Global Star's fairground fun Wii title Carnival Games has been making major showings on sales charts, including coming in at number eight on Amazon.com's Bestsellers (video games) list -- and here we were playing silly titles like BioShock and Persona 3 and such.
If you think that this is just some kind of fluke, then you should know that the very same title has taken the number one position on Bestbuy.com's sales figure charts for week of September 4th through 10th, according to Gamespot.
Apparently, there's something to this family-fun carnival game collection. As fun as these Wii-ized minigames like "ring toss" and "shooting gallery" sound, I haven't had the chance to give this a spin. Have any of the many robots of Destructoid Army tried this title out? Is it really that good, or is it really just "little Timmy" getting his way again?
[thanks, JV]
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site
Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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Contest:
2:16 PM on 09.15.2007
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Or can it?
wow, talk about knee-jerk reactions
Oh wait, of course not. STFU. Don't play games, though, hit yourself in the face with a hammer until you're not able to double post tripe on the Wii posts.
Once you get the controls down, it's a lot of fun (or I'm just easily amused).
I don't play the wii too much, but this game gave me a reason to dust it off.
"I don't know about that..."
The game just appeals to people who don't play games... I know a girl named Malinda, for example, who does not play game on a regular basis, and knows I have a Wii. Every time I see her, she'll eventually ask if I've played some game that she thought looked cool after seeing it on a commercial. She's never asked me about mario, metroid, zelda, or any other game that gamers like to play, just shit like Cooking mama and Ratatoullie. The most recent example of this was last weekend, when she asked me if I had picked up Carnival Games. I wanted to think she was joking, but I knew she wasn't. I didn't even know they had commercials for this game! Anyway, she thought it looked like the most fun thing since... slip n' slide.
In fact, Fuck you haters, I'm going to go buy this right now.
Angry person, it's a minigame collection with a different coat of paint (lead-based paint!). No matter what premise you wrap around it, it's still just a bunch of minis strung together by a carnival theme.
It's really confusing to me that people would happily play games like this in an arcade and get all teary eyed with nostalgic joy, yet if it appears on the Wii its just another kick in the balls for traditional gaming.
Like I said, if this actually plays well, it's so obviously worth having in a games collection.
Calm the fuck down. I never played it, I'm just going off of the impressions of everyone else who say that's it's boring casual-game tripe. I read enough reviews of games that they all start to blend together, and all that's left is the overall general opinion of the reviewers: it's bad.
I'm not against bonding at all. I do the same thing with my family, with good games. If he wants to bond, get better games like Wii Play, Rayman Raving Rabbids, or Mario Party. Don't buy generic casual games only made to cash in on the recent casual wave. At least buy good ones.
Calm the fuck down. I never played it, I'm just going off of the impressions of everyone else who say that's it's boring casual-game tripe. I read enough reviews of games that they all start to blend together, and all that's left is the overall general opinion of the reviewers: it's bad.
I'm not against bonding at all. I do the same thing with my family, with good games. If he wants to bond, get better games like Wii Play, Rayman Raving Rabbids, or Mario Party. Don't buy generic casual games only made to cash in on the recent casual wave. At least buy good ones.
The arcades I used to frequent used to include Space Invaders, A game where you're a construction worker with a sledgehammer that goes around smashing people and boxes, and a bike game you ride and need to race and jump over ditches.
The first system I ever had used audio cassette tapes to load data and it about getting from Los Angeles to New York City while avoiding the cops.
The first cartridge system I ever owned was a SNES with Super Mario World.
If all I had to play was "Carnival Games", "Raving Rabbids", and "Wii Sports." I would have never moved on from the fad phase.
These minigames are not going to get people into gaming. They're the same type of people who bought into the "Scooter" fad, The "Karaoke" fad and still only play "Solitaire" on their computer and "Tetris?"
While I personally love "Tetris,"
I don't know any people that have moved on to become what one would call a core gamer from playing "Tetris" and "Solitaire".
My girlfriend has been playing games as long as anyone I know, and she still just wants to play simple, fun games, so I guess she's not a proper gamer than right?
Who the fuck invented this gaming hierarchy, is there an ancient scroll I haven't seen or something. People are buying carnival Games because it's a pick up and play game on a console which literally let's you pick up and play. If Carnival Games is crap then that's unfortunate for the people who bought it, but so far I don't get why consumers buying Carnival Games is even worthy of a perplexed response.
There's nothing wrong with playing "Carnival Games" at all. I don't mind if people play Solitaire or Tetris. There is no gaming hierarchy.
I just think its foolish to think that because Wii sold over 10 million units that it translates to 10 million copies of Mario Galaxy being sold.
No it doesn't.
