The Wii exclusive follows the Dickens Detective Agency’s efforts to capture master criminal Mr. Valentine. Up to four players can work together to crack his worldwide schemes. The Wii Remote becomes various classic detective tools, like a magnifying glass and lockpick.

Once you’ve solved the mystery once, play it again! Each time you start up a game, you get a new experience with new clues, suspects, and minigames (and hey, that’s more than we can say for Heavy Rain).

Oh, but it is.

And it looks glorious. Take a look for yourself.

PASS

I have to admit, I had certain doubts about playing a game based off a current movie. Images of ET and Raiders of the Lost Ark on my Atari 2600 came to mind. Playing these types of games never go well for me. So, I took a deep breath, downloaded the game and pressed “Start.” Oh great. Now we have a platformer based on a movie. The artwork was different. I was a little more curious. Surprisingly enough, the hours flew by and I realized I was having fun and really enjoying the game.

You play as Alice who is returning to Wonderland. You have old friends to help get through 10 levels of gameplay. Use the left and right arrows to control where Alice walks and the up arrow to jump. These controls were a little disappointing. I expected Disney would have used the touch screen to guide characters along the journey. Because the artwork is very classic and detailed, the images do appear kind of small. The background music really didn’t add to the gameplay and I played with it turned off.

The puzzles along Alice’s journey were challenging but fun. This was the best part of the game. Even though I kept forgetting how to control Alice, I found that I easily settled into the game. As Alice encountered more friends, those characters were unlocked to help the game and the story move forward. Each character has a special power and these powers allow Alice to move through the game. Switching between characters was awkward at best and it hurt the flow of the game. Once again, the controls didn’t really take advantage of the touch screen. The story was unremarkable and poorly implemented through dialogue boxes.

Overall, I had fun but I was underwhelmed. Something better is bound to come along and at $4.99, I have a hard time justifying buying the game. Even though I had fun playing, I have to give this game a Pass. I just expected a better use of the touch screen.
Review product was provided by Disney Interactive and does not affect the outcome of this review.

Last week I had a hands-on with Disney’s original title for the Wii, Guilty Party. Guilty Party is a party game geared toward families and young children and where other Third Party Wii titles have failed Disney just might excel.

Guilty Party is created like a mystery board game akin to Clue. Stubbs the Zombie creator Wideload Games is working with Disney on Guilty Party, which results in a cute and hilarious game.

The title has a story that is woven through all the various mysteries to be solved. The clues are earned through various mini-games. Just because it’s a party game does not mean it has to be easy. There are levels of difficulty and the game will also increase the difficulty if it thinks the current level is too easy for you. The mini-games vary from things we have seen before to bribing a witness or staring them in the eyes. Everything uses the motion features of the Wii-mote controller.

After a successful challenge, the gamer will get a clue. Clues are gathered in the players notebook where gamers can go over the list of clues to figure out who they want to accuse.

The voice acting is very well done and helps bring the very creatively designed characters. I laughed throughout the entire demo.

Guilty Party will be available in the second half of 2010 and it just might be the first third party “party game” that families should pick up.

Alice in Wonderland opens this weekend, but as if that wasn’t cool enough, Disney has announced that one of the trailers will be for Tron: Legacy and it will be in 3D and Imax 3D starting March 5th. That is going to be awesome.

If you are excited, check out the Tron Facebook page for their trailer countdown which will feature new images each day.

Tron: Legacy will be in theaters on December 17, 2010.

Disney Studios is preparing to invade our TVs with a run of 60 second “First Looks” from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

These spots will be running on Disney’s sister stations ABC, ABC Family and ESPN beginning January 31st.

“We wanted to kick off our television campaign for ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in a big way,” says David Singh, executive vice president of worldwide marketing for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. “With Tim Burton at the helm and a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and rising star Mia Wasikowska, the film already has a passionate following. Fans are eager to step into the incredible 3D Wonderland that Burton has created and get a glimpse at what he’s done with these brilliant characters, and we’re ready to give it to them.”

This series of spots and cross promotions will culminate on Feb 7th with a special spot during Super Bowl, giving viewers even more to drool about and non-football fans a reason to tune in.

The First Looks are scheduled to appear as follows:

ABC

ESPN

ABC FAMILY

Xbox Live

An article over on the NYT states that Microsoft wants to take on Cable channels.

