This first gameplay video of Trauma Team clearly lays out the "major enhancements" made to the series that will ensure, in Atlus' own words, that the Wii game will be "the definitive medical drama experience." Even if it doesn't, the draw of playing a nameless convicted felon serving a 250 year-long sentence—and committed to performing surgical community service, apparently—will have us reconsidering just what the definition of "definitive" really is.

Trauma Team is supposed to hit North America on April 20, 2010. But this is Atlus, so we'll take that as a strong suggestion, not a rock hard release date.

An alert sent through the Atlus Faithful mailing list heralded the coming of Metal Slug XX to the PSP on February 23rd, with the clever tagline of "One X Short of ESRB Trouble." The latest title in the series features sees the return of Marco, Fio, Eri, Ralf, Tarma, and Clark, along with the option to purchase SNK's Leona for an additional $.99 for a little extra replayability. Speaking of replayability, Metal Slug XX also features Combat School, with more than 70 mission-based challenges to keep you occupied long after the story has ended. All that, plus ad hoc two-player co-op, all for just $19.99.

But wait, there's more!

Head over to the PlayStation Blog post on the game and you could win one of four pairs of Metal Slug boxers or a Japanese promotional poster. Your life probably won't be complete until you have a pair of Metal Slug boxers.

Look for Metal Slug XX on PSN and store shelves come February 23rd.

Look at that JPEG, filled with wondrous prizes. Atlus has bundled up twelve unique prize packages filled with some of those items and is giving them away to certain fans of Atlus titles. Which fans? Only the truest....the bravest...the ones willing to sign up for the Atlus Faithful mailing list. Yes, simply adding your name to a list can score you one of the twelve packages, with one given away every day starting January 4th.

It's a rather lovely assortment too. There's plenty of swag from Demon's Souls, Luminous Arc, and Persona 4, including art books, t-shirts, and soundtrack CDs. Hell, they're giving away the soundtrack to Rule of Rose, as well as copies of upcoming games like Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey and Shiren the Wanderer.

Hit the link below to see a list of prizes, rules, and to sign up for the Atlus Faithful. Seeing as Atlus will often send out press releases to the fans before the press, it's almost silly not to be a member.

The Twelve Days of Atlus [Atlus]

They highlight the six specialties featured in Trauma Team—surgery, diagnostics, forensics, first response, endoscopy, and orthopedics—and may aid in the game purchasing triage that will face many of us in the coming quarters.

Those suffering from extreme queasiness shouldn't proceed. They're all full of guts and stuff!

Well, if you play Demon's Souls casually, oblivious or indifferent to the game world's "tendency," a Pure Black or Pure White setting has an effect on many things in the game. Enemy strength, availability of certain items and luck of the drop are all affected by tendency, a setting that can be manipulated by certain world events.

But Atlus is forcing a change to the world to Pure White for the next week—similar to the Pure Black World Tendency event that hit this Halloween—something that's not easy to do by oneself. The online game server goes white right about now, specifically at noon Pacific Time and ends next Monday, December 28, also at noon Pacific Time.

What does pure white world tendency get you? Lots of stuff, including non-player characters that wouldn't normally appear, access to certain portions of the map, all kinds of stuff! In fact, you can't get certain PlayStation Trophies without a Pure White World Tendency in effect. The unofficial Demon's Souls wiki has a handy explanation of what's different.

I participated in an online demo for Shiren the Wanderer yesterday, with Atlus playing through the game while the company's PR manager Aram Jabbari talked us through some of the game's features. Features like Shiren's ferret companion, Koppa, who does the talking for the legendary hero and was so adorable I requested the screenshot up top, pulled from the game's opening cinematic.

As Aram described gameplay in Shiren, however, the term roguelike popped up in my head immediately. A roguelike is a sort of turn-based RPG in which the player moves his or her character through (generally) randomly generated dungeons, with each step and action acting as a turn for the creatures inhabiting said dungeons. Take a step, the monsters get closer. Attack a creature, they attack back, and other enemies in the dungeon can take a step. Think Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon, Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon, or Atlus titles like Izuna and Baroque.

