I think opinions vary on this. To me, shovel-ware is basically any game that comes as an afterthought to some other existing property. It's a game that usually has been contracted to some low cost development team who know little about the IP or how to make a decent functioning game. It's usually based off of things like movies, TV, pop culture, or something that really doesn't work as a video game very well. Something that is already guaranteed sales based on how popular the existing product already is. But you still can't be too quick to call a game based on something else as shovel-ware.
I think shovel-ware is something not to be confused with bad games. Yes, shovel often means a bad game, on the rare occasion can even mean a good game. But a game being poorly made is not in and of itself a qualifying criteria to be called shovel-ware. So there's shovel-ware, then there's bad games. So not every game that turns out bad was forced through just to make a dollar, or without better intentions. Not every game that was developed on a small budget was meant to deceive or rip-off consumers.
That's how I view it, anyways.
