Though perhaps not for all the age groups, Disney Interactive Studios this year had numerous titles to go through.  Along with the usual suspects of licensed titles such as High School Musical 3 was Ultimate Band and the sequel to Spectrobes.  A fair rounded amount of titles and genres to be had by the company in this showing.  I believe this year will be one of the best for them.

DGamer

Disney has been working with Nintendo to create an extension of Disney.com on the DS.  DGamer is a virtual hang out that has a few fun activities for the younger crowd.  Creating your very own avatar is one fun thing to do.  Provided are stock options for customization from simple hats to Mickey Mouse ears.  If these are a bit plain for you, you can get more outfits by playing through games that have DGamer.  Since many of the customization pieces are Disney IP based, you’ll not see them anywhere else.

If you hear of your friends who also signed up for the service is missing an outfit you unlocked from a game, you have the option to gift it and send it over for them to wear.

Speaking of friends, you are also able to go into a chat room and talk with them.  For parents concerned about their child’s safety, the rooms are watched by moderators who are on the lookout for any bad activity.  There’s also a blacklist for inappropriate words so young ears are not exposed to naughty language.

While you don’t need to have a DS and a supporting game to sign up for DGamer, you’ll need the two to obtain accomplishments for all your friends to see.

With feedback being generated by the users and the company listening, it’s a wonderful place for those kids who can’t get enough Disney to come together and hang out.


Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell

Based off of the upcoming Tinker Bell movie, Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell has been worked on with the film makers to create the game.  In the game you play as Tinker Bell, who wanders the world of Pixie Hollow.  Your goal is to help fairies who are in need of assistance such as locating lost objects.  As you might expect, this comes in the form of mini-games.  Players are rewarded with items they’re able to trade and gift.  Gifting to characters in the game is quite interesting as you’ll be able set a trend with what you give.

Controlling is very simple with stylus only navigation through the levels.  Although it was touted for ease of use for the intended audience (girls 6-11), at first I had a spot of trouble trying to get Tink to move where I wanted her.  In the end though I was able to adapt and fly around the levels like a fairy pro.  I was told the game will use all elements the DS has to offer, so also expect to be using the microphone at some point.

One neat feature that I wasn’t able to see in action is the fact seasons are recognized.  This means when it’s winter, you may see snow on the ground.

This game will also include DGamer so expect unlockable outfits that will be available to send via that service.

Disney is projecting the release to be right around the movie premiere and I’m sure there are many little girls already looking forward to this.


Disney Sing It

If you love karaoke and Disney songs, Sing It will be up your alley.  The game will feature 35 songs along with music videos from Disney Channel Original Series and Movies and Hollywood Records.

Sing It works by tracking your pitch as you sing.  If you don’t know a song by heart, the game also provides lyrics.  These lyrics come up before you actually need to start singing them, giving you a moment to ready yourself for the next verse.  Now if you don’t know how to sing, they have you covered there as well.  High School Musical start Olesya Ruilin, known as Kelsi by fans, will help you practice.

For multiplayer, you can have up to 8 players.  Modes for that include Duet, Versus and Team Play.

The only downside to this game that I saw was the fact that the Wii version will not have any downloadable content.  Not that this is too uncommon, it’s worth mentioning since this game is cross platform.

With a slick interface and decent library to pull from for Disney fans, I could really see this doing well with the tweens who love High School Musical.


High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE!

In a move to get gamers off the couch with a Wii game, the designers have made High School Musical 3 a bit of a physical affair.  On the screen you are presented with a 6 dashed circle.  Each of these dashes represent a position where you’ll need to hold the Wii Remote and/or Nunchuk.  When a bubble comes close to these marks is your queue to move either up, to the side, or downward.  

As if that wasn’t enough, in the middle portions of each song are mini-games where you’ll also be moving your controller in different ways.  If this seems all a bit too much, there’s a tutorial that will help you understand what it is you’re supposed to even be doing.  I noticed the learning curve wasn’t steep, but there was one for positioning of the controllers in the proper place.  With practice, it probably isn’t that big of a concern.

For those who follow High School Musical, you’ll be happy to note that all the characters have been included into the game and their faces captured digitally for a more genuine look.  Also included are quizzes that match you up with what character you’re most like.  If you’re not wanting to be one of the characters, you can also create your own Wildcat.

I liked that they really wanted to get you moving in this game, but I can’t help there will be people who try to get around this and simply sit while playing.  It’s a game that is really enjoyable when you get off your duff and get into it.


