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119 Comments
- SkippyDoorknob, on 11/15/2007, -3/+88Zack & Wiki is being killed by its name.
- atomicpoet, on 11/15/2007, -5/+72I think everyone who liked Zack and Wiki knew it would have been a miracle if it sold well. It's got a stupid name. It's an adult game seemingly marketed to minors. And Matt Cassimasina from IGN seemed to be the one generating most of the hype. With that said, I'm amazed it got the sales it did.
- Scienceisfun, on 11/15/2007, -1/+41100% agree. I hate to be one to judge a book by its cover, but I initially figured Zack and Wiki for yet another generic, brightly-colored platformer. It was IGN's review that brought me around, but seriously, if you aren't visiting some type of gaming site (which probably covers millions of the Wii's owners), how could you possibly identify it off the shelf at Best Buy or Gamestop as something original and worth picking up? Even then, the name is just so generic! It doesn't even compel a more serious gamer to give it a second look.
- mattdanis, on 11/15/2007, -1/+40Until I read the IGN review I never even heard of it. There's your problem.
- Tygell, on 11/15/2007, -1/+35My wife ended up playing and beating it in a week and loved every minute of it. When i first told her about the game though, she gave me a puzzled look. "Zack and what? You just ring a bell to beat enemies? I don't get it." It's like trying to explain ICO or SotC to someone.
I think part of the problem is that it was never advertised as far as i remember. I didn't hear about it until about a week before it's release, and i spend a decent chunk of my time on gaming forums.
Z&W goes on my list of unappreciated games with the aforementioned Sony titles, Beyond Good and Evil, Psychonauts, and Planescape: Torment. - KirbyMeister, on 11/15/2007, -2/+33They never even advertised it outside of the Internet. And they expect it to sell millions of copies on release week on hype ALONE?!
- gharding, on 11/15/2007, -2/+30I've never even heard of it. Maybe their marketing is to blame.
- 1nhuman, on 11/15/2007, -1/+24Come on. I never heard of this game until now. And I read digg hourly. I'm definitely going to buy it. Must be a marketing issue.
- atomicpoet, on 11/15/2007, -6/+27Put down your fanboy goggles for a moment. Would you have bought Zack and Wiki if it was on the 360 or PS3?
- FuzzyBunny, on 11/15/2007, -0/+19And by the fact that it's an unknown IP with almost zero marketing amidst what is quite possibly the biggest holiday games lineup ever.
- atomicpoet, on 11/15/2007, -1/+16Zack and Wiki is an adventure-based puzzle game where you have to use gestures -- with little to no hints -- to pass the levels. Being able to pass this game requires lots of imagination. It's a good game but was ultimately destined for obscurity -- and eveyone in the know knew it. I think even Capcom knew it.
- gweedo767, on 11/15/2007, -3/+18The game has been out for what...two weeks? I am going to buy this game, but not until the new year do to other games coming out. I don't understand why the first two weeks of a games sales are the sink or swim for it...
- mccurdyj, on 11/15/2007, -2/+16It's such a great game. It's really sad more people haven't picked it up. Especially all those people complaining about not enough "Great" games for the Wii.
- KingGoonie, on 11/15/2007, -3/+16I completely agree... its an extremely fun game, a challenging game... but when the only thing I knew about it was its name I figured it was a run of the mill kiddie game. I think I first started hearing about it on here.. like people would say "and zach and wiki is going to be great!" and I remember thinking... huh? That sounds like its going to be like boogie, a stupid crappy kiddie game... and then I kept hearing it more and more and figured maybe it would be good... maybe like a banjo and mario and DK64 type game... you know thats what it sounded like, like if it wasnt a kids only game then maybe a fun for all platformer, thats what hte name sounds like... Zach & Wiki.. Banjo & Kazooie, Jack and Daxter, Rathcet and Clank... that type of thing. So eventually after hearing enough about it from digg mentions (but before hearing the ign thing) I looked it up on wikipedia and saw that no its kinda puzzleish... which I thought might be cool but I didn't really get in what way it would work. Then I heard more on IGN podcasts, saying how great the game was... but still didn't quite get it... what? you don't control the characters? But the IGN praise really started getting to me, and then when they started explaining it more, then the great review... I was like you know what I gotta get this game. And I'm glad I did...
