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

The February 2010 issue of ToyFare includes a two-page spread previewing games expected to release this year. It is a thoughtless, cut-rate job… but it highlights the Nintendo Difference: color. Looking at this layout, I see fourteen indistinct, illegible screenshots. Could all be from the same game. And then the bright green googly-eyed Yoshi/Mario pic at bottom right. Attention get.

Sure, this is an enthusiast mag, so one can expect the readership to be pre-aware of upcoming games like Halo: Reach, God of War III and Starcraft II. Nevertheless, a pile of dark, tiny screens does none of them any favors. That completely black box directly above Mario? Sony’s Heavy Rain. Even more egregious is that this is the back half of a four page article, but the first two pages are nothing but an overdesigned title spread with a giant pic of bandaged thumbs holding a 360 controller! Next time, ToyFare, spare the art and make the screenshots worth looking at.