Yesterday, on Wal-Mart’s official blog, (yeah, it exists) blogger Joe revealed an interesting service that Sam’s Club will be offering.  When you buy a copy of NCAA Football 09 from any Sam’s Club with a photo center (read: any Sam’s Club), you can stick with the standard cover art, or you can choose from a selection of college mascots, creating a custom cover free of charge.  Obviously, not every school’s mascot will be available, but the article does state that you will have  “a lot of great choices,” including LSU, Ohio State and Notre Dame.  We can safely assume that other major schools like Penn State, Michigan, Alabama, Texas and USC will be on the list as well.  If you’re a fan of the Akron Zips or the Chaminade Silver Swords, you’re probably out of luck.

Ol' Stinky, mascot of the Montgomery County Community College Roving Derelicts 

It’s a pretty cool idea, and one that I’ve never seen implemented before.  Could it lead to real cover customization?  Will we soon be photoshopping our own “official” covers to games through an online service?  It’s something I’d love to see someday, and not just for sports titles, either.  I’d be happy to see publishers start issuing multiple covers for all their games, similar to how comic books have been marketed recently.  Think about God of War III with a 50/50 split of painted art and in-game models.  Throw in a chase cover that’s packed one to a case, and you’ve created a whole new tertiary collector’s market.

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