Another unifying theme of roguelike games is their difficulty. Players delve deep into these mysterious dungeons, only to die, losing all of the levels they gained, the items they've collected, and basically starting over at square one. This is where Shiren strays from the classic roguelike formula.

Shiren the Wanderer has two difficulty levels. In Easy mode, when you die you keep all the experience you've gained since your last save and all of your items. On normal, you lose your inventory, but keep your levels. It's a huge difference, and Atlus is keen on making sure it keeps the term roguelike from being applied to Shiren.

"We're not referring to it like a roguelike because a lot of people have a negative association with the term," Aram Jabbari explains. "They are seen as extremely punishing. We don't want people to think of this game as falling into a certain category and then dismissing it."

Despite the lack of experience loss, colorful cutscenes, and adorable sidekicks, Atlus is keenly aware of the struggle it's in for bringing Shiren the Wanderer to the states. "We're excited to bring a very unique game to North America, but we know we're going to have an uphill climb with the platform and the niche market."
\
The game does have a lot going for it. It features in-depth behavior settings for your NPC companions, allowing you to select how they will behave, what items they will use in battle, and even the order in which they will use select item sets. The game also feature a Travel Log that acts as an in-game achievement system, unlocking kudos as you defeat certain bosses, clear areas, and discover treasures. They've even got achievements for special ways to die. Step on a trap that transforms you into a rice ball, then get set on fire, and boom, achievement unlocked.

The cutscenes are pretty, and the story plays a huge part in the game, steeped in Japanese myth and history. Technically the third game in the series, Atlus opted to launch the Wii title in America simply as Shiren the Wanderer, in order to introduce new players to the rich world of the legendary warrior.

Towards the end of our demonstration, one of the other participants asks if the focus on how much easier the game is than other similar titles was a way of playing to the Wii owning demographic. Aram's response?

"We're not trying to cater to the Wii Fit audience. We're just trying to make sure that traditional RPG fans don't pass on the game after hearing the term roguelike."

So yes, I've typed it around 20 times during the course of this story, but just put it completely out of your mind. Nothing roguelike to see here!

Shiren the Wanderer is due for release on the Nintendo Wii in February.

The bad news is that the game has been given the other Atlus treatment, missing its previously planned March 10 release date, as specified by Nintendo itself yesterday. The new street date for Strange Journey is March 23 in North America, a more comfortable distance from another role-playing game hitting in early March.

And, in more good news, expect the whole package to come in a fancy slipcover, giving you double the opportunity to enjoy the game's... enjoyable box art. Triple, should you count the new outer box's spine!!

From Software's PlayStation 3 role-playing game sloughs off many of the conventions one typically associates with Japanese RPGs, putting players into a world unlike any other. The real-time action RPG features a heavy focus on hand-to-hand combat, not calculated menu choices. There are no party members to recruit, no love interests to pursue. There are only demon's to slay and souls to collect and a goal—defeat the Old One and free Boletaria from its colorless curse.

Demon's Souls is full of complex challenges and complex concepts, a game with no traditional save point system, no pause option and no coddling of the player who may have become accustomed to simpler, more forgiving fare. it is a hellish place of suffering, where men are routinely crushed by the powerful demonspawn that inhabit it.

So, why, then is Demon's Souls so rewarding, so refreshing and so engrossing? Here's why.

Loved
A New Brand Of Survival Horror: Fear is a constant in Demon's Souls, at least during your first unfamiliar adventure in the kingdom of Boletaria, as death can come to the player at any moment. These frequent deaths—which will become more frequent to the player not mindful of the world around them—are by design. Demon's Souls is meant to be studied, to be carefully considered and for its world to be absorbed. Its inhabitants are meant to be feared, so that the player can learn how to dispatch of them properly. You may die in Demon's Souls dozens, in not a hundred times or more. But you'll become the better player for it, mindful of your fear.

