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Game Announce

game announce

Gingerbread Mixes Terrorism With Aztecs In The Protector

As a long-time proponent for Aztecs as video game villains, Polish developer Gingerbread Studios' newly announced first/third person shooter The Protector couldn't help but pique my interest, even if it only features Aztec mythology being used by terrorists. The game, under development for the PC and Xbox 360, is really two games in one. You have British mercenary Jonathan Kane going in guns blazing to protect lithe American archaeologist Jennifer Guile, who uses stealth tactics to avoid the forces of Scarlet Vengeance, a terrorist organization that needs her to unlock the secrets of an ancient Aztec weapon.

Right now The Protector is at an early stage, so we'll have to wait and see whether or not it delivers on the standard shooter promise of intelligent AI, but the chance of fighting "mythical Aztec creatures" is enough to keep my watching. What can I say? I have an Aztec fetish.

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game announce

EA Brings Back Family Game Night

Back when I was growing up, just about every family I knew had a closet full of tattered board games, ready at a moment's notice should said family come dangerously close to just quietly sitting and enjoying each other's company. Now EA introduces the 21st century version of said dusty closet, Hasbro Family Game Night for the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2.

The title contains a nice selection of six big-name board game favorites - Battleship, Yahtzee, Boggle, Connect Four, Sorry!, and the all-new Sorry! Sliders, each with its own twist for fresh gameplay. Connect Four gets power chips, Bobble gets portal cubes, etc. As a special added bonus, each game is hosted by Mr. Potato Head. Apparently we needed a host, and he was available.

If you ever wanted to get you parents into gaming, Hasbro Family Game Night will probably be your best chance when it comes out this Fall.

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game announce

Cabela Taps The History Of Hunting

Here's an interesting idea for the hunting genre. Now that Cabela has pretty much allowed us to kill all the animals available today, the only thing to do is go back in time and kill the animals of history! Cabela's Legendary Adventures, coming this fall to the Nintendo Wii, the PlayStation 2, and the PSP, will allow gamers to relive some of the greatest hunting stories ever told. Players will use authentic period equipment to hunt some of the most famous game ever, such as the white-tailed deer, Roosevelt elk, and Bambi.
"In Cabela's Legendary Adventures the missions are based on encounters with some of the most famous animals ever hunted in the wild," said Dave Oxford, Activision Publishing. "Focusing on these amazing once-in-a-lifetime stories has really allowed us to capture the essence of what hunting is all about - a quest for a legendary experience."
Neat! Maybe next they'll let us go back in time to help hunt woolly mammoths and giant armadillos to extinction in prehistoric North America! More »

game announce

MySims Fans Given Keys To The Kingdom

Cute can only get you so far, as evidence by EA's first MySims for the Nintendo Wii and DS. It's adorable characters lured in many players (myself included) who were then disappointed by the lack of compelling gameplay. Perhaps EA can redeem themselves with MySims Kingdom, coming out for both Nintendo platforms this fall. The Wii game challenges you to help a colorful cast of characters restore King Roland's kingdom to its former glory, while the DS version acts as an extension of the storyline, helping the King thwart some far-flung evil. Adding a true storyline to the game should help bunches in making this next entry in the MySims franchise playable. Fingers crossed.

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game announce

Pitfall Harry Swings To The Wii

Activision is once again excavating the Pitfall franchise, this time for an all-new adventure on the Wii called Pitfall: The Big Adventure. Fair enough. The game is under development by Edge of Reality, creators of Pitfall: The Lost Expedition for the PS2 as well as Sega's upcoming Hulk game. The title will feature over 60 levels of adventuring utilizing the Wii controls as you would expect for a guy who made his name swinging on vines.
"Pitfall is one of the most legendary franchises in the history of videogames, so we look forward to releasing a new version exclusively for Wii," said Dave Oxford, Activision Publishing. "What could be more fun than using the Wii Remote™ to swing on a vine over blood thirsty crocodiles as retro-cool Pitfall Harry?!"
Aw crap, you had me until you tossed the phrase retro-cool in there. You can't pull off retro-cool unless your Pitfall Harry is a bunch of blocks on top of each other running through fully-rendered 3D environments. Now there's a game I'd buy in a heartbeat. Pitfall: The Big Adventure is headed your way this Fall. More »

game announce

Rogue Trooper Getting Wii Release

2000 AD's Rogue Trooper makes his triumphant return to the video game scene later this year as UK developer Rebellion reaches an agreement with Reef Entertainment to publish a new version of the 2006 Xbox, PC, and PS2 shooter Rogue Trooper: The Quartz Zone Massacre for the Nintendo Wii. For those of you who don't remember, the story centers around the Rogue Trooper, whose squad mates are massacred by a traitorous general but live on through biochips installed in his equipment, a concept which inspired one of my favorite Ctrl+Alt+Del comics. The Wii release of the game will feature a new layer of polish, with the Wii controls supposedly making for more accurate and creative kill shots. If it stays true to form, it'll be the best damn game featuring a talking backpack since Dora the Explorer: Dora Saves the Mermaids.

