Are Ubisoft so lazy they can't even implement Mii's into this game?? Jeez talk about not giving a damn

excel_excel

That chick is either really small or she's using the Thor edition of croquet. That mallet is HUGE. And the ball is twice as big as one of her saggy boobs!

chuffhoncho

@Tonx: "Here: talk a nice deep breath, and repeat after me:
There are more 'hardcore' games in development, and on the market, than there ever have been before in the history of the industry. My hobby is safe. I can relax."

are you talking about on the wii? because, ubisofts wii lineup seems to say otherwise

bigman88zz

For the life of me, I could never figure out how you guys attacj imags to the comments. I knwo its suposse to be HTML tags... but Im too dumb to figure what Im foing wrong. Would be very pleased if someone could help me out here.

See, Ubisoft!? I didnt knwo how to do a thing, so I went out and asked to my fellow commenters! Have you considered just ASKING what the gamres want on the Wii?

Your only redepmtion is if you have an amazing Red Steel 2 presentatin at E3. And that Wii Prince of Persia title better also be some impressive stuff!

Shiryu

@baberg: How about a Wii game where you can play horseshoes, washers, sandbags, and you must make a drinking motion after every turn?

carvelo

Not like you can buy real lawn darts anymore...

agies

@Tonx: Personally I don't get worked up like some other people about these type of games. But to me this sort of thing looks all too familiar like the video game crash in '83. Companies are putting out less quality games in shorter time periods and are going to overflood that market. Pretty soon people will start buying less and less games because they just aren't as fun as they were before.

liquid_kore

@Tonx: Yeah but the point is, Ubisoft used to be awesome and now they suck so much ass it makes...my ass hurt.

dowingba

**sigh**...

Why do you all have to take these games so seriously? If all Ubisoft made was AAA titles, their stock price would plummet, their sales would be unreliable, they'd post huge defecits whenever they didn't have a new game on market, their investors would back away, development teams would shrink as money left the table, fewer and fewer games would get released until they got bought by EA.

And if they staved off absorbtion into the collective? They'd be unable to promote developers from within, always hiring talent from outside the company because they have no training grounds internally. They wouldn't be able to hire all the AAA talented developers and designers they needs, and the games they billed as AAA would shrivel into games that target the bargin bin.

Games with short development times and minimal investment in a market ready for the taking are what got Ubisoft into a position where they can make a sequel to Beyond Good & Evil.

It's just business.

Yes, some companies can make AAA titles only, and get away with it. But they aren't even a tenth of the size of Ubisoft. In fact, they're usually partly owned by companies the size of Ubisoft.

Yes - we get it. You don't like the 'direction that casual games are taking the industry'. But have you seen the sales for Grand Theft Auto IV? Or Metal Gear Solid 4? The industry isn't swinging in this perilous direction - it's expanding in this direction.

Here: talk a nice deep breath, and repeat after me:
There are more 'hardcore' games in development, and on the market, than there ever have been before in the history of the industry. My hobby is safe. I can relax.

Tonx

zanzibarlegend

No Bocce? For shame.

mind in rewind

Personally, Im looking forward to horse shoes. Horse shoes hasn't been done on the Wii yet. Shocking really.

Count me in.

gboomski

Croquet? really?
I mean, really?!?

(俗・ ) Grey Gecko

If they weren't almost guaranteed to be total gabage I'd be totally ok with this. But that's not the case.

t0yrobo

@BPMκ:

[farm1.static.flickr.com]

Vetterli

Not that we didn't already know that this game will suck but seriously this is almost, if not the exact same game as, Summer Sports: Paradise Island by Destineer which was released in April. The assets are almost identical. Look at the cover of Summer Sports: Paradise Island. There's a girl with the same pigtails and outfit as the screenshot of the woman playing croquet. I would be willing to bet this is the same game. It has the same mini-games, and lo and behold there are 3 different basketball minigames (horse, around the world, and shot clock)

[wii.ign.com]

So is this Ubisoft's new strategy? Repackage old games and try to sell them as new and original games. Shame on them!!!

LOKIOLR

This could either be a really great party game, or a really shitty one. It's not something you devote time to by yourself.

