14 DAY TRIAL // One of the big hits coming from Ubisoft at their E3 presentation was the fleeting mention of a Michael Jackson-themed videogame, which will focus around dancing like the King of Pop and use of the Kinect motion tracking system from Microsoft and the rival PlayStation Move device from Sony. Ubisoft is saying that the game will be coming out in time for the holiday season for the Wii home console, the DS line up of handhelds and the PlayStation Portable.
The fresh title is simply called Michael Jackson: The Game and will make full use of the legacy of the great pop artist who died last year. Ubisoft is not ready to talk about all the details but it’s clear that a lot of dancing will be in. It would be interesting to see whether the game will allow fans to also sing some of the biggest hits that Jackson put out but singing and dancing at the same time might be too much for most potential players.
Soon after the death of the star, Sony put out a bundle featuring the PlayStation 3 and the This Is It documentary but it seems, this year, Ubisoft managed to snap up the rights to use material linked with the star in videogames. Expect more details before the winter launch date.
John Branca, who is one of the executors now in charge of the Michael Jackson estate, told Kotaku that “With this interactive product, we have the chance to bring Michael, the artist, into households around the world in a perfect match of Michael’s artistry and the family entertainment which he always highly valued. This game is a natural extension of what he would be doing today to raise his artistry to even greater heights for his fans of all generations. It is a game that the entire family can experience and enjoy together and this is something that would please Michael tremendously.”