Excitebots: Trick Racing

[Daft]

Seriously? C'mon elaborate Daft! (Are you gunning for shortest posts ever?)

 

Uuuurm, not really sure what to add.

 

I just don't get how it benefits Nintendo having it region locked. With the 360 it is up to the publisher so they could at least do that. As flameboy said, the PS3 is completely region free.

 

I'd imagine it would also help to prevent piracy since when a title isn't available people would have the option of importing it than downloading it.

[Konfucius]

Region lock is just a means of the developer to have better control over game distribution and prevent the customer from striking cheaper deals when importing games. PC games aren't regionlocked and most of the time they see nearly simultanous releases worldwide and localized - that's probably why Nintendo won't lift region lock any time soon.

 

I'm also quite surprised Excitebots didn't perform better. Based on the experiences I have from Excite Truck it should be made of pure win and awesome.

To be honest though the bugs still look off putting to me. Actually in Excite Truck I also hated racing with the trucks that slightly resembled bugs. It's not that I associate it with kiddy, but for some reason I don't want to drive with it.

Incidentally I think the boxart looks a lot like of those games that usually range in the 50% rating range.

 

Actually I don't understand why they didn't make Excite Truck 2. The formula was great and if they added online multiplayer to it, more refined controls, and one or two additional stunts I would also buy it.

[Tellyn]

I'm just saying, people tend to say europe isn't treated as fairly as NA. But really, you do get some games before us (Mario Kart), its not always us getting games first, and while some games don't make it there, some don't make it here either. (I'm not really talking about past generations though).

 

Do I need to bring up Smash Bros? Seriously, move away from justification. It shouldn't be an 'eye for an eye' situation, if they're willing to release a highly-anticipated game in one region, they shouldn't deprive another region of it due to poor sales. They can afford to crack out a few average performers, it's not like it'll ruin them financially.

[Ashley]

I'm just saying, people tend to say europe isn't treated as fairly as NA. But really, you do get some games before us (Mario Kart), its not always us getting games first, and while some games don't make it there, some don't make it here either. (I'm not really talking about past generations though).

 

We got Mario Kart a week before you, how many months before us did you get SSBB?

 

(yes im just elaborating on what Tellyn said)

[GothicPlague]

I'm not that surprised it sold poorly. Just look at the cover. It's the type of game we laughed our socks off last gen because someone even thought of the idea of releasing it. Cars shaped like bugs racing off road, swinging on poles.

Add to that really bad marketing.

 

Actually I'm pretty sure it's the sort of title people who are now considered core gamers would have laughed at, like they did and still do with all Nintendo games. Of course back then they were considered casual gamers.

 

IMO anyway

[tapedeck]

I'd have preferred Excitetruck 2 tbh. Yeah, this is mental and insane and 'wacko-cracko' but MAN! there is a huge market for a more "serious" racer on Wii and the original Excitetruck is about as serious as Nintendo are gonna get. As Konfucious said, even throwing in more modes/tracks/trucks would have been ace.

 

How many times have we been here with Nintendo though? It's how they keep a franchise alive. Drip feeding us then giving us something wholly bizarre the next time around when all we wanted was a follow up to the original idea. (Gah!)

 

Ripping SD card support was a dumb ass idea though and I don't think I'm man enough to race as a beetle bug instead of a meaty truck.

[Daft]

Region lock is just a means of the developer to have better control over game distribution and prevent the customer from striking cheaper deals when importing games. PC games aren't regionlocked and most of the time they see nearly simultanous releases worldwide and localized - that's probably why Nintendo won't lift region lock any time soon.

 

That's a good point. I forgot Microsoft and Sony have way more simultaneous releases than Nintendo, at least with regards to America and Europe.

[Emasher]

We got Mario Kart a week before you, how many months before us did you get SSBB?

 

(yes im just elaborating on what Tellyn said)

 

Was it really just a week, I must be remembering wrong. You do still get a number of VC games first anyway (and not just by a few days). I'm just saying, its not much better here really.

[Shino]

I just remembered SSBB... Fuck you Emasher, fuck you. I love you.

[Tellyn]

Was it really just a week, I must be remembering wrong. You do still get a number of VC games first anyway (and not just by a few days). I'm just saying, its not much better here really.

 

Virtual Console games? You're just picking here, the point is it was a bit of a shitty comment to make in the first place.

[Zechs Merquise]

Well, I still contend the whole shift to 'excitebots' with the bug designs was a bad move. I think it will have hurt sales, and put a lot of people off.

[BlueStar]

I completely disagree, I love the bot designs. The swallow's my favourite at the moment, trying to get enough S ranks to unlock the pilot costume for it.

[Konfucius]

Ripping SD card support was a dumb ass idea though

 

What?!?!?!?!? I didn't know they did that. Adding your own music was part of the reason that made ExciteTruck so awesome for me.

The more I hear and see about this game the less I want it.

[flameboy]

I don't get why people are defending Nintendo for region locking, in today's global world theres no excuse yes they can do it to control distribution etc...but really? PSP and PS3 aren't region locked and 360 has region free games doesn't it? So why not Nintendo...I will be gutted if this doesn't make it over here, it takes excitetruck one of the best Wii games adds novel ideas and lots of variety and now we might not get it

[Emasher]

Virtual Console games? You're just picking here, the point is it was a bit of a shitty comment to make in the first place.

 

Look, I'm just trying to point out that this generation, it isn't just europe suffering like it has been in the past.

