The Boxes of Hock Wah Yeo

https://obscuritory.com/essay/incredible-boxes-of-hock-wah-yeo/

by salgernon • 5 years ago

71 4 5 years ago

Interesting article. While some of those designs are undeniably cool (Prince of Persia), back the day I would be put off games which came in weird packages. My reasoning being something like: if a game required that level of superficial novelty to sell itself, it can't be that good.

I owned the Havoc box for a while after an eBay bulk purchase. Yep, it's bad! :)

philistine• 5 years ago

I particularly appreciate the description of the switch of the video games market to the entertainment model around 1995, where games are hyped like movies before they're released.

It's something that confirmed what I felt but couldn't quite put my finger on. That something changed between the early 90s and the late 90s in the way video games were discussed.

pid_0• 5 years ago

lastofthemojito• 5 years ago

Oh boy, I had Spectre in that original box, this brought the memories flooding back.

I appreciate the artist's work - I'd never heard the name Hock Wah Yeo before but I certainly found his work memorable. But the article also starts with:

When Hock Wah Yeo was hired by the game publisher Velocity, the head of the company gave him an unusual order: “Scare me.”

A good reminder that you often need boththe creative folks and the business folks on board for cool stuff to make it all the way to fruition.

The Boxes of Hock Wah Yeo

Related Stories