A World In Need Of Mending: Beyond the need for self-preservation, Demon's Souls offers a heavy dose of gloom and doom through its well-realized, beautifully designed lands. From the prisons of the Tower Of Latria, closely guarded by Mind Flayers, to the depths of the Stonefang Tunnel, guarded by fire-spewing beasts, each of Demon's Souls five massive environments offers something new to be awed by, to be afraid of. And each of those five worlds come with their unique inhabitants, their own trappings, new rules for the player to observe and new denizens to dread. The one safe haven for the few unscathed humans, The Nexus, is a gorgeous elaborate structure. But it is soon dwarfed by the massive castles and major demons that the player will face.

Demon's Souls' world is both fantastic and realistic, never patronizing the player. For the most part, the player is free to visit any of its diverse lands in the order of their choosing, letting the player decide how to navigate the world. And thanks to Demon's Souls' fluctuating World and Character Tendency system, which changes Boleteria's populace and environments based on a number of factors, the game world offers plenty to do beyond the first play through. This is a world worth revisiting, death after death after death.

Major Demons: Depending on how you play Demon's Souls, whether your world ventures towards white or black, you'll face over a dozen impressive and diverse bosses. All of them are memorable in some way, from the quiet calm of facing the Old Hero, to the massive scale of tackling the Dragon God, to the shocking tension of facing the Penetrator or Flame Lurker. Or any of Demon's Souls spectacularly designed demons, for that matter. Some can simply be dispatched with hundreds of arrows from a hiding spot, but others will require ample dexterity, a calm demeanor and smart strategy. Some may invoke warm feelings of another PlayStation hallmark, Shadow of the Colossus, due to their impressive magnitude.

Simple Made Complex: Where other role-playing games throw complex upgrade paths and a flood of weapons, armor and items at the player to create the illusion of depth, Demon's Souls offers it genuinely. Strategic trade-offs must be made in your choices of what to equip, how to fight and where to engage your enemy in battle. Demon's Souls offers a simple base upon which to build its system—the ten starting character class templates—then lets the player decide how to progress from there. It's both freeing and rewarding.

Massively Multiplayer Loneliness: Demon's Souls features a rather unique online multiplayer component. Players will see, but not hear or touch, the echo of other Demon's Souls players, each fighting demons in their own instance of the world. Players can also read or leave messages for others, attempting to help strangers (and help themselves) during their adventure. Bloodstains left by fallen comrades in other instances can also be left behind, illustrating how other adventurers died, a warning to first-timers of what awaits them in the next step.

Demon's Souls does have a more traditional multiplayer component to it, letting players summon other warriors to their world as spirits, teaming up to tackle major demons. But other players can also invade your world in Black Phantom form, adding a player versus player gambling element to the experience. There is no voice chat, there is no lobby to join, which may seem like a drawback. But this implementation further entrenches the feeling in Demon's Souls players that the lonely existence of demon slaying is largely theirs alone to do.

The Soul Economy: Demon's Souls soul system adds a fascinating layer of strategy to the game. Souls, which you'll collect from fallen enemies and find scattered about Boletaria's land, serve as currency, experience and materials. You'll need them to upgrade your character and your weapons, resulting in an interesting trade-off. And should you die in one of Demon's Souls worlds, you'll lose your current soul stock—unless you find your own bloodstain—making the decision to soldier on or return to the Nexus for upgrades a constant struggle.

Torchlight: Demon's Souls is dark and it is best played in the dark. And while it might seem odd to highlight the game's lighting, it's expertly crafted. Not so much from a technical sense, but that the player must be mindful of the glowing souls, the deadly exploding Will o' Wisps, the torches, the glowing eyes that populate every dark room. There's much the player can glean from Demon's Souls lights as they cut through the blackness.

After Careful Consideration: This is a hard game. Cruel, punishing, unforgiving, relentless, sadistic... whatever you want to call it, Demon's Souls is a challenge. But you'll learn. You'll adapt. And if you're careful, attentive to the events occurring around you, you'll be fine. That Demon's Souls demands this, making the game feel more like pure horror than the traditional fun one expects of a video game, eventually spellbinding the player, is what makes the game so enjoyable.

