I work with quite a few different video game companies right now and wanted to do a Holiday Gift Guide just for them.
Scholastic:
Winter’s Tail:Take an exciting journey on your Nintendo DS and learn about the real-life story of Winter the Dolphin. Based on the Scholastic Book from the #1 New York Times Best Selling Authors of Owen & Mzee, the game includes the fully interactive book “Winter’s Tail” read by the authors Juliana, Isabella and Craig Hatkoff. The game will tell Winter’s story in a variety of ways – both in storybook format and by using mini-games to illustrate important points
HerInteractive Games:
Nancy Drew: Warnings at Waverly Academy, players become Nancy Drew as she heads undercover at an elite all-girls boarding school to discover the culprit behind threatening notes and dangerous accidents that seem to be targeted towards the academy’s valedictorian candidates. Immersing themselves in the boarding school culture, players will explore the campus, help other girls with projects and navigate the social scene. To build the case, players will also surreptitiously snoop through dorm rooms and snap cell phone pictures of evidence they come across.
The Hardy Boys Treasure on the Tracks
Code masters:
Dragonology, the video game, will bring the book’s magical world of dragons to life in an absorbing and exciting interactive adventure for younger gamers. Embarking on a journey to become a Master of Dragonology, players learn ancient dragon tracking techniques and travel to exotic locations to study, protect and preserve these dangerous and secretive creatures. Through 16 exciting mini-games, gamers can play with and fly their own rescued European Dragon while discovering five other rare species of dragon, including the Frost, Asian Lung and Mexican Ampithere.
D3 Publisher
Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow, developed by tri-Crescendo, the studio behind the acclaimed Eternal Sonata, will be available exclusively on Nintendo DS in the Spring of 2010. The game continues the series’ contemporary approach to traditional Japanese role-playing games and is set two years after the original 2007 Blue Dragon story. You can find out more about Blue Dragon: Awakened Shadow by visiting www.d3publisher.com.
Based on the new TheCW4Kids live action TV series, Kamen Rider Dragon Knight is an intense action-packed hero game where players will have the opportunity to experience the exciting Kamen Rider adventure firsthand. The players will be able to play as all 13 Kamen Riders, each with their own unique Advent Cards and unique abilities in multiple game modes allowing the players to fight head to head or fight tons of enemies as you explore Ventara and stop the menacing plot of General Xaviax.
The Secret Saturdays: Beasts of the 5th Sun
Family Party 30 Great Games: Outdoor Fun: Martial Arts Mania! Be a Karate expert!
Team Sports Minigames! Home run derbies, quarterback skills challenges, and soccer scoring challenges. Individual Athletics! New climbing, running, and balance games
Incredible Variety! Mazes, Martians, and much More!
Astro Boy: The Video Game ASTRO BOY: THE VIDEO GAME, players become the iconic hero, Astro Boy, and take to the streets and skies on an epic adventure to save Metro City from the clutches of the evil President Stone and his robot army. Utilizing Astro’s entire arsenal of iconic weapons and abilities–Finger Lasers, Arm Cannon, Butt Machine Guns and Drill Attacks, players will battle hordes of robot enemies and colossal bosses including some never-before-seen enemies across Metro City and the mysterious Surface. Using an intuitive combat system that adds depth to gameplay, players will experience classic platform action and exhilarating flight combat levels as they use Astro’s unique rocket boosters to hover, avoid enemies and zip out of the way of danger. For more information on ASTRO BOY: THE VIDEO GAME, including game features, screenshots, and videos, please visit: www.AstroBoytheVideogame.com.
Ben10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks
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EA
Nerf N-Strike Elite. Much improved over the first Nerf video game by EA. This one has more of a purpose as you and your partner reach goals to get to the next part of the game, using your nerf gun.
Sims Animals. Journey to the heart of Africa where you control the wild kingdom! Interact with exotic animals in the wild including lions, elephants, gorillas and more as you explore the jungles and savannas of Africa. Discover the animals’ secret abilities. Solve challenges to earn new items, animals, and levels. Collect unique items to receive badges. Get in touch with your wild side and discover the ultimate secret of the kingdom with SimAnimals Africa!
Littlest Pet Shop Friends video game on Nintendo DS and Wii brings the party to you with a new cast of quirky pets and their best friends. You’ll get to deliver invitations, serve up cake and ice cream, and style out your pets as you prepare for the LPS party of the year!
Littlest Pet Shop Online is an exciting, safe, all-new virtual world where your kids can play fun games, customize their pets and decorate their pets’ home, connect with friends, and make new ones too! Your kids will experience LPS like never before!
Boom Blox Bash Party. Explore exciting new themed worlds with unique physics and dramatic visuals. Create chaos, watching puzzles and explosions unfold, while drifting under water, or floating in zero gravity. For even more strategic destruction, BOOM BLOX Bash Party also features all-new Blox, tools and characters. Experiment with the explosive and infectious Virus Blox, or the ever-moving Conveyor Blox. Experiment with new shapes like Cylinders and Wedges, or use the new Cannon and Slingshot toys to sling and launch blox. Even the new cast of characters is in on the action. Grab hold of the characters and send them flying. They are just like Blox now, so you can topple, bash and sling them like never before.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Like earlier video game releases in the Harry Potter franchise, the action in Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince the Video Game revolves around the exploration of Hogwarts and the action that results from what you uncover. The game features a variety of play modes and unique features. During their adventures, players will have a chance to engage in exciting wizard duels, mix and brew magical ingredients in potions class and take to the air to lead the Gryffindor Quidditch team to victory. Players may even get sidetracked by Ron’s romantic entanglements as they journey towards a dramatic climax and discover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince
Spore Hero. My whole family liked trying out the game and creating your creature is the most part of the game. As you go around the planet and discovering things and fighting other creatures (most of them just need to have the affects of the red meteor removed) you gain more body parts. As you gain more body parts you gain more powers and abilities. Each body part is capable of doing something else a hero needs the ability to do. My 2 year old’s only compliant was there was not enough purple. It is much more fun that Spore for the PC.
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In The Sims 3, get inspired by the endless creative possibilities and unexpected moments of surprise and mischief! I think they have made it easier to play. I liked setting up my sim or rather watching my husband do it. He created our entire family, and my daughter of course picked out as much purple as she could. You can create lifelike Sims with a unique personality and take them anywhere in the neighborhood. Select from dozens of personality traits such as brave, artistic, kleptomaniac, clumsy, and romantic.
Need for Speed NITRO delivers the thrill of high-speed racing to all types of gamers with exciting gameplay, accessible controls, and competitive multiplayer events including four player co-op career mode. Featuring an incredibly deep yet intuitive visual customization system, Need for Speed NITRO lets players hit the streets in style with their personalized dream car. Recently crowned IGN’s “Best Racing Game” on the Wii and Nintendo DS at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Need for Speed NITRO is this holiday’s most fun and exciting arcade racing game.
GI Joe Rise of Cobra. G.I. JOE The Rise of Cobra for all major video game consoles will feature an exclusive storyline that picks up where the live-action movie, from Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment, in association with Hasbro, leaves off, allowing players to re-create and re-live the greatest moments from the film, cartoon series and action figure toy line. The game will feature 16 playable characters – including 4 unlockable COBRA characters – each with unique abilities and weapons. Adding to the adrenaline rush will be an intense single-screen co-op mode allowing two players to easily unite as a team in a classic struggle between good and evil to defeat the powers of COBRA.