Anyone with an eye for flesh could have noticed the discrepancy between the Japanese PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 cover art for Topware Interactive’s X-Blades. The CliffsNotes version of our earlier story: on the cover of the Xbox 360 version, the game’s protagonist Ayumi’s ass cheeks are exposed; on the PlayStation 3 version, she’s wearing underwear.
“X-Blades is being published by different publishers in international territories,” a rep from SouthPeak told me today when I reached out to them for comment. “Each does their own creative for their respective market. That includes the box art.”
You see, Ubisoft will be publishing the title in Japan, and they’re free to make art decisions as they please. We pinged Topware to see what they had to say about the “cheeky” issue, and said they difference in the Japanese artwork was simply a request by Sony.
“The Xbox 360 cover was the original image,” says Topware’s Jake DiGennaro, “and we altered it by adding silver swimsuit-stle bottoms to the image for PAX back in August at their request. Sony simply preferred the latter version of the image, so we were happy to obilge.”
Check out the North American box art for X-Blades, which SouthPeak was kind enough to send our way. Not quite as risqué, but one can’t say that Ayumi doesn’t know how to dress herself. Or maybe they can. Because really, she’s still not wearing much clothing, is she?
