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You may not believe it, but quite a lot of people judge what games they are going to buy, by the back of the packaging. Everyone does it at some stage, I bet everyone of you has judged a game by the back of the box. But why? Surely the box can't tell you everything about the game! It can tell you a lot though.
Here's what the typical gamer does when entering a games shop.
1. Walks through doors and pushes through people (if neccesary) to get to the console section they need to.
2. Very quickly scans every shelf to see what games look appealing or sound familiar from magazines and the internet.
3. Visually picks one or two from each shelf and remembers where each one was.
4. Picks each one of them up in turn and looks at the back of the packaging.
Even an experienced gamer will do this, just confirm his or her choice, even if the gamer had already had a game in mind! Why? Well it reassures you that you're making the right decision, even though you can't really tell what the gameplay is going to be like by looking at the box.
The boxes can tell us a lot of things about the game. The most obvious being the title and what console it's for, but the information on the back can make games seem much more appealing to the typical gamer than just the title in a magazine.
The first thing people look at on the back is the pictures that show part of the games. However, this can be misleading. One of the best examples I can give is from a ZX spectrum game, one of the many football manager games on the Speccy. It has a nice shiny gold coloured case, and on the back where you'd usually see screenshots there are photo's of real football matches. The typical gamer, if he found this one in a second hand shop, would be forgiven for mistaking these pictures to be screenshots. However, in very fine print there's text which says "Screenshots may not match game." Infact, they wont match any game!
Other, more common screenshots that are misleading are pictures of FMV. They don't show you anything to do with the gameplay, but they do sho you the best graphics (usually) that are shown in the game. Many times I've mistaken these for in game shots and was disappointed to find they weren't. Sometimes you'll be lucky and you'll see pictures of the game how they really look. On some Game Boy games, there'll be picures of what it looks like on the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color and even sometimes the Super Game Boy which plays on a TV!
The writing on the back of the box that accompanies the pictures is a bit more varied, but usually more detailed way of telling you what the game is about. It usually describes the games plot or storyline, then tells you what type of game it is and how it's played. Other writing on the box would usually be copyright notices and maybe system requirements (if it's a PC game). I don't know about you lot, but I tend to read this as well to help me decide which game to buy.
The only time I wont look at the back of the casing is when I'm detirmined to get a certain game, no matter for which console (except PC to check requirements). There is another time I'll look at the back of the box though....on the way home from buying it.
When I'm on my way home to play my newly bought purchase, I start getting anxious to play the game, and reading the back of the box again seems to fill in time nicely. I also open up the casing to read the manual and any other bits of paper inside. It's a shame PC games now usually have the manuals on disk with the opportunity to print them if you want. Are the makers of Adobe Acrobat Reader trying to monopolise that part of the market as Microsoft have done with operating systems? I'm personally not a fan of Adobe Acrobat Reader and would prefer a simple wordpad or notepad readme!
Anyhow, the information on the back of the box can be quite useful. It gives you more knowledge about the game which is usually designed to try and appeal to all, it gives you information on what the game is going to look like when you play it, and for certain systems (PC and N64 for example) it tells you what hardware is required (Playstation, PS2 and Dreamcast all need Memory cards to save on all games so it doesn't always mention that very obviously on the casing). However, in my opinion it doesn't give you enough information to know what the gameplay is like, as the only way to know is to play the game itself.
Here's what the typical gamer does when entering a games shop.
1. Walks through doors and pushes through people (if neccesary) to get to the console section they need to.
2. Very quickly scans every shelf to see what games look appealing or sound familiar from magazines and the internet.
3. Visually picks one or two from each shelf and remembers where each one was.
4. Picks each one of them up in turn and looks at the back of the packaging.
Even an experienced gamer will do this, just confirm his or her choice, even if the gamer had already had a game in mind! Why? Well it reassures you that you're making the right decision, even though you can't really tell what the gameplay is going to be like by looking at the box.
The boxes can tell us a lot of things about the game. The most obvious being the title and what console it's for, but the information on the back can make games seem much more appealing to the typical gamer than just the title in a magazine.
The first thing people look at on the back is the pictures that show part of the games. However, this can be misleading. One of the best examples I can give is from a ZX spectrum game, one of the many football manager games on the Speccy. It has a nice shiny gold coloured case, and on the back where you'd usually see screenshots there are photo's of real football matches. The typical gamer, if he found this one in a second hand shop, would be forgiven for mistaking these pictures to be screenshots. However, in very fine print there's text which says "Screenshots may not match game." Infact, they wont match any game!