High School Musical 3: Senior Year

For the portable High School Musical 3, Disney has opted to go for the Elite Beat Agents approach.  Much like the musical rhythm success for the DS, you’ll be tapping the touch screen to the beat.  There are other elements such as path tracking that make this unique to EBA.  One added feature is the ability to take snapshots and make a yearbook.  This may present a difficult challenge if you’re trying to concentrate on what to tap or follow next and want to screenshot.  

Similiar to the Wii game are quizzes that once again will match you up with a HSM star according to your responses.  If that’s not enough, the game also features DGamer elements so you’ll be able to unlock outfits and items to customize your avatar.

While not something I’d normally play due to the simple fact I don’t know much about High School Musical, it’s certainly something those who do know can appreciate.


Ultimate Band (Wii)

Recently, the music genre has been flooded with products and announcements of games.  What separates Ultimate Band from the pack?  The fact that unlike the other available or soon to be available titles, you won’t need to purchase pricey peripherals to play.  

In Ultimate Band for Wii, players use the Wii Remote and Nunchuk as their instruments.  Think of it as a bit of air guitaring but with a bit of required finesse.  To play, one simply plays the note when it gets to the displayed bar on screen.  It may seem easy, but on harder difficulties I noticed certain elements were thrown in to make it scale accordingly.  One element that occurs is having to position or hold a button so that you’re able to hit a note when it streams across the top portion of the meter.  Not difficult in itself, but does take a bit of getting used to when you’re used to using a plastic guitar.  Not that the difficulty was intended to leave out players, quite the opposite actually.

For song selection, Fall Line Studios intentionally opted to go with covers of songs instead of the original.  The reasoning behind this is that they’re able to do more with a cover version than the original recorded track due to contracts.  This shows considering you’ll be able to select a male or female vocalist for any song.

I think this game will take a bit of coordination to get the hang of since you’re not using a standard imitation instrument.  This isn’t a knock against the game, but a warning for those who wish to jump right into a game, you’ll have to learn to coordinate a bit before you’ll really be rocking.  For an original IP, it’s a great effort and I’m looking forward to the end result.

Ultimate Band (DS)

Unfortunately I didn’t get as much time with this title as others.  However what I can say about this title is, is that it is extremely similar to the Hannah Montana 2 DS game that’s been released.  It has the same music creator that title had that allows you to create tracks and layer them to create a song.

The main game play is centered around using the D-pad and strumming at the appropriate time.  I had no difficulty picking it up and playing.

This is Disney’s answer to those who wanted the features that Hannah Montana offered, but didn’t care for the franchise, namely boys.  With DGamer features and 4 exclusive tracks just for the DS version, I am really leaning towards checking out this gig.


Bolt

Another movie, another game seems to be the progression for Hollywood these days.  In comes Bolt, a story about a TV dog (Bolt) who thinks he has super powers, but really is given those powers through the special effects department.  Not wanting to follow the movie, the game instead focuses on the TV show that is seen during the film.  

You’ll be able to control Bolt who possesses super powers, enough to knock out the bad guys when a bit of brute force is needed.  Also on your side is Penny and she’s more of the Solid Snake type, sneaking around buildings, catching guards unaware.  What you do on one character can help another get past something in the next, depending on the situation.  If you’re worried about progress, be aware that there are check points that will allow you to save.

Talking to the demonstrator, I was told that the developers really focused on the Wii version.  The ironic part about this was I was being shown the Xbox 360 version.  Still, it looked nice and seemed to be coming along nicely.


Spectrobes: Beyond The Portals

Continuing the story from Spectrobes, Spectrobes: Beyond The Portals, hopes be an even better game than the first.  First off the bat, Jeena was made a playable character along with the return of Rallen.

This time the characters on the field are all in full 3-D and look great.  You’ll also be able to fight directly on the field and swap out your Spectrobes at anytime.  Your Spectrobes have also been greatly improved and different effects effect enemies even more.

Online elements weren’t left out in this version.  Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection makes a return along with new elements that are linked with DGamer, including unlockables for your avatar.

I was shown a notebook with the artwork from the game and it was amazing to look at.  It included everything from the first plus this and seemed to translate well.  If you didn’t care for the first, the renovations Jupiter Corp. have done to Spectrobes: Beyond The Portals may beckon you to give this a spin, regardless of past experiences.  Personally I want to give this a try since I passed on the first due to poor reviews both online and from friends.

Overall

I’m pleased as punch with the variety Disney has put out this year.  Messing around a bit with DGamer I can confirm it’s extremely safe for your children to be playing around with.  With more and more Disney games having DGamer, such as many I saw while at E3, it’ll be a great service for those who are choosing to use it to chat and share.  As for the games, I’m happy to see that the company is also branching out from tried and true IPs and going for originals.  Let’s hope this becomes more of an industry trend.

[EDIT] - Apologies to Fall Line Studios for the typo that has been corrected.