When Video Games Go Too Far
Pass The Pigs
By Shaun Hatton - January 3rd, 2009
During what little holiday shopping I did, I managed to come across an odd game in stores: Pass the Pigs for Nintendo DS. I wouldn’t have known what this game was about had my father-in-law not given me the “real” game as a joke present weeks ago. For those of you who sadly don’t know what Pass the Pigs is, it’s a dice game where players take turns tossing pig-shaped dice and scoring points depending on how these pigs land. Different landing combinations result in different point outcomes, and the first player to reach 100 points is declared the winner.
The game can be funny, if not fun. I mean, how could you not have a laugh at tossing a tiny pig across a table? But isn’t having an electronic version of this game missing the point? A party game that’s normally priced at around $10 has a $20 video game incarnation that can’t possibly be as fun, and that’s just plain wrong.
Or maybe I’m the one who’s wrong. I have never played the video game version of Pass the Pigs, nor do I want to. In fact, I barely see the appeal of the real-life dice game (sorry if you’re a fan of it). It’s funny for a little while but after a few rounds you just want someone to reach 100 points so you can go onto the next game. I suppose an electronic version can help if you’re poor at math, but that’s about it. This is just one of many cases of video games going too far.
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Hahaha that’s so silly.
Sometimes I really wonder who greenlights some of these titles.
Playing Pass The Pigs with you guys yesterday was cool, in its own (and quickly, “Is it over yet?”)-type way. But I wouldn’t want to pass around a DS for everyone to have taken their turn. I sadly chalk this up to the apparent tendency – he says, having only stepped into the DS arena a scant two weeks ago – for Nintendo to put anything and everything it can get its hands on out for the DS. There are good games to be had, absolutely, but they seem to be bobbing along on a sea of titles not worth the bother, at least to THIS gamer…
Is this actually a Nintendo product, though? Or is it licensed by Nintendo. I thought this was just THQ shovelware?
I think it really just shows that there are all kinds of people buying the DS and its games, hence the broad spectrum of types of games available.
It really shows that the Big N has given permission for anything and everything to swamp their hardware.
Given how people are avoiding the Big N like the plague, can you blame them?
Actually, people are not avoiding Nintendo whatsoever. Their stuff is selling like crazy. It’s just that it’s selling to different kinds of people from the stereotypical “gamer.” In fact, the types of people who are now gamers is much different from what it was just two years ago. And that’s a good thing.
Oh, I agree.
I’m referring, though, to the “avoiding like the plague” by some of the larger, established developers. Or at least the references made to such avoidance.
I’m certainly not referring to the people who, by buying the Wii, have made this the console to get.