But you see the problem here? I go to ign usually once a day.. i listen to there podcasts... i come to digg... thats how I know about the game, and how I came to buy it. But its not like thats something everyone does. Not all casual gamers really go to review sites, and there are even people who do that look at a game name and dont even click to check out the review... This is definitely a game that needs to 100% go by word of mouth.. and probably arguements "dude you gotta get Zach & wiki!" "uh.. zach and wha?" "ZACH AND WIKI, QUEST FOR BARBADOS TREASURE! ITS AWESOME" "uh huh.. yea... yea that sounds like a kids game..." "NO DUDE ITS NOT, TRUST ME, I KNOW IT SOUNDS LIEK THAT BUT IT SLIKE THIS.." "oH, yea that does sound cool, maybe I will give it a try" - MaynardJK, on 11/15/2007, -0/+12Speak for yourself. I don't care who the characters are as long as the game is good.
- dolemite43, on 11/15/2007, -1/+12terrible marketing. IGN is the only place I heard about this game.
- squirmalicious, on 11/15/2007, -3/+14Yeah, the name is terrible.
- Zarxrax, on 11/15/2007, -2/+12The problem is probably that the game looks like its made for kids. If you saw this on the shelf and had no idea what it was, you'd probably think it was some crappy licensed game based on a kids show.
Name one other point and click adventure game that was aimed at kids and sold well. All the ones I can think of were aimed at teens or adults. Maniac Mansion, Sam and Max, Full Throttle...
Ok so most of the adult population will ignore the game right there. Now how about the kids? Well, its NOT a licensed game based on some crappy cartoon, so they aren't going to care either!
Games like this need to appeal to a large audience. Games don't have to have "adult content" (i.e. violence, strong language, sex) in order to appeal to adults. However, if you want your game to appeal to adults, then you better not make it look like its aimed at 4-year-olds. This isn't rocket science. - thedmg, on 11/15/2007, -1/+11It's a great game that Capcom had failed to advertise, it's not the fault of the "Wii Crowd" because most don't even know what the hell the game is. The only places I knew of this game were GameTrailers and IGN, and although each site probably has a lot of Wii owners, I don't think it will catch the eye of the casual gamer that wants to play games like Mario Party and Wii Sports.
- GreyICE, on 11/15/2007, -0/+10Can't forget Okami. Though Okami: Wii might give the best game on the PS2 a second life.
- atomicpoet, on 11/15/2007, -7/+16@mywhitenoise
Do you always have to obnoxiously piss on other people's opinions? No one was holding a gun to your head to read what he had to say. You had to actually click on the thread to read it. Get over yourself. - Gnusto, on 11/15/2007, -1/+9A lack of advertising, coupled with a lack of stores that bothered to carry it didn't / doesn't help the game. I live within about 5 miles of 3 separate EBs, none which carried this game or had even heard of it. Same goes for local Wal Mart, Target, and Best Buy. I'd love to try it as it looks great, but I'm the last person on Earth who doesn't buy anything online so it's just not an option.
- atomicpoet, on 11/15/2007, -3/+10@mywhitenoise
It's more like Nintendo is catering to everyone who isn't a twitchy 18-year-old boy hopped up on Red Bull and pale from lack of sunlight. Stereotypes, afterall, are a great way to gauge a consoles appeal -- that's what you're implying, right? - johnhummel, on 11/15/2007, -1/+8I have to agree with that. I only knew about it because of my following the gaming crowd.
The game is sheer awesome. I've been avoiding even looking at gaming faqs, because so much of the fun is going "OK, so I have an umbrella, and a shovel, and - oh, wait! I got it!"
You fail, but every level can be restarted, and once you figure it out, you can blaze right through.
But - the marketing. The name. The look. I keep comparing this game to Ico. In Ico (and it's "sequel", "Shadow fo the Colossus", everything you needed so solve an area's puzzle was right there in the room with you. You didn't have to go back and forth across the map to solve the puzzle. But the look is very mature, very cool, and sold rather well.
I can't help but wonder what if Capcom didn't look at the Wii as "the kid and family friendly device", and designed Zak and Wiki with that in mind. You could have the same story-line, without the cartoon cell shaded graphics and wacky cartoon physics. The games play and mental puzzles are *far* above that of a child - perhaps a teenager and up, at least, so the childishness was really not needed.
Don't get me wrong - I like the look, and my children are enjoying playing it with me (well, I play, they point their Wiimotes on the screen and draw lines and shout suggestions that usually don't work - but I walk them through my thinking process). But I can't help but wonder if the game wouldn't have sold more if it had, and God forgive me for saying this, a more "mature" look and feel. - HCJfilms, on 11/15/2007, -0/+6The problem is there's been absolutely ZERO marketing for the game. The second Capcom saw all these rave reviews for the game they should have developed a marketing strategy for it and really pushed it. What is stopping them from running a few ads on TV displaying all the praise its gotten? Hoping people will see reviews isn't going to cut it anymore.
