From Ubisoft

May 25, 2009 17:21 GMT  ·  By

Ubisoft is interested in conquering the all important Nintendo Wii videogame market and has begun presenting a host of games targeting the audience of the home console. It has just announced that it is developing and releasing an arcade football game called Academy of Champions, set to be out before the end of the year.

Development duties for Academy of Champions are handled by Ubisoft Vancouver and the big attraction of the title is the presence of Pele, the biggest player football has ever seen.

The story of the game is based around a young player who hopes to make it big. Thus, he/she enrolls in the Academy to be trained by Pele, who would help him/her develop his/her skills and abilities. The player will need to train to get better, will be able to recruit a team of players that must then work together to win the coveted champion cup, which the Academy awards every year.

Academy of Champions should use the unique control scheme of the Nintendo Wii and supports both the Balance Board peripheral and the Motion Plus add-on, both of them set to enhance the experience that the game provides and especially the way the football action is being controlled. The game does not try to provide a realistic experience but rather introduces over the top moves and game spaces, designed to attract young gamers.

Yves Guillemot, who is the Chief Executive Officer at Ubisoft, stated that “We made our mark in the sports genre last year with the global success of Shaun White Snowboarding. Now, with Academy of Champions, Ubisoft offers another sports game with a fresh approach that has something unique to offer young gamers and sports fans,” while Pele also said that he was happy to try and introduce football to a new generation of fans through Academy of Champions.