• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Carnival Games is best seller @ Best Buy, Is this end of western civilization?

S

speculawyer

Member
According to gamespot, Carnival Games was Best Buy's best selling game last week. (Scroll down & click on US console sales.) There a piece of shovelware sits atop AAA titles Medal of Honor: Airborne, Madden NFL 08, Stranglehold, BioShock, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and others.

It is doing great on the Amazon bestseller chart too.

Are we doomed to endless shovelware mini-game collections? Will Ninja-Gingerbread kill Master Chief? Will Mario and Samus bring back the 'Nintendo Seal of Quality' and beat back the shovelware hordes approaching the Wii?

Will I get banned again?
 
D

dionysus

Yaldog
Yes, it is the end of western civilization. The next sign of the apocalypse is the arrival of the Four Horsemen.
 
L

lix2k3

Member
Welcome to new-gen. But seriously, by now, no one should be surprised at things like this happening. The casual movement is upon us and Nintendo is at the helm. However, I think the hardcore genre has nothing to worry about. Bioshock did have an impressive August and I think the September numbers will be great too. The most important fact is that the #1 selling gaming property here in NA this holiday season will most likely be a "hardcore" franchise (Halo 3) and the 360 has countless hardcore 3rd party hits. Developers can go mini-game crazy all they want on the wii, but their bread and butter, high quality, premium titles (see GTA IV) will hit the hardcore systems. Believe.
 
B

BravoSuperStar

Member
Well its not like hardcore gamers buy their games from best buy, so its not surprising a casual title would be a best seller at this particular chain store.
 
M

Mudhoney

Member
Joust Williams said:
Well, according to the Amazon reviews, it is a finely crafted piece of software that everyone can enjoy.

*throws up*
Click to expand...
It's not very good. I'm no mini-game hater either, I think Wii Sports is really well made. This game is about as good as Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz's mini games. :(
 
H

homerhendrix

Member
Over time the market will correct such "anomalies." The market may be flooded here initially with this type of crap, but over time the markets will adapt and people will grow more wise with their purchases (see the initial charging for cheat codes over xbox live by ea...unless they are still doing that).

I should note that I have not played carnival games, so maybe it's excellent; I doubt it though.
 
T

ToxicAdam

Member
I think your arguement loses value when you hold up MOH and Madden as examples of games that should be rewarded with sales.
 
C

Catchpenny

Member
ToxicAdam said:
I think your arguement loses value when you hold up MOH and Madden as examples of games that should be rewarded with sales.
Click to expand...

Didn't you know? Anything that sells on 360 is good for hardcore gamers and wholesome waggle-free gaming. Everyone should embrace roster updates, WWII shooters and shameless GTA ripoffs to save the industry.
 
C

Count Dookkake

Member
I've played a few hours of it solo and multiplayer. Not a bad game at all. Nice, cohesive design coupled with a ton of varied games. With kids or friends and drinks, much fun for a group. It also has some funny writing in it. A good first step for this team.
 
D

Davidion

Member
speculawyer said:
The casual buyers that put up reviews at Amazon love it . . . but the videogame critic snobs are not so keen on it.
Click to expand...

Even the averages amongst game critics are decent for what it is when you take into consideration that it's generally gamespot and gamepro that slammed the game with sub 50% scores.

BTW, I just finished a couple of games of Supreme Commander, Excite Truck, and Quake Wars Demo. I didn't recall seeing a Carnivale games trojan opening up my computer and deleting all my texture files and replacing them with cartoon characters.

What's the big deal here? Does every successful game that just happens to not cater to gaming nerds require its own shock-n-awe-apocalypse FUD thread now?

Next thread: "Zuma tops charts, gaming doomed." For fuck's sake, people...
 
