When Disney recently reorganised its virtual worlds and gaming activities into one division, I speculated that it might mean more cross-platform activities, such as Club Penguin making the leap to games platforms. Now, the company has provided confirmation, with plans for a dedicated DS game called Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force.
It’s due out by Christmas, apparently in response to a lot of requests from the virtual world’s users - there’s a pretty good crossover with the relatively young DS userbase. The DS game will be set in the world of Club Penguin, letting players complete secret agent missions, solve mysteries, and interact with content that’ll be familiar from the web world.
There is connectivity in there too, but not in terms of a full link with Club Penguin itself. Instead, the DS game will come with Disney’s DGamer service, offering a separate community spanning several of the publisher’s DS games. There’s a risk of disappointment here for users, who may assume that Club Penguin on DS will be fully interoperable with the virtual world. However, one neat feature will be the ability to unlock special features in the parent world and upload coins from the DS game.
Club Penguin clearly has the brand equity to become an enduring franchise for DS, so Disney will be hoping the first game is a hit this Christmas. Games developers speak highly of the ease of developing for DS, so it won’t be a surprise to see other kid-focused virtual worlds following Disney’s strategy in the coming months too.
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