Casual games are the "next big thing." That's what everyone says, what everyone designs and what everyone seems interested in. But looking at the actual offering of casual games, one can easily see that most of them are clones of classics like Bejeweled or Space Invaders and offer little to nothing in terms of innovation and development values. Of course, there are rather impressive gems like Puzzle Quest that take a rather old formula and turn it around to create addictive gameplay. But games like this are the exception rather than the norm.

Majesco Games, a little known DS developer, is one of the companies constantly trying out new concepts for their more casual games. They enjoyed relative success with a baking simulator called Cake Mania, in which you played the game of a young girl trying to save her parents' bakery. Now, Majesco is launching a new concept. They are making a babysitting game.

The game, aptly called Babysitting Mania, will give players a chance to take care of kids, clean up houses and do chores. It seems like a real sim. The announcement said nothing about the chance to simulate another babysitting favorite, making out with the boyfriend or girlfriend on the sofa while the damn kid is asleep. But there will be more than 100 levels for the player to enjoy, set in 20 different houses and with very different kids to take care of, from babies to unruly teenagers.

On the control side, Majesco stated: "Players will use the touch-screen to manage every aspect of the household with speed and precision, from strategically employing 'Timeouts' to overseeing bonus birthday party levels that add neighborhood party guests to the mania." Sounds rather complicated? Hey, there's nothing easy about life as a babysitter.

Babysitting Mania is currently in crunch time development and slated for a late 2008 release. Until then, you can train for the game by taking care of real kids.