After seeing so many bad video game box art designs, I decided to bring all of the horrible mess-ups and mistakes into one super duper hilarious box art thread.

in no particular order...

Okami hearts IGN

If you haven't seen this already, when creating the Okami box art, the designer decided to steal an image from IGN.com to use as the background in his wolf scene. Even worse, he FORGOT TO REMOVE THE IGN LOGO FROM THE PICTURE! Pretty funny if you ask me, and I'm betting someone got fired over this...

And in case you're wondering, THIS is the image he stole...

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Purr Pals LOLz

Just take a look at this box art for a minute....

Click to view full-size

Notice anything?

"40 adorable kitten breads to choose from"

BREADS? For the love of god!

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Touch....

This one needs no explanation...

And yes, this WAS an actual game. It was a Korean dictionary released in 2005 for the DS.

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"U R MR GAY"

This one comes from nintendo's own Mario Galaxy, and either this is a hilarious coincidence, or the box art designer was a comedian. If you look at each letter in the title that has a star beside it and single those letters out, you are left with the message "U R MR GAY Is Nintendo trying to tell us something?

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Mega Man

This one is not as much as a mishap as it is a horrible design. I could have sworn this was Planet of the Apes, but no, it's Mega Man.

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Star Chess

Nothing sells a video game like an artistic masterpiece, complete with unpainted white space and spaceships ripped from Star Wars that never appear in the game...

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Phalanx... or Deliverence?

Way to advertise "The Hyper-speed shoot-out in space".... by placing an old hillbilly with a banjo on the front cover. Deliverence anyone?

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Thank goodness it's over, but I can only think, what box art hilarities and mishaps will we see next?And do you have one I missed? Post a link here and I'll add it.

So, after finally playing Call of Duty: World at War for the Wii, I have now played the Wii's top two shooters, along with Medal of Honor. While CoD is an outstanding game so far, how does it match up against that other WWII shooter, MoH?

VS.

I've decided to settle things once and for all. I'll be splitting the "contest" if you will into 5 categories: gameplay, graphics, presentation, online, and lasting appeal. Controls will fall under gameplay for those wondering. So, let the battle begin!

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Gameplay:

CoD

When I booted up World at War for the first time, I quickly fired up the ole' campaign mode to learn the controls and see the basic gameplay of the game. First things first, I went into the control settings and played around until I found the settings that matched my sty|e There, you can adjust everything from Dead Zone, camera speed in and out of "aiming through the sites," experiment with different control layouts, set Wiimote and Nunchuk Gestures, and alot more. Right off the bat I could tell that Treyarch delivered on the controls side of things. The CoD4 Engine on the Wii really works, with the sprinting and jumping over obstacles like CoD4, and so does aiming down the sites. However, aiming seems to be a tad but sluggish because of a lower frame rate, but it is still a joy to use, a nice break from the traditional 360 or PS3 controller, and only the most anal and OCD gamers will even realize the slower frame rate. The only that bugs me is knifing using the Wiimote gesture, but this can be turned off. The AI is good, but not perfect.

MoH

If you've even heard of Medal of Honor: Heroes 2, chances are you've been told about it's spot on, easily customizable controls. This is MoH's pride and joy if you will, and there about as customizable at World at War's. However, there are some issues that really bugged me. For instance, if you wanted to use a sniper, to zoom in you have to twist the Wiimote, and this does not work very well for most people, including myself. However, throwing grenades with a throwing gesture works really well and is satisfying and realistic. That being said, MoH's controls with the Wii pointer are a little tighter and faster responding, but not by much. Tha AI on the other hand is simply horrendous.

The Winner:

Amazingly enough, I thought the controls for CoD and MoH to be so close I couldn't decide a clear-cut winner, so I'm gonna need a little persuasion. For now though...

CoD: WaW - 1 / MoHH2 - 1

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Graphics:

CoD

While Call of Duty's graphics may not be the best on the system, it's the effeccts and environments that really make it a great looking game. From smoke and explosions to dogs and water, CoD really is one of the better looking Wii games out there. All animations are smooth and realistic, and the models are fairly detailed for a Wii game, as are the textures used. Also, expect to see some blood and guts when you mow down an enemy, as in the picture below.

Click to view full size.

MoH

Next, Medal of Honor's graphics are good, also. The models are fairly detailed, as are the weapons, but CoD clearly has it beat in the effects department, such as smoke, water, environments, etc. The textures look good, but the models, despite being well detailed, are sort of deformed looking in motion. If you've played the game you will know what I mean.

Click to view full size.

The Winner:

Despite having great looking models and textures, Medal of Honor is simply outmatched when it comes to environments and effects. The level design and detail in CoD greatly surpasses that as in MoH, and the smoke effects, explosions, and more put CoD over the top.The blood and guts effects of CoD only add to the realism.

CoD: WaW - 2 / MoHH2 - 1

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Presentation:

CoD

When booting up Call of Duty, you'l be greeted with a basic, bland, menu screen that is similar to CoD4 and WaW on the other consoles. What really shines in CoD Wii's presentation aspect though is the beautiful cutscenes, complete with real footage from WWII, and gruesome, yet satisfying, in-game cinematics. Within 30 seconds of the game start you're watching your buddy get burned with a cigarette by the Japs, and then continue helplessy onlooking as an enemy soldier slits your comrads trhoat. Also, the cutscenes will reveal to you a lot of history, so don't be surprised if you learn something here.

