For once, or maybe twice, EA has decided to think about the children when developing a game for the Nintendo DS.  No blood and gore in these ones silly.  Instead you get words and quizzes.  You heard me right, words and quizzes.

EA has decided to develop a line of books for the little ones’ DS.  They’ve been branded “Flips” and they’re packed with reading and vocabulary goodness.

So far the titles that EA is working on:

• 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

This will certainly excite all the parents out there who are having a hard time getting their kids to even pick up a book.  The first four Flips will be released exclusively in the UK for roughly ?24.99.  When we get more info, so shall you!

Here’s what the authors and developers are saying:

“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!”

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