[tapedeck]

Well, I still contend the whole shift to 'excitebots' with the bug designs was a bad move. I think it will have hurt sales, and put a lot of people off.

 

Look at how the Wii has changed Nintendo's perception of titles. Excitebike was fine. Excitebike64 was fine. Excitetrucks was a great re-boot of the series and now we get some insane bug-like creatures racing chucking pies and scoring goals.

 

OK so it's probably awesome fun but it's a good barometer of where Nintendo have taken the Wii's software library for the most part. Nothing would have been wrong with a simple sequel.

 

Mad I tell thee. Mad. A big step backwards. I hope this DOESN'T sell. We may never see those 'sports' titles like Waverace, 1080, Excitetruck/bike again if Nintendo sells more copies of Excitebots than any of those titles.

 

And yeah Konfucious, NO SD support is a HUGE deal to me too.

[RedShell]

Damn.

I just knew something was up with the PAL release.

First Fatal Frame 4, now this.

 

Hopefully it's just some kind of reverse psychology advertising by Nintendo, where they pretend that these game aren't getting released to make people want them more.

[dazzybee]

This game will DEFINITELY get released in Europe!

[yesteryeargames]

i hope so . i would happly pre order now if i could, those of u who have it , where and how much from the usa ? ta

[panmusic]

This game will DEFINITELY get released in Europe!

 

Do you have some super secret legit information,or is a wild guess?

[Zechs Merquise]

Look at how the Wii has changed Nintendo's perception of titles. Excitebike was fine. Excitebike64 was fine. Excitetrucks was a great re-boot of the series and now we get some insane bug-like creatures racing chucking pies and scoring goals.

 

OK so it's probably awesome fun but it's a good barometer of where Nintendo have taken the Wii's software library for the most part. Nothing would have been wrong with a simple sequel.

 

Mad I tell thee. Mad. A big step backwards. I hope this DOESN'T sell. We may never see those 'sports' titles like Waverace, 1080, Excitetruck/bike again if Nintendo sells more copies of Excitebots than any of those titles.

 

And yeah Konfucious, NO SD support is a HUGE deal to me too.

 

I actually agree. I feel low sales of this could be a good thing. Nintendo has some of the best racing titles: Waverace, F-ZERO, 1080, Excitebike and instead they chose to release a game featuring robot bugs throwing pies.

 

The characters look like they're from Kinder Egg and the whole thing looks tacky and cheap like the worst of Saturday morning TV.

 

I must say, I still feel bad for those fans who want it and would enjoy it. After all it has garnered positive reviews and by all accounts is a solid title.

 

However, I hope this is an important lesson to Nintendo and they notice WHY the franchise has taken this dip and that some of us out here would love to see a real racing game like Waverace or F-ZERO.

 

Also, it is senseless removing the SD card music support. A pointless move.

[BlueStar]

Another Excite Truck would have been as boring as hell, the style and fun of this game is absolutely fantastic and I hope they make another. In fact, I hope they turn Zelda into a robotic animal for his next game as well.

 

Seriously though, the IGN reviewer was spot on when he said this game was purely video-gamey in terms of not needing a convaluted story or whatever. This game has its roots in the era of 8 and 16 bit games where it didn't need to make sense that there was a plumber jumping on turtles in the mushroom kingdom or bubble blowing dragons. It was a video game without pretentions of being anything more. So ideologically it harks back before what I considered at the time to be the first wave of casual gamers durign the PSX era, when kids who'd previously been into football or whatever and not thought twice about games started being marketed po-faced serious racing games and war games which even peole's dads started playing. I'd much prefer the manual intro for this game to be "There are racing robot animals, deal with it and get as many points as possible" than some pathetic story about how you're a Vin Disel alike out for revenge for his dead father through a racing tournament, pursued by a secret conspiracy or something. That kind of stuff came along when games had to try and be more than just games, they had to pretend to be a film or a novel or something as well. If the Excitebots franchise had started as-is on the NES and SNES no-one would be questioning it. Just like if Super Mario Galaxy was the first in the series people would eb saying "WTF, magical mushroom kingdom, princess peach? Fucking hell nintendo, stop all this childish shit you're doing to try and appeal to casual gamers and hurry up and give us another exitebots."

 

I hate the terms hardcore and casual, but if pressed I'd go as far as to say Excitebots is the most hardcore game released on any platform for quite a while.

Edited May 21, 2009 by BlueStar

[Emasher]

I'm actually kind of agreeing that perhaps its better this game isn't selling. Even though, I'm sure its a good game, and I'll certainly pick it up when I have a bit more cash, Monster Games are pretty good at creating racing games. I think the fact that they had to make a game like this that was bound not to sell well and was more marketed to kids games was an insult to their talent. An excite truck 2 with more options and stuff, would probably have sold well.

 

Now the reason they took out MP3 support was probably because they didn't want to pay royalties.

[Nicktendo]

Now the reason they took out MP3 support was probably because they didn't want to pay royalties.

 

The Wii, as a console doesn't support MP3's anymore (Photo channel). The feature was removed because the Wii supports Apple's AAC format instead. I think this has something to do with the removal and also why Excitetruck (the disc) still supports MP3's. How many people have AAC formatted files on a memory stick or SD Card. My guess is it was removed to avoid confusion, yet this is contradicted by the Photo Channel. Nintendo are wierd.

[ReZourceman]

Its "rye" tenchar.