Water, Ice, and Steam Forecast! Fluidity's Debut Game-Play Hours Report

Coffee Beans:
     Fluidity was released on December 6, 2010 in North America through Nintendo's WiiWare service.  Fluidity was developed by Curve Studios and published by Nintendo.  The game is available for download through the WiiWare service for 1200 Wii Points, which is $12.

     A portion of the game's description reads, "Tilt or twist your Wii Remote controller to use the various forms and properties of water on your free-flowing journey through Aquaticus, where every page has multiple panels and illustrations that have come to life.  ...additional powers, such as sticking to objects as a block of ice or shooting bolts of lightning as a steam cloud, will be needed to win the day and destroy the Influence and its minions."
     The ESRB rating for Fluidity is "E for Everyone", with "Comic Mischief" being the only content listed for parents to be aware of.

     How many hours have Wii owners spent sloshing and sliding their way through Fluidity, in the 64 days reported?  Let's take a look!

Hours shown are for the United States of America, not world-wide.

Approx. Number of Players Reporting Data:
     Fluidity has 5,961 Wii owners reporting game-play data through the Wii's Nintendo Channel for its debut, just 64 days after it released.

Average & Total Game-Play Hours Reported:
     Fluidity has 53,108 Total Hours of game-play reported on its debut, with an average "sloshing" play-time of 8 Hours 54 Minutes "Per person" reporting data.
     Fluidity's average play-time per session is just over 1 Hour 36 Minutes.

Sales Information:
     Fluidity is currently in the top 20 on the WiiWare's "Popular Titles" section, sitting at the #11 spot.
     Based on the approximate number of players reporting data, and the $12 price point of Fluidity, Curve Studios' net sales on Fluidity would be about $71,532 in the United States, before profit sharing with Nintendo.

Review Score:
     Fluidity has been received well by the "professional" reviewers, and its current "professional" review score average is 86.78%, based on 9 reviews on GameRankings.com.

Odd Beans:
     I thought it was interesting that Fluidity allows you to take on the different states of water: solid(ice), liquid(water) and gas(steam).
     With H2O in each of those states, you could use the water to brew regular coffee, use the ice to make iced coffee, or use the steam to make an espresso drink...how fitting!

Filtered Thoughts:
     First, if you haven't seen anything about Fluidity, check out the trailer below, and it will give you a good idea of what the game is about:


     Second, if you think you might be interested in the game, but aren't sure; I highly suggest going to the Wii's Shop Channel and downloading the free demo for Fluidity and giving it a try.
     I just completed the demo, and found it to be rather fun and interesting.  If you like puzzle-platform type games, I really suggest you give it a try!

     If you go to the Shop Channel to find the Fluidity demo, here are the steps to find the demo:

1. Click the "Start Shopping" button
2. Click the "WiiWare" button, located at the top of the screen in the middle
3. Click the "Newest Additions" button on the top right
4. Click the right arrow at the bottom right, and go to page 3, and the free Fluidity demo should be second from the bottom

     Considering that Fluidity is a brand new IP, and a WiiWare title, I think the fact that it debuted in just 64 days is really awesome for the game.  With the game's price tag being $12 compared to a lot of other WiiWare titles with lower price points, I think it's a good sign for Curve Studios and Nintendo that the game is still in the top 20 right now.
     The one bit of game-play data that I'm really surprised by is the average hours "Per person" being 8 Hours 54 Minutes...especially for a $12 game!  There are many full retail games that release at $50 or more, that have about the same number of hours for a single-player campaign.
     Being that I haven't played the full WiiWare version of Fluidity, I don't know how many hours it takes to complete just the main campaign, but I do know there are items players can go back to find in levels to unlock another mode in the game; so the 8 Hours 54 Minutes could be reflecting more of the "completionist" players that are going back to collect everything.

Questions:
     If you have played and beaten Fluidity, about how many hours did it take you to complete?  From your experience with Fluidity is it a WiiWare game you would recommend to other Wii owners looking for a good puzzle-platforming type game?


If anybody is interested in Fluidity, you can use a Wii Points card shown below, or a credit card to pay for the game from the Wii's Shop Channel: