The Player

A new Sesame Street title makes gaming fun for the young, writes JOE GRIFFIN

AT A RECENT Xbox preview event in San Francisco, game journalists were drooling at Batman's nocturnal adventures in Arkham City and merrily disembowelling opponents in a Gears of War IIIdemo. But another game that drew a big crowd was the charming, storybook-themed Once Upon a Monster.

Nathan Martz, project leader for Once Upon a Monster(which uses Xbox's Kinect controls), is a passionate gamer, but is quick to acknowledge one problem with the business.

“Our industry is very monotonous, emotionally. It’s all burly adolescent, testosterone-filled dudes who conquer death and shoot it in the face. That’s awesome, but how about a game about joy, a game that’s uplifting and fun. When you think of those kinds of emotions, you can’t help but to think about Jim Henson. That guy left his mark.”

Once Upon a Monsterasks players to duck and jump as Elmo runs through a forest on monster-back. Another sequence is a dance-off with Grover in a white disco suit, and later you're required to shout "Happy Birthday!" at a party scene and help blow out candles.

Interestingly, it didn’t start life as such a diverse title, and originally was intended to be a Muppet-free music game.

"The original name was Happy Song," says Martz. "We were talking among ourselves, asking, 'Don't you have a happy song?' I said wouldn't it be great if there was a game where cute monsters could help you make a happy song. That was the genesis – to make this creativity accessible" to kids.

"We realised it had to be more than music and needs a whole range of activities," he says. "Once we had a range of activities, we needed a story to unify them, and a world to base it in. The last piece was Sesame Street."

One of the greatest challenges was authenticity, and Martz says the developers were lucky to work so closely with the Sesame Streetpeople (and monsters). "We visited the Henson Creature Shop in New York. We refined the fur and their arms. I can tell you the difference between Elmo's arms and Grover's arms, who's handed and who's got strings.

“We’ve tried to be really faithful to the designs. Because we’re on a powerful platform like Xbox, all the fur has a vivid system for each character. There’s even a Muppet tissue simulator, so when their limbs move, it feels . . . Muppety!”