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With the success of Kinect, should Microsoft retry Viva Piñata and Banjo Kazooie?

T

Takao

Banned
I know Rare is a shell studio even compared to the one that made Viva Piñata, but still. The original Viva Piñata was released in 2006 when the 360 was known for blowing dudes up, and loser teens playing games online, so a cutesy life simulation game aimed at children and their families wasn't going to be a huge hit. The last 360 iteration, Trouble In Paradise was released in 2008, once again, clashing with the audience.

The same goes for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, which was released in 2008.

Flash forward a few years and Kinect has made the console's demographics change greatly, so that families do own the platform. So why not try some quality non-motion family games Microsoft?
 
S

Satchel

Banned
Like Nintendo, they could just re-advertise them, and with the budget price, they might be able to push some more copies out the door.

Nintendo just keeps advertising Mario Kart, and it keeps selling.
 
A

Apath

Member
I think the bigger issue was that 1) Viva Pinata was a deep simulator disguised as a children's game, and 2) Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts was a lego building racer/platformer and couldn't figure out which it really was.

With that said I think it would be awesome if they re-released both with kinect support and get more sales. They both are great games.
 
T

The Awkward Wizard

Member
I wish they would, but from what I understand, Microsoft won't allow Rare to go back to any of their old franchises, even for Kinect.

They're only allowed to work on Kinect Sports.
 
H

Huff

Banned
Because it goes against their current plan? A plan that seems to be working. No point in taking a risk.
 
wondermega

wondermega

Member
Bad idea! stick with what's working out for them. Rare are the kings of revisiting their older "almost-were" IPs, with often terrible sales :(
 
S

Shiggy

Member
Doubt it would work. The Kinect audience is just completely different from the VP/BK audience. The Just Dance audience probably doesn't play Super Mario Galaxy either.
 
S

Sydle

Member
Those are two of the most complicated games on the 360. I don't think young kids who are into Kinect would be able to enjoy those games.
 
diffusionx

diffusionx

Gold Member
Kenak said:
I think the bigger issue was that 1) Viva Pinata was a deep simulator disguised as a children's game, and 2) Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts was a lego building racer/platformer and couldn't figure out which it really was.
Click to expand...

Eh? The game was like 95% lego building racer. It knew exactly what it was... and it was awesome.

I mean, the problem here is that: (A) these games don't sell, and (B) nobody cares about the brands. MS gave Viva Pinata a lot of chances to succeed, they had really high hopes that the game would build the 360 audience (that building didn't happen until Kinect). It just didn't work out and B-K did even worse. Both VP2 and BK launched at $40 even, and still nobody cared.
 
DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
I really don't think it's a match. Though "casual" is often thrown around, it's actually a very varied market.

You have people into facebook games like Farmville or other slow moving building games, into things like HOGs, Time Management, or Match-3s (like on Big Fish Games), simple arcade style flash games.

Kinect certainly seems popular, but at the same time, I would wager it's almost more a dance game peripheral than anything else (just like that seems to be the most popular use of motion on the Wii, with the Just Dance games).
 
I

InaudibleWhispa

Member
Their future is clearly with Kinect, and I don't think it's best for Kinect or for beloved franchises that a game is forced to change, or for Kinect to be forced to work with an established game. Best that they try something new. And by that, I don't mean Kinect Sports 3. Two is enough, just keep updating it with DLC as they plan.
 
yurinka

yurinka

Member
I agree with Viva Piñata. I think it's their only old IP that fits perfectly with Kinect : casual, family friendly and with some hand motions to control it would be really intuitive.
 
S

Sydle

Member
yurinka said:
I agree with Viva Piñata. I think it's their only old IP that fits perfectly with Kinect : casual, family friendly and with some hand motions to control it would be really intuitive.
Click to expand...

Did you actually play Viva Pinata?
 
1

18-Volt

Member
No, because once its franchise died, Microsoft never remembers it has existed. Like Crimson Skies, Kameo, MechAssault, Midtown Madness, Conker, PGR, Piñatas, Banjo and hopefully Fable. I don't know what MS will do about their next console but right know they are running out of franchises that sell consoles. Situation of Rare today helps that a lot and they couldn't care less.
 
M

Mdk7

Member
Talking about Viva Pinata... i've never played either the original nor the sequel...
Which one is better to you guys?
I might buy the best of the two, they're cheap now...
 
