Disney Interactive has announced nine new games for the Mac, including Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Third Edition and Kids Edition, Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc. Junior Game, and several titles in the company's learning and girl game series.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - 3rd Edition is the latest installment of the computer game adaption of the television game show. 3rd Edition features more than 600 new questions with theme-based trivia sets such as the "Swinging 70s" and "Popular Culture." Additional, users will be able to download new question sets from the Internet. The game will ship May 22 for $20.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Kids Edition features hundreds of questions on topics popular with kids, such as boy bands, pop divas, cartoons, extreme sports, and movies. The Kids Edition will be available in September for $20.

Based on the upcoming feature film "Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc.," which will appear in theaters nationwide beginning November 2, Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc. Junior Game features arcade games and activities for kids ages four to eight. The game will ship on October 31.

Disney Learning Titles: Curriculum-Based and Edutainment

Disney's Phonics Quest, aimed at children ages five to eight, teaches phonics-based reading principles by reading children an adventure story that includes favorite Disney characters. The title features Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer's apprentice who, overcome with curiosity, delves into the book of magic and begins to read spells. As a result, some of the sorcerer's things are swept out of the castle and Mickey must set out on a quest to locate them. As kids follow the journey, they learn letter and sound recognition, vocabulary, spelling, word building, long and short vowels, and consonant blends. Disney's Phonics Quest will be available in July.

Disney's Winnie the Pooh Learning Series is a re-release of the Toddler, Preschool and Kindergarten title with enhanced features. In addition to emphasizing creativity, discovery, exploration, and achievement, the game now includes an introduction to Spanish and French foreign-language vocabulary. The new title will be available in July.

Playhouse Disney's Rolie Polie Olie, which will be available in November, helps children ages two to five to developer creative skills for subjects like music and colors, while they also learn life lessons, such as problem solving, sharing, and cooperation, all in a "nurturing, interactive environment." Based on The Disney Channel's Rollie Polie Olie TV show, the game lets children explore the automated Rolie household by mixing goal-oriented activities and open-end creative play. Features include realistic, environment-based navigation, and "clickables" that can be managed by young children.

Disney's Imagination Titles

Disney's Magic Artist Deluxe lets kids express their creatativity and design with a broad range of art tools for drawing, painting, sketching, editing, and more. The title is specially designed to connect with all future Disney's Magic Artist titles, increasing the number of art tools and compatibility with each CD-ROM, as users download new tools and create works of art online using DMA On-line. Disney's Magic Artist Deluxe will be available in September.

Disney's Girl Games

Disney's Cinderella's Dollhouse lets girls decorate a dollhouse and play with Cinderella and her friends. Girls can adorn rooms with lavish combinations of furniture, fixtures, and accessories, and animated characters from Disney's Cinderella come to life. The title will be available in August.

Disney's Girlfriends encourages girls to communicate, explore, create, and enjoy being a girl with Internet-geared games to play alone or with friends. Girls can make a person scrapbook, design their own web page, chat online with friends, and exchange personal calling cards. The title is hosted by Jasmine, Belle, and Ariel and will be available in September.

by MacNN Staff