I'm not sure what scares me more - the very concept of a Desperate Housewives game or the fact that it is being developed by Liquid Entertainment, "creators of the critically acclaimed PC game Dragonshard". Yes, the guys who created a game that, according to Gamespot, combined real-time strategy with Dungeons and Dragons role-playing, are now making a "lifestyle simulation PC game" (or Wisteria Lane Sims to you and me). You can just imagine the reaction of the dev team when they were told the news.
I'm all for market expansion and I like the show but whoever thought a DH game would be a good idea should be forced to play one of the CSI titles for more than an hour. Of course, I haven't played the game yet, so obviously this is totally biased but do you honestly think the game will capture the essence of the intricate relationships that make up the show. Or will it, in fact, involve clicking madly as you attempt to get Simified versions of Susan and Mike to make out rather than wash up. The press release doesn't hide the fact that the game is only one of a long list of brand extensions.
The PC game is the latest extension of the successful global Desperate Housewives franchise, joining a recently announced fragrance launching this fall, a best-selling Season 1 DVD, a board game, a high end line of apparel, a Desperate Housewives online store, mobile ringtones, graphics, personalized application, and an upcoming cookbook.
Clothes, cookbooks, ringtones - yup, unimaginative but I can see how the marketing suits came to their conclusion. But a game? Surely a tickbox too far.
