Nintendo's 100 Classic Book Collection

What do the words Electronic Arts bring to mind? I am ashamed to admit I am picturing a pair of young men in baseball caps, smashing beer cans on their foreheads and shouting "WHOOO" at the latest annual Madden title.

What I do not picture is a range of eBooks for the DS as one of the publisher's major holiday season bids. No, not even with the cutely marketed name of Flips. Which just goes to show, I am utterly, utterly wrong.

The series is aimed at younger readers and will feature authors like Enid Blyton (The Enchanted Wood, Noddy) and Eoin Colfer (the Artemis Fowl series) thanks to deals with major publishers Penguins and Egmont. Content aside, I imagine the target demographic for the series is actually relieved parents balancing their own desire to raise highly literate future doctors with their progeny's refusal to put down their DS stylus long enough to process sentences.

At the moment the clever scheme seems to be restricted to the UK but if as successful a Christmas ploy as expected, I'm sure we'll see The Magic Pudding popping up in local shops around gift-giving time next year.

The Flips series will join other notable DS eBooks titles like 100 Classic Book Collection and... um... no, that's all; nobody else has considered this a good idea. EA's Keith Ramsdale isn't put off by the dearth of competitors, citing surprising sales figures:

"If you look back at the Classics game that Nintendo did - it's our only real reference point ... they sold tens of thousands straight after Christmas ... They're averaging now around 800 copies per week.

Via GamesIndustry.biz