Game makers eye young girls with "Boogie SuperStar"

By Jennifer Martinez

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If "American Idol" and a modern fairy tale combined to create a video game, you'd get "Boogie SuperStar" -- Electronic Art's latest game for the Nintendo Wii system.

But instead of finding Prince Charming, the goal of the game is to beat rival players' singing and dancing skills to earn the grand title of Boogie SuperStar. Players are "discovered" and whisked away in a stretch limo to an island where they hone their skills for the competition.

Electronic Arts created the game specifically for female teens and pre-teens, or tweens, a demographic often overlooked by video game publishers.

In the United States, 38 percent of all gamers are female, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

"We knew this was an amazing audience to go after and to take what (tween girls) love -- fashion, music, dancing -- and create a video game for these girls to show their self-expression," said John Buchanan, marketing director for EA's Casual Entertainment division.

Girls -- and boys too -- can choose their own character and customize its name, hairstyle and outfit for their performance. They then pick music from a playlist of Top 40 pop songs, including hits from Britney Spears, Leona Lewis and Kanye West.

Unlike other popular music games such as "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero," players of the new game dictate how their character -- or avatar -- moves on screen.

The game includes a microphone that measures players' vocal fluctuations. The motion-sensing Wii controller records their dance moves.