Shizmait

Is it wrong that I want to want to yank on her Pigtails? Not hard, but playfully.

jello44

@Tonx: Ubisoft refuse to acknowledge that developing for the Wii takes more than just being awake. These games are on the fast road to fail.

Erode

I'm sorry, but isn't this what WiiWare is for now? If not, it should be. Mini games on Discs is so 2007.

Robotube

@dowingba: I agree that this one will probably (and hopeflly) flop. The graphics are boring and uninspired. If you look at the million sellers on Wii (and specifically all the "party games") they have a more cartoony and pleasing look. Set this down to cutsey Mario, Carnival Games or the Raving Rabbids and this would be the last thing to attract any attention.

liquid_kore

@BPMκ: you took the words right out of my mouth. the birdmen are trying to fly again.

bigman88zz

@BPMκ: Awesome link.

Torgen got his apology faceplate but not his fixed GH3 disc

@baberg: Yeah that game sucked.

dowingba

@Klaymen: The shovelware they slung at us during the Wii launch was embarrassing.

I can counter that argument in three words:

Rayman Raving Rabbids

baberg

This is precisely why we'll never get a Wii Sports 2. Nintendo created the motion-sports-mini-pack, and now has already moved out of the way for other developers to cash in on the concept while they work on the next big thing.

Here's hoping Ubisoft takes it seriously and realizes just how much effort - and investment - went into making Wii Sports such a hit in the first place. If they hope to sell anything, they need to refine and expand that formula a tremendous deal.

Tonx

While I am happy Nintendo is making boatloads of cash, I personally feel crushed by their new direction into shall we say 'Hardcore Casual' games. These are games in the Casual ( mainstream ) genre, but they are the best of the best of Casual, hence 'hardcore casual'.

Also, Nintendo is DANGEROUSLY close with the Wii to becoming these things:

[www.amazon.com]

*cries* 8(

Vanguarde

@CHU BOI: Do you mean on the Wii? Because I know you've seen Dead Or Alive Xtreme Volleyball.

chuffhoncho

@dowingba: What is gonna persuade some "soccer mom" type to buy this game?

Impulse buys, mostly. Walking around a Best Buy and seeing something like this - bright colors and games from childhood - and (if Ubisoft are smart) a price under $20 and suddenly it's in her hands.

Never underestimate the power of a low price tag.

baberg

BAH! UbiSoft owes us much more than this. The shovelware they slung at us during the Wii launch was embarrassing. I will not be purchasing any of these games, but unfortunately SOMEONE will or else these games wouldn't be getting made.

Klaymen

@Hobb3z: I'm gonna wager most people have enough party games by now. What is gonna persuade some "soccer mom" type to buy this game? When she probably already has at least 2 other sports minigame collections?

We like to laugh at the casual gamer but come on, they're not lemmings.

dowingba

@dowingba: In some cases, yes. But party games such as this will sell like hot cakes for the average consumer.

Hobb3z

Why haven't they made Mario VBall yet? Could be sweet...if they spend more time on production than they did on Super Sluggers.

Even better, an M-rated vball game with scantily clad hot women? NEVER.GOING.TO.HAPPEN.

CHU BOI

The originality amazes me..

CockroachMan

I'd pay $20 for Croquet, Lawn Darts, and Horseshoes if they accurately use the Wiimote and make it feel like I'm actually playing those games. Toss in some achievement-like goals to meet and online play and I'd bump it up to $35.

Screw up the controls and it won't be worth the DVD it's printed on.

baberg

@Hobb3z: Probably not. 3rd party shovelware doesn't sell well on the Wii.

dowingba

Dead Balls. LOL.

chuffhoncho

You guys can talk down but the fact is:

People will buy it.

Hobb3z

Yeah, keep shovelling out your wares, Ubisoft. You birdmen, you.

BPMκ

I've never had such a sudden urge to to play croquet.

Hubert Humphrey Methadone

so glad i didn't buy a wii.

3inst3in

Title needs more "Z" in it.

liquid_kore

thank god i also own a PS3, this is just shameful really.

pandafresh

Does this mean they'll leave the shovelware to this label and actually put forth some effort on the Wii in their other titles?

