Though folks scoffed when it was first announced, the stylus-centric interface of the Nintendo DS has only extended Nintendo’s domnance of the handheld video game market. Now, a similar gamble’s being made on Nintendo’s home console but it’s not Mario’s keepers who are rolling the dice. THQ–who, up until now, have been strictly focused on software–introduced the uDraw GameTablet yesterday at the Nintendo World store in New York City.
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I had the chance to go hands-on with uDraw and two of the three games being rolled out with it. The device is basically like a Wacom tablet for the Wii. Once you dock a Wii remote into the left-hand slot, you’ll be able to use the stylus to control action the on-screen.
uDraw Studio is a creativity suite that allows freehand drawing and there’s a selection of clip art that you can use in your work. The Studio sports a surprisingly robust set of Photoshop-like tools to manipulate the images you create and THQ had a professional artist on hand who was turning out impressive paintings with the GameTablet. There’s a mode that amounts to a digital coloring book that should be fun for both kids and adults who don’t feel like looking for crayons every fifteen minutes. Users will be able to export the works they create on the uDraw titles through the Wii’s SD slot, marking the first time Nintendo’s allowed a third party access to that particular port on the console.
The other title I tried out was Dood’s Big Adventure, a platformer controlled entirely by the stylus and/or tablet. Before the gameplay even starts, players have the chance to customize the Dood character and various interactive elements of the world. Certain things, like giant floating balloon animals, become more animated if they get drawn on. From there, you’ll drag the Dood through multiple levels of run-and-jump action. Instead of a double-jump, you can draw lines in the world that serve as trampolines to let you reach higher areas. Another mode uses the Wii-mote’s accelerometer function, letting you tilt the whole table to steer a soap-encased Dood through vertical levels. If you touch anything in the world, the Dood’s bubble bursts. Yes, it sounds a bit like a more fragile Super Monkey Ball, doesn’t it?
uDraw’s a step up from art games on PC or console that usually ask players to draw with devices that feel nothing like a pencil or paintbrush. But, while the device could appeal to young Wii users, the stylus itself would probably prove too big and unwieldy for little hands. Also, the user interface for the uDraw Studio game felt too confusing for me, and a pre-schooler hoping to get his or her Van Gogh on would probably be even more stymied by it.
THQ’s not currently talking about partnering with other publishers for content with the device. (And that’s a shame, because the thing’s begging for a Scribblenauts port.) The launch titles for uDraw will be the ones I tried out Dood’s Big Adventure and uDraw Studio–along with Pictionary. The GameTablet will come bundled with the Studio title, for a cost of $69.99. Stand-alone titles will cost $29.99. The uDraw GameTablet comes out in November.