Author Topic: Roundtable Discussion: Game & Wario  (Read 1536 times)

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Offline bluelander

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Roundtable Discussion: Game & Wario
« on: May 29, 2013, 05:01:54 PM »

Did Crowdfarter warm our icy hearts?

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/roundtable/34382

Nintendo started their PR/marketing campaign for Game & Wario with the humorous Crowdfarter concept recently. The game is due out in North America on June 23 and in Europe on June 28. It has been out in Japan since March. It's coming out at a lower price ($40) and is different from the typical WarioWare games, as it is a collection of mini-games instead of microgrames.

Are you excited for the game? Will you buy it? Do you think it will fare well as the next big Wii U game? Do you think it will just be ignored? What do you wish this game could have been? Watch as our staff answers those questions, and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

J.P. Corbran, Community Manager I like what I played of it at E3 last year, but even at $40 it doesn't feel worth it for the amount of content it seems to have. If it were ever on sale I'd definitely consider it.

Andrew Brown, Australia Correspondent: Hell yeah. The WarioWare series has always been deceptively entertaining and complex despite being a collection of random strangeness doled out in tiny packages. These new "not quite micro" games all look as brilliantly designed and fun to play as anything the franchise has offered before, I'll be picking this up for sure.

As for "the next big Wii U game", it's hard to tell. This has the potential to be a smash hit at parties and really push the Wii U's image among the newer social/casual game crowd, but it feels like it could fly under the radar unless Nintendo really manages to push demos and content into the hands of consumers.

I'd love to see another marketing campaign for this game in the same vein as the Crowdfarter idea, perhaps poking fun at other, offline aspects of gaming communities and news coverage; the mainstream parent probably doesn't know what crowdfunding even means.

Justin Baker, Downloads Editor: It looks like a great collection of games that showcase the GamePad well, and for just forty bucks it's a definite buy for me. From what I've seen they went for fewer high quality games instead of overloading players with tons of smaller games. I can definitely see this one being broken out in lieu of Nintendoland when I have company over.


Alex Culafi, Contributing Editor: Im a bit tepid towards the whole thing, and not for the sake of cynicism  I'm all for talented developers doing something new (and WarioWare is a bit overdue to change it up), but everything I've seen of this game makes me feel like they made this because it would be easier to make this instead of WarioWare rather than them actually making an innovative twist on the franchise. Aren't a chunk of these games just re-purposed tech demos anyways?

I sure do want it when it hits 20 because it looks funny and fun to some extent, but it just seems like a lesser quality Nintendo Land with a small batch of micro games stuffed in to balance it out.

Josh Max, Staff Writer: I think the fact that it was originally planned as a pre-downloaded title says a lot. Nintendo knows how to please the supporters from the minute they boot up their system. Just look at Wii Sports! I know this is just one minute detail about the game, but it really says a lot to me. When they started on this project they had so much faith in it. I played a bit of it last year at NYCC and had some fun with it. Who's to say that this game won't be a solid addition to the Wii U Game library?

Neal Ronaghan, Director: I can't say I'm super hyped, but mainly because there isn't much else, I think I'll be picking up Game & Wario when it comes out. The price is (mostly) right, and I've had enough fun with stuff like Fruit (a party game where one players uses the GamePad to sneakily grab fruit in a crowd and other players just watch the TV to try to figure out which character he is) that I'm pretty sure I'll have a good time with it.

I'd likely much prefer a regular WarioWare game, in a similar vein as Smooth Moves but for the GamePad, but this game seems like it has the potential to be a good time with friends. Will it have anything more than that? I'm not sure, and if you're someone who games by yourself, I'm thinking you'll be left in the cold.

As for the sales potential, I think this could be the worst-selling Nintendo-made Wii U game this side of Sing Party. I just feel like it's being pitched as something deeper for core gamers and everyone's cynical about it. This should be shown off to more casual folk, as the sense of humor seems to be pretty universal and silly. Crowdfarter won't do that.

Regardless, I'll be most likely buying this at retail, and then giving the copy to my 5-year-old niece to play since she will probably have more fun with it than me.


Zack Kaplan, Staff Writer: When I first heard about the game I said "huh." Then I played it at PAX East and was more along the lines of "meh." The whole Crowdfarter thing I think is kind of stupid and all it got out of me was a "heh." In total I might get it just to have something new and slightly entertaining to play on the Wii U, but after the high of LEGO City Undercover everything on the Wii U is kind of "bleb."

Justin Berube, Staff Writer: Honestly, I'm not very excited about Game & Wario. I was fortunate to play every game in last year's E3 demo, however, I walked away very unimpressed. I found the mini-games to be either boring or somewhat unoriginal.

Despite those feelings, I will be picking up Game & Wario when it comes out for two reasons. First, I'm the sucker that will purchase just about anything Nintendo releases. Second, there really isn't another retail Wii U game I'm interested in coming out until August. It will be nice to have something new to play with friends until then.

I don't think Game & Wario will be the next big Wii U title. Yes, it will have some time to shine since it's the only first party Nintendo release on Wii U during Q2. The problem is it will only appeal to users who are starved of things to play on the hardware. It won't be a system seller especially since new Wii U owners will have older, more interesting content to pick up for the platform.

