HonestGamers - [News] Wonderbook: Book of Spells dated

Jonathan Stark Sep 7, 2012

I'm actually interested to see how this pans out. I like the idea, even if I totally recognize that most gamers will completely scoff at it. It isn't really marketed at most gamers (which is brave and possibly stupid of Sony) but I am intrigued by the idea and the amount of gumption they've put behind it.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Rhody Tobin Freelancer Sep 7, 2012

It's marketed to children, which is ok. I'd have loved this thing when I was five.

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Jonathan Stark Sep 7, 2012

Totally. Absolutely would have loved it.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

dementedhut Sep 7, 2012

It's gonna be a hard thing to swallow for parents, though. Buy all that stuff for one game for $80, or either buy a normal new game or multiple games at discount prices.

I heard spaceshit noises.

Jonathan Stark Sep 8, 2012

I think the idea is that it's kind of like buying a new console: an initial price that then pays off over time. I also don't think there's that many games out there for kids right now. I know there's a market, but nothing quite as involved or clever as this. So who knows? Maybe it has a shot...?

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Rhody Tobin Freelancer Sep 8, 2012

It's only $20 more than a standard new release, and it comes with a new controller that works with other games, which they may already have anyway if they bought Eyepet, which is another children's games.

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zigfried Sep 8, 2012 edited

Parents don't buy PS3 games for children. There's already a #1 console for that (Wii) and a #2 console for that (Xbox 360). It's too late in the system lifecycle for Sony to change this position. This is an interesting idea maybe (it really depends how much effort they put into it), but wrong console at the wrong time.

A more feasible approach would be to create great games that aren't inherently designed to scare parents. Like what Nintendo does whenever they make any game.

//Zig

Jonathan Stark Sep 9, 2012

This is slightly off topic, but is there a place to view older news stories? Like a news archives?

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Jason Venter Staff Sep 9, 2012

No, there's no news archive. I might code something like that someday, but I don't see it being tremendously useful. The idea is that since news stories are tied to individual games (for the most part), people can just stumble across cool stories as they browse the games database. I scrapped a bunch of old news stories that I wrote before making the change to the system, but now we have a bunch of new people writing them and things are filling out nicely. My plan is coming together!

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world