was this game made by rockstar?

No it was made by Cat Daddy Games and published by Global Star Software. Global Star Software is owned by Take 2 which also owns rockstar.

wow! on amazon, mp3 is at #8, carnival games is at #9. good word of mouth!

WarioWare is awesome. Thought: will there eventually be a new WarioWare for the foot board thinger?

The Raving Rabbids games both look awesome, and I'll eventually get one of them for $20 I'm sure.

Can't say I'm interested in Carnival Games, Mario Party, Cooking Mama, BBA, EA Playground, etc., though I'll be watching the sales. The mini-game market on Wii is fast becoming crowded, and so far it seems that only re-purposed old platforming stars (Mario, Wario, Rayman) can move 1M copies.

Rented Carnival Games. My impressions: Some of the games are fun. My son and I stayed up until 3 am playing it, trying to unlock all of the other games. And haven't touched it since. But then, I also rented SPM at the same time, so it isn't that much of a surprise which one gets the most play time.

This was a place where Miis could have -- no, make that SHOULD have -- been used. It would have been fun getting those hats, costumes parts (like shield, tail, masks, etc.) to put on your Mii. I don't like the fact that when you unlock something for one character, you have to unlock it again if you use a different one. And I also don't like that you can only unlock in single player mode, when it is just as difficult (if not more so) in competition mode. They ought to give you the prizes even in competition mode. I suffered an injury while doing the strength test (the most effective way of building up the strength is to move the controller in a circular motion, which wreaks havoc on your shoulders). And the menu system definitely sucks trying to go back.

Now that I've unloaded the bad, here's the good.

Uh.

Well, the music is reminiscent of a carnival. I could just about smell the popcorn. Some of the games that I hate in the carnival, I found I hated just as much in this one (and that's a positive thing, meaning the recreation of the game felt authentic). The little prizes are amusing, although the unlockable items are better.

Probably worth picking up when it hits the bargain bin. Or a one time rental. I rented this so my wife could try it out, and she still hasn't.

Big Brain Academy for the Wii is lame.  The one for the DS is so much more fun.  If Carnival Games is worse than that, I will definitely hold off on it until I can borrow or rent it.