My Coach, Jam Sessions, Nitrobike and more

At Ubisoft’s E3 press conference, Tony Key, the Vice-President of Marketing for Ubisoft USA, started the company’s quest to fish for new gamers. “We’re widening the nets,” he said, and hopes to bring more people into the industry with “Games for Everyone.”

The approach will rely heavily on three franchises: Petz, Imagine and My Coach. Soon, the whole line of Petz games, from Horsez to Dogz to Hamsterz will appear on Nintendo DS, with Dolphinz and Tigerz to follow.

Horsez 2 is also making its way to Wii.

The new Imagine line of DS games is specifically intended to reach girls ages 6 to 14. “Girls are more and more picking up the DS,” Key said. After finding out about that age-group’s interests, Ubisoft decided on four different career tracks to focus on with Imagine: Fashion Designer, Master Chef, Animal Doctor and Figure Skater.

Fashion Designer will be the first DS game in Ubisoft’s Image line.

The My Coach line is focused on helping people improve themselves while having fun. “It’s for people who don’t have a lot of time to waste,” he said. My Word Coach focuses on testing and improving a player’s vocabulary. This game, for DS and Wii, will be available in English, Spanish and French versions. German, Italian and Dutch versions are scheduled to follow.

Have fun improving your vocabulary, with My Word Coach for Nintendo DS and Wii.

In addition to the vocabulary-building games, Ubisoft is getting into the field of language instruction with My French Coach and My Spanish Coach. On top of that, the company is also making My Life Coach. “This is your Dr. Phil,” said Tony, referring to the American TV self-help counsellor.

My Life Coach for Nintendo DS will help you improve your life.

Further diversity to Ubisoft’s lineup was shown with its new music title: Jam Sessions is a totally open-ended music game where the DS simulates an electric guitar. Players can literally play any song on their DS, all they have to do is know the song’s chords. After they put the chords into the Chord Palate, the DS guitarist uses the +Control Pad to change chords and then the stylus to strum the guitar.

Jam Sessions turns your DS into a pocket-sized guitar!

The music that came from the DS, plugged into a high-end amplifier, sounded incredible as Tony played “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty, inducing a prompted crowd sing-along. In addition to its high-quality sound, Jam Sessions will also let you save your compositions.

Motion-controlled motocross racing goes online with Nitrobike.

Also on display was its newest Wii title, Nitrobike. This extreme motocross racing game, reminiscent of Nintendo’s Excite Truck, requires players to hold the Wii Remote like they would a steering wheel. Developed by Left Field Productions, the creators of the classic Excitebike 64 for the Nintendo 64, Nitro Bike will feature more than 20 tracks and online play supporting up to six players..

Add Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 to this batch of games, and it’s easy to see that Ubisoft has a lot to be excited about for the year ahead. Stay tuned to the Nintendo site for more info!

The Rabbids will return…