Electronic Arts showed off a bunch of interesting games in various stages of development at its summer preview event yesterday in San Francisco. But one game was clearly in the spotlight — the just announced game based on “The Simpsons’’ TV characters. “The Simpsons Game” (only a working title) is NOT based on the upcoming Simpsons movie. It’s an original story from writers who create the TV program. The heart of the game is the awareness of the Simpsons characters that they’re IN a video game. When Bart explains to Lisa that he knows he has special powers because he has, yes, read the manual, she tells him “that manual has staggering metaphysical implications.’’ Groans Bart, “Can we skip this level?’’

Each of the main characters has special abilities: Homer’s eating turns him into a giant, powerful ball of fat; Bart has exceptional Bartman gliding and maneuvering skills; Lisa can control elements of the environment in a spiritual but ferocious way, and Marge can super-nag people into doing what she wants. Important: You’ll repeatedly switch back and forth between characters that are paired up for every level in order to accomplish tasks that require coordinating their powers. “The Simpsons’’ is a celebration of parody — often skewering pop culture — and the game’s humor is going to exploit many references to the real-life business and fun of video games. Some of the demo game play, for instance, showed a store named Sequel Stop. The game is due in the fall from EA’s Redwood Shores Studio. The concept is the same for all six platforms — PlayStation 3, PS2 and PSP, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS. I’m really looking forward how will this work, because games based on movies (or TV shows in this case) tend to be little crappy. And that would be a big disappointment for something as famous as The Simpsons…

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