DVD Inlays - What Needs to be on them?

I need to spend some time looking at what exactly needs to be on a DVD inlay in order to make sure that customers are informed of what game they are buying and in order to comply with any laws that require certain things to be on a game that will be sold in the UK.

Below is a reasonably high resolution picture of the DVD inlay for Duke Nukem Forever.

After spending some time looking at it I have tried to pick out 10 points of things that I feel need to be included.

Some of them like title, screenshots I was going to add. Others like ISBN and barcode information was something that needs to be on there in order for a shop to be able to sell the game...despite how annoying it is to lose the space to it!

1. Game title. Big and bold, Needs to be highly visible and to draw your eye to it after the main picture has grabbed your attention. This needs to be on the front and on the spine as some shops show the front of a game when advertising it and some only have them arranged so the spine is visible to save space.

2. Platform. It is very important to differentiate which platform the game is for. PS3 and Xbox One tend to all use the same art for this so I will need to take into account that I will need to accommodate this if I plan on selling the game on consoles. At the moment I will be focusing on the PC segment and given that there is no single PC hardware manufacturer like a console I will not need to splash PC across the box in quite so obvious a way like Microsoft have done with the Xbox 360 version. Regardless it does need to be on there somewhere.

3. Classification. Games in the UK seem to fall into two categories. Those that are given an actual classification from 12 to 18 or those that are given an ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) rating. The main difference is that a game given an actual classification cannot be sold to anyone below that age. An ESRB rating gives advice on who the game is actually designed for.

Their ratings are:-

C - Intended for early childhood.
E - Everyone. Content is suitable for all ages.
E 10 - Content is generally suitable for ages 10 and up.
T - Teen. Content is generally suitable for ages 13 and up.
M - Mature. Content is suitable for ages 17 and up.
AO - Adults Only. Suitable only for adults aged 18 and up.

The above information was taken from the ESRB site which can be found here:

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp [Accessed on 15/02/14 11:00].

It seems odd to me that a game could be given an ESRB of AO and then not even get a 12 certificate. It appears as though the ESRB rating is more to dictate where and how ads for these games can be displayed.

"Publishers of packaged or boxed video games carrying an ESRB rating are contractually bound to follow the industry-adopted Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices and comply with numerous requirements addressing how ratings information must be displayed on game packaging and in advertising, what type of content can be presented and where".

The above excerpt was taken from the below web page on the ESRB site.

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/enforcement.jsp [Accessed on 15/02/14 11:00].

Speaking for my game and given the typical ratings that the other Duke and Doom games receive; Duke Nukem games especially I feel safe putting an 18 rating on it.

4. Screenshots showing in-game gameplay. As referred to in my initial ideas blog I have some ideas as to what screenshots I want to see on the back cover of the box. I also notice that the screenshots are nearly always if not always on the back cover. Through owning a fair few boxed games in my time you never seem to see screenshots on the front cover.

5. Game description using "colourful blurb". Basically a short description of the game that should entice people to want to play it. Action games tend to see words and phrases like "Explosive, Kick Ass, Pure Unadulterated Fun..." etc. I will have to try and phrase my language accordingly.

6. System requirements / Features. More important on a PC than a console with a set system specification I will need to add the minimum and recommended system specification to ensure that the game runs to a level that makes for an enjoyable experience.

Using a website to find out what the minimum system requirements for DNF they have stated the below:-

CPU:	Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.0 Ghz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 @ 2.0 Ghz

RAM:	1 GB

OS:	Windows XP / Vista / 7

Video Card:	NVIDIA GeForce 7600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600

Sound Card:	Yes

Free Disk Space:	10 GB

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/Requirements/duke-nukem-forever/11139?p=r [Accessed on 15/02/14 11:10]

They also list recommended requirements which are found on the same page:-

CPU:	Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.4 Ghz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 @ 2.6 Ghz

RAM:	2 GB

OS:	Windows XP / Vista / 7

Video Card:	NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS / ATI Radeon HD 3850

Sound Card:	Yes

Free Disk Space:	10 GB

I notice that only the CPU, RAM and Video Card have changed from the minimum to the recommended. This is often the case nowadays as performance in a game is mostly dependant on those three components. 

7. Trademarks and logos of the technologies used in the game as well as the publishers / game studio's logo's. As mine will be a collaboration between ID Software who hold the IP rights to Doom and Gearbox who hold the IP rights to Duke Nukem Forever I will have to make sure that both companies logos appear on the box. I will probably also include 3D Realms' logo since they have a strong history with the Duke Nukem franchise.

8. Legal information and disclaimers. I will try to get some samples of these and see what is commonly used. 

Two examples:-

1. Xcom - Enemy Within.

Taken verbatim off the back of the dvd game case I own.

"C 1994 - 2012 Take Two Interactive Software, Inc. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc, .2K, 2K Games, Firaxis Games, XCOM and XCOM: Enemy Uknown, and their respective logos are trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Unreal R is a registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc. Unreal R Engine, Copyright 1998-2012, Epic Games Inc. Uses Bink Video Technology. Copyright C 1997-2012 by RAD Games Tools, Inc. This software product includes Autodesk R Scaleform R software, C 2012 Autodesk Inc, Autodesk, and Scaleform are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and /or it's subsidiaries and / or affiliates in the USA and / or other countries.
C 2012 Nvidia Corporation. All rights reserved. Nvidia, the Nvidia logo, Physx, The way it's meant to be played, and 3D Vision are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nvidia Corporation in the US and other countries. All rights reserved. Dolby and the double-D symbol are trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. DTS and the DTS symbol are registered trademarks of DTS, Inc. and DTS Digital Surround is a trademark of DTS, Inc. All other marks are properties of their respective owners. The content of this videogame is fictional and is not intended to represent or depict an actual record of events, persons, locations, or entities in the game's setting. The makers and publishers of the game do not in any way endorse, condone or encourage engaging in any conduct depicted in this videogame."


2. Starcraft 2 - Heart of the Swarm. 

Taken verbatim off the back of the dvd game case I own.

"The use of Starcraft R II: Heart of the Swarm TM is subject to your acceptance of the Starcraft 2 End User License Agreement and the Battle.net R Terms of Use. All applicable terms are available at eu.blizzard.com/legal. Internet connection permanently required for the multiplayer mode and periodically for the single player mode. Battle.net registration required to play. Register a Battle.net account at www.Battle.net at no cost to you and attach your Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm license to your account. Battle.net accounts are not transferable. Player is responsible for all applicable internet fees. Requires full version of Starcraft R II: Wings of Liberty R."


So, quite a lot of information is shoehorned into a tiny print size on the back of most games. Having never really bothered to read them before it was interesting to see how the two differed. Certainly for mine it is more likely that the first example for Xcom is the more likely one for my game given that Take 2 do publish Gearbox Studio's games. Bethesda tend to publish all of ID Software's though. I may just try to go more down the Blizzard example and mention EULA's and Terms of Use as a way of making this much shorter.

9. ISBN and barcode. Needs to be included for the shop or retailer to be able to scan this item in for stock management and selling of the product.

10. Warning about photo sensitive epilepsy. May or may not put this in. Having looked through my collection of games seeing this is not that common on the back cover. It's more often included as part of any accompanying handbook. I'll assume that I will leave it off to save some space if possible.


Having looked at the 20 or so other boxed copies of games that I own I can see that all of them have pretty much all of the 10 points that I picked out (number 10 being the exception) and therefore I need to make sure that at least the first 9 are included as part of my dvd inlay.