Inside Out

Los Angeles-based All Things Equal is launching The New Yorker Game this fall, inspired by the magazine's popular back-page Caption Contest. The game features an introduction by Robert Mankoff, cartoon editor for The New Yorker, on how to write a good caption—a handy addition since players must write their own captions, pick their favorite and then guess who wrote it in order to advance a space on the board. “Theses are some of the best cartoons out there,” Eric Poses, president of All Things Equal, tells Playthings. “It finally dawned on me that a game concept might work around the Caption Contest.” The game will be sold at Barnes & Noble alongside other New Yorker-themed product as the selection's central item, as well as at up to 1,500 retailers in time for this year's holiday sales season…Disney has ended its partnership with McDonald's Happy Meals as part of a push to provide healthier food options in all of the company's theme parks. In addition to eliminating trans fats from the kids meals served at its theme parks, Disney is also looking to improve the nutritional value of licensed and promotional food products featuring its characters. The company's new food guidelines call for there to be no more than 10 percent of calories in a meal coming from sugar and no more than 30 percent from fat...San Francisco-based Viz Media has launched an exclusive retail launch with Borders, Walgreens and Hot Topic, including an extensive product line for its new series Bleach, about a 15-year-old boy who can see ghosts. Separately, Viz is kicking off a Naruto road tour through malls this month, starting in Atlanta. The events will feature multiple activity stations, including beginner's ninja training, kiosks with the new Naruto video games and a manga drawing area. A special Naruto passport will guide kids to each activity. Additional tour dates will be added for 2007, Viz says.

Tonner Doll Co., Hurley, N.Y., has introduced a new series of collectible dolls based on the New York City Ballet's production of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker (1954). The New York City Ballet dolls are approximately 16 inches tall and feature multiple articulated joints, including a sculpted, en pointe foot. The dolls will be sold at doll and toy specialty retailers nationwide at retail prices of $109.99 to $149.99…Mattel is teaming up with Hilary Duff for a Barbie clothing assortment dubbed “Barbie Fashions Designed by Hilary Duff.” Duff has designed 11 head-to-toe outfits (pictured) inspired by her own tween clothing line, stuff by hilary duff. The collection includes apparel and accessories styled in “sweet” and “rocker” styles with stripes, denim and faux fur. Duff's partnership with Barbie first started in 2004 and will expand internationally in 2007…Fans recently set the record for the world's largest card game tournament in celebration of the 35th anniversary of Mattel's Uno card game. The 330 participants at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, W.V., beat the previous record of 320 players who played Quadrille in Portugal. During the competition, fans also enjoyed the latest Uno game, Uno Spin. The tournament's winner, Lucinda Kowalewski of Poca, W.V., won 2007 season tickets for one of the region's minor league baseball teams, plus a prize package that included an Xbox 360, a Gameboy Advance System and, of course, two Uno card games...In March Wizards of the Coast, Renton, Wash. will release a new edition of the Star Wars Role-Playing Game (RPG) that will include content from all six films. The 288-page Saga Edition includes new character abilities, a world gazetteer and statistics for key characters. The last Star Wars RPG produced by Wizards was in 2000...The North American video game market will generate more than $12.4 billion this holiday in game sales, according to DFC Intelligence, a Los Angeles-based game industry research firm...Electronic Arts, Los Angeles, has more than 30 games in development for Sony's PlayStation 3 console, scheduled to launch Nov. 17.