EA Uses DS and Wii to Turn Gamers Into Ninjas

Dec. 6 12:44 PM by Alicia Ashby

There's nothing a hardcore gamer hates quite so much as a casual game. Look at them, prancing about with their daily goals! There's not a virtual world to explore in the entire motley lot! And they claim to be educational, the bastards!

Of course, casual games are turning out to be quite a bit more profitable than the elaborate titles hardcore gamers love. None of the big publishers are shying away from the casual moneybag to please their hardcore audiences, instead trying to find ways to lure the hardcore into accepting more casual titles.

EA's is seizing on one of the topics that hit hardcore gamers' weak spots for massive damage: ninjas. They've announced a new DS and Wii casual game called Ninja Reflex, built around the idea of improving your reaction times.

Ninja trappings aside, it looks like an exact iteration of Nintendo's "training game" formula, complete with daily play requirements and some casual multiplayer games. It's just going to have 3D graphics of ninjas, dojos, and other action flick trappings. Will that be all it takes to win over the hardcore?