Gamertell

Not all shovelware is bad.

Sure, games that fall into the shovelware category, like Chicken Shoot and Elf Bowling, are often designed to purely to generate quick revenue. And yes, the quality of shovelware is more often than not rather atrocious. But that doesn’t mean that the mere existence of it is entirely bad.

Not only is shovelware a videogame tradition but its proliferation is a positive sign for gamers. Below are three important reasons why shovelware games are actually good in a general way.

Shovelware means a system is successful.

Imagine you’ve won the lottery and suddenly eighth, 16th, even 23rd cousins come crawling out of the woodwork. Or that you’ve got a wicked picnic planned to celebrate a graduation and all kinds of ants, including those nasty biting fire ants, show up. Shovelware is the same way. Yes, it is annoying, detracts from quality games, gets undeserved attention and flat out makes gamers miserable. At the same time, it is an indicator that your favorite console company is doing something right.

If anything, people should be worried when at least one or two shovelware titles aren’t part of the weekly game release line-up. Shovelware titles are like rats, they have an acute sense of self preservation and the second weakness in a console is sensed, they abandon ship.

Some shovelware titles are good titles in disguise.

There are occasions when shovelware titles are really good games. Look at the DS release Barnyard Blast: Swine of the Night. If you go by the box art, it is appears an atrocious platformer starring an anthropomorphic pig from an unknown publisher and developer. If you take the chance and play it, you discover a delightful title with a snarky and intelligent story which lampoons the Castlevania series and classic, challenging gameplay.

Then there are Mario Party games. First we have to face a scary fact - the last good Mario Party title was Mario Party 4 for the Gamecube. Since then, they’ve been shallow incarnations of prior goodness churned out every year, like clockwork. People keep buying them. Why? Because they are fun, addictive games that everyone can enjoy. And don’t go trying to say they aren’t shovelware.  From Mario Party 4 in 2002, ‘til Mario Party 7 in 2005, the titles were released each year. A break was probably taken in 2006 due to the GameCube’s demise and the preparation needed for Mario Party 8 and Mario Party DS.

Shovelware helps lure in new gamers.

Every time I walk past the latest ______z game at GameStop, my soul shudders. It yearns to cry out, “Weren’t Nintendogs, Catz, Dogz and Hamsterz enough?” I always manage to stifle the anguished cry of pain, because the game has caught the eye of a young boy or girl. These mediocre pet titles may seem like tripe to older, hard-core gamers, but they can become fond, favorites for children. These kids grow up loving these simplistic games, and then, as they get older, move on to higher quality titles. They may even be future game developers.

The same goes for the Imagine line of games. I can not support these titles enough, even though some of the titles in the line are cheaply made. Part of it is the fact that they are helping young girls get into video games. The other reason is that Ubisoft is localizing and releasing entertaining games like Emoto Honami no Shiawase Kitchen (a.k.a. Imagine: Master Chef) and KuruKuru Princess: Figure de KiraKira Koori no Angel (a.k.a. Imagine: Figure Skater) in the US. In fact, Emoto Honami no Shiawase Kitchen is the latest in a series of cooking games which predates the Cooking Mama franchise.

Speaking of Cooking Mama, that brings me to Majesco, a publisher that often releases games that could be considered shovelware. Some of their possible shovelware releases include Cake Mania, the Brain Boost games, Fish Tycoon and Raze’s Hell. The thing is, only people who are serious gamers would really look at these titles as shovelware. Casual gamers and children could easily appreciate any one of these games.

Of course people annoyed by the proliferation of meaningless, low quality titles may find it difficult to look beyond the copy of Flipper Critters in front of them to see the greater good. Shovelware’s true merit and value, if it possesses any, come down to gamers’ personal opinions. So what do you think? Are shovelware titles a menace? Should any title that can be considered shovelware taken out to a New Mexican desert landfill and buried? Or are some shovelware titles actually valuable?

Read [Joystiq] Also Read [Wired] Also Read [NintendoWiiFanboy]