Remember Carnival Games, the mini-game collection for Nintendo’s Wii? No? Well it’s coming back for VR.
Publisher 2K, best known for franchises like BioShock, has today announced that the series will return as the imaginatively titled Carnival Games VR on PlayStation VR and HTC Vive on October 28th, with an Oculus Rift edition coming later on in the year (read: when Oculus Touch launches). It’s going to feature 12 games that will utilize position-tracked controls. You’ll aim for points in Ring Toss, burst balloons in Pop Darts, and even stack delicious treats in Funnel Cake Stacker.
Other games include Alley Ball, Golden Arm, Down The Stretch, Shooting Gallery, Climbing Wall, Shark Tank (not as cool as it sounds), Swish, Haunted House and Fast Pitch. There’s quite a lot to see, then, and there’s also a trophy room that doubles as a sandbox environment. You can unlock prizes like a ball and chain and swing it around the room, causing havoc.
Strangely there aren’t any kind of trailers or screenshots to see yet, despite the game being less than two months out.
Take this as 2K testing the waters of the VR market. The original Carnival Games sold over 1.5 million copies on the Wii, and translating it to VR is undoubtedly a much safer approach to dipping your toes into the tech than releasing, say, a full BioShock game. That said, we do hope the company is planning some richer experiences for later down the line; there are already a handful of great carnival games for VR. In fact, let’s consider this the official announcement; no more carnival VR games after this one, please.
If you’re heading to PAX West in Seattle this weekend then you’ll be able to try out Carnival Games VR for yourself. Or if you’re heading to an actual carnival this weekend, you’ve got us beat.
