Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (Starhawk edition)

Truth be told, I'm not all that interested in Sony's Starhawk, which will be released for the PS3 early next month. (It'll hit the streets of North America on May 8, Japan on May 10 and Europe on May 11.)

My lack of interest in this spiritual successor to Warhawk has nothing to do with me thinking it's a bad game, by the way. On the contrary, what little I've seen of it (erm, this trailer) looks quite good. I'm just not a fan of first-person or third-person shooters--even space-based ones that feature giant flying mechs.

That said, I am a fan of box art (duh!) and I rarely seem to include PS3 covers in these "Which Box Art is Better?" posts, so I've decided to dedicate the latest one to Starhawk's many cover illustrations.

For starters, here is the image that, according to amazon.co.uk, will grace the cover of the European version of the game:

North American copies (which can be pre-ordered here) of Starhawk will bear the same image, apparently. That's a relief to yours truly, as the folks at SCEA used the following (rather boring, in my opinion) box art to promote the game for a time:

The Japanese release of Starhawk, on the other hand, will feature an illustration made by mecha artist Hidetaka Tenjin:

As for which one I like best: I'm going to go with the Japanese cover due to the pop of bright blue that serves to draw a viewer's eyes to the giant flying mech that's being barraged by bullets. That said, I can't say I dislike the slightly-more-straightforward Euro/North American cover.

What do all of you think? Do you like one piece of Starhawk box art more than the others?

See also: Previous 'Which Box Art is Better?' posts

From the back of my boyhood closet, part six

Have any of you played--or even heard of--the PC game called Planet's Edge? (It was made by New World Computing, perhaps best known for producing the Might and Magic series.) No worries if you haven't, as the game came out all the way back in 1992 and I've yet to run into anyone who claims to remember it.

Regardless, I have fond memories of playing the hell out of this outer-space-based RPG as a teen. In particular, I have fond memories of exploring--on foot, with my four-member party--the many, many planets (Wikipedia says there are hundreds, which means I barely scratched the surface of the game when I played it) of Planet's Edge.

I also remember enjoying the title's mining aspect. (You're often able to transfer some of a planet's raw materials to your ship, which can then be taken back to your home base and used to make bigger and better ships and, if my memory's not failing me, weapons.)

All that said, I'm not entirely sure why I brought the game's box and disks from my boyhood closet to my current home in Seattle, as our PC doesn't have a disk drive. For nostalgia's sake? It wouldn't be the first time.

Thankfully, it seems I should be able to download a copy of Planet's Edge fairly easily (such as here and here, I think). Should I be able to get it up and running, I'll give it a go for old times' sake and then (attempt to) write up a "somewhat gay" review of it.

See also: Previous 'from the back of my boyhood closet' posts

This GameBoy is outta this world

Is there a point to the piece below, or is it just supposed to be pretty? I actually posed (via Flickr) that question to guy who produced it--Seattle-based artist Cory Schmitz--but I have yet to hear back from him. So, for the time being I'm just going to assume there's an awesomely pertinent story behind this celestial collage.

Get a better look at Schmitz' "NASA Game Boy" here

Even if there isn't a point to it, though, and the piece is just supposed to be cool to look at, I'll be perfectly fine with that--because the piece is cool to look at, don't you think? Really, I'd hang a framed print of it in my office if I had one (a print, not an office).

Lesbian slaves in space, you say?

I'm always looking forward to some upcoming release or other, but right now I have to admit the game I'm most looking forward to is the one auntie pixelantie is working on about lesbian slaves in space.

What, you didn't know the self-proclaimed "freelance scratchware game creator and critic" (and all-purpose pervert) was working on such a game?

I didn't either, until I saw the following tweet (on Oct. 21): "Now i'm going to continue working on my game about lesbian slaves in space."

She mentioned the game once more over the weekend when she asked Christine Love (again, via Twitter), "is your dyke space princess game going to be done anytime near my dyke space queen game? we could have a DOUBLE FEATURE."

By the way, Love's "dyke princess game" just jumped to the number-two spot on my "most wanted" game list.

See also: 'auntie pixelante + WarioWare D.I.Y. = digital sex'