I just hate how Hollywood the gaming industry has become by catering to the lowest common denominator in some respects.
You know movies like Fast and the Furious which sell really well by including a white guy, a black guy, an asian person, a strong willed female, a weak filled female, et cetera.
The gaming industry appealing to people that don't play games is like the movie industry trying to appeal to people who don't watch movies. It's complete crap.
Do you think a movie like Apocalypse Now could be made today?
- No Love Interest
- No Good Guy
- Too long for all the people with supposed ADD/ADHD disorders.
- Doesn't leave you with feel good feeling when you finish watching.
That's what's happening to games I suspect, in some ways.
Games are either too hard for the Hardcore that do nothing but play games, or too easy for the Casual who don't play games.
The Hardcore games have no manual save and autosaves are too far apart, the Casual games don't even require saving because they can be completed in less than a day.
I mean there is EA Playground and Raving Rabbids and bloody Jenga coming cout for the good old price of $50 dollars of pop.
I mean Rock and Electronica can't exactly compete with Pop music, should music companies shift more resources towards Pop music? NO!!!
The best or even a good product doesn't necessarily sell the most,
I mean Family Play and Party Mode are poor trade-offs in the Wii version of Madden 08 for Gang Tackling and the more Advanced AI found in the 360 and PS3 versions.
Arcade Mode is a poor substitute for better AI, Visuals and Air drops in Medal of Honor Heroes 2 on the Wii compared to Airborne on the 360.
The Wiimote is a great concept but it can't compensate for everything that the 360 and PS3 versions of games offer compared to their Wii counterparts.
Ever hear of this lovely thing called an "opinion?" Some people like it and some don't. It's not crap, but it's not the greatest thing since sliced bread, either. To each, his/her own.
I'm glad you think my two younger daughters are "stupid pieces of shit" for buying Carnival Games for their Wii and enjoying it, but remember that not everybody plays games for Halo, GTA, GoW, etc.
I've got no problem with people actually enjoying the game (having enjoyed many a blah NES game in my youth,) but the fact that it's selling so well makes me fearful that it will crowd out the games I want to play. I hate the ghetto that is the GBA section of almost any store, all of the good games that aren't Mario or Pokémon get crowded off of shelves by Catz and Dogz and Bratz and That's So Raven and budget puzzle games.
But, and this is very important, it is way too easy to just say "mainstream audiences like crap" dust off your hands and walk away, the companies that survived the transition from specialist to mainstream in other mediums, did so by dealing with the change with an open constructive mind, rather than bitching about crap mainstream tastes.
I believe that maistream audiences don't have exclusively bad taste, I just think they will buy whatever is out there, good or bad, which is why it is the responsibility of the producers to create something of quality. Mainstream audiences have given success to too many amazing products to be demonised, some of my favourite films, games, animations, comics have been granted mainstream approval, the success of TV shows like Lost and Heroes, proves that there is a mainstream craving for something of quality (you don't have to like those shows to recognise them as quality productions).
Miyamoto started off pioneering what we now consider traditional gaming, he then perfected this style of gaming which is now annoyingly referred to as hardcore gaming. He has now realised that the videogame industry is going through the same transition all forms of entertainment have to go through, and he has changed his design style completely. That to me is a sign of an amazing designer, and one which won't bitch about the crapness of mainstream tastes. He realised his tradtional games like Zelda were not selling as well as they used to, he didn't put it down to bad taste on the consumers part, he accepted the challenge and changed direction. The result? Phantom Hourgalss, the most accessible Zelda game ever created, which is easily out selling all recent Zelda games.
Sorry Jim, I find your quick fix mainstream bashing rather glib, and it's also a defeatest attitude. I'm a game purist, but I can't agree with your sentiments at all.
I honestly really liked it. I've never been a fan of the Wii (personally) but found this game holding my attention quite well!
Rented it. Hated it. The controls are worthless, the graphics are cheesy, the voiceovers are incredibly annoying.
Do not want.
Rented it. Hated it. The controls are worthless, the graphics are cheesy, the voiceovers are incredibly annoying.
Do not want.
Activision still won't let Toys for Bob make a new Star Control game. Why? Because they make tons more money releasing minigame button-mashers like Madagascar. A new Star Control would blow away all this stupid FPS wargame crap that's coming out, but... who funds development?
The whole world needs to raise its standards a bit. It's not about graphics, it's about effort.
And who care if this game sells well? The whole idea of "ZOMG CASUAL GAMES ARE POPULAR NO MORE TRADITIONAL GAMES EVAR!" is completely ridiculous. Crappy games often sell well. Terrible movies make millions at the box office while amazing indy flicks never get seen. Shitty pop albums do better than artists with actual talent. This is nothing new. STFUAJPG.