MAKEOVER: Why PS3? finally happened. Only three years after being released worldwide, the star gaming platform from Sony, the PlayStation 3, suffered its first rebranding
depth, which included a new console design more compact, a new logo and, we expected that some will not, a new design for the cover of their games.
Historically, console uses these aesthetic changes once past their glory years. For Sony, the first PlayStation was renamed PSone up to six years after launch. The PlayStation 2, the most successful home console of all time, was his version "slim" four years later. However, in these two cases, the boxes of games did not suffer any change.
We know that what triggered this early makeover is that the system is in last place in sales behind its competitors Wii and XBox 360. What I find unacceptable and it bothers me is the lack of visual uniformity that this causes in the boxes of games, especially when you have accommodated your collection on a shelf like books. This may sound insignificant to the average consumer, but these changes are for me and for many collectors, a real grievance. A sign of weakness, I would say, admitting that the original design was not adequate and that there have to start all over again.
The following images we can see the original design of the PS3 boxes with the logo with the famous font "Spiderman" on the left. The idea of \u200b\u200busing the font property of one of the most famous film series was a bit disconcerting at first, but the sleek, futuristic style of these letters goes perfectly with the concept of PS3 (adventure, technology, modern culture, blah, blah bla). Apparently never been asked how this style will see three, four years, when the popularity of the Spiderman movies has decreased?
Authentic Classics: Super Mario Bros. and Metroid Golf
This scheme was only implemented in the first generation of games published by Nintendo. Style pixelated presenting today is widely used in retro products.
During the first years of the NES each company, as Capcom and Konami, randomly applied his own designs. It was not until the twilight of the console, about 1993, that all the games began to be invariably a red vertical bar on the top with the name of the system. Since then, Nintendo has successfully implemented a fixed design in the boxes suddenly change their games without mid-cycle of their consoles.
NES Open, Yoshi, Wario's Woods
Wonder Boy, Pro Wrestling and the classic Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Strider, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and Sonic the Hedgehog
then Sega wanted to unify the cases of ALL their systems by placing a vertical bar on the left and a different color for each (red for Genesis, Sega CD blue, purple for Game Gear, 32X and yellow to white then to Saturn). As you can see, this was the system saturation essentially removed from the console to play Sega
Mortal Kombat II (with blood!), NFL '95 (with Joe Montana) and Sonic & Nesting Knuckles
Nintendo Sega came after the "revolution of the 16-bit" but did so with a well-designed product image and ready to endure throughout the life of the Super Nintendo which lasted from 1992 to 1998. One of its main features was the horizontal orientation of the boxes.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Final Fantasy III and Super Mario Kart
Sony introduced the PlayStation in 1995 and with him the boxes of games that were originally rectangular with a black vertical bar on the left side Sega style and same size as the other consoles. The only gap in the beginning was the material they were made, as some were black plastic (my favorite) other clear plastic and then had some rather ugly made of cardboard (to pirates seemed). Unfortunately, one day Sony decided to change the size of the boxes making square the same size and material as music CDs.
Twisted Metal and Resident Evil on the size origianal Final Fantasy VII and the subsequent size of music CDs.
Super Mario 64, Star Wars Shadows of the Empire and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur and WWF Royal Rumble
... barely a year after its launch sales that were not bad though, were not strong enough to get Sega's deep slump in which it already was. In a final cry of despair Sega slightly change the design to the boxes of games changing the black and white by removing the word "Sega" logo, as if mentioning the name of this brand were a drag on the consumer. Shortly after Sega withdrew permanently from the console market.
Another great game that almost no one game, Shenmue. In 2000 Sony introduced the PlayStation sequel with great fanfare. After more than 9 years in the market the PS2 continues to sell with very respectable numbers. Over 1,900 different titles have appeared to the best-selling console of all time and all following the same scheme in the design of their boxes. The success of these does not lie in the design aesthetic, it is not pretty, but in the record that remained through years.
Shadow of the Colossus, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection and Final Fantasy are just some of the titles within the vast library of PS2. While Microsoft with its various iterations of the Xbox has never been a leader in sales, so if you've done well is to create a consistent visual identity for their products. Using a color that no other console had occupied, the green, both the Xbox and the Xbox 360 have carved out an important place in consumers' minds, even with the burden of having the name "Microsoft".
Halo Wars, Beautiful Katamari and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Nintendo is the only company dedicated 100% to video games that follows in the console market. Currently the Wii is the undisputed leader in sales, thanks to a new philosophical approach where the market is not just regular gamers but any person, regardless of previous experience and ability to play. An important part of this is to create a visual identity fixed in their products, so that anyone who sees them in the store know immediately and without confusion, what each thing.
Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil 4 Wii and Okami. A curvilinear used interchangeably modern white vertical bar is more than sufficient to accomplish the task.
After giving an example of visual consistency with the products of the PlayStation 2, Sony has fallen into the mistake of changing everything with the PlayStation 3. Hopefully future products take into account this from before creating your visual image and design something that not only serve and look good for a moment, if not the entire product cycle.