Hated
My First Few Hours: This may make me sound like a wimp—and ultimately a crazed Demon's Souls zealot—but you need to know. Demon's Souls was, for me, torture for the first few hours. I didn't "get it." I didn't play games this way. I've played difficult action games, like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry and Otogi, and enjoyed them. But Demon's Souls is different, requiring a unique mindset—and, in my case, some help from the Demon's Souls community. Eventually, pain gave way to pleasure as I learned to appreciate the game's strict rule set, ultimately becoming absorbed by the game. You may hate Demon's Souls from start to finish for its difficulty. But I'd wager you'll come to appreciate it as I did.

Faces, Fonts & Frame Rates: There are a handful of presentation issues holding back Demon's Souls, none of them game breaking, but worth mentioning. Despite Demon's Souls' overall beauty, it has some of the ugliest character faces I've seen. Character creation is a turn off, because most options look as monstrous as the demons themselves. The game's interface also has a few quirks, with no easy way to compare items from vendors with current equipment and an icon system for attributes that has its own unnecessary, confusing language. Finally, there are a few moments where Demon's Souls can't keep up with what's happening on screen. Nothing that impairs gameplay, but not pretty.

When I talk about Demon's Souls with some of my fellow players, I feel that we're in danger of sounding like a part of some cult—or, possibly worse, a group of addicts—as if we've gotten over the hurdle of viewing From Software's brilliant, visionary creation just for its sheer difficulty. And it is difficult. But it is also laden with a smart combat system, in which equipment and weapons matter greatly, for so many reasons. But having pushed past the fog of Demon's Souls, which meant spending well over 50 hours with the game, I'm happy to see it for what it is—one of the best PlayStation 3 games of the year and perhaps one of the smartest console role-playing games ever.

To be clear, however, Demon's Souls is not some orgiastic, blissful experience. It is not the type of game one may want to wind down with, less than "fun" in a normal video game sense. But it is a wholly engrossing, enjoyably solitary experience, if you've got the patience and the bravery to look into the fog and face what's inside.

Demon's Souls was developed by From Software and published by Atlus for the PlayStation 3 on October 7. Retails for $59.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played single-player game to completion, testing multiple classes, invading other's worlds and summoning them to my own.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

NOTE: Throughout the month of December, Kotaku will review some of the games that we missed earlier in the year. We're catching up.

The standard fantasy drama formula is lovingly applied to 3D Dot Game Heroes. Peaceful civilization thrives under the protection of some glowing orbs, evil shows up, threatens peace, orbs are scattered and a lone, superdeformed hero signs up to save the day. Along the way, a Legend of Zelda overworld theme homage plays and virtual legends are made.

What makes 3D Dot Game Heroes different is its lovely presentation, layering on the 8-bit retro style and player character customization. It's formally announced for a May 11, 2010 release date with of $39.99 USD price tag.

Put your surprised faces on: it's Atlus. Yeah, not the most shocking announcement, we know, but still, one that's sure to please PS3-owning fans of the original Zelda no end.

Atlus say the game will be out in May 2010, and go for $40, but if you're keen (or worried the game won't enjoy the most widespread of releases), you can pre-order now from the usual suspects.

The latest in the SMT series, already released in Japan to favorable reviews—the highest Famitsu-rated Shin Megami Tensei entry yet, according to Atlus—will come to the DS in North America next spring, bringing with it the mind-scrambling box art you see above. Go on, admire it.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey's science-fiction flavored storyline tasks the player with unraveling the mystery of a "growing, black void" that has appeared at Earth's southern pole. The SMT standard role-playing and demon managing rules apply, with Atlus saying that Strange Journey follows in the tradition of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.

The game's web site is now live, offering more information, should you want it.

The Kingdom of Boletaria is a pretty dark place, so reports of it growing darker over the Halloween weekend are disturbing to say the least. According to Atlus' Aram Jabbari, the tricks are getting tougher, but the treats will be worth it.

"Early reports from the Kingdom of Boletaria indicate that the Old One's power grows," announced Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales for Atlus, shuffling awkwardly under the weight of his full set of fluted armor. "We've discovered that the nefarious Demon will seek to descend the land in pure blackness on All Hallow's Eve. His minions will be more powerful, but the rewards for those who seek to challenge them will be greater as well. We don't know how long this dark tendency will last, but we do advise those prone to controller-into-LCD syndrome to proceed carefully."

