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Disney Plays on Mac OS X
By Brad Cook
Jamie Berger, director of marketing at Disney Interactive, has seen
their future of interactive media, and that future includes Mac OS X.
“We’re excited about utilizing the power and ease of use of Mac OS X
to make a richer experience for consumers,” he says. “We firmly
believe that interactive technology is a two-way conversation.”
Monsters, Inc.
New games based on the film Monsters Inc. are now available.
We're excited about utilizing the power and ease of use of Mac OS X.
But a two-way conversation doesn’t work if you’re interacting with a
lifeless entity, and that’s where the company’s large stable of
well-known characters comes into play. Lovable characters such as Nemo,
Mike and Sulley (of Monsters, Inc. fame), or Mickey Mouse make a game
more than just a momentary diversion, and that could make a difference
in your children’s lives.
room with monstersMonsters, Inc. Scream Team Training:
Lessons are fun and educational.
“Our characters aren’t just entertainers,” Berger explains. “They’re
teachers too.”
We Scare Because We Care
Built for Mac OS XLeading the way into the future is a pair of
Monsters, Inc. tie-ins: Scream Team Training and Wreck Room Arcade,
both of which feature Mike, Sulley, Randall, Boo, and many of the
other characters from the blockbuster film created by the animators at
Pixar Animation Studios. Both games are ready for Mac OS X out of the
box, and both put kids’ logic and sense of spatial relationships to
the test.
Our characters aren't just entertainers.
In Scream Team Training, your kids get a shot at becoming Scarers with
Monsters, Inc. Like most prospective employees, they start in the mail
room, but they can work their way up the corporate ladder and aim for
the title of Top Scarer. The game features ten activities — each with
30 levels — that are hosted by different monsters.
After work, the employees at Monsters, Inc. like to hang around the
“Wreck” Room, where they relax and play games. Wreck Room Arcade is
actually three separate titles — Eight Ball Chaos, Bowling for
Screams, and Monster Tag — that unlock a fourth game, Monster Mania,
when they’re loaded on your Mac.
(See the ‘Monstrous Fun’ page for more details about each game.)
“We love the fact that we’ve created an interactive world that kids
are allowed to enter and participate in,” says Berger, “both as an
employee and hanging out after hours with the guys in the Wreck Room.”
Rolie Polie Olie and Stanley
Rolie Polie Olie and Stanley:
Searching for Spot.
Perfect for the Mac
If your kids are too young for Scarer training or arcade games, then
you might want to look at another pair of new Disney Interactive
titles: Playhouse Disney’s Rolie Polie Olie: The Search for Spot and
Playhouse Disney’s Stanley Tiger Tales. Aimed at preschoolers, both
games are based on the characters in the Disney Channel TV shows Rolie
Polie Olie and Stanley. While not built for Mac OS X, both of these
titles will run in Mac OS X’s Classic environment.
“Both games are a great combination of gameplay and learning,” says
Berger, “and they have a really unique look and feel that’s perfect
for the Mac.”
The Search for Spot offers four games that feature open-ended play and
goal-oriented activities meant to stimulate learning. In one game,
children make music with kitchen canisters; in another, kids enhance
their color sense by grabbing runaway crayons on Olie’s polka-dotted
rug.
In Stanley Tiger Tales, children can wander through Stanley’s world,
in which they learn animal facts as well as such skills as pattern
recognition, hand-eye coordination, and early math. The game begins as
Stanley gets ready for a day at the beach. He can’t leave until you
help him find his hat, sunglasses, water bottle, and sunscreen. After
you’ve completed that task, you can roam his house and play more
games.
Available from Disney Interactive
trailer page
Watch trailer.
Express Your Creativity
Kids love to draw too, and if your children are budding digital
artists, then the Mac OS X title Disney’s Magic Artist Deluxe would be
a great way for them to express their creativity. If you have any of
the previous entries in the Magic Artist series on your Mac, you can
import those art files into the new version.
In Magic Artist Deluxe, you can train creatures known as Doodlebots to
draw patterns — such as coins, feathers, or flowers — and other
designs on your digital canvas. Or use the tile tool to design tiled
patterns that you can place on your Mac’s desktop or even on a Web
page. And with the glitter pen, you can make text sparkle on your
display.
Disney characters
Magic Artist Deluxe:
Your digital canvas.
“Magic Artist Deluxe is a classic example of how doing the right
things on the Mac can lead to something exciting,” Berger explains.
More Where That Came From
Looking for more from the House of Mouse? Disney Interactive has
plenty of other titles to choose from, such as Disney Girlfriends, in
which Ariel, Belle and Jasmine host a variety of activities that allow
girls to connect to a kid-safe online environment and chat, exchange
virtual trading cards, create personalized Web pages, and more. If
your girls want to play the game in Mac OS X, they can do that too.
Girlfriends
Girlfriends:
Online fun.
And if you’re looking for games that will supplement your kids’
education, Disney Interactive has plenty of those too. For example,
Kindergarten Deluxe allows children to sharpen their math, reading,
and other skills. There’s even a component that exposes them to French
and Spanish vocabulary words.
Winnie and friends
Winnie the Pooh:
All his friends are here.
Older kids will enjoy Disney’s Phonics Quest, in which Mickey Mouse
(in the role of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, from the film Fantasia)
guides them through a variety of phonics-based activities that enhance
reading skills. And kids ages 9 to 12 will get a kick out of the quiz
games Zoog Genius: Math, Science and Technology and Zoog Genius:
Language Arts, History and Geography. Based on the Zoog Disney
programming block on the Disney Channel, each game lets kids earn
“Z.Q.” points in their quest to become a Zoog Genius.
So where can you find all these great Disney games? Take a look at the
online Apple Store, a Apple retail store near you, or an Apple
authorized reseller.
Monstrous Fun
So many great Monsters, Inc. games, you’ll scream! Check out what’s in
store.
Wreck Room Arcade
Scream Team Training
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