Nintendo Land is a similar game as well and I think it will be seen as better game than Game & Wario. Considering Nintendo Land comes bundled with the Wii U Deluxe set, it may have already quenched the mini-game thirst of many Wii U owners.

I fully expect Game & Wario to be forgotten as soon as August hits. It's from that point on Nintendo will, hopefully, have a more consistent stream of compelling software releasing on the Wii U.


Tom Malina, UK Correspondent: Seldom has the Wii U GamePad received thoughtful, intriguing applications in terms of unique gameplay up to this point, so naturally, any game that gives it a good go naturally holds some interest to me. However, I've still got plenty of games to catch up on, so while I am moderately interested in Game & Wario, I'll pass on it for now. Nintendo Land is more than substantial enough to continue serving as the system's primary multiplayer game, at least for the time being.

Jonathan Metts, Radio Free Nintendo Host: Not excited. It demoed poorly, had a tepid reception in Japan, and seems to throw out the manic appeal of WarioWare in favor of... offline score attacks? The whole thing stinks of Wii Play.

Patrick Barnett: Like Nintendo Land, this game will game will come with some winners and losers in terms of its games. While the $40 price point may entice some random shoppers, dedicated Nintendo fans will most likely realize there is not a whole lot of depth here. I am sure it will be a decent little game, perfect to show those curious about the Wii U, however, the eShop would have been the perfect way to sell a game like this at say $20. This is not the game Nintendo needs right now to push their system, but it will have to do until Pikmin 3.

J.P.: I'd have been more interested if they'd offered some kind of a la carte option. This would have been a good title for Nintendo to experiment with Free-to-Play mechanics, giving away a set of demos of each minigame and letting you just unlock the ones you like. It'd make the price a lot more palatable.

Zach Miller, Senior Editor: They'd have to pay me $40 to take it off their hands.

James Jones, Senior Editor: I played it at PAX very briefly. I'm more excited about the fart-themed kickstarter parody than I am this game.


Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Roundtable Discussion: Game & Wario
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2013, 07:34:35 PM »
The reception of a game is often based on context.  Notice that the new Luigi's Mansion has been generally well regarded on the 3DS but the original was borderline controversial on the Gamecube?  The sequel is just one of many great games on the 3DS but the original was the flagship title of the Gamecube and thus carried certain expectations that it didn't match up to.  This was especially noticed in the Gamecube post-launch drought as LM lacked enough depth and content to satisfy gamers during months of nothing.  As a quirky game in a healthy release schedule, it works really well.  As a flagship title for a brand new system it failed.

The context of Game & Wario is the shits and that's why there is general cynicism towards it.  The Wii U needs a new game badly.  What it needs is some big and juicy for Wii U owners to sink their teeth into.  But Game & Wario isn't that kind of game.  It's the type of game that works fine as one of many releases but will not hold up as being THE game to play during a big drought.  It does not help that it is also effectively of the same genre as Nintendo Land, thus not really offering a new experience to any existing Wii U owner who has played Nintendo Land to death.  How many minigames comps does ANY console need, let alone a system with very few games that already has that genre available?  Why did Nintendo really ever think that having two games like this within the launch window was necessary?  I would argue that for a Wii U owner who has had more than their fill of NSMB U and Nintendo Land this is the LAST type of game they want to play right now.

"Hey, sorry you have nothing to play so here's a compilation of glorified tech demos that we originally were going to have built into the OS."  What kind of message does that give?  Also for all the talk about getting core gamers back the first party output of the Wii U thus far is very typical Wii fare.  So I'm going to buy a whole system to play mini-game comps and 2D Mario?

So far the Wii's library reminds me of the Atari 7800 where Atari was trying to get people to buy a system for high score based arcade games during the NES era.  The Wii days are over - no one wants to buy a new system for that same experience and Game & Wario is part of that same experience.  It doesn't feel "next gen" and I don't mean high end graphics or anything like that.  I mean "next gen" in that it's the next step for Nintendo and for videogames as a whole.  This is just Wii games with PS3 graphics.

Offline Razorkid

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Re: Roundtable Discussion: Game & Wario
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2013, 10:28:54 PM »
I agree with you Ian that the position of this game's release and the expectations that are placed on it are coloring peoples attitude toward it in a negative light. I personally think folks are being too hard on it and that its gonna be really fun once people get their hands on the final copy.
I'm definitely picking this up when it launches and can't wait to play it with my family.
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Offline pokepal148

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Re: Roundtable Discussion: Game & Wario
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2013, 08:05:13 AM »
it doesn't seem worth the price to me...
it seems like one of those games you would get for 20$ with a new remote(except  the game doesn't use the Wiimote annoyingly enough)

Offline LittleIrves

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Re: Roundtable Discussion: Game & Wario
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2013, 02:32:45 PM »
Wow, y'all are cold. I can't wait for this game. Don't care for the oddly-toned ad campaign, but there's something about the WarioWare bunch that keeps me coming back. And that measuring game, aka Chris Kohler's E3 Game of 2011, is in here!! Come on, people!
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