Are you up to the challenge? I'll be hiding until this thing blows over.

Oh the Atlus PR team has fun. Just look at the title to their press release: "ATLUS ENDS YEARS OF ALLEGEDLY NOT PRINTING ENOUGH COPIES OF GAMES AND THEN LAUGHING AT EMPTY-HANDED CUSTOMERS, RELEASES DIGITAL DOWNLOAD VERSIONS OF PSP SYSTEM CLASSICS VIA PlayStation NETWORK." This is how they announce the addition of Crimson Gem Saga, Hammerin' Hero, Yggdra Union, Steambot Chronicles Battle Tournament, R-Type Command, and Riviera: The Promised Land to the PlayStation Network.

Wait - it gets better.

"We've finally reached a point where, according to our physicians, any further laughing at our masterfully executed plan of never making enough copies of our games for everyone poses risks to our health," admitted Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales at Atlus. "In order to prevent illness, and because, hey, sometimes you just want to change things up, we're very pleased to offer PSP system classics via digital download. It may mean that we'll have to shut down our numerous online auction accounts, as we won't be able to hoard large quantities of our hard-to-find games and then slowly trickle them out at obscenely high prices anymore, but the end result will be better for everyone."

I knew that JabbariBay eBay handle sounded familiar...

Seriously, this should do you until the end of time. 101-in-1 Party Megamix for the Wii features a metric ass-ton of games that you can play with family and friends, all for the price of $19.99 worth of coffee. Having not played even one of these 101 games I cannot vouch for their quality, but there is a game with a rabbit skating on train tracks collecting carrots, so that alone should be worth the price of admission, unless you are discerning.

The Atlus elves are said to be slaving away in the Blu-ray disc workshop, issuing more Demon's Souls to good little video game retailers as of this week. What won't be coming this week (or ever!) is the limited Deluxe Edition of the game and its accompanying strategy guide, a pre-order exclusive that looks like it may remain that way. Atlus says it's out of print, never to return from the printing Nexus.

Finally, a word about our own Demon's Souls review, since you've been asking. Yes, we have a copy. No, we're not done yet. Have you heard that Demon's Souls is soul-crushingly hard? And that Kotaku reviews strive to complete games before they're run? There's your answer.

It's coming. Just as soon as we muster up the gaming wherewithal to finish the damned thing. Your opinions are, of course, welcome in the comments.

Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble, the badass game with a badass name, has the unfortunate release date of November 10, also known as the day Modern Warfare 2 releases.

After giving the gallery below a few eye-lasers of your own, you'll probably agree that there's little crossover between the two audiences.

There have been rumors flying that Persona 5 is coming to the PS3. Atlus is searching for a programmer to work on a PS3/Xbox 360 game.

According to a job listing, qualified applicants should have worked on a previous PS3/Xbox 360 role-playing-game.

株式会社アトラスの求人情報 | 夢！感動！を価値創造！！（契約社員）【プログラマー】 | JOBエンタ : ゲーム・アニメ・映画・出版・パチンコ業界の転職サイト [Jobent via Siliconera]

You may still play it singleplayer, but if you try to connect to a North American server before then, you'll get a PSN error. Atlus shares this information in the interest of quelling "worry, panic, confusion, mass hysteria, riots in the streets, armaggeddons, etc." And in the name of peace for all mankind.

Demon's Souls Servers Won't Go Up Until Launch [1Up via Destructoid]

Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition will is scheduled to release in March 2010. The first-person brawler will include a new cooperative mode in the game's Tower Challenges, Atlus said in a release. The game will also feature "new features, and added content combine with a series of tweaks and improvements based on fan feedback to deliver the definitive version of the critically-acclaimed game."

No price was named in the release. Atlus's announcement also teased an "as-of-yet-unannounced other new mode exclusive to the Ultimate Edition," plus other features.

Atlus Announces Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition for Xbox Live Arcade [Atlus Forums]