14 DAY TRIAL // Majesco Games is not resting on its laurels after the success it has enjoyed in the casual games market with such titles as Cooking Mama and Cake Mania. Its most recent project aims to bring a host of classical games for kids to the Nintendo Wii game console.
These games, with names like Freddi Fish in Kelp Seed Mystery, Pajama Sam in Don't Fear the Dark and Spy Fox in Dry Cereal, were originally developed in the 1990's by a company called Humongoues Games, founded by ex-LucasArts man Ron Gilbert. The games in the company's portfolio have sold around 15 million units and some of them are considered classic examples of point and click adventures. The most important added feature for the Wii release is a new control scheme that relies on the Wii remote as the input device for the classic point-and-click game mechanic. The graphics of the games are to remain largely unchanged in an effort to preserve their cartoonist, kid oriented look.
Interactive Game Group has licensed the rights to port all of the back catalog games to the Wii and Majesco will handle the North American distribution for all the titles. Atari Europe is set to manage the European distribution element.
Jesse Sutton, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Majesco Games, declared: "For more than a decade, Humongous has continued to create some of the most memorable and successful interactive entertainment properties for children. Their characters have demonstrated both tremendous staying power and widespread consumer appeal, and we think this kind of family-friendly content is well- suited to the Wii system".
Even if the Wii is widely thought of as the least powerful of the current gen consoles and with the Xbox and the PlayStation 3 attracting most of the high profile releases, the Nintendo console benefits the most from its family and fun oriented architecture and from the re-releases of old classics.