Rogue Trooper gets a new life on Wii [VideoGamer.com]


chocolate rain

Vampire Rain Coming To PS3 For Some Godawful Reason

AQ Interactive and developer Artoon are set to bring one of the worst games of the current generation to the PlayStation 3, announcing Vampire Rain: Altered Species for the PlayStation 3. Why exactly they would do such a thing remains a mystery, but insiders around Kotaku Tower suggest they're going to attempt to sell the landmark 3rd copy of the game.
"We are very excited to bring Vampire Rain: Altered Species to the PlayStation 3," said Artoon President Naoto Ōshima. "The incredible power of the PS3, will allow us to give gamers a fully immersive experience. This will include: 5.1 channel audio, over 50 hours of gameplay, extra bonus levels, a lot of completely revamped animations, character interactions and much more."
Hehe...he said re-vamped. So basically this isn't a straight port of Vampire Rain, but the original with extra stuff tacked on. Unfortunately a pile a crap with more crap on top is still technically a pile of crap...just a bigger one. That, and adding a word that rhymes with feces to the title just makes witty game reviewers salivate. Bad idea. More »

game announce

Sierra Reveals The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor

In 1999, moviegoers were thrilled by Brendan Fraser in The Mummy. In 2001 they were titillated by The Mummy Returns. A year later they kinda scratched their heads at The Scorpion King, but this year the filmmakers are off The Rock and things are back to normal with The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and Sierra is busy developing the blockbuster game to go along with the blockbuster film. Developed by Eurocom Studios for the Wii, PS2, and Nintendo DS, the game will place payers in the roles of Rick O'Connell and his son Alex in their quest to defeat the servants of the Dragon Emperor, portrayed by Jet Li. The third-person action will consist of hand-to-hand combat, gun play, and platforming, and looks from the screenshots to be very much like Tomb Raider without the breasts, which is exactly what The Mummy franchise is all about! Look for the game on or around the movie release this August.

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game announce

WWE Legends Of WrestleMania Enters The Ring

Next year WWE fans will have another game to look forward to along with their annual SmackDown vs. Raw fix, as THQ announces WWE Legends of WrestleMania for the Xbox 360 and PS3 next year. Judging from the title of the press release, which doesn't offer much information other than that the game is coming, LoW will allow players to "Relive, Rewrite, or Redefine History", which means classic battles from WrestleMania events past.
"JAKKS Pacific is pleased to introduce a new WWE videogame property to the fighting genre," said Nelo Lucich, senior vice president of interactive, JAKKS Pacific. "The WWE SmackDown vs. Raw franchise has captured a collective audience of WWE fans, game enthusiasts and casual players, and we are confident that WWE Legends of WrestleMania will be poised for great success."
The game will be released next March to coincide with WrestleMania 25 in Houston Texas. More »

game announce

D3 Does Ben 10 Again

The Ben 10 cartoon series recently relaunched as Ben 10: Alien Force, featuring a more mature Ben and Gwen teaming up with enemy Kevin Levin to form a super team of sorts, kicking all sorts of alien ass and garnering an absolutely huge ratings boost for Cartoon Network. D3 Publisher is ready to cash in on the hype with a follow-up to last year's Ben 10: Protector of Earth titled, aptly enough, Ben 10: Alien Force. Grandpa Max has gone missing, the world is in danger, and it's up to those three plus five of Ben's new forms to save the day. The game is being developed for the Nintendo Wii, DS, and PlayStation 2, with a release date sometime this fall. While I enjoy the hell out of the cartoon, the last game failed to please the fanboy within. Perhaps the second time around they'll get it right? More »

game announce

Step Inside The World Of Rubik's Cube

It's been 25 long years since the Rubik's cube graced a game console, and 1983's Rubik's Cube for the Atari 2600 hardly did the little puzzle justice. Now the Game Factory and developer Two Tribes is getting a chance at solving the Rubik's video game puzzle with Rubik's World for the Nintendo DS and Wii. The game will invite players to step inside the cube to experience a collection of puzzle games based around Cube concepts, with both versions containing their own unique lineup of mini-games, from assembling 3D objects to navigating mazes. The Wii version will support four players at once and features an online message board, while the DS version will utilize the wireless connection to connect to a community for the game. I'd assume that somewhere in there they'll include an actual Rubik's cube for you to solve, hopefully allowing for my two favorite solving methods - sticker swapping and violent disassembly. We'll find out this Fall! More »

