14 DAY TRIAL // THQ Inc. and Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. have announced that they have reached an agreement related to two significant game show properties, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
The former now has the right to publish videogames based on the two intellectual properties on the Nintendo Wii home gaming console and on the Nintendo DS lineup of handhelds. The company also has the option of adding other platforms to the list if Sony agrees, based upon the success of the first releases. The first game is set to arrive later in 2010 but THQ has not talked about the gaming platform on which it plans to launch it.
Doug Clemmer, who is the executive vice president at the Kids, Family and Casual Games division at THQ, stated that “We are excited to add two iconic properties such as 'JEOPARDY!' and 'Wheel of Fortune' to our Kids, Family and Casual Games portfolio. The opportunity to implement new features such as Wii SpeakTM will re-imagine how these games are played and engage fans with a whole new level of interactivity.”
Wheel of Fortune is named as the number 1 game show in the United States by its producer Sony Pictures Television and is aired on the CBS channel while Jeopardy, which has received no less than 28 Emmy awards since it was introduced in 1984, is the main quiz show in the United States, with 9 million daily viewers and is also aired by CBS. THQ hopes that both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, which are pretty easy to be turned into videogames, will attract a gaming crowd not interested in traditional titles but who might be keen on experiences that closely mimic what they see on television every day. At the moment, the company is best known for putting out a UFC series of games and owning a license related to the Warhammer 40,000 universe.