SYSTEM UPDATE: The changing face of children’s video games

SYSTEM UPDATE: The changing face of children’s video games

Super Mario can captivate. Call of Duty can let you scratch your murderous itch. And Hitman: Absolution is assassination heaven.

But to a 4-year-old, absolutely none of that can replace the joy of sitting and watching the Cookie Monster. And that simple reality may spawn a new genre of video games over the next few years.

Welcome to Two-Way TV, Microsoft’s very quiet venture into a more watchable, optionally playable video game. Very quietly, a few years ago, the company partnered with Sesame Workshop and National Geographic to make a pair of video games: Kinect Sesame Street TV and Kinect National Geographic TV.

But these games would be different. Instead of focusing on control, they would simply entertain. The “gamer” could easily sit back and watch everything, participating at their leisure. And why not.  After all, a 3-year-old can be a fan of Elmo. But the kid can’t always decipher X, Y, A and B buttons, right?

“The controller was just a barrier to some,” said Microsoft spokesperson Jayme Bauer. “You look at old ladies like me, and you look at little kids. We saw that that all of a sudden opened up with the Kinect, and there was almost a perfect alignment of the stars.”

That alignment is on display now. Kinect Sesame Street TV is a game in name only. Instead of bundling a bunch of levels into a child’s game â€" like, say, the average Madagascar 3, which barely holds my niece’s attention â€" Microsoft stuffed Season 46 of Sesame Street onto the disc. Pop it into your 360, and your youngster can simply watch, the action proceeding easily.

Or, t he kid can play. Slight changes have been made to each story to make things interactive. A child may yell at the Kinect here, match a head into a hole there. It’s all completely optional, which means it’s never too hard for a youngster. But the opportunity to have fun is there.

“It is TV gamified,” said Bauer. “What Sesame Street brought to the table in terms of expertise is how children consume media. I think that there was a really special collaboration.”

“In the TV space, there really hasn’t been a ton of this,” she added. “You can text in a vote when you’re watching a reality show. But how much more interactive can you get? But you watch kids watch TV. They don’t really realize that the TV doesn’t hear them jump or hear them talk back. They get to participate by asking questions and then pausing. It’s a very natural way to watch TV.”

Microsoft seems committed to it, too. The company recently released a second season for bot h Kinect Sesame Street TV and Kinect National Geographic TV on Xbox Live, and it’s worked hard to promote its fledgling titles. Both occupied lofty perches in the Xbox Live Marketplace, a strong effort to draw parents of young children to make an online purchase.

Marketing will be tremendously key for this new venture, though, because parents aren’t heading to GameStop demanding copies of Kinect Sesame Street. And Microsoft admitted that that’s the new venture’s greatest challenge, and the key reason behind the company’s decision to release the games in its online Marketplace on the same day they hit retail stores.

“If you’ve been on Xbox, we’ve always sort of lagged behind retail,” said Bauer. “But we also know that so many of the moms are on Xbox Live. We want them to see it and download it. You’ll download it and you’ll see it live.”

And if you see it live and love it, Microsoft just may make more of these new “games.” The g ames are truly a natural fit for youngsters, providing a unique level of interactivity, but with a natural motion interface that’s far better than some controller.

Until the kid grows up and discovers Mario.

NINTENDO GETS IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT

Twelve-year-old Diamond Maitland from Jamaica, Queens, didn’t exactly jump up and down; she’s a quiet girl. But she couldn’t help smiling when she opened her small gift bag at the Queens Center Mall on a late November night.

Inside, Maitland found a Nintendo 3DS XL. It was her surprise gift for taking part in Nintendo’s Mario Meet and Greet Big Brothers/Big Sisters Event in Queens, and she was just one of the children who got to leave with that extra present.

Nintendo got in the holiday spirit by hosting the local New York chapter of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization on Nov. 30. The company’s been roaming the country, promoting the new Wii U with a nationwide mall tour, but when the tour hit Queens Blvd., it did something different. Participants in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters chapter were invited to come out and get some extra-special treatment â€" they got a wristband and a little more hands-on time with the Wii U. And when they left, they received that 3DS XL.

“It’s holiday time,” said Nintendo spokesperson Krista Yang. “It’s all about giving back to the community.”

And everyone seemed to have a good time. Maitland was more than content to play the 3DS games at the event, she said, and she left gushing about Face Raiders. Then, just before leaving the Mall Tour area, she peaked in her bag and discovered a 3DS XL and smiled.

Gaming companies in this day and age take a lot of flak â€" and justifiably so â€" for milking downloadable content, re-releasing the same old consoles with slightly new coats of paint, and dropping games that aren’t quite complete. So let’s give Nintendo a bit of props on this one: They did something nice, and didn’t ask anything in return.

“They (the kids) seem really happy,” Yang said. “It’s really fun.”

STILL NO NINTENDO TVii

When the Wii U was being hyped just a few months ago, one of its highlights was Nintendo TVii, a function that promised to change the way we viewed television, integrating your existing cable TV listings with Amazon Instant Video and Netflix to let you surf your TV options like never before.

It was promised in December. And, here we are on Dec. 14, nearly halfway through the month, and it’s still not here.

The Wii U’s gotten off to a shaky start, and this is the latest example, but let’s give Nintendo a chance. Xbox’s SmartGlass has struggled to earn legitimacy because it has yet to draw iOS support, and Sony’s WatchNow function on its Xperia S Tablet has its share of flaws.

I’m willing to wait for Nintendo TVii, even if its current delay is painfully disappointing. If the app comes out and works without a hitch, if it doesn’t endure the hiccups that WatchNow has endured, if it works flawlessly and actually does change my life, I can deal with the delay.

As long as it’s not TOO long.

TURBO BOOST

Square Enix’s rhythm game Symphonica played exceptionally well on the iPad, so now, the company’s other big rhythm release, the excellent Theaterhythm: Final Fantasy, is hitting iOS. Yes, it’s worth a look ... There’s a Rayman Legends Wii U demo available in the Nintendo E-Shop, and it’s a must-play ... Checked out the new PLYR2 and SLYR2 gaming headsets from Skull Candy earlier in the week, and while they’re not quite as stylish as ASTRO’s offerings, they’re affordable and full of potential ...

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