Erode

Exactly what we need on the Wii, Ubi. More party mini games. Well done, bravo...

Shiryu

@liquid_kore: In the 1983 crash, was anyone sad to see the developers behind E.T. or Atari's Pac-Man lose their business?

A purging of the casual market would probably make the industry a little healthier, if anything. (I'm sure you agree)

@BPMκ: Oh, man, yeah. Ubisoft's casual games have a history (well, a short history, anyway) of being traumatic ill-conceived abortions of software. Totally agree. But the company is healthy as a whole, so they must be doing something right.

Tonx

Please someone make it stop....please! End the Wii mini game fixation!

Malidictus

@Shiryu: Still no good :| Oh well...

Shiryu

@BPMκ: Thanks, BMPk, thats exactly what I used, so ill try now without the end > tag:

Shiryu

@Tonx: Ubi Soft is developing bastard titles for the Wii like there's no tomorrow. Wii owners want more AAA games. Other AAA games are for other consoles. Ubi Soft is a great company and can really do great things if they want, they're just cutting back on costs and being lazy.

Ashurahori

@Tonx: that still didnt answer my question about the "hardcore games" in development.

bigman88zz

@Tonx: Yea I actually wrote more in my last post but deleted it because I usually overwrite everything. But I was in agreement with your guess that a full blown crash won't happen as long as companies still continue to make large big budget games. I think we could see a "crash" of sorts in the casual games market though.

liquid_kore

@BPMκ:
Oh, and I'm not expecting Ubisoft to constantly pump out AAA titles. But, they can at least put some time, money, and effort into all of their games.

BPMκ

@Tonx:
I don't feel "threatened" by casual games. Hell, there are a few that I like. Wii Sports, Brain Age on DS, and Albatross18: Realms of PangYa on PC, for a few examples.

But, you see, there's a right way to casual games, and there's a wrong way. And Ubisoft's been doing it the wrong way (see the link to "Birdmen and the Casual Fallacy" in my first post here). They just look and what's been doing well and say, "me, too!"
They don't try to innovate. They just try to churn out stuff to cash in on this "casual market."

@Shiryu:
Yep, it's HTML.
[img src="img url here"
(replace [ with < )
Now, maybe it's just me (and I'm doing something wrong), but if I try to put the end arrow ( > ) after the URL, the image won't show up. So after the end quote mark, I just use a return line.

BPMκ

@dowingba: Ubisoft is still awesome. Didn't you catch all the UbiDays stuff on Kotaku not long ago? They're on fire lately. And not one game shown had a "z" in it. And that didn't even include Splinter Cell: Conviction.

@liquid_kore: I see a few similarities to the crash, I suppose... and I think you are right, people are going to buy fewer games if all that's produced is crap. I can see companies getting bought up and amalgamated (hey! they already are!), but a collapse is nigh impossible. Ubisoft in particular is well protected against a crash, as they've hedged their bets - much like EA, Nintendo, Sony...

@bigman88zz: I don't think anyone's defining the Wii as a 'hardcore' system (though it has it's share of hardcore games). We've got two consoles out there competing for that title already.

Tonx

So which one is this? Nintendo like or EA like quality?

Double J

Welcome to "The Play Zone", Ubisoft. I hope you didn't get lost on your way over from "The Suck Zone". Nah, you couldn't have; it's right next door!

RubyMars

@Tonx: I agree and disagree. Back then it was only a few people making the games so no big deal when they got canned for sloppy work.

I'm sure that the managers of current companies are probably throwing all the new and young employees at these projects to prove themselves. If a crash was to happen these people may loose their jobs.

On the other hand it could be a blessing for the employees, they obviously don't want to work on PETZ: LITTLE KITTEHZ. Maybe they will just get transferred over to work on more big budget games since they require so many people.

liquid_kore

I always like to see a discussion veer into the fiscal, and Tonx nailed it. As a once-ecstatic Wii owner, I'm kind of embarassed by how quickly it began gathering dust after I beat Mario Galaxy.

Sure, I've got Zelda on my to-do list (refused to play it on the 'Cube, took nearly two years to get a Wii without camping or any insanity), and may borrow Metroid from my brother, but beyond that?

