Click to enlarge

A recent Game Daily BIZ article examines Ratatouille's chance of becoming a hit family oriented game title at the same level as movie tie-ins games for franchises like Spiderman and Pirates of the Carribean. Recently released by THQ to multiple platforms, including OS X, the game gives players a chance to join in the experiences of Remy the Rat in a variety of locations from the movie.

Robert Aniello, senior vp worldwide marketing at THQ, said "Ratatouille" has a good chance of achieving a similar feat. "We had the No. 1-selling family game of 2006 across a number of platforms with 'Cars' from the Pixar movie," he said. "We're planning on repeating that with 'Ratatouille.' "

The success of these licensed family games -- especially on such new platforms as the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii -- is a bit of a surprise given that conventional industry wisdom has always held that the early portion of any console life cycle should be more about the hardcore gamer than about younger players.

But IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon noted that the success of Nintendo's Wii has shown that the mass market family audience is there for the taking regardless of the timing or the platform. "The one thing Nintendo did properly was appeal to the mass market without compromising their hardcore base, and now Microsoft and Sony are trying to work that into their strategy," he said.

GameDailybiz: Ratatouille Has Right Ingredients

Ratatouille (add to watch list)

Search for other Mac games news stories or browse our Mac Games News Archive.