It might sound like one of Alan Partridge’s TV show pitches, but it’s actually part of EA’s forthcoming Celebrity Sports Showdown, out this Winter on Wii from the same team behind EA Playground.
Disappointingly, the celeb list is very America-focused, with the likes of Paul Pierce and Mia Hamm rubbing shoulders with Reggie Bush and Kristi Yamaguchi. As for those you might have heard of, the aforesaid female singers are joined by Sk8r G1rl (sorry) Avril Lavigne and LeAnn Rimes, who we suspect might be a bit weak, as she can’t even fight the moonlight. Heh.
Events include beach volleyball, curling and inner-tubing, and if you’ve ever wanted to see Keith Urban beat ten bells out of Sugar Ray Leonard (we’d like to see him try) then the Gladiators-esque Joust should be right up your street.
Character models are a little ugly (and I’m glad the screens are captioned as I’d never have guessed the identity of the two above) but EA’s current commitment to Wii is laudable, so hopefully it’ll all be good-natured fun.
As for a bit of background on how it was all done, you’ll want to give this page a read.
I wonder - does this take us one step closer to a DVD-enhanced Wii? Probably not, but with one reportedly coming to Japan in the next six months, maybe it’ll happen in Europe eventually.
This all sounds a little familiar. A mix of adventure and puzzling? A hat-wearing protagonist with a penchant for solving brainteasers? If Henry has a young sidekick with a Dick Van Dyke accent, then we’ll be very suspicious.
In reality, Henry Hatsworth In The Puzzling Adventure (to give it its full title) seems quite different from the still-not-available-in-Europe Professor Layton. Evidently there will be opponents to fight, “outrageous world-ending bosses”, and each screen will represent a different world, with a platforming universe on one and the puzzle realm on the other. These two will affect each other depending on your actions in each, which doesn’t sound remotely like Professor Layton, actually.
It’s being released on EA’s Casual label early next year.
No, it’s not quite what you’re thinking - that’s apparently how long the above game ‘Bob’s Game’ has taken to create - its maker, Robert Pelloni taking five years over the project.
It’s a little rough-and-ready (what do you expect from homebrew?) but it looks genuinely interesting, and the game is said to have quite a few interesting ideas. From the developer’s description it sounds like communication plays a big part, and for my money it seems a little like Skip’s Japanese-only Giftpia, only in a more realistic setting.
Fingers crossed a publisher picks this up, as Pelloni deserves to be rewarded for his efforts, and a bit of funding would go a long way with this sort of idea.
 
 
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