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Help Activision Choose Box Art for Spidey

Posted by Nadia Oxford

Activision is letting gamers vote on which cover art they prefer for the Xbox 360's upcoming Spider-Man: Web Of Shadows.

The choice will doubtlessly keep you up all night. It's between "generic" and "stupid."

The cover art vote is part of Activison's "Seize Control" theme, which I guess is some push to make gamers think they're in control of the content for a big-name license. In addition, anyone who pre-orders (all three dozen of you) gets to choose one of three pre-order bonuses: a T-shirt, a poster or a figurine.

Do not choose...poorly.

No, really, don't. It's not hard to see that the T-shirt is the way to go, unless Gamestop is planning to pass judgement on people based on what they pick. Sort of like Moses with the gold and hot coals.

Going back to the cover art, both the choices are pretty bad. Option uno makes it look like Spidey is holding New York in a snow globe. It took a few minutes for my brain to unscramble option two; I seriously thought Spider-Man is holding Venom and Wolverine by the scruffs of their necks. Naughty Wolvy, I saw you pee on the rug. Into the Bad Box for a time out.

What's actually going on is that Spider-Man is crossing his arms and the two characters are reflected in his forearms fooooor some crazy reason. I admit I'm not up-to-date on which heroes can do what nowadays, but I don't think Spidey totes arm-mirrors for those bad hair days.

(What hair?)

Anyway, you've exercised your right to vote. You've done your bit for Democracy. Activision salutes you. Just one more thing: It probably won't matter.

Activision shall not be bond by the outcome of the community vote and Activisions decision(s) and selection(s) shall be final and binding.

To be fair, they don't have the courtesy to put that on an actual US election ballot. This way, you can skip the false feelings of hope and voter's pride and sink straight into the apathy. Enjoy!


+ DIGG + DEL.ICIO.US + REDDIT

Comments

Demaar said:

Man, both covers are utter trash. You know what would let the gamers really take control? Having a competition or something where they give each entrant a press kit for the game or something with a bunch of the art/logos/etc. and offered a free copy of the game (or something) for the winner as motivation. Oh, also, the community votes for the winner, just for that extra community centricness.

July 1, 2008 11:01 PM

Derrick Sanskrit said:

I vote for the one that doesn't suck. Oh, whoops, it seems like that option has been omitted.

Unless this game miraculously gives Spidey the powers to produce a metropolis out of pocket lint or summon alternate dimensions within his arms, these illustrations are ridiculous, and even if he does have those abilities, the art is still disgustingly rendered.

Best Spidey game art ever: Maximum Carnage. I know Bill Sienkiewicz isn't hurting for work these days, but I'm sure he could knock this one out of the park if someone at Activision would think to ask.

July 1, 2008 11:37 PM

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about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.


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