The reality is that casual and uninformed gamers don't know message boards like this exist Claude, so we have to do all their whinging and bitching for them:)

There are some diamonds in the rough like Mercury Meltdown, Winter Games and Indianapolis 500 Legends is pretty good as well.

Yes there is total crap, but it isn't like you can't look at reviews and read between the lines to see if you will like it.

Oh burn!!!

Huahuaua.

 I liked your reply.

Thankyou Psaiki lol.

Im here till thursday!! (gotta love Shrek)

When does Mercury meltdown come out in Australia jimbo?

 From wiki...

"The term "shovelware" has more recently been used in a more general sense by video game reviewers to indicate any product of disappointingly low quality due to a lack of time and effort by the developers."

Look around on the net and you'll see other sources using this same description.

A bad or flawed game is not necessarily shovelware. Most shovelware are poor or mediocre games though. The word "shovelware"  explains itself pretty clearly: software being shoveled out the the door. Basically, games made quickly, cheaply, and with little or no concern for quality.

On a side note, reading the wiki page for "shovelware" was interesting. Pretty cool seeing how the original meaning differs from it's use today.

Shovelware is a sign of a successful console. The NES, SNES, GB and GBA all had over 700 different titles produced for them. The PlayStation saw over 2400 releases, while the PlayStation 2 should pass the original PS at the end of its life.

You'd be hard pressed to identify 10% of any of those consoles' libraries as being worthy of owning.

Shovelware is a 'good thing.' It's more concerning when a platform is roundly ignored by the profiteers and you don't see cheap peripherals and shovelware (see the 3DO and N64). Besides, some GREAT SOFTWARE is sold as shovelware - Katamari Damacy being one.

What you call shovelware.... I call snacks!

Honestly one person's shovelware is another person's gem. 

Shovelware has been around almost as long as the industry.

A quarter century ago, it caused the "Great Crash." Those of you too young to have lived through that period when video games appeared to be dead forever because of too much bad software can read about it in technology history books. Basically, every movie and half the food companies in the US were out to games for the Atari 2600.

IMHO, Shovelware referes to any game that is not done well and not meant to be done well. They generally do not have any redeeming quality and are reviewed poorly. It can be original or a port. It is usually cheaper but occassionally is more than bargain price. Movie tie-ins (Balls of Fury) games are almost always shovelware.

However, being a port (RE4) or being really cheap (Mercury Meltdown, which is also a port) does not make a game automatically shovelware. Nor does bad reviews (Carnival Games) because some games just have a life of their own.

Finally, there are some companies to shy away from (generally). These include DSI, Destineer, Conspiracy, UFO, Bethasda Softworks, etc.

I own one piece of shovelware for the Wii -- Spy Games: Elevator Mission. I own it because Best Buy sold it for $10 new. I own some less than stellar games as well. I also am only lacking Guitar Hero from the Million Sellers list (I am waiting for a real stereo version). So I have a lot of Wii games (and a lot of games period).

Mike from Morgantown