HD Re-Releases Should Be A Celebration, Not A Quick Buck

Earlier today, Sony and Eidos reiterated the launch details for a trilogy of Tomb Raider re-releases destined for the PS3. Part of that was a reveal of the pack’s cover, which has us shaking our heads in disappointment.

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The box art, pictured above, features the three covers of the games the bundle is collecting. There’s a giant, tasteful silver splash above them. To cap things off, there are four separate Tomb Raider logos. In case we didn’t know this was about Tomb Raider already. Tomb Raider.

It’s a mess, and these collections (God of War’s was similarly disappointing) deserve better. These are not budget compilations of bottom-shelf games. They are high definition re-releases, surely aimed at old-time fans of the series (not to mention collectors) who want to relive classic adventures with some more contemporary visuals.

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In the movie world, there’s a company that makes a living re-releasing old films. It’s called The Criterion Collection, and while the business is renowned for its love of cinema and authentic presentation (not to mention restoration work), it’s also famous for its packaging. The Criterion Collection knows that it is not selling to Average Joe buying discounted DVDs in the sales bin of Walmart. It is selling to collectors, and fans, so gives them something befitting their passion and love for the property.

Below you’ll find Criterion’s recent release of a collection of the works of renowned Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. It’s glorious, and a fitting product for fans of the director’s work.

It would be great if game publishers could do the same. Maybe not to that extravagant extent (unless the popularity of the franchise makes that a possibility), but just…they could at least put a little effort into regular boxes of the things, presenting these collections as something done for the fans, not to make a quick buck out of them.

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