Keeping The 'KID' In NewKidCo

NewKidCo had plenty of great stuff to showcase at E3, with franchises they?ve successfully presented in the past like E.T. and some new stuff we were excited to see.

A Dr. Suess game titled, The Super Stoo-Pendous World of Dr. Suess makes good use of a license that has been begging to be mined for Game Boy Advance. Bringing in many characters from within the universe of Dr. Suess? books, this game will let you play scenarios based on stories like ?How the Sneetches got their stars.? In one level we saw you were in the Star Machine helping Sneetches find their way out after getting their stars. Nothing could be better suited for adaptation to GBA than the fantastic, colorful (and might I add ?super stoo-pendous?) World of Dr. Suess.

NewKidCo has landed a few key franchises that will be making an appearance on PlayStation, Gamecube and Gamecube and GBA this Fall. E.T. games like Return to the Green Planet, Search for Dragora and Venrom?s Assault are looking good, but most were in an early stage, up for viewing rather than hands-on play. We?ve seen highs and lows in this franchise over the last year, so hopefully NewKidCo can pull out some good, puzzle-based gameplay for the little aliens this year. A huge asset will be the Dora the Explorer game for GBA. Dora is huge, huge, huge among the target kiddie market, and the combination of puzzle- and exploration-based gameplay includes key characters from Dora?s television adventures. Possibly the biggest and most interesting piece of this franchise is that Dora is a 7 year-old Latina! Very possibly the first game targeted at the growing Hispanic market in the U.S.; we?re excited to get a closer look at Dora the Explorer: The Hunt for Pirate Pig?s Treasure. Finally, NewKidCo has captured the Little League franchise, for use on GBA, and several kiddie sports games that should bring new exposure to a segment of younger gaming products largely ignored. Since Sports games contribute such a huge portion of revenue to mainstream gaming markets, it will be interesting to see how younger gamers respond to gaming titles based on Football, Soccer and Baseball where character models and gameplay is targeted specifically to them.

This strong round up of titles from NewKidCo should give all the young gamers lots to look forward to this year.