“Bringing that hiding in the basement thing to the big screen.”
The Nintendo Wii has certainly done a lot of pioneering for the current wave of motion-sensor gaming, and the Nintendo Wii U has taken up the torch with great enthusiasm. Small wonder that developers for the Wii U, which range from triple-A Ubisoft to small indie company Knapnok, are picking up on that kind of enthusiasm and challenging themselves to push the envelope of gaming interaction even further.
Enter Spin the Bottle, Knapnok’s brainchild for the Wii U. With a premise that sounds like something only a few drunken kids sequestered in their parents’ basement would love (or, all right, let’s be fair here… we mature adult folk aren’t that much better when it comes to hitting the Jack), the Wii U gamepad takes center stage in this wacky new rendition of the age-old adolescent party wind-down.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Actually, it looks like it’s to be quite the opposite!
Originally due for an initial July release date, KnapNok steps up to explain to fans just why the game has been delayed.
“The game has been done for months now, we are going through the last quality assurance with Nintendo and it has taken way longer than anticipated. One of the problems is that we are doing so much weird stuff with the Wii Remotes, such as pushing buttons with your nose, passing them to each other over your heads and players blindfolded crawling around on the floor trying to find the controller. Each of these things is non-conventional and there are just so many rules and requirements that can go wrong.”
Not that they’re sorry for it. While the waiting is painful, KnapNok is convinced that this collection of wacky randomized co-op mini games are “what makes the game great.” Meanwhile, they’re using the time to start prototyping the next update.
“There is so much interesting design space to explore of games that makes the players look at each other, communicate with each other or touch each other and we are looking forward to be able to start talking about all this new stuff.”
The game is now due for a tentative release in mid-August.
But what is it?
The most socially awkward Wii U game you’ve ever seen.
Even the developers agree that the two core groups that would most likely find Spin the Bottle most entertaining were:
- Kids
- Adults who are drinking and/or playing a drinking game
Take a look at the video below and you’ll see why. The random hodge-podge of mini-games from pseudo-kisses around with a Wiimote to a manly bro-hug hopping game. Just like the traditional teenage game, the Wii U Gamepad is used to “spin the bottle” and the players the bottle lands on are the ones who are required to step up to bat. A random mini game is automatically chosen, and that’s where the fun (and the seriously awkward) begins.
Other mini game titles include: Grab the Rooster, Hide the Monkey, Rabbit Hunt, Waltz, Picking Flowers, Squeeze the Orange, Saw, Pass the Badger, Invisible Beach Tennis, and Shooting Star.
I don’t know if those sound like mini game titles, or the moves in a chop suey Chinese martial arts film from the late 70s. Either way, given a significant level of inebriation, I can definitely see how this could end up making a YouTube-worthy night of hilarity. Or end in a trip to the hospital, depending on who happens to crabwalk blindly down a set of stairs into a nest of pit vipers. You never know. You’ll be drinking.
How much the price for hilarity?
KnapNok is taking the ‘Minecraft approach,’ a reward-type model for early adopters as a unique pricing approach. In an interview published on Nintendo Life, KnapNok’s Creative Director Lau Korsgaard says:
“We will release cheap-ish but increase the price of the game as we develop more content. If you buy early you will get all future updates for free. Our plan is to release two more updates in 2013 – each time raising the price a bit. We want reward the early adopters of the Wii U while still being able to earn money on the long run.”
The launch price will be around €7/$9, and will warn early adopters when an update is on its way to encourage consumers to buy at a lower price. Nintendo was reported to be confused by the pricing strategy, but supportive, flexible to work with, and willing to allow KnapNok to take control while still providing the indie with good advice.
Definitely a far cry from the hellishly long time it’s taken for Microsoft to do something about their ridiculously high patch fees.
