Mature 3DS Games Get Black Boxes

3DS

by Zachary Miller - January 17, 2011, 6:35 pm EST
Total comments: 8 Source: (Siliconera), http://www.siliconera.com/2011/01/14/nintendo-also...

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

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

Images

Talkback

Kytim89January 17, 2011

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

nickmitchJanuary 18, 2011

The black makes it edgy and cool.

WrathOfSamus777January 18, 2011

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.

Ian SaneJanuary 18, 2011

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.

Chozo GhostJanuary 18, 2011

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.

KDR_11kJanuary 18, 2011

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.

Chozo GhostJanuary 18, 2011

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.

TJ SpykeJanuary 18, 2011

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

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