Want 360 Variety? Then Go Buy Viva Pinata.

Submitted by James Munn on March 13, 2007 – 1:45 pm8 Comments

A few weeks ago, I fired up my PC, rubbed my bleary eyes and wrote about how I felt the Next Generation of gaming revolves around cooperative gameplay. A few comments to the article questioned how all of my examples were team-based action games or shooters. This was basically true, but not by choice. There are just a hell of a lot of action games and shooters on the Xbox 360. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you love…well….shooters, it’s simply a reality.

A 360 owner brought that case up to me recently, “It seems like everything’s a shooter!” he whined. I responded by asking him if he had picked up Viva Pi?±ata. He began to laugh at the very thought of it,

“No way! You still play that?” Obviously he was questioning my manhood for a moment. I honestly don’t play it often anymore but it’s a good game, a great game in-fact. Microsoft took a chance, piled tons of money to Rare and developed a game that’s completely different than anything on the Xbox or Xbox 360. Then they rolled it out on the shelves for a very previous-gen price of $49 and the guys who are too manly for the best RTS on the system, laugh at it.

You say you want variety? Go buy Viva Pi?±ata before the next weird idea that lands on a Microsoft exec’s desk and after a glance at a Viva Pi?±ata poster, it gets stamped with “Won’t Sell” and tossed in the circular file. If not then don’t complain to me, consider yourself warned.

http://www.farbot.com/ Paul

Good point.

Buying it new is obviously the best way to send your message home, but buying it used isn’t the end of the world because Microsoft knows you’re playing it if you’re connected up via Xbox Live, right?

Then again, they can’t tell your used game purchase apart from a rental unless they take a close look at your numbers to see how long you played it.
Shane

It is a good game and a nice variation in my collection of violent games. I’ve got to play it more.
http://www.routermall.com used cisco

I posted this on gonintendo but I’ll post it again here with some additions because it’s even more relevant now.

“I feel sorry for Viva Pinata. It‚Äôs a pretty good game, but MS is putting the weight of the world on its shoulders. Every time anyone mentioned family friendly gaming, MS points to Viva Pinata. I mean, it‚Äôs ONE game. Here is an example of what MS sounds like lately in interviews.

‚ÄúSo how does microsoft plan to attract casual gamers‚Äù

‚ÄúWe are moving that direction with games like Viva Pinata‚Äù

‚ÄúSo how does microsoft plan to attract female gamers‚Äù

‚ÄúWe are moving that direction with games like Viva Pinata‚Äù

‚ÄúSo how does microsoft plan to be more family friendly‚Äù

‚ÄúWe are moving that direction with games like Viva Pinata‚Äù

‚ÄúSo how does microsoft plan to offer some variety to people who complain that xbox only offers testosterone driven frag fests‚Äù

‚ÄúWe are moving that direction with games like Viva Pinata‚Äù

Thats one damn busy game. ”

The point is, you gotta quit pointing to viva pinata EVERY time someone wants a game for ANYONE that doesn’t want macho shooters all the time. Sure, we get it, its good. But 1 cutesy quirky game, does not variety make. So what is the 360 catalog like? Um well, we have shooters, a few shooters, a couple racing game/sports shooters, and Viva Pinata. Cmon MS give us more than 1 game to demonstrate the 360 has some variety.
http://www.zooco.com.ph Playsquare

umm, Kameo, Fuzion Frenzy, DDR, a good bunch of XBLA. But Microsoft too, seems to forget that
http://www.routermall.com used cisco

playsquare illustrates my point exactly.

MS has over 160 HD games available and defenders of variety have to grasp at quasi-turds like Kameo and Fusion Frenzy? Ok, so kameo got some OK reviews, but it really is a pretty hardcore style game. And the scantily clad, tattooed nymph style character isn’t going to grab the attention of too many female gamers either. Suprisingly, most girls don’t get off on objectified female protagonists. You do have a point with XBLA. Uno is truly the killer app for the 360 and casual gamers, except that you can play uno on your PC ……online……… for free.

I’m not trying to bash the 360, I’m just saying it really does have a variety problem that I hope will soon be fixed with lots of RPGs, strategy games, simulations, platformers, rhythm games, party games, and yes, games like Viva Pinata.
cruds

Thats kinda the problem with the X360 too many damn shooters. While I can appreciate third person shooters, it’s not what I wanna play all the time.It’s the main reason why I never bothered to buy a X360. I have more trust in the PS3 when it comes to a diverse library. Which means that I need to keep myself happy with the Wii and the PS2 for a few years, not that will be a problem.
http://www.zooco.com.ph playsquare

Yes, I agree, but I have to wonder how non-hardcore gamers perceive these “quasi-turds”, but i guess we won’t really know since 360 hasn’t reached that mass market price yet. What I do think is a good strategy Microsoft would want to do, is to accumulate a number of these non-shooter retail games(like a sims game, banjo, idolmaster), some popular XBLA (catan, fish, screensaver, golf) and group them all with the price cut. What will happen is they’ll get a kind of another system launch now aimed squarely at the mass market. They announce that around summer 2008, about the time when the Halo effect tapers off.
http://www.routermall.com used cisco

“I have to wonder how non-hardcore gamers perceive these “quasi-turds”"

If my wife is any indication, they’re not a big draw. She said she would never play a game like Kameo simply because she says a woman would never wear a mini-skirt and halter top to defeat monsters.
She does like DDR but she really likes games like Trace Memory on the DS and Trauma Center on the Wii. Neither of which have anything similar even in the pipeline on the 360 unfortunately. Obviously, my wife doesn’t represent every gamer, but she tends to go along with the general casual female perspective. She would never play a shooter. Believe Ive tried.