Microsoft tries way too hard to shed Viva Pinata's "kiddy" image

Roufuss

Roufuss

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So I get this email, right, called "Hardcore Gamer Confesses" from Microsoft. I'm wondering what it's about, so I click it, and I see a picture from "The Microsoft Times" talking about breaking the age barrier, how barriers have been crossed and blah blah.

Apparently the point of all of this is to shove it down our throats that Viva Pinata is not meant just for kids, that this "33 year old who loves FPS's" could get into this game.

Here is his personalized "confessional space":

http://vivapinataconfession.spaces.live.com/

On my quest to find a few new games, I happened to pick up Viva Piñata. I’m usually a shooter guy, but sometimes you gotta break the mold and see what else is out there. Well, three weeks later the shooter was on the floor, still in its packaging, and I was checking Piñata forums for achievement tips.

What did I learn? First and foremost, I didn’t belong on the Piñata forums. I’m a 33 year old guy, not a 12 year old. I didn’t quite fit in if you know what I mean. Luckily, I found out that Microsoft was looking for guys like me. Yeah, that’s right, men who play Viva Piñata. I knew I wasn’t alone. Long story short, I’m now hosting this site with them as a forum for guys (and ladies) to talk about Viva Piñata. So here it is, a destination dedicated to mature, at least in numbers anyway, Viva Piñata fans. If you love this game as much as I do, feel free to submit a video or drop a line. I know for a fact that there are others out there.
Click to expand...

This is viral marketing at its finest... but I still don't understand, to this day, why all the promotion around Viva Pinata isn't how fun it is, and how it appeals to all ages, rather we hear about how kiddy it is, how its meant for kids, but wait, if this 33 year old guy into shooters loves viva pinata anyone can love it! It's not just for kids!!

I don't know, this whole thing reeks of stupidity, almost like Microsoft is becoming incredibly desperate to push this IP down people's throats.

His video blog is hilarious as well... it's like we're supposed to be so shocked he is playing Viva Pinata, like "OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS GUY PLAYS THIS GAME?!?!". I've known lots of people who have played VP, and it was always "Oh, yea, I heard it was cool, glad you like it". Hell, I don't think any 12 year old kids on this forum ever played it or discussed it, it was mostly adults. It is almost like they are saying "Hey, please don't be ashamed to play this game, we won't make fun of you! Look, Richard likes it, Richard is cooooool".
 
[quote name='whoknows']It's meant for little girls.

Bill Gates says so[/QUOTE]

No way, even Cliffy B, best known for Gears of War and Unreal Tournament, plays Viva Pinata! Richard said so!

I definitely love the fact that Microsoft thinks that if everyone loves Gears of War, and by association the guy who made GoW, that when he recommends Viva Pinata everyone is going to be like "damn yo we gots to try this shizz, Cliffy B said it's hot and Gears of War is hot!"
 
Viva Pinata sucks ass. And I've played and liked childish games before (like pretty much 60% of all Nintendo games) but that game's just sooooo stupid.
 
I bought it during the $20 sale at Target. I haven't played it, but my fiance loves the thing. So Bill Gates should fix his statement:

"It's meant for little girls."
 
That is pretty lame. MS has really mismanaged Viva Pinata from the beginning. It's a shame too because it really is an awesome game. They just had no idea what to do with it.
 
[quote name='SteelersGuy']That is pretty lame. MS has really mismanaged Viva Pinata from the beginning. It's a shame too because it really is an awesome game. They just had no idea what to do with it.[/QUOTE]
What would you suggest they do, then?

I don't see other games getting their own TV shows as part of their marketing.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']What would you suggest they do, then?

I don't see other games getting their own TV shows as part of their marketing.[/quote]

Honestly, I would have just skipped the TV show. Is it even on anymore? It contributed to the games "kiddy" image the most and obviously gave MS little return. I'm not even sure a young child could really play Viva Pinata anyways. The game seems like it would probably be over most of their heads. Just seems like a waste to spend most of your time marketing it to kids.
 
I'm 25, I've got 49 achievements on it. It's fun, but there is no way I'm going to play it 50Hrs for the 50th achievement.
 
I thought Microsoft was excited to have a Nintendo esque game on their platform, to further attract the demographic Nintendo dominates. Now they're trying to market it to Halo fans. Why? Because the sales sucked?
 
Now I'm not one to judge a game or who a game is for. But the bottom line is that Viva Pinta is for little kids. Not girls per se, but little kids. IIRC the game is based of a saturday morning cartoon.

nuff said.
 
I have 800 achievement points in Viva Pinata and I love beer. I swear I am not lying. BELIEVEE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
 
[quote name='Graystone']IIRC the game is based of a saturday morning cartoon.[/QUOTE]


Other way around chief. The game was created first then Microsoft decided it could be a huge marketing bonanza and started creating the cartoon with help for 4 Kids Entertainment. Rare mentions it in one of their scribes posting.

I believe the whole using the same voice actors may have been something done later, but the core concept of the game was before the cartoon.

Microsoft mismanaged the whole Pinata release. The dozen or so episodes I've seen, I've never seen a commercial for the game during the course of the show. No Pinata shampoo, no hilarious Paulie Preztail action figure, even no Hudson actual pinata (outside of the promo item given to MVPs). This is the stuff kids want.

In a funny way, most of the kids I've spoken with were actually upset when the Pinata would "die" and didn't want to continue.

I think Microsoft just made the mistake of buying into our attitudes that it is a kid game and this is their lame attempt to conteract that attitude.
 
Microsoft spends every single marketing dollar trying to sell the 360 to College Frat boys, and then they wonder why Viva Pinata doesnt sell well. lol
 
What's everything is that everything I've read about Viva Pinata is that it would probably end up being too hard and complicated for kids anyways... I think if MS never did that cartoon, the game wouldn't get so bad a rap.

The cartoon and the game have nothing in common besides the fact they are in the same universe, and besides, I don't think a cartoon automatically labels something as "for little kids".

For all we know, MS could be inking out a deal for a Saturday morning Halo cartoon.
 
Well, little kids probably wouldn't be going for every achievement. I think my nephews would have a great time just wacking the pinatas with the shovel in the game. Heck, if the game didn't autosave, I'd probably let them have a round with it.

The game does have wide appeal. The thing is, a game like Viva Pinata will not sell to most kids on a college campus. Sorry, even if it's great, there is an image of the family game, which Viva Pinata is.

I was sort of surprised to see the email come out though from Microsoft. I've always heard good things about it,, so I picked it up last week finally, and I'm loving it.

Though, if your going to push a game hard from Microsoft and Rare, they would have a hard time finding a better game to push than Viva Pinata.
 
what's with everyone trying to shed the so called "kiddy" image? I don't really think it's a problem. I own a ds and a gamecube two "kiddy" game systems and I love them both. I play hours upon hours a week on my ds including pokemon, and I own my fair share of mature games for the gamecube.
 
[quote name='SL4IN']what's with everyone trying to shed the so called "kiddy" image? I don't really think it's a problem. I own a ds and a gamecube two "kiddy" game systems and I love them both. I play hours upon hours a week on my ds including pokemon, and I own my fair share of mature games for the gamecube.[/quote]"Kiddy" image on the 360 = not so much in the sales department.
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']I thought Microsoft was excited to have a Nintendo esque game on their platform, to further attract the demographic Nintendo dominates. Now they're trying to market it to Halo fans. Why? Because the sales sucked?[/QUOTE]

That's what I thought. Wasn't the whole point the kiddy image?
 
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