Here is an example of a good box design:

Photo of back box cover

The design is good as it clearly states in large fonts and multi colored, the version of Windows supported, processor, system memory, sound card, free hard disk space, DVD-Rom and version DirectX supported.

It further went on to state "Onboard/Integrated graphic chipsets and laptops are not supported". This information is crucial for laptop owners.

A lot of game boxes has these requirements printed in very fine print and hidden in some corner or printed in the box flap. On rare occasions, some don't even bother to print the requirements.

Xplosiv, the designers of the box is truly professional. And ethical I would say because they want you to buy a game that will play on your computer. Other companies would just want to sell you a game, they are not too concerned if the game will run on your computer. Perhaps this is why Xplosiv printed "Buy with confidence" on the box.

Thanks mission! You're right -- that format makes it much easier than usual to see if the game will run on your PC -- let's hope that more publishers adopt it.

Just in case you're interested in box art -- here's an interview on GameBoomers with a box art designer, Jasmine Ianneo of Ubisoft.

Thanks, Becky for the article on the interview. That's quite an insight on how game boxes are designed. I like those Myst game boxes design. Eye catching and professionally done.