B

bigmakstudios

Banned
Why do people like these games? I'm not adverse to trying new things, but I've given the extremely-dumbed-down-mini-game genre a chance, and I don't care for it at all. I just can't fathom why this has become the driving force behind Wii's success... especially when the animations on-screen don't come anywhere near reflecting your movements. I mean... Wii Sports Boxing, for instance, is an example of acceptable use of motion controls, imo (spotty recognition notwithstanding... I would much prefer if realistic uppercut motions actually registered as uppercuts in-game... but it seems that it only registers quick, upward flicking motions as uppercuts). Random waggle prompting a few canned animations... is not.
 
S

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Mrbob said:
Welcome to the target market on the Nintendo Wii.
Click to expand...


You mean "a" target market. Or are you suggesting that the audience for Carnival Games is Nintendo's sole target market?
 
C

Christoff Yurievich

Member
speculawyer said:
Will I get banned again?
Click to expand...
my first thought as well.

It's not so bad if the game sells well. I mean, it's only on the Wii and we all know real games only come out on the PS3 and X360 so real gaming is still safe.

But then there's Rayman's Raving Rabbids...it came out on the X360 too, didn't it, and it was a collection of mini games. hmm.
 
C

Count Dookkake

Member
bigmakstudios said:
Why do people like these games? I'm not adverse to trying new things, but I've given the extremely-dumbed-down-mini-game genre a chance, and I don't care for it at all. I just can't fathom why this has become the driving force behind Wii's success... especially when the animations on-screen don't come anywhere near reflecting your movements. I mean... Wii Sports Boxing, for instance, is an example of acceptable use of motion controls, imo (spotty recognition notwithstanding). Random waggle prompting a few canned animations... is not.
Click to expand...

Because making physical movements in reaction to audio and video cues are fun even if the animation isn't perfectly analagous to your movement.
 
M

Mrbob

Member
schuelma said:
You mean "a" target market. Or are you suggesting that the audience for Carnival Games is Nintendo's sole target market?
Click to expand...

Casual psuedo games and Nintendo releases.
 
A

Arde5643

Member
bune duggy said:
my first thought as well.

It's not so bad if the game sells well. I mean, it's only on the Wii and we all know real games only come out on the PS3 and X360 so real gaming is still safe.

But then there's Rayman's Raving Rabbids...it came out on the X360 too, didn't it, and it was a collection of mini games. hmm.
Click to expand...
RRR bombed ...sorry...didn't even register a single beat in every other system besides the Wii, hence why RRR2 is only for Wii and DS.
 
S

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Mrbob said:
Casual psuedo games and Nintendo releases.
Click to expand...

Oh I see. That way you can refute sales of hardcore games like Zelda, SPM, and Metroid because they're merely Nintendo releases right? How convenient of you.
 
A

Arde5643

Member
Mrbob said:
Casual psuedo games and Nintendo releases.
Click to expand...
I didn't know RE4:Wii, Trauma Center, and Red Steel now are considered casual pseudo games....

I guess Ninty was right all along, the casuals are growing up to be the traditional gamers.
 
T

Taker666

Member
I was was quite surprised to see this charting so well at Amazon a week or so ago. It just goes to show that a mini-game collection with a good casual hook will obviously sell.

I can't help but feel that Madden Wii's sales would have doubled if they just changed the cover so it was completely different from the other versions and emphasized the Mii integration and mini-games.
 
M

Mudhoney

Member
HocusPocus said:
Yep, and why I sold mine.
Click to expand...
:lol

You know, there are plenty of reasons I could stomach for why someone would sell a game console, specifically a Wii. Doing so out of disgust for games that you don't have to play? That's just hilarious.

I'm sure you're going to come out and say "well gee wizz, I meant to say I sold it because of the lack of good games". That's fine, but what exactly changed from the time you bought a Wii to when you sold it as far as big game announcements. It may not be the biggest lineup of good games, but I don't remember the number of good games to be released for the system ever actually decreasing. It just boggles my mind what people expected from a system when they bought it that would cause them to sell it so soon after.
 
