British children’s writer sells e-stories for Nintendo DS

Remember the public domain e-book cartridge that was made available for the Nintendo DS?

Now British children’s author Anthony Horowitz is publishing three selected horror stories from his forthcoming collection, More Bloody Horowitz, as digital downloads through Nintendo’s DSi Ware download service at a cost of 200 points. The article on TheBookseller.com indicates that would be equal to £2, though the same amount of points would cost only $2 in America. There is no indication this e-book will be available in America, however.

Horowitz said: "I think it’s great that my horror stories are going to be available on the DSiWare service. It’s the best of both worlds . . . the fun and interactivity of a computer game combined with the pleasure of reading. This is definitely the way forward."

I was curious about what he meant by interactivity, so I searched on “Flips”, the line of digital children’s books for the DSi from Electronic Arts that launched in December and I somehow didn’t hear about—perhaps because they seem to be exclusive to the UK.

According to the press release:

FLIPS uses the DS touch screen and stylus to enable children to read and interact by combining the world of storytelling with quizzes and references to characters, encouraging greater concentration and incentive to finish every chapter. Within the books, links appear to give the reader a unique way of interacting with the story and enhancing their experience.

I’m not entirely sure that being presented with links and quizzes would help my concentration in reading an e-book. On the other hand, if this is what they think it takes to get kids to read, more power to them.

So we’ve got children’s books on the Nintendo DS in England, romance novels on the DS in Japan…will they ever come to America? Or does the presence of so many e-reading choices already make the idea of using a DS as one less compelling over here?