sinha said: Yes, I'm speaking of people who have way too much time on their hands. They spend their free time looking for hidden gay meanings in the clouds and sand in Disney movies. This will be like shooting fish in a barrel for them.

And we all know how bad that worked out for Disney.

Seriously, though, are you fricking kidding me?  Do you really think anyone will care what it says on the cover?  Any publicity Fox News gives this (they're the only major that I think would stoop so low) would only be an infomercial for what a success the Wii is and how it has revolutionized gaming.  As an anecdote they would comment on what a failure the PS3 has been and perhaps even comment on three little red rings.

Remember when everyone was busting up their TV sets with the Wiimote?  Boy that seemed like a bad PR mess for Nintendo.  Except it only made Nintendo look good since everyone was getting so excited that they were losing control of their simple muscle control. 

Whatever the fallout for this internet conspiracy, and I believe there will be none (except amongst the hardcore religious circlues who think the smurfs are the second coming of satan), it will only equal mario cash for the big N.  They're teflon, I tell ya.  Teflon. 

People -- as a coworker used to say "get a grip!"

I can't see what you are talking about ... and I imagine that 99 percent of the people are in the same way.

Also, the people who would be most likely to see a hidden objectionable message typically either (a) don't buy the games anyway or (b) are not geek speek literate enough to translate "U R" to "you are."

Mike from Morgantown

Yeah, it's really only a big deal to people that want to make it a big deal. To everyone else it's just silly and immature.

Nick said: Yeah, it's really only a big deal to people that want to make it a big deal. To everyone else it's just silly and immature.

 DING DING, we have a winner. 

Anyone who thinks this will effect sales is only deluding themselves.  Normal people hear about this stuff and think "Some people need to get laid!".  

Haha, oh my God! That is in there! Wow... I hadn't heard about this. Kinda funny... kinda. I mean it's certainly possible that it was done unintentionally, but I think it's somewhat more likely that it wasn't. And if it is true, it makes me wonder why artists like putting subliminal messages of that nature in box art or movies... Is it just their idea of a good ol' joke? (Okay it is a little funny, but also retarded. If parents hear about it via the media, they may not keep their kid from playing the game, but why risk pissing parents off in the first place?)

If not for a joke, does it help sell the product in some way? I mean... I'm buying the game no matter what, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be more inclined to buy Mario's games from his informing me that I'm the infamous Mr. Gay.

Wow...you guys take this U R MR GAY stuff a little too seriously.

Some artist put sparkles on random letters, mainly because those letters were in the right spots, that's all.

If you think this game is going to lose business, or that the mainstream will care one bit, you've been sitting at the computer a bit too long.

I don't care if it was an accident, I'm going to laugh every time I every look at that box art for the rest of my life. It took me 10 minutes to find out what the hell everybody was talking about with the U R MR GAY, but now that I've seen it, it's going to be like Mario saying it to me every time I see it.

Heh, the companion cube. Nice avatar Ben.

That aside, I agree that it really has next to no chance of affecting sales, but I doubt that it's random. The odds are fairly stacked against that. Possible, but not likely. What it probably is is some wiseguy artist acting independently of Nintendo... because I also seriously doubt it was in any way Big-N sanctioned.

I don't know...maybe I'm one of the few who doesn't find it that funny...

Humorous the first few times, but after seeing it pop up in succession on Digg, Kotaku, Joystiq, whatever...it's pretty old now...

Well me and apostrovich just discovered it; I won't be laughing or even thinking about it tomorrow. Heh, does sound like apostrovich will though.