With the Wii's user base soon to eclipse the 360, which I also own, market analysts have a pretty good idea of the Wii demographic. It's neither good nor bad, but the absence of a steady stream of AAA titles from third-parties (no worries about your Wii game getting buried by GTAIV-like competition) combined with the trickle of quality first-party games from the Big N we fans have painfully endured since the N64 days makes this the most shovelware "next-gen" console ever.

Big devs can stick a "B-team" of up-and-comers looking for resume padders to produce the PS2/Wii port of a big game, and push it out there. Does the PS2 title sell? Maybe, but it's the icing on the cake.

The glut of mediocre Wii titles is almost analogous to the flood of Saturday Night Live -related films that hit the box office in the '90s. They were often terrible, and yet, were produced on such a shoestring budget, they made their money back on the opening weekend.

UbiSoft is just pleasing investors, because the ROI on the Wii is probably greater than any other system right now in terms of spending less to make more.

Jonaconda

@Shiryu:

Okay, let's try an example...
[img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v348/BPMdotEXE/Macros/FailedHTML.jpg"

results in (with < instead of [ ):

And it's not BMPk, it's BPMκ (that's a kappa, not a k). :P
Or, just BPM. That's fine. Ignoring my silly, weekly name changes is good for your health, and your grammar!

BPMκ

@Double J: its pretty simple. its Ubisoft like quality! Ya know that company that rushes out all there 360 and PS3 games riddled with glitches?

excel_excel

@Jonaconda:
Sure, I've got Zelda on my to-do list (refused to play it on the 'Cube, took nearly two years to get a Wii without camping or any insanity), and may borrow Metroid from my brother, but beyond that?
Not to want to make a list on anything, but there really are quite a few quality games on the Wii. I have 22 Wii games (including Wii Sports). But just to throw out some bigger titles on the system: Zack & Wiki, No More Heroes, Okami, Trauma Center, etc.

BPMκ

Oh dear, amazing graphics here. ¬_¬

Haroshi

haha...and a lot of you hate EA.

Xcite79

Yay, another N64 game with waggle and tit shadows.

AZRoboto

@LOKIOLR: hmm you're totally right:
[wii.ign.com]

is Majestic involved with this game?

salaminizer

@BPMκ: With the exception of Z&W, which I've heard from several friends is an overlooked gem, I've played all the games listed, and have enjoyed them.

However, Okami is a souped-up PS2 port. I also bought RE4 again, since it was cheaper, and found that enjoyable with the new controls as well. Trauma Center was really cool as a rental, but didn't quite convince me to buy.

I've likened my Wii purchase, which is really just an extension of my post-SNES continued Nintendo support in the first place, to favoring Macs over PCs where my computer purchases are concerned. Essentially, when I buy a Nintendo system, I do so because I believe the company behind it makes the best videogames around, and I have yet to be disappointed with their first-party offerings from a system's launch to its retirement.

Great third-party titles are like a bonus. I guess my real disappointment, and I suspect this is shared by other gamers eager to see the Nintendo of our youth make a Celtics-like resurgence in the gaming industry, is that even though retailers can't keep the Wiis on shelves, developers don't give a damn.

Where they once ignored Nintendo systems during the 64 and Cube era entirely, developers have returned to the Wii, only to grace it with utter crap titles that wouldn't even be feasible on the 360/PS3... maybe it's the novelty factor of the Wiimote.

I'm not sure which is worse, but unless developers stem the tide of shovelware, the Wii's status as a last-gen port and mini-game dumping ground will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, rather than the "Revolution" that would change the way we gamed.

Reading this blog makes us more aware of the industry than most, but the average Wii owner is being conditioned to settle for less, which ain't good for Nintendo in the long run.

The Nintendo brand looks better now than it has since Mode 7 and F/X Chips were bleeding edge. Hopefully they can build on this, reach out to developers, and rebuild some bridges that were burnt following the 16-bit era.

Jonaconda

Looking at this picture almost makes me feel like I've went through a time warp to 1995 (checks browser window to make sure it says "Firefox" and not "Mosaic".)

Capt. Struggle Bunny

@salaminizer: It's not just similar, it's exactly the same game. It's just kind of shady if they're only planning to release this in the UK. If they try to release it in North America then that's pretty deceptive to try to pass off the same game under a different name and publisher.

