Topic: One Year Later x2: SPOGS Racing and Major League Eating

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Well, I finally caught up, though not with the best of articles. Enjoy what you can read, and if you have either of these games, try them out, I DARE YOU >

One Year Later 009: (07/07/08) SPOGS Racing

018) SPOGS Racing (Pronto Games [D2C Games], 1000pts)
Sometimes people do not know when a bad game is on the horizon, but when it finally arrives, people can tell, alright! SPOGS Racing was to be the first racing game on WiiWare, and it was first announced through Nintendo Power Magazine. From interviews, the game appeared to be something intriguing and, dare I say, hyped for release. In short, SPOGS Racing is a racing game in which players assume the role of a SPOG Racer, that is, a single tire with attachments and a POG-like image in the center. There are a good number of tracks, and before it came out, there was word of DLC tracks and the ability to add custom pictures inside the SPOG Racers. When it launched, neither of those latter aspects were included. The game has a unique Crash n Grab concept, in which when players collide, they can steal an item from the crashee on-the-fly. Unfortunately, the innovations do not fix a bad game.
Reception: If there was a game to describe the low bar for WiiWare, this was it. All reviewers plowed this game to the ground, noted by Metacritic as the Wii Dud of 2008. NintendoLife did see that there was an attempt at innovation, but the quality of the controls, graphics, heck, everything was just too low to give more than a 3. IGN, meanwhile, gave it a 1.9, calling it WiiShovelWare. Since then, no other WiiWare title released has been given a lower rating from IGN, though a number have gotten lower on NL. Being the only racer on WiiWare at the time, the title became the second-longest selling title out of July 2008 releases (number one being rather obvious, considering College students and whatnot), but it eventually gave up the ghost.
Outlook: Pronto Games has released one other Wii title thus far, The Destiny of Zorro through 505 Games. Yeah, it was poor, too. On the website, there is apparently an unannounced WiiWare title in development, but we will have to wait and see.
Funny little tidbit: Exactly one year after the week this game was released, Europeans got Karate Phants, a game to which NintendoLife provided a LOWER score. Maybe July is cursed…

Comparing to WiiWare Year 2: By far, the easiest comparison yet! With Bust-A-Move Plus! from Taito, Bit.Trip CORE from Gaijin Games, and a surprisingly competent Heracles Chariot Racing from Neko Entertainment, you not only get more games, but MUCH BETTER ones. If anyone thinks different, I have a Ninjabread Man to sell you.

One Year Later 010: (07/14/09) Major League Eating: The Game

19) Major League Eating: The Game (Sensory Sweep Studios [Mastiff], 1000pts)
Of all the sports to have a game dedicated to it, Major League Eating seems to be one you would avoid. Released just over a week after the big MLE event on July 4th weekend, this title is an odd combination of motion control eating and button pressing munch-battles. Starring real members of MLE, players fight head-to-head by making motions to eat certain foods and then chewing at the right time with the B button. Players also need to settle their stomachs by pressing A and shaking a bit. The eater wins when they have eaten more food then the opponent by the end of the match or if the other eater pukes up his or her meal of epic proportions. This adds some attack methods to the game, involving a very fragrant burp among other things. Multiplayer adds to the replay value, especially when you can laugh at each other’s munching movements. You get the satisfaction of eating food but not having to take in the calories! Move over Wii Fit!
Reception: If anything this game was seen as a weird one with little fanbase to reach. NintendoLife gave the game a 6, citing that the game was quite a unique one to try, though it was heavily mixed with crude humor. IGN provided a more negative 3.5, stating that the game was a stupid waggle minigame with no real entertainment attached. For sales, the game matched the ranking pattern of other July releases, and while it looked to outlast Magnetica Twist, it fell when the other game arose from the depths of the Top 20.
Outlook: Mastiff has not published any new WiiWare title since the release of MLE, but other companies have pushed its previously Japan-only Go! Go! Minion onto American and European soil. Meanwhile, Sensory Sweep has released a number of casual-oriented games and has been hit with a litigation by the US Department of Labor. Not sure if the company is going to be standing for much longer!

Comparing to WiiWare Year 2: This is a more interesting week to deliberate the “betterness” than last week. We have seen the release of Ant Nation from Konami, Bit Boy!! from B-Plus, and Incoming! from JVC Games (heh, we’ll be seeing them here shortly). While Ant Nation has gotten some good reviews, Bit Boy and Incoming seem to be equal and less than equal to this one release. It’s up in the air, that is for sure! I personally find the uniqueness of Bit Boy and Ant Nation better than the crude nature of MLE, but Incoming!’s poor gameplay system may be hard to ignore. I’ll say this year is about equal, although the variety is improved, in my opinion! Thoughts?

We are now 10 weeks into the second year of WiiWare! Once I get more reviews for these new releases, I should be able to see if, on average, this year is better than last, but I have a feeling it is only better because there are more okay-to-decent games and a couple less HORRID games. Wait and see!