im 18 by the way, been working in photoshop for five years just resently got photoshop cs but i made my cover with photoshop 7, just some tips for the rest of u guys cuz i keep seeing the same mistakes don't make ur cover one giant picture it looks very unprofessional cuz if u make a cover for a game ur trying to sell it right so ur gonna want to show wut all the game has wut it looks like and mainly all the best and coolest qualities of the game plus never over lap pictures unless on is either cut and the other has a BORDER, i know it might not seem cool or too much work but borders around pictures grabs peoples attention, plus don't croud the back or the front with too many pics like four pics on the back is plenty and depending on how u have every thing set up it can be too much, please use proper grammer when u r informing the viewer on the game and how the game is and write everything like ur trying to get someone to buy it that HASN'T play the first halo, another good tip that i really don't see that mainy people doing is evry picture u put on the back needs to have a caption, thats a big one u can'y just have random pics floating around with no meaning or purpose and pick pictures that show off something cool that the game has, and when u wite the copy block or the main writing part on the back (the place with the most writing) u don't really have to tell anyone how good the game is in this section the best thing u could do is give the most brief summary of the HALO 2 plot and nothing to do with halo 1 and something else look at the back of other games for references on how to set everything up properly and acuately, especialy when u want everything to be proportional to how it would really look like to make the bungie logo look too big on the front along with the "Mature" rating symbol and all the logos on the back u should just leave them plain if u can because that is the companys signature witch means don't put a glow around it or any thing thats about as professional as if Bill Gates' signautre and squigly lins and hearts around ok, leave the logos alone and if the logos u have aren't cut out CUT THEM OUT, lol unless ur lucky enough to find a transparent gif of the logo like i did, something else too DON'T USE THE HALO FONT to right out the info on the back it was made for the halo logo and thats don't use for anything but the logo, lol, try to find a very simply and very clear readable font to write out all the info, and really think about colors too like for instance black and white r probably the baest color for ur the font use to write the info not bright green or pink or any other color like that, u don't want to hurt the readers eyes, lol thus when it comes don't to it pick a nutural color like black or white its easier on the eyes. thats all for me if any one needs tips just ask even though this is a contest it just really anoys the crap out of me to see people that complete RE-ARRANGE EVERYTHING on the back and everything is out of proportion to the actual thing, well im out...peace
p.s. and try to be as creative as u possible can and remember "simplicity is bliss"