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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.