C

Chris Remo

Member
Davidion said:
Even the averages amongst game critics are decent for what it is when you take into consideration that it's generally gamespot and gamepro that slammed the game with sub 50% scores.

BTW, I just finished a couple of games of Supreme Commander, Excite Truck, and Quake Wars Demo. I didn't recall seeing a Carnivale games trojan opening up my computer and deleting all my texture files and replacing them with cartoon characters.

What's the big deal here? Does every successful game that just happens to not cater to gaming nerds require its own shock-n-awe-apocalypse FUD thread now?

Next thread: "Zuma tops charts, gaming doomed." For fuck's sake, people...
Click to expand...
I've made this post many times, it's useless. Carnival Games is garbage but this is just how entertainment works. Crap tops the chart all the time, it doesn't ever mean people are going to stop making good stuff.

The market for the type of games GAF talks about is growing, not shrinking; just because it's not growing at the same rate as casual games are doesn't suddenly mean all the money you can make with those kinds of games is going to disappear.

No industry is going to eliminate one perfectly functional and well-proven revenue stream at the drop of a hat because another one crops up; they're going to employ both. Diversification is crucial. Just as sinking all your money into expensive AAA games is a financially risky endeavor, so is sinking all your money into numerous casual games that will flood the market and overwhelm the consumer base.

Publishers will continue to fund BOTH types of games. I will bet a fucking lifetime ban on it. Once all the publishers stop budgeting for "traditional" games and produce nothing but Carnival Games and Brain Training and gaming is indeed "doomed," I will accept a lifetime ban!
 
S

schuelma

Wastes hours checking old Famitsu software data, but that's why we love him.
Carnival Games has also been advertised on TV. Makes a big difference.
 
A

Arde5643

Member
Taker666 said:
I can't help but feel that Madden Wii's sales would have doubled if they just changed the cover so it was completley different from the other versions and emphasized the Mii integration and mini-games.
Click to expand...
They didn't even bother to advertise it - the only version they advertised was the 360 version, which incidentally is the best version.
 
D

Darji

Banned
HocusPocus said:
Yep, and why I sold mine.
Click to expand...
great. every real gamer should follow your example^^

And yeah the new market which Nintendo opend is much bigger than the core market ever will be. Soon you will mostly see these kind of games in the top 10 gameslist.
 
C

Christoff Yurievich

Member
Arde5643 said:
RRR bombed ...sorry...didn't even register a single beat in every other system besides the Wii, hence why RRR2 is only for Wii and DS.
Click to expand...
sorry, I was trying for over-the-top satire and I guess I bombed. I'll leave it to the professionals (AniHawk) from now on.
 
A

Arde5643

Member
bune duggy said:
sorry, I was trying for over-the-top satire and I guess I bombed. I'll leave it to the professionals (AniHawk) from now on.
Click to expand...
Oh ok, didn't know what you were trying to do there. Definitely needs more improvement, C+ for effort though.
 
H

Hellaiced

Member
There is truthfully more to it than Carnival Games just outsold these titles. My particular store has been receiving extremely light quantities of the so called HARDCORE GAMER titles and much more of the Casual Gamer Titles. We actually received more copies of Carnival Games on release date than we did Metroid Prime 3 for crying out loud. So I would take all of that with a grain of salt. Bad distribution equals screwy sales chart numbers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Circana (NPD) Full Year Software Top 20 Results from 1995 to 2022 (Ranked by Revenue)
Sales-Age
16
1K
onQ123 replied
Guide to the Best Games in Dreams from 2021
5
2K
Bragr replied
  • Locked
Polygon's 500 best games of all time (Dec 2017 publication)
3
3K
GenericUser replied
What happened to 12 of gaming's biggest studios after they were sold
2 3
116
13K
D.Final replied
NPD FLASHBACK: Top 200 best selling PS2/Xbox/GC games end of gen.
Sales-Age
17
3K
Yoshi replied
Top Bottom