S

Sydle

Member
Mdk7 said:
Talking about Viva Pinata... i've never played either the original nor the sequel...
Which one is better to you guys?
I might buy the best of the two, they're cheap now...
Click to expand...

Trouble in Paradise is better.
 
P

Para bailar La Bomba

Banned
18-Volt said:
No, because once its franchise died, Microsoft never remembers it has existed. Like Crimson Skies, Kameo, MechAssault, Midtown Madness, Conker, PGR, Piñatas, Banjo and hopefully Fable. I don't know what MS will do about their next console but right know they are running out of franchises that sell consoles. Situation of Rare today helps that a lot and they couldn't care less.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure MS doesn't own all these IPs.
 
A

a Master Ninja

Member
Mdk7 said:
Talking about Viva Pinata... i've never played either the original nor the sequel...
Which one is better to you guys?
I might buy the best of the two, they're cheap now...
Click to expand...
Trouble in Paradise, because it is the original plus an expansion.
 
A

Adam J.

Member
I'm not interested in another Banjo title that isn't really a Banjo title.

The only thing that really turned me off of Viva (only played the first) was how clunky it was to play with a controller (imo). I could see them streamlining the game for Kinect and it being pretty good, but I still doubt it would find an audience. I'm sure MS will leave it in the "failed experiments" pile.
 
R

Raide

Member
Viva Piñata Kinect would be awesome.

Expand the card stuff they tried early on. Expand the gardens and add way more community aspects. Using voice commands and hand-tracking for your work in the garden. Add in day and night cycles and season changes. Add some mini-games (Kinect sports + Pinata's).

At least the user base is much larger now, part of the reason the other games failed was the younger market was not there for the 360.


I would love a true Banjo game. Enjoyed Nuts & Bolts but I think most people wanted Banjo Threeie. Huge scale, inventive characters, humour, puzzles and jiggy pieces.
 
S

Sydle

Member
Raide said:
Viva Piñata Kinect would be awesome.

Expand the card stuff they tried early on. Expand the gardens and add way more community aspects. Using voice commands and hand-tracking for your work in the garden. Add in day and night cycles and season changes. Add some mini-games (Kinect sports + Pinata's).

At least the user base is much larger now, part of the reason the other games failed was the younger market was not there for the 360.


I would love a true Banjo game. Enjoyed Nuts & Bolts but I think most people wanted Banjo Threeie. Huge scale, inventive characters, humour, puzzles and jiggy pieces.
Click to expand...

I wish Rare would take a look at Animal Crossing and marry VP's gameplay involving the attraction and interaction of animals. Every time I turn VP on I wish I could wander beyond the garden borders and just explore, find and attract pinatas, ride pinatas, go to the village to barter with inhabitants and take on their tasks, enter challenges with villagers as we pit pinatas against each other in races or costume contests, live through the seasons and watch pinatas migrate/change behavior, ride that blimp from one region to another...

There's a lot they could have done with it...there's a lot they still could do with it...

As for Banjo...they just need to go back to the ideas behind the first game. Or, they could have just kept building out Showdown Town (I loved the way it opened up, had on-foot platforming, great sense of exploration, lots of characters, etc.).

Rare was at their best when they were taking Nintendo's ideas and improving upon them. Not sure why they stopped, but I'm kind of glad Microsoft ordered a Wii Sports clone to show that Rare can still one-up their source of inspiration.
 
E

exwallst

Member
I was off on the initial success of Kinect (when search comes back, I'll remember how far off) but it and Move have been mostly dead this year. If there were any decent installed base milestone, Microsoft would have crowed about it but nothing is selling.
 
V

VGChampion

Member
I was going to say no until I saw the end of your post. Now I say yes. Banjo was my favorite game from the N64 era and I'll at least give a new Banjo a shot. As long as it isn't Kinect as I'm not buying one of those until I can get one for $30 or less.

I enjoy a well made motion game but after buying Move and getting barely any use out of it (despite loving it), I'm soured on new technology mid-gen. Same goes for the Motion +.
 
T

Takao

Banned
If you guys read my OP, I never said the games have to be Kinect-exclusive or enabled. I just said that Kinect has changed the demographic so that these types of games have a larger shot at success. ;p
 
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