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The box design for the Japanese DSi LL has shown up on Amazon.co.jp, and, as usual, it is classy and fairly minimalist, featuring little more than a picture of the hardware on a white background.

We're childish enough to be amused by the fact that the whole DSi LL doesn't fit on the box. You know, because it's so big. Look how much room is on the DSi box! Somehow, despite not fitting on the box, the DSi LL fits in the box -- we can only assume it's in there disassembled like an IKEA desk.

[Via GoNintendo]

Capcom has finally uploaded the massive box art for its latest Vs title onto the internet: Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. It's very similar to the Japanese box art for the original release, in that it's a bunch of the game's characters set against a white background. The difference between the two is that our localized version shows the characters staring each other down, likely thinking about how they're going to kick the crap out of each other. What a violent world these folks live in, eh?

Head past the break for the full box art.

Superannuation, like the rest of us, seems to have been drawn to Ubisoft's irresistible Just Dance. The combination of the imperative title and the goofy enthusiasm of the trailer make us follow the Wii dancing game a little more closely than others we don't really intend to play.

The site alerted us to the box art for the title, which boldly advertises three songs: "U Can't Touch This," "Groove is in the Heart," and "Hot N Cold." We have yet to decide, but we think ... we might like the design. It'll certainly stand out on the shelf, commanding everyone who walks by to just dance. And the people on the box won't be as humiliated with their appearance as the Jam Sessions guy.

At DICE Summit Asia, Sony Japan Studio VP Yasuhide Kobayashi gave a speech about appealing to a global audience with games, which he identified as increasingly important as the Japanese market contracts. He mentioned The Last Guardian, which was given that particular title to appeal to Western markets.

As an example of Western-focused marketing that didn't work, Kobayashi presented the Japanese and North American boxes for ICO, the game that brought the Last Guardian developers to prominence. "If the packaging was designed differently, we think it would have sold more," he said. "In fact on the internet many people have said that the Japanese version was better." Because it is.

Kobayashi then finished by highlighting what he saw as a different perception of what makes a "new" game in the West and Japan. He said that a "new" game in the US or Europe could be "something similar to something that's come before, because they think it is easier for people to understand."

"But actually we don't like this - it's like you're simulating, following suit, combining two titles into one," he continued. "It seems the definition of a new title is different in the US and Europe to Japan. It means a new genre, that's what we call a new game."

Japan has just as many iterative sequels as anywhere else, but we guess they aren't considered as new?

The Japanese box art for Sin and Punishment 2, which appears to have been cropped out of a Famitsu scan by NeoGAFfer neo2046, is awesome. We're all thinking it: it's far too awesome to survive the trip overseas. This amazing art is doomed to be replaced with 3D character art upon its release in North America. But we can appreciate it now!

We can also appreciate the tiny text at the bottom, which reveals a release date of October 29 in Japan. Nintendo of America has yet to update the "Q1 2010" date for North America -- a date that must have seemed like a good idea at the time, but now places this niche game, which we want to protect like a little baby, in the middle of a very dangerous game environment.

The PlayStation.Blog has announced the release date for Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time. But wait -- isn't that, as commenters like to point out, old news? Thankfully, more can be gleamed from the box art included with the post.

In addition to touting the redesigned PS3 logo, the box art for A Crack in Time features the now-standard PlayStation Network banner on the back. The various PSN features include Trophies, PlayStation Home support, leaderboards and ... multiplayer? That's certainly new to us.

Unfortunately, a SCEA representative confirmed to us that the box art posted on the web was constructed from a template and that all information listed in the PSN banner is simply placeholder. That doesn't mean A Crack in Time won't have multiplayer -- but it means that this is far from the "omg confirmationz!!!!1" that many have been hoping for. Update: SCEA's Jefferson Dong puts it more directly: "There is no multiplayer."

[Thanks, tmacairjordan87]

Though we'd love to spend our precious time poring over the just-released cover of upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV DLC retail pack, Episodes from Liberty City, we're not entirely certain of what to pick apart. The usual sexified lady and mean-looking gentlemen are present and accounted for, as is another helicopter to remind us of The Ballad of Gay Tony's apparent vehicle of choice. A few friends from the The Lost & Damned also make an appearance, but there isn't much else to ogle.

We still don't have a release date for the expansion or much more than a handful of screenshots, so we really hope you enjoy this box art until the first trailer hits tomorrow afternoon.

