I SPY Spooky Mansion Wii Game
INSIDE TRACK: I SPY SPOOKY MANSION
You know when a new gadget comes out and there's tons of people who wait on line to get their hands on it? Well, I admit I was one of those people when the Wii first came out. I woke up at 2am to camp outside the store until it opened to be one of the first (I was the fifth, in case you're wondering) to get my hands on a Wii. So it's pretty cool to have a job creating video games every day!
I SPY Spooky Mansion is Scholastic's latest Wii game. It is inspired by the best-selling book, I SPY Spooky Night by Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick—who basically started the hidden object craze in the early 90s before "hidden object" even became a game genre. Wii is my absolute favorite platform for I SPY games because we can create a virtual 3D experience versus a flat, 2D experience. Since the setting of I SPY Spooky Mansion is a haunted house, we could make the entire house 3D and have players explore it, making it seem as if you are actually walking through each room in the house.
Instead of just having players search for hidden objects, we added mini-games to every riddle. For example, if a riddle says to find "two spinning plates," you'd have to find those plates and then spin them using the Wii Remote to solve that piece of the riddle.
It was important to pick up elements from the I SPY Spooky Night book, like the trickster skeleton that dares you to enter the haunted house and beckons you from room to room to solve the riddles. That skeleton (We call him "Skelly.") needed to be in the game because he provides what's called the "game objective." Skelly dares you to enter his spooky mansion only to trap you inside. This sets you up to escape the spooky mansion by finding and solving the riddles in the house and playing his clever games. Skelly is quite mischievous and the riddles can be challenging, so you can enlist three of your friends to play along with you to solve the riddles and scavenger hunts. See for yourself in the trailer.
Creating the packaging art is another exciting part about launching a video game. The creative part of me loves this kind of stuff. This cover originally started out as a pencil sketch and evolved to what you see now. Since I SPY is all about finding hidden objects, we wanted a cover where you can actually play I SPY. If you look below, you'll find a bounty of hidden objects. How many can you find? Try writing your own I SPY riddle below in the Comments.
—Amabel, Scholastic Media Staffer
Using the minus button to pause and reposition the hand before pressing A to continue worked. It still takes awhile but it can be done. Also shaking the controler from side to side vigorously instead of twirling helps
Comment #51 | Posted by: Jerry on December 31, 2011 at 09:27 PM
I'm at the dining room table got the riddle done go to leave room the ghost tells me I'm done but when I go towards door it freezes have to Turn my wii off can't finish the game.
Comment #52 | Posted by: Nancy on February 04, 2012 at 12:02 AM
Got the 3 plates done using pause! Thanks for that idea!!
Comment #53 | Posted by: Stacy on February 26, 2012 at 02:06 PM
Finished the game want more I Spy!!!
Comment #54 | Posted by: Stacy on February 26, 2012 at 02:25 PM
Best thing i found for the plates---The red plate has a shorter time bar. Fill the blue and green up and then focus on the red.
Comment #55 | Posted by: jami on February 27, 2012 at 09:26 PM
I used the minus button. We've had the game for 8 months & nothing till now!! Thanks for the tip!
Comment #56 | Posted by: Bill on September 20, 2012 at 08:20 PM
THE SPINNING PLATES ARE REALLY ANNOYING ME...
Comment #57 | Posted by: Haleigh on April 13, 2013 at 07:55 PM