I think that if any videogame company has lost the plot since this mystical "casual gaming" craze got started, it's Ubisoft. The publisher has wasted little time in flooding the market with utter nonsense in a flailing attempt to have a piece of Nintendo's pie and is going to take things one step further with the launch of Play Zone -- a label devoted to mini-games and other crap that already has a cornered market.
"With our new Play Zone party titles, the Wii gamers who like to spend time with friends and family will have fun with the Wii through innovative and involving mini-games," claims Ubisoft's EMEA Marketing Director John Parkes. "The Play Zone label will provide them with the best games to mingle and compete together in a fun and friendly atmosphere."
Just in case you were worried that this wasn't a thinly-veiled plan to essentially try to be Nintendo, rest assured that the first game is a sports mini-game compilation. With Sports Party, Ubisoft certainly won't let down any fans of blatant "me too" chicanery.
Do you guys remember the North American videogame crash of 1983? You know, that one where hundreds of low-quality games flooded the market because companies all wanted a piece of what was popular and oversaturated consumers with their stupidity?
Well I'm not saying it's going to happen. But maybe companies need to calm the f**k down at some point.
[Thanks, Superhobo]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
5:42 AM on 06.20.2008
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When will they learn?
A-fucking-men
The problem as far as I see it is that they don't understand that the industry is a two way system. You can't just milk the industry dry, you have to feed it as well, and that means producing quality titles every now and then. Occasionally they feed it some high quality but chemical-abundant food, see Assassins Creed (not that AC is a bad game, it's nutritious and delicious but flawed up the prosthetic orifice) but it's like they resent it, and will continue to grudgingly feed us the bear minimum for the industry to stay alive.
Ubi are a business through and through. I don't know what divine intervention caused them to allow pre-production on BG&E2 - my guess is that they were able to birth a new franchise ripe for milking; Raving Rabbids, but I'm not surprised that this is their idea.
People who just come to the site to browse might not ever comment and just stop by for the lulz and the news, but they might also find excessive cursing offensive. Now, I know what your thinking and, yes, if they find it offensive they should just leave and the blogger could very well speak however he wanted to. However, I'm assuming that Destructoid is also a business that makes some type of money off of ads and sponsor revenue (I may be wrong, but I'm sure it makes money somehow) and anything that might decrease traffic by actions made by the staff could be seen as "counterproductive".
That's just my guess anyways.
The editors aren't supposed to swear on the main page, only after the jump... I think...
With Jim becoming nostalgic I will do so too: Ever since videogames were invented our parents told us that those "things" would dum us down. Now Ubisoft is providing them with software that actually proves their point.
A big thanks to Ubisoft from millions of gamers that have been trying to get their hobby recognized as a serious medium ever since 1983.
Anyway. Who knows, maybe this will actual be beneficial to us.
phrase is losing all its meaning
You heard it here first.
Also, who the fuck keeps buying all of these mediocre minigames? I'll clobber ya.
Look at it this way: "God, Epic just keeps making games in shades of brown and gray. You can only shoot, you only play as stupid meatheads. There are so many of these games on the 360, PS3, and PC. The market for these games are only younger dudes! As somebody who doesn't like these games, I'm going to bitch about this and facepalm until my whining and bitching gets me what I want; a colorful and magical unicorn adventure. Everybody knows that everybody and their mom wants a colorful and magical unicorn adventure; I mean, my favorite website, Sparkletoid.com is full of editors and community members who all want unicorn adventures. I mean, we all complain to each other, so shouldn't that change Epic? Shouldn't that ONE company, who has a massive market outside of Sparkletoid.com, bend over backwards, spend millions of dollars, and sell what could be a niche product to a small group that won't make its dividends? I mean, fuck corporate monetary goals and the jobs of hundreds of people.
It's all about ME and what I want."
Seriously, I love Destructoid, but come on. Stop bitching and deal, all of you. Play your 360 like I do, and move the fuck on.
Companies CAN make good Wii games (see: Zack and Wiki, Trauma Center, No More Heroes) but too many want to cash on to this newfangled casual game craze. Since when does casual mean mini-game compilation? Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros., Animal Crossing can be enjoyed by anybody, but they still have some substance for us "Hardcore" types.
Make a good game, market it well, and it doesn't need to be a mini-game compilation to sell.
Wait, you think those games they release are good? I'd have no problem with them releasing over 8999 "casual" games if there were any effort put into them at all! The games they release are not "casual", they are crap by any definition of the word.
The real problem is the lack of effort for the Wii. Red Steel and Raving Rabbids were half-decent games that gave Ubisoft a good impression in Wii users' eyes - that's all gone to companies like EA now, who ARE actually making good Wii titles.
Gaming already has a not-very-good image in the non-gamer's eyes, seeing pointless crap like Dogz, Catz and Suckz isn't going to help any.
Ubisoft is complete trash for Wii gamers.
"Do you sell the Nintendo here? The one with the remote."
"Super plumber guy... that one"
"This game has the same name as <insert shitty kids move title here>... he'll love it"
It's so barely working.
And to those saying "they wouldn't make these games if they weren't profiting on them": They aren't making money--that's the thing. Ubisoft has had numerous press releases where they say their Wii and "casual" products are losing money and performing abysmally, all the while being baffled as to how it's happening.