Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

I had an interesting conversation with James about Wii software, and he asked me about hockey games on Wii. Hmm. With EA clearly supporting Wii now in a big way (and why not?) it’s kind of baffling that even they have yet to produce a hockey game for the platform. Case in point: EA’s NHL 08, which is arriving this week for 360 and PC, and next month for PS2 and PS3, but not for Wii. Now, it’s hard to imagine a challenge in the development here, because NHL games came out on the Gamecube (NHL05 and NHL06), so the engine is there, and a controller that could easily be imagined as part of a hockey stick could at least be interpreted for gesture-mapping. Everything else is in Madden 08 for Wii, so we know they know how to do this on the platform.

And then there’s Sega, who also is developing for Wii, and these are the people behind NHL 2K3, which came to Gamecube, which stands as the best-rated hockey title on the platform, with an average score of 89 at Metacritic.

Then there was Midway, with NHL Hitz 20-02, NHL Hitz 20-03, and NHL Hitz Pro, all on the Cube. Midway’s also a Wii developer.

So really what we have here is three developers, all of which could be at least porting a hockey game from Gamecube to Wii with waggle controls, with no sign of any desire to do so. Given that it’s not really as simple as all that, as all these games have to concern themselves with roster updates and the like, and the only company with the resources for something like that is EA, and they’re too busy flicking Boogie at the platform. Well, that’s OK. I’m sure we’ll see hockey eventually, right? And probably from EA. But it’s still kind of weird that we haven’t yet. Kind of like how they keep putting off Fight Night for the Wii when it, like lightsaber games, just make sense on the platform. Whatever. As I said, we’ll see it at some point, and EA seems to know what they’re doing.

Read the press release below.

Sept. 11, 2007
NHL 08 In Stores Everywhere September 13th!
SHARPEN YOUR SKATES! NHL 08 SHIPS TO RETAILERS TODAY
Franchise Continues to Raise the Bar with Gameplay Innovation, Authenticity to the Sport and an Unsurpassed Level of Depth

Redwood City, Calif. – Tuesday, September 11, 2007 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced that the NHL