I was checking out the weekly sales article from Gamasutra to see what the kids are playing these days when I noticed that Carnival Games for Wii has been number one for three weeks. I have to admit, the game looks like it could be fun. Skee-ball is always a blast and some of the other minigames look like fun, too. It’s a budget priced title (well, $40), so that may have spurred sales.
Anyone here pick up Carnival Games? Share your impressions in comments.
I tried it. It was OK… but not worth $40.
I think it is selling well on Amazon because it was being sold at a discounted price (if I remember seeing correctly).
The truth is, Carnival Games is just 1/20th of the game Bully. What I mean is that 90% of the Carnvial Games are the exact same ones (and look the same, with more color) that are found in one segment of the game Bully.
It is as if Rockstsar just re-tooled that segment from Bully and sold it almost full price.
Regardless, if you look at the weekly sales on VGChartz, it seems to have sold around 80k-100k in the first month.
Rental material. It’s one of the most popular games on Gamefly.com, right behind Metroid and MySims. It’s been on there for a while.
I actually bought it before it came out officially at Nintendo World. It’s an amazing game and definitely the first multi-player party game that’s exciting to play. I wrote a review back when it came out:
http://www.thefattytalks.com/2007/08/26/first-carnival-games-for-wii-review/
I think the next game to compete in the party game series is definitely going to be EA Playground. I can’t wait for it.
My kids love it. It’s one of their favorite games. I think it’s so-so. I love Skee Ball, not sure I like Carnival Games’ implementation of it. The dunk tank is pretty fun, except my 5 year old smokes me at it!
I picked this up one Sunday so I could get in some quality Wii time with the GF. Should it have been priced at $30? Probably. That said, it’s a fun distraction and I don’t regret the purchase.
I agree wholeheartedly that this is one for the kids and a $30 game. They are obsessed with unlocking all of the toy prizes in each game. Haven’t tried it with friends but it seems like it would be a great betting game (not that I would ever do that) ; )
No way is this game worth $40.
I’m still amazed that it’s selling so well. I’m not knocking on the fact that it’s not a AAA game, but rather how it wasn’t advertised like other games. This game came out of nowhere, and it’s selling like hotcakes. I applaud the company for showing any game can become big, but I am upset that they (apparently, from the reviews) made a somewhat shoddy game. Hopefully the sequel will fix that. I’m sure they got enough money from the first one:)
There should be an article on how this game sold so well. I’m very interested.
Sad when $40 is a budget. I thought budget titles were $29.99, but that’s just me.
I didn’t think this title would interest me anyway.
suxx….
I think some of the success is in its name. It’s Carnival Games. You can’t get anymore simpler and direct than that. It has that Wii Sports simplicity. People know what carnival games are and therefore know what they’re getting.
Wasn’t the RE4 re-release $40 as well. I don’t know that you can call $40 for this game a good deal, but to each his own eh?
RE4 was re-released at $30.
I and about a million others paid 40 bucks for “Carnival” for the Colecovision 25 years ago, which is the same duck shooting game as featured in this collection…. and ONLY the duck shooting game. I really felt this game was an embarrassment of riches when I picked it up for the Wii.
The truth is, while some of the games are lousy and others really rock, and the “not Mii” character creation totally sucks, it’s worth 40 bucks just for the awesome coin drop simulator. Check it out…. drop one coin and just let it sit there moving the coin shelves in and out for like 10 minutes. They put way too much work into the physics of that thing.
i got it, and its exactly like you would expect. i think this plays into the nostalgia factor of carnivals that everyone here in the states has. i mean its not the best game in the world but it is definitely fun. it doesn’t surprise me this game sold well. every carnival or amusement park game you can think of is in the game.