Geronimo Stilton, one of the most successful series of children’s books, will be adapted for PSP, it was announced today. Geronimo Stilton The Kingdom of Fantasy: The Video Game will carry children and adults alike to the magical world depicted in the Kingdom of Fantasy.

Geronimo Stilton The Kingdom of Fantasy: The Video Game, exclusively for PSP, will be produced in collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment España and developed by the Spanish studio Virtual Toys, and is set to be available in Spain and other key European markets at the end of the year.

The Video Game will maintain the spirit of the books and characters, while delivering distinctive graphic adventures full of riddles, optical illusions, enigmas, puzzles and brain teasers. Throughout its levels, Geronimo Stilton The Kingdom of Fantasy: The Video Game will generate unique and enriching experiences for both novice and expert players.

Fans will be able to guide Geronimo Stilton on his journey through kingdoms of fairies, mermaids, and dragons, among others, diving into a colorful world where friendship and family are the greatest treasures to have. Similar to the books, the game will be divided into seven levels designed to recreate each Fantasy Kingdom. In each one, players are required to take on ten different challenges in order to move forward in this spellbinding story.

With a new Alvin and the Chipmunks film release on the way this holiday season—Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked!—Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products, in conjunction with Bagdasarian Productions, kicks off a long-term merchandising program intended to support the franchise. The program includes seasonal rollouts of fresh product and unique styles with prime retail positioning and the exciting introduction of a new branding initiative based on The Chipettes, the adorable, fashionista, female rock stars of the group.

To meet consumer demand and keep the product fresh, Fox Consumer Products will continuously offer new character art and graphics with themes tied to key retail selling windows such as back-to-school, holiday, and spring. The spring look will include a “Chipwrecked” island theme inspired by both the new film and the season. An everyday look is also available for year-round business. Some of the kid-favorite themes include: rock ‘n’ roll, sports, cheerleading, and nautical.

To fuel this campaign at retail, Fox Consumer Products has aligned with a wide range of partners to produce new product consistently throughout the year. New partners on board include Just Play LLC, who will create basic, feature, and novelty plush lines, with Vivid Imaginations as the as the UK distributor for the product. Santa’s Best will introduce holiday seasonal goods for the new film, while Gipsy has partnered for a specialty plush line in France.

In the interactive space, Majesco will take the lead once again with a follow-up Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked video game, based on the upcoming film. Ty will continue to produce their own special lines in the toy category, while Build-A-Bear Workshop will return with its top-selling line of stuffable plush featuring Alvin and Brittany and pre-stuffed plush of the other main characters.

HarperCollins also rejoins for a wide publishing program that will include beginning readers, novelizations, sticker books, and storybooks. They will be accompanied by Bendon Publishing, which will publish a line of activity, board, and coloring books along with flashcards and workbooks.  Editora Alsto Astral will introduce a book program in Brazil.

Apparel and accessories form the cornerstone of the merchandising program and include a robust offering of items: Tees, sets, outerwear, swimwear, sleepwear, headwear, bags, rainwear, hosiery, and footwear for both boys and girls from leading companies in both the U.S. and Canada, such as Isaac Morris Limited, H.E.R. Accessories, Berkshire Fashions, Accessory Innovations, JCorp, SGI, and SG Footwear.

Other key partners include Hallmark, which will create a comprehensive  line of greeting cards, ornaments and giftwrap, and Kellogg’s continues with its top-selling line of branded fruit snacks. When released in support of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, the fruit snacks marked the brand’s first foray in the food category.

To fully capitalize on world’s love affair with the adorable Chipettes, Fox Consumer Products is focusing on the wholesome and cute, yet sweet and sassy attitude of Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor for a line of accessories, toys, and more. Always a favorite among girls, Fox Consumer Products is dedicating a strong program that will introduce The Chipettes as never before at retail to reach this most enthusiastic fanbase.

VIZ Media, a distributor of anime and manga in the U.S., has announced acquisitions for its kids imprint, VIZ Kids. The acquisitions include DVD, download-to-own, and graphic novel licenses for Hero 108, Mameshiba, Pokemon, Mr. Men and Little Miss, and Voltron Force.

VIZ Kids will distribute DVDs of Hero 108 in May and make episodes available for download on iTunes in June. Based on Mameshiba, VIZ Kids will release a graphic novel, Mameshiba: On the Loose!, and a character guide, Meet Mameshiba, in July. The company will also release manga, a travel activity kit, and other select merchandise based on Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version. The travel activity kit will be available in May and volumes 1 and 2 of  the manga will be available in July 2011. VIZ Media will create and distribute original graphic novels based on Mr. Men and Little Miss in spring 2012 and produce and distribute original graphic novels based on the all-new animated series Voltron Force in spring 2012.

