14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts has revealed that the Hasbro rights it has acquired are being used in the creation of a new videogame experience aimed at the whole family. After announcing that Monopoly would get a new videogame version, the producer is now unveiling the upcoming Hasbro Family Game Night.
All the content in the game itself is Hasbro-licensed and the result is a collection of individual games that are just perfect to play with the family. The choice to create such a game was made over at Electronic Arts following the impact that the Nintendo Wii has had on the console market. As the family oriented console broke sales record after sales record, Electronic Arts thought of capitalizing on the family trend by releasing a package that is clearly aimed at families looking to have fun with videogame reworkings of old board game classics.
The six games included in Hasbro Family Game Night are: Battleship, Yahtzee, Boogle, Connect Four, Sorry!, together with an updated version called Sorry! Sliders. Part of the game features support for four players to test their skills, while Connect Four and Battleship only support two players per match because of the architecture of the games themselves.
The package from Electronic Arts also contains re-imaginations of some of the classic games included. There's a new Connect Four that features Power Chips, which change the dynamic of the game, Boggle gets Portal Cubes and there's a Battleship version called Barrage with modified fire rules.
The game also offers the option of creating a fully customizable game room and a couple of party designed games like Match the Pattern, Shake for Words or Bomb Run, which are perfect for those gaming parties everyone goes to once in a while..
Chip Lange, the vice president and general manager of EA's Casual Entertainment label, stated: "We're giving families a new way to bond and play together. Hasbro Family Game Night offers parents and their children a digital party experience full of classic brands they know and love. Between original and new rule settings, an easy-to-play party mode and a customizable game room feature, the variety and choice promise hours of fun family play".
In addition to the Nintendo Wii version of the game, there's also a PlayStation 2 version in development. Both are scheduled for launch in the fall of 2008.