Other, more common screenshots that are misleading are pictures of FMV. They don't show you anything to do with the gameplay, but they do sho you the best graphics (usually) that are shown in the game. Many times I've mistaken these for in game shots and was disappointed to find they weren't. Sometimes you'll be lucky and you'll see pictures of the game how they really look. On some Game Boy games, there'll be picures of what it looks like on the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color and even sometimes the Super Game Boy which plays on a TV!
The writing on the back of the box that accompanies the pictures is a bit more varied, but usually more detailed way of telling you what the game is about. It usually describes the games plot or storyline, then tells you what type of game it is and how it's played. Other writing on the box would usually be copyright notices and maybe system requirements (if it's a PC game). I don't know about you lot, but I tend to read this as well to help me decide which game to buy.
The only time I wont look at the back of the casing is when I'm detirmined to get a certain game, no matter for which console (except PC to check requirements). There is another time I'll look at the back of the box though....on the way home from buying it.
When I'm on my way home to play my newly bought purchase, I start getting anxious to play the game, and reading the back of the box again seems to fill in time nicely. I also open up the casing to read the manual and any other bits of paper inside. It's a shame PC games now usually have the manuals on disk with the opportunity to print them if you want. Are the makers of Adobe Acrobat Reader trying to monopolise that part of the market as Microsoft have done with operating systems? I'm personally not a fan of Adobe Acrobat Reader and would prefer a simple wordpad or notepad readme!
Anyhow, the information on the back of the box can be quite useful. It gives you more knowledge about the game which is usually designed to try and appeal to all, it gives you information on what the game is going to look like when you play it, and for certain systems (PC and N64 for example) it tells you what hardware is required (Playstation, PS2 and Dreamcast all need Memory cards to save on all games so it doesn't always mention that very obviously on the casing). However, in my opinion it doesn't give you enough information to know what the gameplay is like, as the only way to know is to play the game itself.
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I judge wheather to buy a game from magazine reviews and from review on the internet. I may look at the back of a box but wil never buy it just from seeing the box. I hardly ever buy from games shops anyway as they are so expensive, I buy from SR, online or on the phone.
You may not believe it, but quite a lot of people judge what games they are going to buy, by the back of the packaging. Everyone does it at some stage, I bet everyone of you has judged a game by the back of the box. But why? Surely the box can't tell you everything about the game! It can tell you a lot though.
Here's what the typical gamer does when entering a games shop.
1. Walks through doors and pushes through people (if neccesary) to get to the console section they need to.
2. Very quickly scans every shelf to see what games look appealing or sound familiar from magazines and the internet.
3. Visually picks one or two from each shelf and remembers where each one was.
4. Picks each one of them up in turn and looks at the back of the packaging.
Even an experienced gamer will do this, just confirm his or her choice, even if the gamer had already had a game in mind! Why? Well it reassures you that you're making the right decision, even though you can't really tell what the gameplay is going to be like by looking at the box.
The boxes can tell us a lot of things about the game. The most obvious being the title and what console it's for, but the information on the back can make games seem much more appealing to the typical gamer than just the title in a magazine.
The first thing people look at on the back is the pictures that show part of the games. However, this can be misleading. One of the best examples I can give is from a ZX spectrum game, one of the many football manager games on the Speccy. It has a nice shiny gold coloured case, and on the back where you'd usually see screenshots there are photo's of real football matches. The typical gamer, if he found this one in a second hand shop, would be forgiven for mistaking these pictures to be screenshots. However, in very fine print there's text which says "Screenshots may not match game." Infact, they wont match any game!
Other, more common screenshots that are misleading are pictures of FMV. They don't show you anything to do with the gameplay, but they do sho you the best graphics (usually) that are shown in the game. Many times I've mistaken these for in game shots and was disappointed to find they weren't. Sometimes you'll be lucky and you'll see pictures of the game how they really look. On some Game Boy games, there'll be picures of what it looks like on the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color and even sometimes the Super Game Boy which plays on a TV!
The writing on the back of the box that accompanies the pictures is a bit more varied, but usually more detailed way of telling you what the game is about. It usually describes the games plot or storyline, then tells you what type of game it is and how it's played. Other writing on the box would usually be copyright notices and maybe system requirements (if it's a PC game). I don't know about you lot, but I tend to read this as well to help me decide which game to buy.
