spent their lives drawing comic book characters and grew up to be illustrators. Very occasionally you'll see some real design taking place, but it's rare. You see a lot better covers in Japan and Europe (look at ICO's cover here versus Europe. A world of difference.). Video game box covers remind me of fantasy and sci fi novel covers. Generally, they are the product of crude, immature aesthetics, of kids who spent their lives drawing comic book characters and grew up to be illustrators.

Very occasionally you’ll see some real design taking place, but it’s rare. You see a lot better covers in Japan and Europe (look at ICO’s cover here versus Europe. A world of difference.).

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