MySims Party and MySims Racing Announced by Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts has just announced that it plans to release two new games in its MySims franchise. The two will be called MySims Racing and MySims Party and will arrive on the Nintendo DS handheld and the Nintendo Wii home console sometime in 2009. Sims 3 is also getting released in the first part of 2009.

MySims Party is set to be basically a collection of mini games that can be played by more than two persons. Electronic Arts has said that the Wii version would have 50 of them, while the DS port would have 40. The developer has detailed mini games like “snowboarding or racing against a robot” and one where the player could “dig up dinosaur fossils” or “play a first-person shooter with Goth Boy.”

MySims Racing is an attempt to capitalize on the success of Mario Kart Racing, as the gameplay concept seems eerily similar. The Electronic Arts press release states that the game will allow four players to go head to head online and offline, while offering a wide array of customization options and race tracks covered with power ups (we hope that no Blue Shells make an appearance).

Tim LeTourneau, who is in charge of production for MySims, stated that “We’ve had great success with MySims, with both the original game and this fall’s MySims Kingdom. Players have really connected with the characters and now we are giving them two completely new and exciting experiences. We believe that MySims Party and MySims Racing are great ways to couple the creativity and humor players love about the franchise with great multi-player arcade gameplay.”

With the Nintendo Wii and DS the best sold gaming consoles on the big markets, Electronic Arts is surely trying to create a series of games as attractive as the ones developed by Nintendo. Unfortunately, until now, commercial success has eluded third party titles for the Nintendo platforms.