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Wario Ware Grabs Edinburgh Games Festival Award

Posted by simoniker on from the cue-evil-laugh dept.

Thanks to BBC News for its article discussing GBA title Wario Ware's victory in the Edge Awards at this week's Edinburgh International Games Festival. The official webpage explains that the award honors "a willingness to prioritise creativity over a narrowly focused commercial appeal", and Margaret Robertson of Edge Magazine says of Wario Ware: "It's a game which hinges on the kind of video game literacy that millions of people across the world have built up without even realising it." Other nominees for the award included Katamari Damacy, In Memoriam, and Viewtiful Joe.

19 comments

  1. Its ironic then by xenocide2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That this game that depends on being well versed in video game concepts, was universally panned by my friends. They all had a try at it at EB, and they all thought it looked and was stupid and pointless. Really, about the only bright side to the game was the intro to the motorscooter levels. Monkies trump any argument I could ever make.

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    1. Re:Its ironic then by Aerion · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Certainly not all gamers enjoy games like WarioWare, and your friends would appear to be part of the group that doesn't. But the game is very enjoyable to non-gamers. I've introduced a few of my non-gamer friends to it, and its simplicity and low learning curve is a huge plus. Yet, as the game progresses, its difficulty picks up enough to interest and challenge even veteran gamers.

      A lot of people are scared away from video games because they seem so complex, but WarioWare is intuitive enough that anybody can play. That is really the game's primary strength.

      That and the monkeys.

    2. Re:Its ironic then by WWWWolf · · Score: 1
      That and the monkeys.

      And the two ninja girls. I mean, all cool games have ninjas. Everybody knows that. =)

      Don't have much else to add to your comment. Right on.

    3. Re:Its ironic then by AvantLegion · · Score: 0, Flamebait
      Wow - xenocide2's friends didn't like it!

      I think you missed the point on the "game literacy" part. Hint: it wasn't talking about "hardcore" gamers.

    4. Re:Its ironic then by xenocide2 · · Score: 1

      You're right. I know tons of people who played a game once, and totally grasp the mechanics of destroying the mother brain in Metroid within five seconds. How could I have missed such an obvious cue? Clearly "game literacy" meant "I play Spades on Yahoo!" rather than "I spent hours beating Metroid when I was a kid".

      The fact of the matter is that the games are based on a wide plethora of materials. Also I resent the title "hardcore." It comes with this pornographic stigma and all. It's in comparable terms to the title "user"--the only other people (besides computer programmers) that call their clients users are drug dealers!

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    5. Re:Its ironic then by Daetrin · · Score: 1

      Clearly you and your friends are not the definitive group of gamers. A lot of my friends at the game company i was working at at the time it came out thought it was great, as did i. I don't know which of us is closer to the normal spectrum of gamers, but not all gamers thought it was "stupid and pointless."

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  2. Nintendo has award winners... but... by ILL+Clinton · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Wario Ware and Viewtiful Joe are both games only available on Nintendo. They are both games that are pretty much nothing like any other game you've played.

    Yet Nintendo is losing market share, and as a result, developers (like Capcom who developed Viewtiful Joe exclusively for GameCube) are shying away.

    It may be better to have a great game like Viewtiful Joe available on other consoles, but then what is left to distinguish one console from the others?

    Winning awards is nice, but winning customers is apparently more important.

    ILL Clinton
    Live Machinima Performance, August 28th, NYC.

    1. Re:Nintendo has award winners... but... by KDR_11k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The problem is that image and hype sell better than innovation or awards. However, Nintendo is pretty much winning the handheld arena, where Wario Ware was entered. Sony is trying to challenge them, but currently Nintendo still has a lot of momentum (read: developers'/publishers' trust) on that front and devs don't seem to be running away there. The GC is a completely different deal. Multiple blunders during the early life and bad marketing by Nintendo while facing strong marketing by the competition (leading to things like the "kiddie image") prevented the GC from grabbing a major part of the market and therefore made it a minor player in the eyes of publishers. Sure, there's the occassional third-party exclusive, but their numbers are low. Often the beancounters later on decide that a GC exclusive was a bad idea and get the game ported to the PS2 or XBox. Whether those decisions were based on facts or fiction or whether those ports actually outsell the original GC game varies, but they're being made. If that's going to continue it'll look like you can just get a PS2 (or a PS3 next round) and wait until the managers get greedy enough and port all the good games that were supposedly exclusive. I don't think a console monopoly is desirable and apparently neither do most software companies (hey, it's known how draconian Nintendo and Sony were/are when they practically own the market). Sony already has a quasi-monopoly, Nintendo and Microsoft can only deliver reasons to buy their consoles by either making them themselves or paying to keep them. Sony can reject games without the third party running to the competition, Sony has something the devs and pubs want (the largest market) and the competition to Sony cannot offer a real alternative to this. Few third-parties are in a position to tell Sony to go fuck themselves if they don't like Sony's business practices.

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      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    2. Re:Nintendo has award winners... but... by SamNmaX · · Score: 1
      It may be better to have a great game like Viewtiful Joe available on other consoles, but then what is left to distinguish one console from the others?

