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NWR Interactive => TalkBack => Topic started by: Halbred on January 17, 2011, 09:35:42 PM

Title: Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes
Post by: Halbred on January 17, 2011, 09:35:42 PM

Like their Wii counterparts, mature-rated 3DS games in Japan will have black packaging.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/24748

Last year, Japanese gamers might have been surprised to see Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles packaged in a sexy black box, but there is a reason for it: all Wii games rated CERO C (basically Teen) and higher had to have black packaging to make them stand out.

As it turns out, Nintendo is carrying this policy over to the Nintendo 3DS. Super Street Fighter IV is white, but Splinter Cell is black. One wonders if this policy will ever cross to the western markets. It didn't for Wii, but with a new system, you never know.

Splinter Cell's Japanese box art

Title: Re: Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes
Post by: Kytim89 on January 17, 2011, 10:52:05 PM

So a giant "M" is not indicative enough of a mature game?

Title: Re: Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes
Post by: nickmitch on January 18, 2011, 01:03:55 AM

The black makes it edgy and cool.

Title: Re: Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes
Post by: WrathOfSamus777 on January 18, 2011, 12:04:59 PM

If the giant 'M' and what it stands for on the box with descriptors as to exactly why the game is rated Mature doesn't clue some parents in, making the game case black is pointless.  Some parents just don't care what their kids play and some are just clueless.  As someone worked video game retail for two years, I'm speaking from experience.

Title: Re: Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes
Post by: Ian Sane on January 18, 2011, 12:05:16 PM

In theory this seems like a good idea for the Western market.  It makes 'M' rated games all the more noticable and has the side benefit that, yes, black will make it look cool in the eyes of the target demo.  But I've realized that those who endlessly complain about videogame content will not shut-up until games with what they view as offensive material just plain no longer exist.  Pleasing those people is a losing battle.

Title: Re: Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes
Post by: Chozo Ghost on January 18, 2011, 12:10:42 PM

I'm okay with it. Personally, why not make all the game cases black? I'm not a big fan of the white Wii game cases. In the end though it doesn't really matter to me one way or the other.

Although, if they wanted to make the game stand out, black is probably the worst choice for that. Ninjas and assassins wear black specifically because it DOESN'T stand out. If they want to stand out it should be like neon orange or something, like they use for prison jumpsuits.

Title: Re: Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes
Post by: KDR_11k on January 18, 2011, 02:15:00 PM

Ninjas wear peasant clothes because that doesn't stand out against a background of peasants. Soldiers wear spotted green clothes in the forest to blend in with the foliage. A black case among a sea of white ones stands out.

Title: Re: Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes
Post by: Chozo Ghost on January 18, 2011, 03:24:58 PM

Any color in a sea of white would stand out. But black is a fairly innocuous looking color, and so I don't think parents will be alarmed when their kid points at it. If the packaging were crimson red like blood or bright orange like a prison jumpsuit then that might give parents pause and make them think it over for a moment.

Plus, it wouldn't be a sea of white anyway, because odds are the 3DS games will be placed alongside current DS games, and all of those come in black cases. So its not going to stand out that much among them.

Title: Re: Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes
Post by: TJ Spyke on January 18, 2011, 03:32:53 PM

All DS cases are white in the front, so it would still stand out.