LOKIOLR

People say a lot that certain things are going to be the death of gaming, I think it is going to be the continued marketing of craptastic party games to parents who are scrambling to appease whiny children. Its easier to make money off of a mom and her horde of candy-crazed and over-medicated zombies than it is to get a guy to buy Tabula Rasa.

eh, this isn't likely but it feels like it sometimes.

On a side note: I tried so hard to believe that Game Party was a joke. v.v

Maleficent Lovecraft

Wow Z again, but this this time is at the front....Zone!!

Mojomagic

I'm all for these odd party games. These games fund the AAA titles that show up on the 360 an PS3, you know...actual 'next gen' systems. It's not like i'm going to play these Wii games anyways and there's a big enough market for it.

SAJ1724

I'm no game designer, how much work does it take to add in a halfway decent texture for the ground? It'd make the game look so much better. That almost looks like the muddy grass texture from Super Mario 64.

Wolfers

The only Wii games from Ubisoft I buy are the Rabbid games. Yeah, they're minigame fests but at least they're quality minigame fests and involve things that I couldn't easily do by just walking outside.

I mean seriously Ubisoft, if you're going to churn out crappy and generic minigames at least do something interesting with them. Here you go: Winter Olympics IN SPACE (SOMETIMES ON THE SUN). Call it "ALIENZ: Madd Party Cool Rush". Bam. Instant hit.

Lijik

Nothing like anorexic blondes with saggy tits.

JustJake

The saddest thing is that despite all these party games and mini-game compilations, there are very few good ones.

I love party games (from Guitar Hero to Mario Kart to the original Mario Party games). If the Wii had plenty of great party games, then I would be happy.

But most of the party games are crud... with game-mechanics stolen from your average Commodore 64 multiplayer game (with a bit of poorly-implemented motion control chucked in).

Marlor

@Tonx: Ubisoft are still awesome? Let's take a look at their recent catalogue:

Splinter Cell 4: what a mess that piece of shit was

GRAW 2: they took GRAW 1 but broke the controls and swapped the textures for PSP textures, or something?

RSV2: Hmm.

Any Prince of Persia since Sands of Time: Shit. Especially that one on the Wii. Which reminds me:

Every single thing they've put out on the Wii or DS: possibly the biggest pile of shit ever made since ET.

dowingba

Ugh! Seriously? No seriously? Ubi's dead to me. I refuse to buy rabbids three (now the cool part is I get to keep that promise as I wasn't planning on buying it in the irst place). Gourd these people are bloodsucking cheapskates. I hope this game fails like a third grader in calculous.

JokesJokes

I'm afraid to admit that I've been wanting a Croquet game for a really long time.

Jawajoey

People aren't even buying enough of this shit to make up for it.

Casual gamers have a tendency to not buy very many games. Just as well Nintendo makes a profit on the Wii. This shovelware is companies digging their own graves.

Sabre_Justice: Okay, no more long name.

Unfortunately for Ubi, they are making more money on other systems than on the Wii.

[www.gamasutra.com]

Only 10% of Ubi's sales last year were attributed to Wii titles. And what exactly did Ubi release for the Wii, you ask?

[www.neogaf.com]

TMNT
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Prince of Persia Rival Swords
The Dog Island
Surf's Up
Driver: Parallel Lines
Cosmic Family
My Word Coach
Petz: Dogz 2
Petz: Catz 2
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
Pippa Funnell: Ranch Rescue
My French Coach
My Spanish Coach
Cranium Kabookii
Who Wants to be a Millionaire
Top Trumps Adventures

So what is Ubi's solution to get more sales? To increase the quality of their work and reduce the number of titles released? Nope! Keep running the course! Maybe if we keep beating these games over their heads, they'll lose enough brain matter and buy ten copies of each per person!

megaStryke

For every quality third-party title aimed at the casual market primarily such as Boom Blox, along comes about 30 really, really terrible crappy cash-ins which required no effort at all from the developer to produce.

It saddens me that the awful "game" that is Game Party made it into the UK charts for a few weeks. GameCentral gave it 1/10.

sporkhead