In a new commercial set to premiere on Nickelodeon, Beyoncé will be seen playing Style Savvy, a video game that turns players into managers of a virtual boutique.
“Fashion is something I’ve been familiar with my whole life,” she says in an interview before the shoot. So when Nintendo tapped her to represent its product, she was happy to oblige.

Introduced last November for the portable Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi systems, the game allows aspiring entrepreneurs to choose from 16 fictional designer labels, each with a different style and price point, and more than 10,000 items. The goal is to accommodate customers’ budgets and needs, then use the accumulated cash to restock your stores, bearing in mind such factors as seasonal changes.

“It can teach young girls a sense of business and of responsibility,” Beyoncé says. “You have to be a good listener and pay attention to what the customers want. It also teaches you about fashion, using terms that fashion people use, like ‘asymmetrical.’ ”

As part of its arrangement with Beyoncé, Nintendo plans to introduce five items from her Deréonline early this year. (Five items from Charlotte Ronson’s fall 2009 collection are currently available for download.)

“It will be fun,” she says. “The clothes in the game are great, so cute and detailed, and there’s always something new. It’s like playing dress-up, only with digital technology instead of dolls.”

Up to four players can hook up wirelessly for a runway contest. Beyoncé took part in one such competition with a few friends, “and they told me I still have a long way to go. So I guess I have to keep working at it.”