game announce

BattleForge: EA's Answer To Magic: The Gathering

Here's a train I'm surprised EA hadn't hopped on sooner. BattleForge is an online collectible card game fantasy RTS under development at EA Phenomic in Germany that will see players assembling an army out of virtual trading cards and using them to battle against other players, form guilds, and engage in tournaments using cards bought and sold via a robust online marketplace.
"BattleForge is the next step in compelling RTS gameplay by taking the battles completely online," stated Executive Producer & Vice President Richard Leinfellner. "With co-op play, challenging tournaments, Guilds, chat rooms and a robust marketplace for trading and buying your cards; BattleForge is the first RTS to add integral social and community components to an exciting fantasy RTS."
You'll be able to play the game out of the box with the cards provided, but like Magic: The Gathering, the cards provided will most likely keep you competitive for about 5 seconds before someone with the means to purchase the ultimate custom deck sends you home crying. People will buy a lot of nothing if it means their nothing is better that someone else's. Get ready to build your nothing when BattleForge is released this fall. More »

game announce

Stalin Vs. Martians

We might need to keep a closer eye on Black Wing Foundation, the Russian developer responsible for the upcoming messiah-cloning, god-as-computer game Salvation, as their game concepts are pretty far out there. They've just announced their new PC game, a joint project with Dreamlore and N-Game entitled Stalin vs. Martians. It's an RTS that pits Russian armies under Stalin against...well, Martians. The game begins with invaders from the red planet descending on 1942 Siberia. I'm not making this up.
Stalin takes the anti-ET military operation under his personal control. The operation is top secret and practically nobody knows about the fact of extraterrestial intervention. You take control of the Red Army troops and start kicking the alien butts under the wise Stalin's guidance.
What more can I say? It's an RTS that has Stalin fighting aliens, due out for the PC by the end of the year. Crazy. More »

game announce

THQ Journeys To The Center Of The Earth

Get ready for a big adventure on two tiny screens. THQ has just announced Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D for the Nintendo DS. Based off of the upcoming movie starring Brendan Fraser, the go-to guy for pulp adventure since The Mummy, the game will allow you to relive moments from the film as the three main charaters, with seven worlds from the film represented. The game will also include archeological mini-games, such as digging for fossils and deciphering ancient runes. The movie is of course based off of the classic novel by the father of science fiction, Jules Verne, and is the third major motion adaptation of the book, and is the first ever digital 3-D live action release, utilizing 3-D technology developed by James Cameron and Vince Pace. The game should be on store shelves the day the film releases, July 11th. More »

game announce

Activision Dishes Up The Little League

Activision is planning to deliver steroid-free baseball action to the Nintendo Wii and DS this summer with Little League World Series 2008. Featuring eight U.S. and eight international teams, the game will allow player to customize their character, engage in entertaining mini-games, and of course, participate in the Little League World series.
"Activision has captured the essence of what makes Little League so wonderful for players and spectators alike," Jud Rogers, Sr. Marketing Executive, Little League International. "We look forward to working with them in the upcoming months to help polish the game and bring it to Little Leaguers and fans."
My desperate hope that the game will let us bean kids in the head with fastballs is exactly why none of my friends invite me to watch their children play anymore. Little League World Series 2008 is due out August 5th for both platforms. More »

game announce

Cities XL - Taking City Building Online

City Life creator Monte Christo have just unveiled the next generation of their city-building franchise, Cities XL, which takes the city-building concept to a whole new level. Players will be able to develop their cities using a variety of architecture styles alone, but they'll also be able to create cities on persistent online planets populated with other players. You'll be able to team with others to create sprawling metropolises, visit and attend events in other players creations, or simply wander around exploring. It's a social online city building sim. It sounds absolutely glorious, and doesn't look too shabby either. This is the route SimCity should have taken, rather then releasing the ill-received SimCity Societies. Cities XL is scheduled for release in on the PC in 2009, but you can join the community at www.citiesxl.com and have a hand in creating something that could revolutionize the city building genre.

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game announce

The Unemployed Ninja Returns

Now that right there is some sexy box art. Last year Atlus released a quirky little DS title called Izuna: The Legend of the Unemployed Ninja, which combined nifty characters and a bizarre sense of humor with hardcore dungeon exploration for a game that - while possibly not for everyone - certainly offered a lot to players. Now Izuna and crew are back for Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns, and she's looking pretty good. The game features an all new TAG team system, that lets you bring any two characters into the dungeon, combining their power for special TAG attacks. The sequel promises more of everything - more dungeons, more monsters, more weapons, more characters, and of course, more Izuna. Check out the gallery for a few shots of the sexy ninja and friends in action, and hit the jump for a gameplay trailer that showcases the new TAG system. Izuna 2 is due out July 22.

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game announce

Final Fantasy IV DS Stateside In July

The original spoony bard makes his triumphant return to the states as Square Enix announces a July release date for the Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy IV! Finally you'll be able to associate voices to your favorite characters in the all-new CG cutscenes! Utilize the new Augment System to assign special abilities to your characters! Experience a remixed version of Nubuo Uematsu's original score! Train and customize your Whytkin using mini-games and let it fight to the death for your amusement! Watch me get so excited that I just reiterate the bullet points in the press release below! *composes himself* The game is due out on July 22nd, and Square Enix already has a website set up for the game at http://na.square-enix.com/ff4/ . Okay, so it's more of a picture than a website, but they'll get there, I promise. More »