Hands on with Gameloft's first WiiWare game

Those of you with Wii consoles are probably aware that this week, Nintendo's WiiWare service launched in Europe, offering original downloadable games. And as we've reported before, Gameloft is one of the publishers signed up for it.

Well, the company's first WiiWare game is available now, and it's not a conversion of an existing mobile title. TV Show King is a trivia quiz presented in a TV game-show format, taking fairly clear inspiration from the Buzz! games on PlayStation 2.

We thought it was worth a play, to see how well Gameloft's mobile skills translate to the bigger screen, and to judge if TV Show King might be a candidate for a mobile release too.

It's certainly a good game. Up to four humans can play at once in the main game, taking on three, six or nine rounds at three difficulty levels. The aim is to win money - in dollars rather than euros, strangely.

The 3D graphics are decent, but it's the use of the Wiimote controller and Nintendo's Mii avatars that really impresses.

You can play as any of your saved Miis, and if playing alone your Wii-controlled opponents will also be selected from your stash of avatars. I found myself playing against Michael Eavis, Pete Doherty and a rubbish attempt at Michael Jackson that I cooked up last year, for example.

Meanwhile, answering the multiple choice questions is handled by pointing the Wiimote and pressing the button, with neat touches like scratchcard-rounds - you have to wave the Wiimote to reveal the answers before choosing - and a Wheel of Fortune style bonus game where you swing the controller to spin the wheel.

There's also a Quiz Attack mode which you play alone, to see how many questions you can get right in a row. High score tables are in the game, but they're not connected, so you can't see how your best scores compare to other Wii owners around the world.

Anyway, it's fun, and a great multiplayer game if you have a few friends and enough Wiimotes to go round.

Would it be any good on mobile? Obviously, some elements wouldn't translate - the Miis for example, and the motion-sensing controls. However, TV Show King would work well on touchscreen handsets, which surely makes it a candidate for an iPhone release later this year.

But the rest of the game seems more than suitable for a mobile version, if Gameloft can come up with some fun characters to play, squeeze in as many questions as possible, and localise it a bit more (cash in sterling and questions about Eastenders, please!).

It'll be interesting to see if Gameloft does bring TV Show King to mobile, too. Why? It could be a new way to turn own-IP games into brands in their own right on other games platforms, and then drive sales of the mobile version that way.

We'll have to wait and see if that happens in this case, of course. As a side note, if anyone from Square Enix is reading this, WiiWare title Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King would make a cracking top-down mobile game too...