Wii reviewers are the problem - Braben Comments by Robert Purchese

Oh my god, Okami AGAIN? Another baby seal killed!!

>Mario which appeal to a broad audience

Mario games are the height of hardcore experience surely?

I dunno Smelly I think the best Mario games (ie the main ones rather than the spin offs) break down audience barriers and are enjoyed by a wide following. My point was if people can get over the look and enjoy them why can't they at least try to do the same with Wii offerings, come at it from that open minded viewpoint rather than dismiss them outta hand.

Edit: Not everyone else Mario Galaxy would still be charting but that they can be enjoyed by a wide audience, its a case of breaking down these barriers, both those that have always existed and these new ones that people insist on putting up, casual/hardcore lark.

And I still wanna know what games you made! :)

Someone mentioned Loose Women - if there was a Wii game that allowed you to to do back handed slaps to Loose Women I would buy that (and a Wii to play it on).

Whhhhhhhppisshhh!

>break down audience barriers and are enjoyed by a wide following.

Mario's a strange beast.. The forumite "hardcore" (not really "hardcore" - probably only been playing games since halo) gamers hate him - because of his toony graphics and stuff.

But yet even galaxy (probably the easiest mario game?) would've been too hard for most "casuals" to get very far on. Hell even I had problems with some later levels, and i've been playing games for over 20 years.

Mario really only seems to appeal to the 30-somethings who grew up with him, and understand the hard-core-ness of the gameplay.. while been able to overlook the graphical style.

>And I still wanna know what games you made! :)

Lots of them.. and most of them were terrible.

Who cares what David Braben has to say about the Wii - what does he have to say about 'The Outsider?' Come on EG!

@YourMessageHere

More like YourFasciststatementHere.

I just have one question. Didn't Clive Dunn play Jonesy in Dads Army?

Im pretty sure most game site/mag reviewers are incompetent anyway. There are perhaps a few reputable outlets, but not all the writers for them are. All too often personal agendas become transparent and the reviews often end up being bitch fests over issues secondary to game quality.

Like a lot of reviews on this site, incidentally.

@YourMessageHere:

I totally agree. If I ran a site like EG or IGN I would contract writers and reviewers to appeal to the broader market that has emerged to increase readership and make my site more relevant to people who were new to video games. Improving forum moderation would also be part of the equation.

"f I ran a site like EG or IGN I would contract writers and reviewers to appeal to the broader market that has emerged to increase readership and make my site more relevant to people who were new to video games."

It sounds good in theory but it's very hard to execute in practice. Just having the content available will not make the casual gamers visit your site. Then there is the risk of alienating the hardcore that already do, even if you put it in a separate section.

Life style and 'regular' (so non-specialist) media are probably better suited to reach the casual players with relevant reviews (and maybe they do already).

As a busy working-mum, and with all the distractions for today's youngsters of social networking sites and petty crime, it can be difficult to find time to come together as a family. That's why the Nintendo Wii's videogames for families are a godsend.

Last week, the lovely people at Eurogamer gave me Carnival: Funfair Games to try out at home with my little and not-so-little ones. The first thing I noticed when I opened the package was how bright and cheerful the cover looked. That jolly little bulbous man and his oversized hand made me sure this was going to be just what the social worker ordered. I popped it in the disc drive and sure enough when the menu-screen appeared, it was all smiling faces and colour and my mood was lifted nearly as much as it had been after taking my morning Xanax! I quickly tried out some of the games to get a head-start on my really smart kids, but then the doorbell rang and it was the debt collection people, so I had to hide until they went away. Then the lawyer called with some news about the hearing, and before you know it it was time to pick the children up from school. Busy, busy, busy!

When I finally got little Kanye, Shayne, Puff Daddy and Brittany home, I switched off all the circuit-breakers for their rooms, and we sat down together as a family for the first time since the arraignment. It was so unusual that Brittany asked if I was pregnant again and little Shayne cried because he thought the police had found the body! Silly sausages!

We started out playing Ring Toss and Lucky Cups, because I remembered those from carnivals when I was young. We all had great fun playing these, even Kanye kept asking for another go, though he'd already played it a few times and got bored halfway through. I gave him some Ritalin though and then everything was great! PD and Brittany quickly tired of the novelty, but it was the first time either of them had taken an interest in something outside themselves in months. I managed to get them playing together for an hour and a half, and there were only minor injuries.

Over the next few days, the children started to play the games themselves, without their boring old mum. PD really took to the single-player mode, and I think the colours and vibrancy helped him to see some hope in the future, something he needs in his recovery from crack addiction. Shayne brought his friends over to play with, so old Mr. Wilson in No. 42 had a break from the little tykes for a night. Maybe Shayne won't have another ASBO after all. Brittany brought her friends over for a party and they played for ages. It was such a hit that I didn't even find any condoms under her bed in the morning!

Oh look at me, rabbiting on! But Carnival: Funfair Games really is a great title for families. If your kids are anything like mine, they'll love it, and you'll get the satisfaction of seeing their little faces light up for something other than drugs or pornography. 9/10.

I'm not gonna take anything Braben says as a valid opinion until he gets Elite 4 out of the door. That's if he's still got the capability to produce it.

He doesn't really have a valid point, in some cases family games get a harder time but a more important argument would be for the intelligent reading of reviews, and as such can be applied to reviews of all types of games.

If a reviewer says that an FPS is generic but you haven't played 50 FPS's in your life but 3 then obviously you adjust accordingly. If your a mum who has a wii and read comments about longevity you may think 'but ill probably only play it for 1 maybe 2 hours a week.'

Also Eurogamer as has been said before reviews some casual games well.

Braben also blantently ignores the fact that a buggy or badly made game is bad regardless of the consumer its just that someone with no knowledge of games or reviews may not know that games don't have to be buggy or badly made.

@Grayvern: I know you probably wont read this.

But try to apply your logic to wii music. A well made game, which was absolutely great for 6 or 7 year old market (and is a great fun 9/10 experience for them). And compare that against the crappy reviews it got, because for the likes of you or me - we think it's shit.

I think he has a good point - There can't be that many gaming mags who regularly review Wii titles at all - How often does Eurogamer update the Wii section of this site (compared to the PS3 or XBox) - The vast majority of Wii games never even get a quickie review...

I appreaciate that Eurogamer has become a 360 owners site rather than a multiplatform site, but I think the trend can be seen on most gaming sites - very little & fairly negative presentation of the Wii.

Though I guess the target audience of video game mags/sites are 13-15 year old boys - who are more likely to own 360's - so maybe it makes sense?

@smelly
I don't think Mario is that hard tofigure out;

1. Mario didn't look like a 'casual' gamer figure when he was first designed - 'hardcore' gamers in the eighties expected the same level of cuteness (e.g. Monty Mole, Dizzy, Magic Knight, etc...).
2.Nintendo spent millions advertising Mario in Japan & the US at a time when the NES was so popular that 'casual' gamers considered Nintendo synonimous for all video hgames
3. While the NES was released (with that Robby the robot add-on) in Europe it was largly considered a childrens toy (compared to Speccys, CBM64's & Amstrads which 'supposedly' helped with homework too :P ) - So when the SNES was released and Mario started to be really pushed in Europe (a little with the NES mainly for the SNES) he was already well known by the hardcore (who knew the platers level design to be second to none at the time) the marketingmachine had already been running for several years and was already very slick, shiney and professional - Just right for the casuals...

Though I preferred Mario for a long time in the early ninties Sonic was far more popular in the UK and Europe.