MoH

While the cutscenes on MoH can be pretty, they are not anything special. No real footage here, just arrows on maps and the typical WWII setup. Moh's menus are just as bland as Cod's, too.

The Winner:

Whileboth game's menus are not so visually pleasing or groun-breaking, Call of Duty's in-game cinematics and cutscenes really overpower MoH's. There's simply no contest here.

CoD: WaW - 3 / MoHH2 - 1

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Tune in next week for the final two categories: Online and Lasting appeal. I need a little more time with CoD's online before making my final decisions, so check back soon for the final results. For now, tell me what you think, and try to persuade me to think different if you beleive I've made a mistake.

Well, a few months ago I grew tired of playing my Wii and 360 on my crappy 20" SDTV. Games were blurred, text was unreadable, and virtually every game I played looked horrendous. Now, being 15 and jobless, I don't have much money, nor do I have a source of income, but I knew that there must be SOME way to reach HD without breaking the bank.

So I wondered... There must be a way! I'm not going out and spending $500, $600, or $1000 plus on an HDTV!

And then it hit me - What can do High Def any day of the week, is present in almost every house in America, and is somewhat affordable?

I'll give you a second to guess...

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*BING!* (Or whatever sound a gameshow buzzer makes) Time's up? Still haven't guessed? C'mon, it's the PC monitor!

But wait, you say! PC monitors are loads expensive! Where am I gonna get an HD LCD monitor for less than an SDTV? Well, let me finish and stop interupting my blog post, imaginary reader! The answer lies in the one and only CRT! If you're not familiar with a CRT monitor, gaze upon this vintage beauty!

Why?

So why the CRT?
The answer is simple - price. You can find a 20+ inch CRT Monitor locally on Craigslist for around 30 bucks. In fact, my 21" I found was exactly that price! However, if you have an LCD monitor already, skip down below and I'll show you how to hook all of your game systems up to it, AND your PC, and be able to switch between your consoles and comp by the press of a button!

But wait! CRT's are old, right? So aren't thier resolutions low and picture quality crappy?

First of all, obviously they are old. Mine was manufactured in the 1990's, but in NO way are their resolutions low. In fact, my huge 1990 30 dollar CRT does twice the resolution my 17" Dell LCD does. It's a standard aspect ratio (Which means the picture is not widescreen; it's somewhat of a square) but is still capable of HD.

And since the price is so low, you can get one for the price of a used video game! And chances are most people have one laying around the house.

If you don't mind spending $150 though, you can always find a 22" Widescreen LCD on NewEgg.Com. To me it's a waste though, considering my CRT's resolution is higher, and the price is $120 cheaper, not to mention the adition of shipping.

How?

So, we have our means of display, but how in the world are we gonna hook our Wiis, 360s, PS3s, and PCs (If wanted) to our Monitor? Well, there are a couple of options...

360s

The 360 has a first-party VGA cable (VGA is the standard computer monitor connection), and also many third-party cables, and even some easy DIY plans to make your own cable. Also, there's a cooling fan out that has VGA output, Component, RCA, and more for cheap on eBay. Google it!

These methods are ALL good solutions, but wait just a sec if you wanna hook multiple consoles to one monitor.

PS3s

As for PS3, there are many third-party solution for VGA out, such as a 3rd party cable or a component to VGA adapter box. Again, wait a sec if you own more than one system.

Wiis

Same goes for the Wii. There is one RELIABLE 3rd party Wii cable from a company called Vdigi, but it runs $40 bucks plus shipping from China, and if you're like me and own more than one system, you're gonna want something that hooks up to ALL systems and that you don't have to unplug one and plug in another whenever you wanna switch over.

So, what I did was buy THIS little gadget off of eBay.

The Vga-2000 convertor box.

What this does is it accept one Component input (Also called YPbPr, it's the Red, Green, Blue, Red, and White cables that are standard on most consoles HD hookups) and converts it to VGA signal for the Monitor to use. So the solution is simple - buy one of these off of eBay or somewhere else for $20, and a cheap component cable that works for 360, PS3, AND Wii, and voila, you're all set! Plus, it has a VGA input for your PC, so with the click of a button you can play Wii, PS3, 360, or your PC ALL in HD!

However, I've noticed that with the 360 (haven't tried PS3, but it will work, maybe with the same issue the 360 has) that if you have a standard aspect ratio monitor (again, not widescreen; square somewhat) then the 360, when set to HD resolution will be squished on the screen because it's not widescreen, and when hooked up with the component cables the 360 expects widescreen. So I just connected my 360 via VGA staright into the box's VGA connector for a PC, and it works fine.I bought the cooling fan I mentioned earlier with VGA output I mentioned earlier.

The Results

The results.... well - Nothing short of amazing. My 360 looks bettter than I have EVER seen anyone's look, and the Wii looks great, too! I am so happy I did this and now am gaming in HD (Wii is not technically HD, but that's another topic). And for everyone wondering if the Wii does look good on a PC monito - IT DOES! It looks great.

Just think of it this way. When you look up a game on Gamespot, whther it be Wii, 360, or PS3, that's pretty much how it looks on my monitor. In fact, my monitor looks better, because the GS images are compressed and sized down.

So, all in all, best money I've spent in my life! All for under a hundred bucks, too!

P.S. - This WAS going to be a "look at what I did, my set up is so pretty!" post, but it turned into a guide, so hopefully someone will use it . And if you have any questions just post 'em and I'd be happy to answer.

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Well, I'm off to game in HD! I'll try to get some pictures up soon of my results