Finally, a game of Twister where cheaters won’t prosper. Today, Majesco has announced that it is teaming up with Hasbro for Twister Mania, a new Xbox 360 Kinect game. We don’t precisely know how it will work yet, but there is a lot of party potential in Twister.
“It’s hard to think of a more popular, cherished and culturally significant board game than Twister. I myself have fond memories of the laughs and outrageous fun I’ve had when playing with friends and family,” said Jesse Sutton, CEO, Majesco Entertainment. “Our game introduces a brand new play pattern that is perfect for what Kinect was designed to do. Twister Mania for Kinect is as much fun to watch as it is to play and it’s shaping up to be one of the most contagious Kinect party games released.”
With the Kinect camera and a Twister mat, we imagine that the game will actually know who is failing and cheating. With the right programming, the Kinect may also know just how to kick each game up a notch and ensure everyone is in a tangled mess by the end. in addition, the game will have a bunch of new gameplay styles as well, one of which will have you and friends try to mimic shapes on the screen. It hits shelves Nov. 2011.
Sticking by the Wii, but aiming to be everywhere
While many publishers continue to spend their money on big budget, high profile games, Majesco seems to have carved out a niche next to Nintendo as a thriving maker of family games. Now that it is no longer leading the pack in sales, many have written off the Wii as a dying system. Not so, says Majesco. The publisher remains enthusiastic about the video game console and its family-friendly appeal. And if enthusiasm isn’t enough for you, Majesco has sales figures to back it up. The publisher’s recent Zumba fitness/dance game has sold more than 1.4 million copies on Wii and Zumba 2 will hit shelves soon. With that said, this Twister announcement shows that Kinect is becoming a big focus for family titles. Majesco doesn’t see Wii numbers from Kinect yet, but it sold nearly 400,000 copies of Zumba on Xbox 360 Kinect, proving that Microsoft may be edging in on Nintendo’s market.
The rest of Majesco’s lineup is split between Kinect and Wii. From Hulk Hogan’s Main Event, a Kinect game about showmanship, to Jillian Michaels Fitness Adventure, to Alvin and the Chipmunks, to Cooking Mama and Camping Mama (the “Mama” franchise has sold mroe than 8.5 million copies), Majesco has built success out of appealing to a wide variety of gamers. The publisher also has some 3DS games in the works like Nanostray.
Not to get left behind, Majesco is developing titles for iPhone, Android tablets, and Windows Phone. Gardening Mama is already available on the iPhone. Facebook has a couple Majesco games as well like Parking Wars and Cooking Mama Friends Cafe.
We should have impressions of Twister Mania and other games in the coming weeks.