The only time I wont look at the back of the casing is when I'm detirmined to get a certain game, no matter for which console (except PC to check requirements). There is another time I'll look at the back of the box though....on the way home from buying it.
When I'm on my way home to play my newly bought purchase, I start getting anxious to play the game, and reading the back of the box again seems to fill in time nicely. I also open up the casing to read the manual and any other bits of paper inside. It's a shame PC games now usually have the manuals on disk with the opportunity to print them if you want. Are the makers of Adobe Acrobat Reader trying to monopolise that part of the market as Microsoft have done with operating systems? I'm personally not a fan of Adobe Acrobat Reader and would prefer a simple wordpad or notepad readme!
Anyhow, the information on the back of the box can be quite useful. It gives you more knowledge about the game which is usually designed to try and appeal to all, it gives you information on what the game is going to look like when you play it, and for certain systems (PC and N64 for example) it tells you what hardware is required (Playstation, PS2 and Dreamcast all need Memory cards to save on all games so it doesn't always mention that very obviously on the casing). However, in my opinion it doesn't give you enough information to know what the gameplay is like, as the only way to know is to play the game itself.
Here's what the typical gamer does when entering a games shop.
1. Walks through doors and pushes through people (if neccesary) to get to the console section they need to.
2. Very quickly scans every shelf to see what games look appealing or sound familiar from magazines and the internet.
3. Visually picks one or two from each shelf and remembers where each one was.
4. Picks each one of them up in turn and looks at the back of the packaging.
Even an experienced gamer will do this, just confirm his or her choice, even if the gamer had already had a game in mind! Why? Well it reassures you that you're making the right decision, even though you can't really tell what the gameplay is going to be like by looking at the box.
The boxes can tell us a lot of things about the game. The most obvious being the title and what console it's for, but the information on the back can make games seem much more appealing to the typical gamer than just the title in a magazine.
The first thing people look at on the back is the pictures that show part of the games. However, this can be misleading. One of the best examples I can give is from a ZX spectrum game, one of the many football manager games on the Speccy. It has a nice shiny gold coloured case, and on the back where you'd usually see screenshots there are photo's of real football matches. The typical gamer, if he found this one in a second hand shop, would be forgiven for mistaking these pictures to be screenshots. However, in very fine print there's text which says "Screenshots may not match game." Infact, they wont match any game!
Other, more common screenshots that are misleading are pictures of FMV. They don't show you anything to do with the gameplay, but they do sho you the best graphics (usually) that are shown in the game. Many times I've mistaken these for in game shots and was disappointed to find they weren't. Sometimes you'll be lucky and you'll see pictures of the game how they really look. On some Game Boy games, there'll be picures of what it looks like on the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color and even sometimes the Super Game Boy which plays on a TV!
The writing on the back of the box that accompanies the pictures is a bit more varied, but usually more detailed way of telling you what the game is about. It usually describes the games plot or storyline, then tells you what type of game it is and how it's played. Other writing on the box would usually be copyright notices and maybe system requirements (if it's a PC game). I don't know about you lot, but I tend to read this as well to help me decide which game to buy.
The only time I wont look at the back of the casing is when I'm detirmined to get a certain game, no matter for which console (except PC to check requirements). There is another time I'll look at the back of the box though....on the way home from buying it.
When I'm on my way home to play my newly bought purchase, I start getting anxious to play the game, and reading the back of the box again seems to fill in time nicely. I also open up the casing to read the manual and any other bits of paper inside. It's a shame PC games now usually have the manuals on disk with the opportunity to print them if you want. Are the makers of Adobe Acrobat Reader trying to monopolise that part of the market as Microsoft have done with operating systems? I'm personally not a fan of Adobe Acrobat Reader and would prefer a simple wordpad or notepad readme!
Anyhow, the information on the back of the box can be quite useful. It gives you more knowledge about the game which is usually designed to try and appeal to all, it gives you information on what the game is going to look like when you play it, and for certain systems (PC and N64 for example) it tells you what hardware is required (Playstation, PS2 and Dreamcast all need Memory cards to save on all games so it doesn't always mention that very obviously on the casing). However, in my opinion it doesn't give you enough information to know what the gameplay is like, as the only way to know is to play the game itself.
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