IGN watermark on Okami Wii strategy guide cover
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Apr 28th 2008 at 1:30PM }
However the error occurred is up for speculation. We just hope this little fiasco urges publishers to supply its designers with the assets to do their job properly. Or, designers should feel free to take assets from us with the Joystiq watermark on them. We totally give permission!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ninjakamster @ Apr 28th 2008 1:33PM
All I can say is..............LOL.
el serpiente @ Apr 28th 2008 2:47PM
Incompetent at Dawn.
eNrique @ Apr 29th 2008 6:33PM
i dunno what you'll say when u see the one form the overrated game gta4,
*smells money*
*keeps waiting for real good games, MGS 4, anyone?*
pd, if you give me a minus, you know where you can stick the plus!
Savok @ Apr 28th 2008 1:34PM
Viral advertising for IGN?
That's about the only thing that makes sense at this point.
BananaBoat @ Apr 28th 2008 1:57PM
Yeah, that's my thought as well. It's not a stretch to see them shelling out a little cold hard cash for some subliminal advertising on the front of the box/strategy guide. Knowing that all major corporations have quality assurance employees, and that noone could have missed that obvious mistake, it just doesn't make sense that it could be a mistake, especially now that it's happened twice.
(Unrelated Note: 12 more hours! 20 for me!! GTA IV WEEHEEEE)
ozzzy @ Apr 28th 2008 1:36PM
Give it a rest. The world will continue with or without the IGN watermark controversy. Is it really a shock that the strategy guide authors used the same cover as the game?
Jody Anthony (cookingrebels.com) @ Apr 28th 2008 1:39PM
but the watermark is in a different spot, so it's not the same piece.
Roto13 @ Apr 28th 2008 1:39PM
It's not the same, though. The watermark has the letters IGN in it, and it's in a different spot.
MarkHawk @ Apr 28th 2008 1:56PM
The water mark is on a layer that was slightly moved up in the picture. Same layer just moved slightly. Still a huge error.
ozzzy @ Apr 28th 2008 3:05PM
Brady games received the PSD file with the IGN logo from Capcom. It looks like they moved a layer or rescaled the wolf to fit the different format dimensions, but the graphic file is likely the same.
Either way, the point of the post was to say less Okami art nit picking, more GTA IV coverage. =)
samfish @ Apr 28th 2008 2:53PM
MarkHawk is correct. It IS in the same spot if you look at the original picture on IGN's website. They just adjusted the layer with Ammy on it, it looks like.
Plus, it IS the same logo. Not sure why people keep saying it's different. If you look on the Wii box's cover, the insignia and the letters 'IGN' are clearly there.
Zertoss @ Apr 28th 2008 1:42PM
I facepalmed.
voodoo_craig @ Apr 28th 2008 1:44PM
Graffick desinin
Ur doin it rong!
NukeAssault @ Apr 28th 2008 1:48PM
Motivational poster... GO!
Marty @ Apr 28th 2008 1:45PM
As a production artist, I simply can't grasp why they would have needed to pull the artwork off the web - from IGN no less - for actual print materials. Don't they have the originals?
Kouheikun @ Apr 30th 2008 7:11PM
Well, the original PS2 game was developed by Clover Studio, and the Wii port was handled by Ready at Dawn ... but that still doesn't fully explain things, because Capcom should've still had the production artwork ...
LAWL @ Apr 28th 2008 1:50PM
L A W L !
Saria the Cat @ Apr 28th 2008 1:47PM
I can't see how it's intentional since it takes much squinting and someone else pointing it out in order to even see the logo. Why bother with advertising like that if most people won't even be able to notice it? And don't give me any of that subliminal messages shit, 'cause that's been proven to be ineffective.
Lilinka @ Apr 28th 2008 1:54PM
Trust me, someone -had- to put that in, there's no way the letters I G N can just "accidentally" be drawn in a base art.
samfish @ Apr 28th 2008 2:57PM
Of course they put it in. It was IGN when they ran the images trough a batch process to get their watermark on all the Okami screens.
Then some hack working for Capcom came along and pulled it off IGN's site for whatever reason and didn't crop out the water mark.
My guess is that at a place the size of Capcom, things have to go back and forth so much and this cover was technically meant to be just a comp, but somewhere along the way another person took over the cover after the comp had been submitted and they just didn't notice it.
Saria the Cat @ Apr 28th 2008 4:29PM
I know that it was put in intentionally by IGN when "stamping" their images for the game on the site, but I am referring to the speculation that IGN is somehow attempting to advertise on Capcom's game or that there is some intended collaboration between the two organizations.
ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Apr 29th 2008 11:56AM
I saw the real box in stores the other day, and it's a lot more visible in real life than scanned onto the internet.
LiK @ Apr 28th 2008 1:55PM
holy shit, this is hilarious. LOL
nxtiak @ Apr 28th 2008 1:56PM
U R MR GAY
StarFoxA @ Apr 28th 2008 1:57PM
When is IGN going to press charges?
ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ Apr 29th 2008 11:57AM
Why should they?
Well, how could they? The pictures aren't copyrighted by IGN at all, they're just watermarked because they're from their website. But technically, they still have no ownership of the pictures.
KeenCommander @ Apr 28th 2008 2:00PM
I think Joystiq is just afraid of the competition from IGN.
cold school @ Apr 28th 2008 2:07PM
Strategy guide covers with inadvertent watermarks are SERIOUS BUSINESS!
TheHuntIsOn @ Apr 28th 2008 2:16PM
Rubbish!
Gewurztraminer says: R.O.B. is the last Cylon! @ Apr 28th 2008 2:20PM
Well, Capcom's reaction to the box art snafu was to re-issue the same or two alternate box arts, sans watermark, to those that purchased the game. For a game in which the artistic style is a key element, that seems like a nice way to approach the situation.
As for the strategy guide; i'm torn between saying "that's BradyGames' problem" or "deal with it".
=D
motang @ Apr 28th 2008 2:21PM
So is IGN getting a cut since there logo is being used. ;-)
Ben Belden @ Apr 28th 2008 2:27PM
Not only does it have the logo and say IGN, if you look really hard, you can make out at least a CO next to it meaning it obviously said IGN.COM
ScottG13 @ Apr 28th 2008 2:44PM
This still cracks me up.
andrew @ Apr 28th 2008 6:46PM
It has to be intentional. Why and how else would two different watermarks show up in the same spot?
Questworld @ Apr 29th 2008 12:04AM
Talk about lack of effort on the Wii. :/
You can't get AAA games/effort, now we get this?
(Yeah, I know it's a simple mistake but you have to wonder why anyone needs to download IGN art images at all when they've got the original official art in their repertoire).
Barten @ Apr 29th 2008 4:54PM
I work for game stop, and the cover art we used to tell people that the game is coming out had the "ign" water mark on it as well.
XP100 @ May 21st 2008 7:01AM
well, at least when they make the new covers (minus the watermark, hopefully), the watermarked one might go limited edition, right?
still, why get the image off of ign? why don't you go through the game files itself? i think the image is a bonus art thing, or something.