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Fantasy books coming to the Nintendo DS this Christmas

Electronic Arts have announced the development of FLIPS™, a new book range created for the Nintendo DS™. FLIPS has been designed to give children a new way to read their favourite books. Nearly 2 million 8-11 year-olds in the UK own an NDS console. EA has worked with Egmont and Penguin Publishing to bring modern classic from authors such as Cathy Cassidy, Eoin Colfer and Enid Blyton to the DS. Each FLIPS title features multiple books and the first four titles will be released exclusively on Nintendo DS in the UK on December 4, 2009.

Titles include:

Enid Blyton (Egmont)

• The Enchanted Wood
• The Magic Faraway Tree
• The Folk of the Faraway Tree
• Enchanted World – Petal and the Eternal Bloom
• Enchanted World – Melody and the Enchanted Harp
• Enchanted World – Silky and the Rainbow Feather

Cathy Cassidy (Penguin)

• Scarlett, Angel Cake
• Sundae Girl
• Shine on Daizy Star
• GingerSnaps
• Driftwood

Eoin Colfer (Penguin)

• Artemis Fowl
• Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident
• Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code
• Artemis Fowl and the Opal Deception
• Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony
• Artemis Fowl and the Time Paradox

Too Ghoul For School (Egmont)

• Silent but Deadly
• The In-Spectres Call
• Ghoul Dinners
• The Bubonic Builders
• Attack of the Zombie Nits
• School Spooks Day
• French Fright
• Terror In Cubical Four

FLIPS uses the DS touch screen and stylus to enable children to read and interact by combining the world of storytelling with quizzes and references to characters, encouraging greater concentration and incentive to finish every chapter. Within the books, links appear to give the reader a unique way of interacting with the story and enhancing their experience.

“FLIPS is a brilliant way of getting children into reading who may love their DS but may not normally pick up a book,” commented Cally Poplak, Director, Egmont Press. “At Egmont we are passionate about bringing stories to life for children, so the development of new platforms for reading are incredibly exciting for us. We are proud to be at the heart of this innovation and thrilled to be a part of this first collection bringing authors such as Enid Blyton to the digital world, and encouraging more children to take up reading for pleasure rather than seeing it purely as part of their homework.”

“FLIPS offers a great way to bring books to life on a platform that is incredibly popular with kids,” said Keith Ramsdale, VP and General Manager, UK, Ireland and Nordics for Electronic Arts. “With multiple books on each game card, FLIPS makes a great value Christmas gift for children of all ages.”

“Our job as publishers is to bring authors’ work to as many readers as possible and we are increasingly looking at platforms other than the book to do this,” said Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin Digital Publisher. “So it’s incredibly exciting to be working with Electronic Arts to bring some of the best writing for children to one of the bestselling devices in the world.”

“I’m over the moon to see my stories and characters brought to life on the Nintendo DS with EA’s new FLIPS range,” said Eoin Colfer, author of the award-winning Artemis Fowl series. “Everyone knows that reading improves literacy skills. I have two children who are DS fanatics and cannot wait for the FLIPS to arrive, so EA might finally get them reading my books!”

Each FLIPS title featuring six to eight books will be sold separately with an RRP of £24.99.

There is more great news for fantasy enthusiasts and DS owners with the news that a Winnie the Pooh ebook is also set to come to the Nintendo DS. with Egmont striking a deal with to create ebooks for children.

Rob McMenemy, Egmont’s managing director has said that while there will “always be a market for traditional books and magazines”, the children’s publishing industry needs to better embrace digital methods. ““The Nintendo DS is extremely popular with children, so it made sense to use it as a way of encouraging them to read,” he concluded.

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Posted: October 15th, 2009
Author: Lee
Categories: Eoin Colfer