Topic: The hell? (Players Choice Oddities)

[joshnickerson]

Okay, we all know that lately Nintendo has been adding a "Best Seller" starburst to some of their newer games. But it seems to vary. Sometimes you'll see a starburst on Paper Mario 2, sometimes you won't. Sometimes it'll be on the right, sometimes it'll be on the left. It's very random and odd.
Well, I saw something at Target today to add to the confusion. A stack of new Smash Bros. Melee, with no yellow "Player's Choice" stripe at all! Instead, they have a "Best Seller" burst in the bottom center of the cover, where the "Nintendo's Best in 4 player free for all!" (or something) used to be. Even more confusing, next to it was The Wind Waker, with both a PC stripe and the starburst on the same copy!
I'm confuserated...

[Flames_of_chaos]

Yea the Nintendo Seal of Quality which used to be on the front and back is only on the back now.     I think people complained that the yellow stripe is too ugly or something I have no idea.  I suppose its first party games that sold well. But who cares its only the cover.

[Ian Sane]

I hate the borders that "hits" titles have so if in the future they stop doing that I'll be happy.  But putting "best seller" on a brand new game like Paper Mario 2 makes no sense.  I'm thinking that it's some weird marketing strategy some guy at NOA came up with and they're just so utterly dumbfounded at how unpopular the Cube is that they're just trying any wacky marketing theory (aside from, you know, GOOD ones) to see what works.  Early this year Nintendo of Canada had a weird fixation with putting "New for 2004" on every box including the Four Swords Adventures case which made NO SENSE since the game came in a cardboard box with the link cable and thus "New for 2004" was only visible if you bought the game and opened the box in which case the "selling power" of saying a game is new is completely useless.

Remember changing the dated format of commercials that have NEVER WORKED for the Cube is futile.  The REAL way to market a game is to ruin the cover art with a "sticker" that indicates some vague "fact" that may or may not be true and may or may not even provide any incentive to buy the game.  I hear the next sticker is going to say "BLUE!" in red font to attract the mass audience by confusing the hell out of them.

[joshnickerson]

What's confusing to me is that some copies of PM2 have the starburst, and others don't. It makes me wonder if the "Best Seller" was intended to be a replacement for Players' Choice, but some serious goof-up at the printers accidentally put it on some new titles by mistake.

[PaLaDiN]

I'm sure there's a simple explanation.

Maybe they put it on titles that they think are going to sell pretty well.

Or maybe it's on the sequels to best-sellers? That would fit all the stickers I've seen.

[Bartman3010]

Its more than likely a sticker placed on the box by the retail. Some GCN boxes has the Player's Choice sticker on the top as well.

[joshnickerson]

Nope. It's printed directly onto the artwork itself.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

It shamefully infects my Mario Power Tennis box art.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Kirby Air Ride has the player's choice AND the Best seller starburst.

EDIT: I just hope Nintendo goes back to their gold ribbon players choice thing on the cover  or have a gold stripe  with a gold stripe on the binding instead of the yellow stripe.

[joshnickerson]

Now it's gonna be doubly hard to find clean box art! I'll have to patient if I get Paper Mario 2 for Xmas and it has that starburst. I may just be jerky enough to try and exchange it for a clean one.

[Morien]

Damn Americans...
I WISH our Player's Choice had a yellow stipe. That would be a huge improvement to the huge gross grey border that PAL countries get

[Flames_of_chaos]

Lol Josh it isnt that big of a deal its just a box who cares, I stoped caring in a good 3 days.

[KDR_11k]

Morien: I think this is rather ugly compared to this.

[couchmonkey]

*Gives a big thumbs down to marketing-filled box covers in general.*  It's something I can live with since I'm not exactly framing my boxes, but I do wish they'd make the boxes cleaner, especially for brand-new games.  The yellow Player's Choice is ugly.  I think Microsoft's silver...excuse me "Platinum" is best.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Wow that PAL WW box looks crappy but a good idea to use is use the PAL idea BUT do it in Gold  grey is too generic.

[nickmitch]

You know how the "only for" thing is on the upper left corner? Well I think that there should be a yellow thing on the uppper right corner that says, "players choice." I think that would look better.

[Kulock]

But that'd be difficult for consumers (and retailers) to spot. Plus, that "Only For" is not always there, it's only there for games that are technically GCN exclusives, so that balance is lost if it's not an exclusive.

I like the idea of a classy gold banner, though. Not a gaudy yellow, but a muted gold color.

[kirby_killer_dedede]

I actually rather like that European box.

[Bartman3010]

Harumm, you're right

*Face faults at Paper Mario 2's box*