Mass Effect 2 may not be ready to save the galaxy until next year, but its cover art is all set to sell some pre-orders. The box features what may be Wrex (but, all Krogans look alike. Racist!), what appears to be a sexy version of Ashley (or Miranda Lawson... or Dead Space Girl) and the same dude from the original Mass Effect cover. We have NO IDEA who this guy is! He never appears in the game, but EA and BioWare keep insisting on putting him on the box and in the commercials. Maybe his identity will be revealed in the third installment.

As we all know, Commander Shepard (not present on the cover) is a beautiful black woman with striking green eyes.

The North American box art for Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, as posted on Capcom-Unity today, is very blue. We suspect its overwhelming, vivid blueness will draw attention from retail shoppers.

Once they focus more on the luminous blue object on the shelf, they'll see Leon Kennedy (last seen holding a gun in a somewhat different position on the RE4 Wii Edition box) and Claire Redfield in the front, and Code Veronica's Steve Burnside (who may as well be Leon) and ... some guy in the background. Also, zombies.

See the full box art after the break!

The black Wii hardware launches in Japan on August 1. Amazon.co.jp's listing for the item features the box that it comes in, which is, naturally, similar to the existing Wii hardware packaging, but in black instead of white. Like the hardware itself and the controllers (particularly the Nunchuk) the change in color scheme makes the box look so much more interesting.

After the break, we've posted the original white box for comparison. Is this new system worth the double-dip now that it also includes a display-worthy box? Still no, but it sure is nice to look at on the internet. The only downside for this new color scheme is that it'll be even more prone to the "dust" jokes that console warriors like to throw around, since it will actually show dust.

[Via NeoGAF]

Activision must have been under tremendous pressure to develop an empirical method of determining the greatest songs in the Guitar Hero series for Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits. It would be difficult to pick the determining factors: fan votes? Number of notes? Length? Sales as DLC? Sales of the original record? Some kind of measure of volunteers' brain activity while playing? It's a big question. And what if songs came out after the release of the collection that were even greater than the Greatest Hits? Then the title would be a lie!

Activision's solution: change the title to Guitar Hero: Smash Hits. That's safe from potential inaccuracy, because it doesn't really mean anything!

That "The best of Guitar Hero music" line at the bottom kind of ruins our theory about the name change. Ignore that part.

[Via GoNintendo]

That copy of Resistance 2 looking a little dated? Fancy it up with some new digs, and by that we mean insert art, courtesy of the PlayStation Blog. Three covers are available to download from the blog's official Flickr page to redress Nathan Hale's latest adventure: the original North American box art (not pictured), the Ying-and-yang art from Europe (pictured left) and an extreme close-up design that would make Wayne Campbell proud.

We're all for changing it up, but something tells us PlayStation fans are more eager to swap out their Resistance 2 discs for something a little more intense.

Stormrise is an upcoming console RTS from The Creative Assembly, developer of the Total War series. Among the standard promise of intuitive console controls, Creative Assembly is introducing "verticality" to console RTS players. Units can be deployed in the air, on rooftops, at ground level, or below the planet's surface. Okay. So far, so good ...

Uh-oh, wait a minute. Stormrise's box art looks like the class project of a paint-by-numbers after school program. Sure, it's the game inside that matters -- and we're excited for it -- but imagine if, instead of saying Stormrise on the cover, the box read RoboCop vs. Zombies. This art would still totally work, and probably be twice as rad.

Amazon has updated their listing for Rhythm Heaven with some new boxart, along with a terrible new release date and terrible new price: November 30 and $40, respectively. We are hoping against hope that these are both just placeholders, because while we will wait that long and pay that much, we really, really don't want to. The game is out in Japan! It was shown off at E3 2008! It's done!

All we know for sure is that Rhythm Heaven is not coming out in the first quarter of this year. Nintendo's press site still has it scheduled for "1st half 2009." However, the fact that Gamestop has no listing at all for it does suggest that it's fairly far off.


[Via GoNintendo]

The Tenchu 4 (or, rather, Tenchu: Shadow Assassins) boxart we spotted on Ubisoft's site didn't really meet with the Internet's approval. While the image on the official site has yet to change, retailer GameCrazy is displaying a different boxart, which is quite likely to be a newer revision of Tenchu's North American box image.

We happen to think it looks better, though there's an odd mixture of art styles on display here due to the combination of art from the other American box and Japanese character art -- Rikimaru is a lot more realistic-looking than Ayame.

After the break, have a look at the preorder bonus being given away at Gamestop. It's pretty nice, for a video game-related bandana.