Once upon a time Rare though they had a winner; a game which would end all the confusion between a hardcore console and a kiddie console. Viva Piñata was supposed to change the way we think about Xbox 360 gaming by showing off a title that would make children feel more inclined to game on a “big boys console.”
Unfortunately, execution of Rare’s new franchise title came with a few rough patches, namely Gears of War. Earlier on they had press releases and conferences about how this game was going to interact with users, inspire them to watch Viva Piñata the cartoon to get new recipes for the game which would allow you to create new breeds of Piñata. There were a few flaws in the plan. They didn’t hype the game enough prior to the release and then they decided to launch the game during the over-hyped Gears of War title.
Oddly enough my children (two and four years of age) would rather watch Sponge Bob and Dora reruns than a single episode of Viva Piñata. I thought the show was cute and the bright colors and crazy creatures would draw children like moths to a flame, but they just didn’t care.
My children were too young to play the first Viva Piñata and it didn’t provide enough interest for them to watch me play it and invest the hours. I found the game to be creative and fun… for awhile. Once my happy little Piñatas started eating each other and fighting constantly I realized the joy was gone. If I want to listen to screaming and fighting I’ve got my own children, babysitting Piñatas in a fake garden just wasn’t doing it for me.
Now, Viva Piñata: Trouble in paradise has been given a date of September by Eurogamer. Rare is stating we’ll have 30 new Piñata’s to play with along with new environments, co-op play and other cute options. Admittingly, Drop-in/Drop-out co-op play does sound kind of neat but my emotional scares from the first title have not healed yet.
I was told there would be a great deal of downloadable content (DLC) for Viva Piñata. but found nothing available after I purchased the game and, if content exists now, I’ve long since lost interest in the game. The idea was solid, the demographic was available but the execution went flat. You cannot expect older gamers with children to believe Microsoft or Rare are planning to give us real kids games when you release a single title and show us no other kids games for two years.
At this point, if you’re looking for a console with more kid-friendly gaming you’re going to buy a Wii every single time. Titles on the Wii work for both young adults, teenagers, kids and older grandparents while the 360 goes strong with the 18-34 year-old male demographic.
If you want to be serious about bringing kids on board, Viva Piñata is going to need some friends not just a single sequel. Otherwise, you’re going to find out quick that the 18-34 demographic will simply nod politely and move on to their next great fix… Gears of War 2 perhaps (November, 2008).
If the upcoming Viva Piñata franchise executes like its prior title there will definitely be some trouble in paradise.
“The One Ring”
Hey guys,
Just to finish off our little Vita debate. I finally understand why Jordan claims what he claims. See, I come to Vita not primarily for AAA, exclusive titles. I can play big titles on my PS3 and I have more than enough of them to last me a very long time. That’s why I don’t want to spend too much time playing PSN titles there if I can play them on the Vita, especially if they are cross-buy. That’s why I play games such as Soundshapes, Zen Pinball, Velocity Ultra or Quell Memento. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy Gravity Rush or Uncharted. I’m trying to Platinum NFS: Most Wanted and I’m also playing Rayman: Origins.
I travel a lot so I use my Vita often when I don’t have access to my PS3 and I’m really rarely bored with it. I agree, however, that if you only want to play big, exclusive titles, you might be disappointed.
P.S. I played the demo for Soul Sacrifice and it seemed neat. What was wrong with the rest of it?
@Android consoles
Meh… I really don’t know who the target for those devices is. If you’re a casual gamer than a 4-5″ smartphone screen is enough to play Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds or some other game. If you want a better experience, get a tablet – at least you will be able to use it for other things as well. I understand that it’s easier to release a game on those platforms than on PS3, Vita or XBox but I don’t think it’s worth it. The install base of the Android boxes won’t be big, people complain about the hardware… I think they’re trying to find a niche where there isn’t any.
@The Walking Dead. Way to spoil the game, guys 😉 I still haven’t played 400 days. I’ll probably get it right before season 2. Anyway, Clementine… I never had any doubt she will be in the second season. I only hope you’re not controlling here and she’s only a supporting character. !!SPOILERS!! It would be nice to come across her and the mysterious figures she saw at the end of the first season. Maybe she reacts according to what Lee taught her int he first season. Maybe she has her hair short, or she tries to shoot you. It’s not a bad idea to bring her back.
@BSG – It was my birthday last weekend and I got the BSG boardgame from my friends. We played it for the first time yesterday and it was a disappointing experience… I’ve heard so much good things about the game so my hopes were really high. I guess we shouldn’t have started playing it at 9pm (the game lasted until after midnight) after a hard day at work with people who have no idea what the game was about. It also probably didn’t help that I was a Cylon and was forced to reveal myself very early in the game. The tension went down rapidly. We’ll give it another go when the circumstances are better.
I never watched the show but I hear it has a significant following so the writer of the series must have done something write. An epic TPP (third-person perspective 😉 ) action-puzzle-RPG game, mixing Uncharted with Mass Effect would be nice.
@QOTW I mentioned FPP last week – I meant first person perspective. I have to stick to the olden goldies. To me, Blood was amazing. The gore, the enemies, the atmosphere. With all those pixels flying around I was able to see past them and immerse myself in the experience. And it was really scary. On top of that, there were tons of easter eggs. I remember one vividly – I was able to get to a room using some ventilation shafts. In the room was a bed stained with blood with air fresheners hanging from the ceiling. On the wall was written the word ‘Sloth’, referencing the movie Se7en. There were many, many more. Based on the immersion and atmosphere of the game, this has to be my favorite.
@First high profile Kickstarter suckage
As nice as budget consoles may sound, I agree with Pavel. No one needs them. It’s better to buy an android phone that plays android
games amongst other things rather than a console that just plays android games. Not to mention that most gamers (i.e. me) believe that
android games are not proper games and are aimed at people who enjoy touching things. Granted that a few android games may be good; most gamers would rather stick to mainstream consoles with their AAA titles.
@To infinity and straight into HD
Never played Star Control. But it sounds pretty good. I would love to play an HD remake. Although I am highly skeptical of HD remakes. The ones I played were pretty crap (God of War HD, Monster Hunter WiiU to name
a few horrible looking HD games). Furthermore, I am not sure how it would go down with modern gamers. An interesting topic to discuss is how games have been simplified over the years. Just compare Elder Scrolls: Morrowind to Skyrim. Or GTA III to GTA 4. I am concerned that a complicated (sounding) game like Star control can’t be released simply as an HD remake without being redone from ground up. On another note, Sega MegaDrive had
an epic Star Trek: Next Generation game which was effectively an Enterprise simulator. Tons of galaxies to explore; you could land on
and explore planets, participate in space battles and tweak every available setting of your ship. A very engrossing game as far as I remember.
@QOTW
I will split this question into two parts. Simply because it is very rare that an FPS has a good single player campaign and multiplayer
component simultaneously. My favourite multiplayer game was Battlefield: Bad Company 2. I have such fond memories of that game. Sunk hours into on-line battles. It’s revolutionary score system could force a group of unrelated people to work together as a team for a common goal. So far it is the only game that I have seen accomplish this. In terms of singleplayer campaign, I will have to go for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. And before I am stoned by angry mums and dads, I would
like to remind everyone that I grew up in the post-soviet Perestroika times and had no access to FPS games until 2005. Modern Warfare 2 was
one of the first games I played on a proper HD TV. The graphics was remarkable beyond words and the story was interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was the first contemporary war shooter I ever played, so the genre was still fresh for me. Multiplayer was crap thou. Never really got into it.