Activision Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Entertainment, LLC, have announced a new game, Spider-Man: Edge of Time. The game was developed by Activision-owned studio Beenox and is slated for release this fall.

What to Expect
In the game, Spider-Man is tasked with his greatest challenge ever: Saving himself. The game challenges the player to take on the roles of both classic Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099 to correct a time stream gone awry and prevent a catastrophic future brought on by the untimely death of Peter Parker.

The game features all-new “cause-and-effect” gameplay, where players will see how the immediate, and sometimes unexpected, effects of their actions as one Spider-Man change the timeline of the other Spider-Man.

Attendees at WonderCon 2011 in San Francisco, CA, can get a sneak peek and learn more about the game on the Activision/Spider-Man panel on Saturday, April 2, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 103.

Hidden City Entertainment, Inc., the rights holder of Bella Sara, announced a new licensing agreement with CCI Shoes. The deal was brokered by Francoise Bouvet of MJA Licensing and offers French fans a selection of shoe styles.

The license acquired by CCI encompasses a variety of shoes including slippers, canvas, sport, rain boots, snow boots, casual, and flip flops; they are scheduled to arrive in stores this summer.

Also in France, Hidden City announced a licensing partnership with video game publisher and accessory development company Bigben Interactive. The deal, which was brokered by Francoise Bouvet of MJA Licensing, grants Bigben the rights to create a Bella Sara 3D Nintendo DS video game. The game is expected to be available later this year.

Blip Toys, the toy company behind Squinkies collectible figures, has granted Activision Publishing, Inc. the exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and distribute video games based on the Squinkies brand and characters. The agreement covers entertainment software products across multiple platforms such as handheld, console and connected platforms, as well as PC and mobile devices.

The new Squinkies video games are expected to debut throughout 2011, with the first Nintendo DS title for girls releasing in April.

Gossipgamers.com

According to a recent article on Kotaku.com, every video game geek out there needs to jump for joy: There might be a new Halo movie. Discussion of a new film supposedly went down at the Future of Television East conference in New York City last week. The conversation went something like this:

Bigwig network exec: We want to do something with Halo.

Halo Franchise Development Director Frank O’Connor: Bring piles of money.

Bigwig network exec: For Halo, we will.

You might be asking yourself two questions right now: First off, are movie deals really made in such a lackadaisical manner? Secondly, Halo is old school, why are they talking about a movie now?

Well, I can’t answer the first question, but the latter might have something to do with licensing rights. Short version: According to the article, Microsoft owns the rights to the whole shebang, so the movie studio could only profit off of the movie. That’s right kids, no T-shirts, coffee mugs, stuffed animals, etc.

Maybe Microsoft will even make the movie or a TV show to remedy the whole merchandising situation. Time will tell. But if the project doesn’t materialize, let the nerd rage begin.

—Mackenzie Allison

For all those gamers out there mark your calendars—there are only ten days left until Wii’s newest gaming system, uDraw GameTablet, hits the shelves.

Jackie Breyer, editor in chief of The Toy Book, and I got a chance to take a sneak peek at the latest addition to the Wii family.

Even those who aren’t necessarily artistically inclined will feel like a Picasso with uDraw Studio, which is bundled with the GameTablet. For those in the art world, uDraw Studio is reminiscent of a design program or high-tech Etch A Sketch.

With access to a SD-Card, gamers can save, export and print their work on compatible devices.

The action component to the uDraw GameTablet comes in the form of Dood’s Big Adventure! Comparable to Sonic the Hedgehog, players can draw, tilt, and maneuver their way through 60 different levels.

By far, my favorite uDraw game was Pictionary. Similar to the classic game—minus the pen and paper—the Wii version has a few updates, including a game mode where the screen moves as you draw.

The uDraw GameTablet will retail for $69.99 and includes the uDraw Studio. Dood’s Big Adventure! and Pictionary will retail for $29.99.

—Mackenzie Allison

New licensing deals are in the works for DeLorean Motor Company. Mattel has released DeLorean Hot Wheels in black and gold, and Urban Outfitters will be selling Trademarked DeLorean T-shirts in select stores and on www80stees.com. Nike will be producing a DeLorean sneaker, scheduled to debut this fall.

Additionally, DeLorean has partnered with Facebook to be part of a new game called Car Town. You can learn more about Car Town and view a clip here.

Scholastic Media has announced a new addition to its I SPY franchise with the release of I SPY Universe for the Nintendo DS. I SPY Universe will take gamers on an interplanetary exploration of riddles, puzzles, and brainteasers as they try to save the universe. The game will be available at retail this summer.

Set in a unique I SPY cosmos, players must search for and find objects located on 12 photo-realistic planets to reach and repower the sun. Players unlock new planets and explore the universe by finding more than 400 objects in 36 I SPY riddles and playing six brain-teasing games. The game is being distributed by Cokem International, Ltd.