"Price is Right" DVD Game...not very good?

[Kyle]

I've tried playing this thing several times, however, I find it to be a very inferior product at best. On the plus side, the 3D rendition of the "Price is Right" set is cool looking, of course, however, there's just too many things about it that are just sub-par.

For example:

Would it really be so hard to include some live action footage into the thing? Have still-images of prizes that are clearly lifted from the show is asinine; there's really no reason why they couldn't have used the actual footage. Especially during the showcases, some actual footage would have really been useful.

Tood Newton's hosting is also fairly weak. Truth, he is not actually seen in the game, however, he comes off as bland, plodding, and faux-interested. In all honesty, Louie Anderson does a better job on the original CD-ROM version of "Family Feud"; based on Newton's performance in the game, I certainly hope he's not hand-picked to be Bob's successor on the real "Price is Right." One wonders why they didn't get Rich to do the hosting on this game; he seems like he really enjoys working on "The Price is Right" and would go for it.

The game is also extremely glitchy; I can't even begin to count how many times it has seized up, frozen, or had a completely unexpected outcome. For example, during a playing of Grand Game, I picked one of the products and after about three minutes of a black screen, the game suddenly switches to the middle of a playing of Five Price Tags. I checked the disc as well and found no visible scratches and/or smudges on it.

The entire affair seems very rushed as well; not being able to pick a specific pricing game from the menu rather than randomly wait for a specific one to come up strikes me as very poorly conceived; the Showcase Showdown comes off as very anti-climatic, it's annoying how the game switches from announcer to announcer every time a prize is described; it goes from Rich to Burton to Randy West to even ROD, among others; it seems very sloppy.

Maybe all DVD games are like this; I'm not certain, but, I chould certainly hope not. One would think they'd be better off putting this game on a regular CD-ROM, rather than plod through this game. If nothing else than to save one from all that continuous writing and erasing on those dry erase boards.

Anyone agree or disagree?

[sideshowPA]

Kyle C. Haight wrote:

For example:

Would it really be so hard to include some live action footage into the thing?

The issue is not the difficulty of including live action, but rather the expense.  I'm sure the game would become much more expensive to produce if the programmers had to purchase the rights fees associated with clips.  I also believe memory would become an issue on the DVD if there were so many clips.

The rest of your comments concern the hitchiness of gameplay.  Unfortunately, this is the nature of the beast on DVD's, as they have to scan to find the volume associated with each part of the game.  A PC game would be perhaps a better way to go here.

[Kyle]

/\Hence why I feel a lot of the game feels like it was rushed.

[JWL]

I think you are being a little bit harsh. Yes, the game lacks some of the "excitement" of the real show, but in my opinion, it is a fun game to play, and certainly compared to the previous box edition put out a few years ago, it is much more up to date.

I have never had any technical difficulties with the game, so maybe your disk is scratched, or your DVD player has some glitches with it.

Overall I would give it a B+.

On a side note...yesterday, I saw the DVD game for Deal or No Deal. I would have picked it up, but I'll wait till the next payday. I am very interested to see how well that game is presented. Has anyone played it yet? I also saw the tabletop model, and I think I might prefer the DVD cuz I would hope that has some of the same music cues and suspense that the tabletop model might lack. Plus, the DVD was cheaper than the tabletop game.

[Axl]

sideshowPA wrote:
The issue is not the difficulty of including live action, but rather the expense.  I'm sure the game would become much more expensive to produce if the programmers had to purchase the rights fees associated with clips.

Also, the law is a little complicated on this point, but I'm pretty sure they would actually have to get Bob's direct permission to use any clips of him on that game.  One of the producers of the DVD made it clear in a previous posting that they tried their hardest to secure Bob's involvement, but he declined.  His prerogative.

[tpiradam]

Kyle C. Haight Wrote:

The game is also extremely glitchy; I can't even begin to count how many times it has seized up, frozen, or had a completely unexpected outcome. For example, during a playing of Grand Game, I picked one of the products and after about three minutes of a black screen, the game suddenly switches to the middle of a playing of Five Price Tags. I checked the disc as well and found no visible scratches and/or smudges on it.

That happens with mine. Most of the time I cant use the big wheel or Pass the buck. Five Price Tags starts with the small prize without showing a car and Grand Game, some times I pick a product, it shows the price but a different one has been highlighted.

[Koslen18]

I agree with all your observations KCH, it is fun considering Im a hardcore diehard LFAT, but I've had gameplay problems similar to yours and the others, and I think using so many announcers makes it seem all pasted together.  Video would be cool, too bad Bob didnt go along with it, would have been much better with him (or Rich hosting).  Still ok but I would play a lot more if it were made considering our specifications.  I think it should include many more games and have enough items so they don't repeat often.

[MSTieScott]

A lot of it is the result of the limitations of DVD games -- they have to be very linear, which results in a lack of flexibility. It's why the Showcase Showdown seems anticlimactic -- they would have had to create hundreds of chapters to remember that, say, the score to beat is 85 cents and this is the next spinner's first spin.

I don't care about the difference between still pictures of prizes and video footage, especially when the former is done to save space to allow for more gameplay. Seeing a still picture of a china cabinet is no different to me than seeing the camera zoom out from a closeup of the interior of the china cabinet.

One of the programmers of the game has said that it was the biggest, most complicated project they had done to that date, which I don't doubt. Still, some more beta testing would have helped, as there are some problems with gameplay not going to the correct next chapter.

My biggest problem is that the "writing" of each individual pricing game is often too far departed from the actual show. Not just little things like the unspoken rule in Safe Crackers being broken, but the actual fudging of prices in order to make some of their games work. For example, of the fifteen playings of Golden Road on the disc, FOURTEEN of them would have resulted in technical wins on the real show, as the digits in the prices of the prizes were altered so that they'd have the right choice for the next prize (the only playing that wouldn't have been shot down by S&P was the one that was taken exactly from a playing of Golden Road on the show).

(Oh, and there is a secret way to choose your pricing game. Tell your DVD player to go directly to title 3. There you'll find a menu of all of the pricing games where you can choose which playing you'd like.)

[crazypackersfan]

There are many things you could criticize the DVD game for, but you have to realize that it just can't handle many things due to technological reasons. If it were something like an Xbox game or a PC game, sure, there would be plenty to complain about, but being a DVD, it's a lot more limited. I enjoy it for what it is, despite its faults.

[styleguy]

I like the game as well.  I notice sometimes when Shell Game is played it'll just go back to the main menu screen halfway though.  Pass the Buck once a while will mess up.  The game has its foibles, but nobody's perfect.  A fun game, can't wait for the 2nd edition.

[priceguy]

JWL was asking about the DOND DVD game, let me be the first to tell you, PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS PIECE OF JUNK!  It is slow, boring and a waste of time and money.  I bought the game for $30 a month ago, and I regret it every day.

[Heidi]

I just got the game yesterday and I don't have any problems with it.  I think it's a lot of fun!

[mike]

I liked the DVD. It was very fun. Though I did experience some glitches. I would also have liked some game footage from the show.

[TPIR75]

Some footage of the show would have been nice.  I too have eperieinced glitches such as with Grand Game where it gliches out before I get to make my last choice for $10,000.

[Fullbug]

Thanx for this info on the game, I have been thinking about buying it and reading peoples views on it helps...