      I'm not sure if you are suggesting it would be a good thing for the gaming world if a game was on *less* systems, but ignoring that, Viewtiful Joe will be coming out for the PS2.

    3. Re:Nintendo has award winners... but... by ILL+Clinton · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Well, I guess it depends on your perspective.

      Why have more than one console, if all the games are available on all consoles?

      It would seem better for the consumer if we could buy whatever console we want, and play all the games. But if it means that a company like Nintendo will go out of business, then the world would be deprived of games like Wario, et al. That can't be good.

      Sega stopped making consoles, but they still make games. I don't really know. I guess I'm just posing a question for people to think about.

      And using these posts to promote my upcoming show. :)

      ILL Clinton
      Live Improvised Machinima-August 28th NYC

    4. Re:Nintendo has award winners... but... by SamNmaX · · Score: 1
      It would seem better for the consumer if we could buy whatever console we want, and play all the games. But if it means that a company like Nintendo will go out of business, then the world would be deprived of games like Wario, et al. That can't be good.

      Sega stopped making consoles, but they still make games. I don't really know. I guess I'm just posing a question for people to think about.

      I'm guessing Nintendo will eventually go the way of Sega, becoming a more software oriented company. Having more consoles doesn't necessarily mean we get more (or more innovative) games, in fact, the opposite may well be true. The more fragmented the market is, the less potential customers there are for any particular game.

      For the consumer, if they happen to have chosen to get one system, they miss out on all the exclusives for the systems they don't own. Does it make sense to deprive the Gamecube owner the chance to play Dead or Alive 3, or the XBox owner the chance to play Viewtiful Joe?

      The market would be better off if it were possible for the hardware to be sold purely on it's technical merits, with games available for all system, but of course many issues make that difficult.

    5. Re:Nintendo has award winners... but... by Svenheim · · Score: 2, Interesting
      I'm guessing Nintendo will eventually go the way of Sega, becoming a more software oriented company.

      Saying something a million times DOES NOT MAKE IT TRUE. I've heard this "speculation" so many times now it isnt even funny anymore.

      When Sega went out of the console business, they were pretty much bordering on bankruptcy. Nintendo has billions and billions in the bank, still make loads of money every year, and they have themselves stated that they will never ever leave the hardware business.

      Get real. Nintendo aren't going anywhere.

    6. Re:Nintendo has award winners... but... by Svenheim · · Score: 2, Informative

      Capcom isnt shying away from Nintendo. Where did you get that?

      Viewtiful Joe was quite a big success on Gamecube, it's not strange that Capcom wants to port it to the PS2.

      And Nintendo hasnt actually lost marketshare in a long time. They are pretty stable in the 2nd place in overall console race. They definitely havent lost market share since the release of Viewtiful Joe, it happened much earlier than that.

    7. Re:Nintendo has award winners... but... by ILL+Clinton · · Score: 1
      Capcom isnt shying away from Nintendo. Where did you get that?

      Actually, you're right. I was thinking of another company that was known for its exclusive Nintendo titles, Factor 5. Makers of the Rogue Leader series of X-Wing fighter games. Which will not only no longer be exclusive to Nintendo, but, iirc will not even be available for Nintendo at all next time around.

      :(

  3. Manhunt?!? by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    Why was Manhunt considered for an award?

    I mean, if "Their remit was to single out the title which they felt displayed innovation and excellence," said Ms Robertson, "a title which would raise player's expectations of what games were capable of.", why was Manhunt even nominated?

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  4. No surprise that Wario Ware won... by chrispyman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For those who have played Wario Ware (either on the GBA or GameCube, they're mostly the same game), you know how very strange of a game it is. Yet you (most people anyways) enjoy this game and somehow it becomes addictive. Probably one of the most original games to come out in recent years. It's kinda the same for Viewtiful Joe; takes the 16-bit era beat-em-ups and takes it to a whole new level.

  5. Wario Ware isn't original by Doctor+Ian · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's very similar to the game Bishi Bashi Special which came out in 1998 according to GameFAQs. I'm not ratting on Nintendo for ripping off Konami or anything, I think it's great that they're trying to focus on less explored ideas. If the award really was for prioritizing 'creativity', then Katamari Damacy should easily have taken it.

    I went to a couple of shows at the EGF. There was an XBox Live show which was awful, and another event at the national museum called 'Go Play Games' which was also a bit awful. They had a bunch of games from the past year or so, but not really an exceptional selection by any means. The only ones that interested me where Donkey Konga which my friend owns anyway, and Outrun 2 which I'd already played (and crashed) at the XBox Live show previously. I suppose it would be interesting if you were a parent wanting to take your kid somewhere but realisticly I don't quite see the point of the whole exercise.

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  6. Too short by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I really liked this game but finished it in something like 4 hours. There is a lot of replayability, but I had achieved level 25+ for most levels in less than a nights playing.

    Pikmin was likewise another great game but I finished it in just a few days.

  7. Interesting observation... by Sockatume · · Score: 1

    Edge originally (and somewhat controvertially) gave the game a 7/10 rating on release, somewhat lower than many of the other nominees... possibly because of its non-universal appeal. A sign that numerical rating systems for reviews are faulty?

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