The company is in talk with Walt Disney Company about a programming deal with ESPN. ESPN could provide live streams of sporting events for a per-subscriber fee. You didn’t think you’d get this for free did you? Microsoft may also create some interactive games in association with ESPN.

“For both of the big guys, it’s about extending the value of the hardware platform,” said Mike McGuire, a vice president for the research firm Gartner, referring to Microsoft and Sony. “The devices are hooked to TVs and have broadband connections, and there are more and more opportunities to license movies and TV shows and deliver them in over-the-top models.”

Microsoft doesn’t release stats on Xbox Live members and users that are playing games versus watching video. But they do have a rather large audience and Netflix on the 360 has been very popular.

“I don’t think there’s a real difference between a game and ‘Lost.’ Or a game and ‘American Idol.’ They’re all ways we spend our leisure time,” Mr. Whitten said. Over time, he predicted, “these narrow swim lanes — games, music, movies, etc. — will dissolve.”

Hey Microsoft, I hear Conan might be available for a show…

Platform

RENT

For those who are fans of the TV show, the Nintendo DS game “Wizards of Waverly Place” is most likely to be one you’ll add to your collection. This is also under the assumption that you are younger than the star of the series, Selena Gomez, otherwise it’s really not much of a challenge.

You play as Alex (played by Selena on the show) who gets herself some trouble thanks to the bling she purchases online – a bracelet that is meant to be for adult wizards only, and because she’s ‘almost’ an adult she thinks she has the all clear. How wrong she is.

This begins a chain of magical mishaps, however it is unknown to everyone that the bracelet is the cause. From cloning her brother Justin into 3 people to be in 3 places at once, to saving her mother who has been frozen in time, Alex has a whole lot of rectifying to do!

When Professor Crumb realises what’s happened, Alex must collect all of the gems from her bracelet because they have been scattered across the different places that Alex has visited. Once they are all collected, Professor Crumb takes care of it and Waverly Place returns to normal.

There are little mini-games to play throughout the game, some of which would be easier to play if you have some knowledge of the TV show. However, it can be easy enough to guess some of the answers on your own anyway.

The game uses the stylus for a lot of the gameplay, including moving from one place to another – but this can also be done using the direction pad if you prefer. You must use the stylus to talk to people, use your magic, pick up and find items, and play the mini-games as there aren’t any assigned buttons.

Your L and R buttons allow you to see your current objectives, while the X and Y buttons allow you to switch between Alex, Justin and their younger brother Max at one point – but you’ll mainly play as Alex and there isn’t any difference between them anyway.

All in all, I enjoyed playing it even though I haven’t seen enough of the show to know what some of the references in the game were. Having said that, if you (or a family member) are a fan of Selena Gomez or the Disney show, then you will be happy to add this to your collection. If not, it’s a way to kill a few hours if you wish to do so, but I’d save your pennies for something you are more interested in.

Review product was provided by Madman Entertainment, and does not affect the outcome of this review.

Above is the first of three images from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. The film is coming to the theaters on March 5, 2010.

If you are as excited as me for Alice in Wonderland, join the Facebook fan page, The Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter here.

But just joining doesn’t mean you’ll get everything handed to you. Expect the Mad Hatter to make you work for the rest of the screens.

Earlier today, I read on Kevin Smith’s twitter about the downsizing of Miramax.

“It’s like hearing the house you grew up in has burned to the ground: http://tinyurl.com/yexhn85 I’ve now watched Miramax die twice. *sigh*”

According to THR, Miramax president, Daniel Battsek is stepping down from the film division as of January 2010.

Disney had voiced plans about trimming the size of Miramax. Which is probably why many people aren’t very surprised by this announcement.

“With the change in direction at Miramax, we have reached a mutual agreement with Daniel Battsek that he will leave his post as president, effective January 2010,” Ross said. “During his 18 years of service, he has brought some prestigious and award-winning films to the studio, from ‘Calendar Girls’ to ‘The Queen’ to ‘No Country for Old Men.’ We wish Daniel the very best in his future endeavors.”

The studio is not just losing dead weight, it’s starving itself. The plans are to go down to a skeleton crew of 20 staffers. Miramax will now only put out three films annually.

Many wonder if this signals the death of indie films. While I highly doubt that, it is hard for studios to argue about investing in an indie film when many of the popular movies in the theater are formulaic and seem to always earn a fortune. The indie scene may have taken a blow with this announcement, but it’s stronger than major film companies think.