- inactive, on 11/15/2007, -2/+8Never even heard of it.
- xOpifex, on 11/15/2007, -3/+9I'm crazy for having a different opinion about a video game than you?
- darkNiGHTS, on 11/15/2007, -3/+9Treasure Island Z is what it was originally called and it should have stayed that way.
- GreyICE, on 11/15/2007, -3/+9Mini-games and non-games. Like Metroid: Prime 3, Mario galaxy, and Twilight Princess.
Oh wait, real games involve someone with a hideously generic name using a bunch of generic guns to kill generic aliens. - Dissonance, on 11/15/2007, -0/+5I was a huge fan of Sierra games and have long been waiting for something in that vein. If I had seen Zack and Wiki in the stores, I would have never even thought that it might even closely resemble the kind of problem solving Sierra games used to involve. It definitely looks to kiddish. Roberta Williams where are you!?
- KingGoonie, on 11/15/2007, -3/+8Considering the Wii is such a phenomenon because all types of people like it, I would say that if anything the wii has the most complex of all the systems owners. Its got the kids, the adults, the guys with an IQ of 75 and the guys in mensa... etc.
- jizzlies, on 11/15/2007, -0/+5I never heard of it, so maybe marketing is to blame as well.
- yohnstoppable, on 11/15/2007, -2/+7It's the stupid name that keeps it from selling. If you saw "The Contrabulous Fantraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel" on the shelves you probably wouldn't buy it.
- yohnstoppable, on 11/15/2007, -1/+5You're right, Capcom sucks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Capcom_games
no good games on that list at all - crazyhorse13, on 11/15/2007, -1/+5It's a failure because it had no marketing.
- feshmania, on 11/15/2007, -1/+5Have you even played Zack and Wiki before you write it off as just another game?
- Ub3rg33k, on 11/15/2007, -0/+4I've looked for it and no one in the North Atlanta area seems to carry the game. Various BB, Target, and Gamestops have all come up empty for me. Target and BB didn't even have shelf space that indicated that they carried the game. The two Gamestop locations had two copies and were currently out of stock.
- benitojuarez, on 11/15/2007, -0/+4Ive never heard of this game, the name certainly doesnt have an awe inspiring ring to it, And if i had to make a purchase decision based solely on the cartoony image from the article, I would give it a pass. To me it looks like some anime show cash in.
- Schmapdi, on 11/15/2007, -1/+5Really - the only reason I didn't go buy it was because I put it on my Xmas list. I would think they would wait until the end of the year before making such claims.
- NathanielJ, on 11/16/2007, -0/+3Please, the "failure" of Zack and Wiki doesn't show anything about complex games on the Wii, it shows that games that aren't marketed in any way, that are given a terrible name, and that have no built-in market won't sell well.
Lesson learned. - Buddhaismybuddy, on 11/15/2007, -3/+6How can you gauge the success of a whole genre off of one game?
- FriedTurkey, on 11/16/2007, -0/+3Often if a game isn't selling well, the retailers no longer allocate shelf space for it. It is like the movies where the success deems how long it stays in theaters. Also publishers stop producing copies based on the early sales reports.
- HypocriteDigg, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3I think it has more to do with lack of marketing for that game than anything else.
- Lonecow, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3The game is awesome, but they should have teamed up with Lucas Arts, brought in Ron Gilbert, scrapped all the character designs and writing for the game and turned it into Monkey Island 5.
- EtherGnat, on 11/16/2007, -0/+3I'm reluctant to even post my IQ (it would just seem like bragging and I think it's a rather pointless measure of intelligence anyway) but I'm a smart guy, and the Wii is the only modern console I own. I hang out with smart people (engineers, scientists, etc) and they seem to enjoy the Wii. In fact I find that very intelligent people frequently have an appreciation for silly and child like things: Cartoons; toys; puns; etc.
The Wii is the first gaming console my parents have owned since the Atari 2600. My 80 year old grandma loves to play Wii Sports: Bowling. Nintendo has designed the Wii to be family friendly, but it would be immature to mistake that for meaning kids-only. - Elranzer, on 11/16/2007, -1/+4FPS after FPS after FPS after FPS... really diverse game collection you got there.
- FoxOrian, on 11/15/2007, -1/+4You really should have just not bothered.
- thecrazyd, on 11/15/2007, -0/+3I don't think it is the complexity so much as releasing so close to Mario Galaxy, as well as the name and marketing, as discussed above.
- rz8472, on 11/15/2007, -0/+2I would expect it to be easier to have complex games on the Wii than the other consoles. Just replace the function of the mouse with the Wiimote and you could probably clone most RTS games (minus the key shortcuts).
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