WarGames (Blu-ray SteelBook) (Zavvi Exclusive) [UK]

lenticularis

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
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Premium Supporter
Jul 15, 2014
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UK
Release date: October 23, 2017
Purchase link: Zavvi (Pre-orders will be live from around 6pm UK time on Saturday 7th October)
Price: £15.99

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Clever artwork playing on the computerised noughts-and-crosses game of the film with the superpower icons instead replacing the Xs and Os of the game . . . in the style of the poster below.
Nicely homogeneous outside artwork and original poster artwork inside:-

Unfortunately, another thoroughly decent film with mostly underwhelming original poster designs (apart from this one which I quite like for its naïve quality):-
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That being said . . . if this steelbook turns out to be a deep, rich glossy black (and I love glossy black - and glossy white steelbooks - as much as the next person) with the noughts-and-crosses/tic-tac-toe artwork and the title 'bossed then I think it should look very nice indeed and should elicit favourable comments once in-hand.
My personal preference would be for embossed artwork and title within a framing border.

RE: POSTER ART - Unlike the majority of original poster art for the film some decent posters have been produced more recently . . . and I particularly like those that were produced in 2013 on the occasion of the film's 30th anniversary by James White aka Signal Noise which I feel would look good on an horizontal steelbook.
In the green variant it can be seen that the artist is on the same wavelength as the designer of the Zavvi steelbook in the monochrome "Green Screen" palette of the CRT computer monitor of the day.

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That's at least 20 steelbooks I didn't purchase because of these pop art designs. Shame as they were great films i would love to have purchased.
 
Here's an idea,, create another SB 'b list' thread...
Every release has a poll...
Every one here, you know, the people who actually spend real money on these products choose what were exposed to daily...
Low score, your on the 'b list',,
Retailers, enjoy your reality check //
 
Here's an idea,, create another SB 'b list' thread...
Every release has a poll...
Every one here, you know, the people who actually spend real money on these products choose what were exposed to daily...
Low score, your on the 'b list',,
Retailers, enjoy your reality check //

wont happen unfournately i remember few asking for worse steel of the year comp along with best steel of the year comp to show up the poorest steels of the year as well and try showing worst offenders and try and get some to up there game.

but that has fallen on deaf ears of the hdn staff as they don't want to upset one of there sponsors of the site would they???

but to me until likes of @zavvi go back to studio and say no thanks!
we still end up with garbage being pumped out by some of the studios with the likes of this wave as one example.
but there again zavvi never did have any backbone, they will sell anything. as long as there are a few pounds in it.
I don't see them trying to improve anything for steelcollectors do you @zavvi?
now waits for silence :rolleyes:

basil :thumbs:
 
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Garbage in more ways than one. When will these studios learn...:stop:

Oh ...and, I'm pretty sure the artist who is responsible for the front 'tic tac toe' artwork is possibly not the brightest.....the game being portrayed is impossible. 5 USA stars and 3 Soviet hammer and sickles, that's not how I thought it was played. USA are cheating.....:p
before your post, i disliked just the artwork's execution. now you've pointed out that so-obvious-i-missed-it error, i hate its logic, too. :grumpy: how come the US has had 5 goes? that means the next go has to be USSR. and they win.

erm...? :confused:
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No, seriously, it is a clever design because it teases with the deliberate vacant space bottom right - a space which when filled would give a win to one side or the other but logically filled by the hammer & sickle of the Ruskies scoring a win with a diagonal run which would in turn lead to the back cover nuclear explosion.
Bottom right space left blank in the artwork as a symbol that there can be no winners in either tic-tac-toe or global thermonuclear war . . . when the computer is instructed to play itself.

Tic-tac-toe is of course winnable - unlike global thermonuclear war - all it takes is one player to make a dumb move by putting an "X" or "O" in the wrong box . . . but here with the computer Joshua programmed to play tic-tac-toe by itself or more accurately, "number of players zero" winning proves impossible and in an endless series of increasingly rapid tries it's not long before the screen goes blank as it realises the game is unwinnable and after that realisation it then starts repeating the same process with various global thermonuclear war scenarios until it realises the futility of that as well with no winner possible. More and more power is drawn running through the endless combinations looking for some kind of acceptable outcome, of which there's none, that it "blows a fuse".

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the tic-tac-toe artwork on the steelbook front is not a bad choice because the game is a key element in the film as it makes the computer realise there can be no winners in tic-tac-toe or global thermonuclear war.

Regarding the steelbook treatment: If the tic-tac-toe artwork was embossed within a frame and the symbols and grid treated with a glow-in-the-dark paint I'd seriously consider a full price purchase of 16 quid and of course I am a firm fan of the film itself - a film that hasn't dated - like some films from the '80s - apart from the technology, of course, which for me only adds to its charm.

First WAR GAMES steelbook after almost ten years of steelbooks in the UK . . . but now we've got one it's surely only a matter of when not if another artwork option will be available and maybe utilising one of the original posters too.
 
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Waiting patiently for stock of this delightful film . . . not so much to buy at the high pre-order price but to buy nonetheless.
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w/ back artwork in lower right hand square . . .

No tic-tac-toe winner on the steel . . .
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