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Family Entertainment

Tag: Videogame (1-7 of 7)

Feb 14 2013 03:49 PM ET

Nostalgia alert! Tamagotchi relaunches with an app

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Image Credit: Kimberly Butler/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

Do you remember what the height of frustration for kids was in 1997? When you forgot to feed your Tamagotchi pet, and then it died! Or worse, you did nothing wrong but that dang thing froze and the pet died anyway.

For the uninitiated, Tamagotchi was a popular handheld digital game in the mid ‘90s that tasked you with keeping a digital pet alive by feeding and playing with it  by way of various buttons. They were all the rage on elementary school playgrounds, and now, when just about everything is handheld and digital, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Tamagotchi is aiming for a comeback. READ FULL STORY »

Feb 6 2013 06:36 PM ET

Comic book legend Stan Lee talks about his new children's entertainment imprint, Stan Lee's Kids Universe

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Image Credit: Stan Lee’s Kid’s Universe

At age 90, having brought to life some of the most enduring characters in pop culture history, you’d think maybe Stan Lee would be ready to ease into a nice quiet retirement—but that’s just not how Lee rolls. The tireless comic-book legend who spawned such iconic Marvel superheroes as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, and Thor has now launched a new entertainment imprint called Stan Lee’s Kids Universe. The company plans to roll out a series of books, games, e-books, and other offerings aimed at young children ages 1 to 10, beginning with a book called Monsters Vs. Kittens and a mobile game for iOS called Goobeez: Pirate Adventure. We asked Lee and one of his partners, 1821 Comics co-founder Terry Dougas, to explain the new venture.

EW: Where did the idea to create Stan Lee’s Kids Universe originally come from?
Lee: From the fertile minds of Terry Dougas and Stan Lee! We got together one day and said, “The world needs a new line of literature for young people.” READ FULL STORY »

Dec 6 2012 12:00 PM ET

Best of 2012 (Behind the Scenes): The 'Grand Theft Auto'-style game that was almost in 'Wreck-It Ralph' -- EXCLUSIVE

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Image Credit: Disney

The makers of Wreck-It Ralph – Walt Disney Animation’s joyful love letter to the quarter-popping world of arcades — created three fictionalized videogames for its pixel-perfect characters to super jump and power slide through. There was Fix-It Felix Jr., a Donkey Kong-style game in which the film’s titular hero (voiced by John C. Reilly) is the high-rise smashing villain; Hero’s Duty, a space aliens first-person shooter akin to the high sci-fi style of games like Halo; and Sugar Rush, a racing game that’s like a candy-coated version of Mario Kart and plays home to the film’s other ne’er-do-well protagonist, wannabe racer Vanellope von Schweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman).

Each of the faux titles was meant to evoke a specific gaming experience, but well into pre-production on Wreck-It Ralph, the filmmakers were planning on including a fourth game designed to capture the uninhibited open worlds of games like The Sims and Grand Theft Auto. Its name: Extreme EZ Livin’ 2.

Below, producer Clark Spencer explains how this game would have fit into Wreck-It Ralph‘s story — and why it was cut from the film. But first, check out an exclusive first look at concept art for what Extreme EZ Livin’ 2 would have looked like had it made it into the film (click the image to embiggen).

For more stories behind this year’s top TV and movie moments, click here for EW.com’s Best of 2012: Behind the Scenes coverage.

READ FULL STORY »

Nov 1 2012 12:01 AM ET

'Wreck-It Ralph': Read the story, and play the racing game, in new iPad app -- FIRST LOOK

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A Walt Disney movie is rarely just a movie. For generations, parents and kids have been gladly re-digesting Disney movies in theme parks, tie-in toys, and, most of all, illustrated storybooks. The videogame-based animated adventure Wreck-It Ralph, however, presented the folks at Disney with a unique opportunity. The film features three fictional games inside it: The Donkey Kong-esqu “Fix-It Felix,” the Halo-inspired “Hero’s Duty,” and the Mario Kart-ian “Sugar Rush.”

Producer Clark Spencer tells EW that the filmmaking team spent six weeks figuring out just how each of the film’s three videogames would work, from power-ups to level design. “The interesting thing is we show maybe a minute-and-a-half of that gameplay from the outside,” he says. “And then you’re into a story and then you never see that gameplay really again. But to us, we had to figure out the entire game, otherwise we wouldn’t know what we wanted to tap into or not tap into [for the movie].”

With the explosion in tablet computing over just the last few years, however, Disney realized that audiences could actually play those games for real. EW has an exclusive first look at the deluxe storybook app for Wreck-It Ralph, which includes both an animated storybook of the film, and a fully playable version of “Sugar Rush.” Check it out below:

READ FULL STORY »

Oct 29 2012 08:32 PM ET

'Wreck-It Ralph' game trailer -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

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Wreck-It Ralph is a videogame based on a movie based on a videogame… well, a fictional videogame dubbed Fix-It Felix Jr. The game’s story picks up after the events of the film, but complements its family-friendly action and puzzling play with characters and environments ripped straight from the movie. The game, like its personality-packed celluloid counterpart, is also brimming with cool call-outs to classic and contemporary gaming culture. We look forward to watching Ralph on the big screen — and playing him on the small one—when he stomps into theaters Nov. 2 and onto game consoles October 30.

Check out the exclusive launch trailer below. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 31 2012 10:00 AM ET

Pop on Pop: How G-rated minds (sometimes) handle R-rated glimpses

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Image Credit: Tuan Tran/Getty Images

I was shooting a Nazi in the skull the other day when my toddler walked into the room.

Moms, Dads … we’ve all been there. Ammiright?

On our television was a game called Sniper Elite V2, a first-person shooter in which you play an American soldier prowling the bombed-out streets of Berlin at the end of World War II, hunting Hitler loyalists and killing or capturing Nazi rocket scientists. My wife and soon-to-be 3-year-old were playing together in my daughter’s bedroom, and I was kicking back on the couch in the living room, enjoying some all-too-rare time with my old friend Xbox.

There is definitely a worse thing to have your kid walk in on, but being caught in flagrante delicto with a piece of R-rated pop culture is a close second.

READ FULL STORY »

Aug 9 2012 09:07 PM ET

'Sports Champions 2'-EXCLUSIVE Trailer

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This weekend’s closing ceremonies may signal the end of the Olympic summer games for another four years, but that doesn’t mean armchair athletes can’t continue their quest for the gold. Sports Champions 2 — sequel to Sony PlayStation 3′s 2010 Move-enabled entry — invites friends and family of all ages to compete in six different sports.

Utilizing the PlayStation Eye camera and the intuitive motion-sensing tech, sports vets and rookie players alike can participate in tournaments encompassing archery, boxing, golf, bowling, tennis, and skiing events. Supporting 1-4 couch competitors, Sports Champions 2 is great for casual gamers as well as more, er, spirited players. Character customization, accessible controls, and the ability to share photos of your most winning moments on Facebook round out the medal-winning fun. Olympic fever sufferers can get their fix when Sports Champions 2 crosses the finish line this fall.

Click after the jump to see an exclusive trailer. READ FULL STORY »

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