EA Announces First Hasbro Casual Games

Following up on last summer's deal, Electronic Art has announced its first series of video game titles based on classic Hasbro games like "LIttlest Pet Shop" and "Monopoly."

Back in August, video game developer and publisher Electronic Artsstruck a deal with traditional game-maker Hasbro to bring versions of the company’s classic games like “Monopoly” and “Littlest Pet Shop” to screens everywhereunder its newly-created casual gaming arm. Today, EA announced the first wave of games to be produced under the deal, including “Trivial Pursuit,” “Yahtzee,” “Risk,” and “Monopoly,” along with withWii and DS versions of “Littlest Pet Shop” and “Nerf N-Strike” due in time for 2008’s end-of-year holiday season. EA is also developing versions of “Monopoly” and “Scrabble” for multiple platforms,with other titles set to be announced later this year. “EA and Hasbro want to give families new ways to enjoy games; we want give them a new way to come together, connect, spend time and have funaround the TV or online,” said EA’s VP and general manager of the company’s Hasbro Studio Chip Lange, in a statement. “Bringing the spirit of these games to life as video games has allowed us tocreate really unique and creative experiences for families and friends of all ages to enjoy together at home or online.”

Mobile gamers can already get to mobile versions of Scrabble and Yahtzee Deluxe via their handsets, with “Monopoly Here & Now,” “Trivial Pursuit,” “Risk,” and “Yahtzee Adventures” set to become available in the next few months. Meanwhile, EA’s Pogo.com will offer online “Monopoly” and “Yahtzee” multiplayer games, with a version of “Trivial Pursuit” set to launch “this fall.” EA also plans a PC-based game based on the buzzer-braying classic tabletop game “Operation” for the latter half of 2008.