J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic is getting another video game re-telling this fall in the form of The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest, a Wii, PS2 and portable game drawing from the design influences of Zelda and Super Mario Galaxy, courtesy of Headstrong Games, makers of the slickly-produced House of the Dead Overkill on Wii and the graphically-impressive — especially for the Wii — Battalion Wars 2.

A couple of weeks ago in New York, a Warner Brothers representative pulled me into a "secret game" demonstration for the Wii version of Aragorn's Quest. Hands-off, I watched in surprise. This would be the first Lord of the Rings game published by Warner Brothers, following several years' of Tolkien movie-based games from EA. This one skews younger.

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest covers the events of the series' three main books, breaking them into missions that exist as a story being re-told by an older Samwise Gamge. The game's hub is the Shire of just after Tolkien's saga. Samwise is major. Aragorn, elsewhere, is king. The player controls a young hobbit, Frodo Gamge in this hubworld, running through it in the style of a young Link from Zelda, learning basic mechanics and talking to townspeople. Sitting down with the other kids to be told a story of exciting adventure by Mayor Samwise initiates the game's core levels. In each of those, the player assumes the role of Aragorn (think older Link).

Sam is re-telling the legend of the rings as something of a fairy tale, the game's producer told me. That's a smart way to explain away any variations from the source fiction and to amplify the spirit of the game's more cartoonish look, which varies with the dark and fantastic realism rendered in Peter Jackson's films.

Control with the Wii is two-fisted, with the remote controlling sword swipes and the nunchuck handling movement and shield. No MotionPlus support is planned, but swipes and jerks of the Wii controls are required to expose enemies' distinct weak spots. Some may require a stab; others a shield-bash. Also reminiscent of Zelda was the level shown that put Aragon on horseback for some mounted combat. Another showed Aragon making good use of a bow — though Aragon's bow can tag multiple targets, a la Link's modern boomerang.

A second player can join the story missions in Aragon's Quest at any time in a manner similar to Super Mario Galaxy's co-star mode. That second player wields just the Wii remote and can issue magical attacks like lighting, frostbite and healing spells. That player is ostensibly controlling Ganadalf, who, during co-op, appears at Aragorn's side. (Not realizing during the demo that there would be a PS2 version, I did not find out if or how this system will work on that console).

Most of what was shown of the game was solid, but what was spectacular were the graphics. Saying they were good for a Wii game is to damn with faint praise, but the visual hallmarks of Headstrong's Battalion Wars titles were there: broad traversable vistas, smartly stylized architecture and characters that compensate for somewhat simple geometry, and diverse use of color.

You can anticipate or dismiss this game as The Lord of the Rings being re-done for kids. Regardless, if the solid structure demonstrated in New York and the quality of the studio on the Wii part of the project is anything to go by, this game bears watching.

The Lord of the Rings: Aragon's Quest is set for a fall release on the Wii, PS2, DS and PSP. We have not seen any versions except for the Wii one. While the console games are being made by Headstrong, the portables are in development by TT Fusion, which previously handled Lego titles for the DS.

Developer Headstrong re-imagines the House of the Dead franchise in Overkill, a prequel to the series that takes us back to a simpler time, when men were men, women were half-naked, and black policemen use the word motherf***er as often as humanly possible. The game tells the story of a young Agent G, teaming up with Detective Isaac Washington to take down Papa Caesar, a deranged, Chinese-food loving crime lord who seems to have turned the inhabitants of Bayou City into a horde of bloodthirsty monsters. You know, the usual.

Does Headstrong's B-movie take on The House of the Dead series hit its target, or is Overkill firing blanks?

Loved
Exploitation, In A Good Way: The House of the Dead: Overkill is positively soaking in a retro 70's exploitation horror vibe, from the menus to the music to the game's actual story presentation, which features an overly dramatic narrator reading overly dramatic titles for each overly dramatic episode. It's bombastic and over the top at every turn, and you cannot help but love it.

Colorful Characters, To Say The Least: Overkill replaces the more generic characters from earlier entries in the franchise with a series of exaggerated, cliched characters torn straight out of a 70's B-movie. You've got your trash-talking, tough-as-nails cop with a grudge, your cool and confident government agent, and your mouthy stripper hell-bent on revenge. The voice actors do an excellent job of bringing the characters to life, sailing through raunchy dialogue with ease and never failing to bring a somewhat guilty smile to my face.

Play that Funky Music: The soundtrack for The House of the Dead: Overkill is an eclectic mix of vintage music styles, with my beloved funk represented in abundance. It's the sort of soundtrack I'd purchase in a heartbeat, despite the fact that one of the songs seems to feature sex with a corpse. Graphic sex with a corpse.

Point and Shoot: Simple point and shoot gameplay mechanics are bolstered by an inventive combo system that rewards players with higher scores and bigger rewards depending on how steady their aim is. It's not just about staying alive - it's about stringing together kills and being as accurate as possible with your weapons of choice. The mechanic extends the replayability of an otherwise short game immensely, driving the player to go back through and aim for a better score. Completing the main game unlocks the the Director's Cut version of the game, featuring tougher enemies and limited continues. Complete that, and you've unlocked the ability to dual-wield Wii remotes. I don't think there is a better feeling in the world than taking down mutant clowns with dual Wii remotes.

Extras and Unlockables:The House of the Dead: Overkill contains plenty of extras, both unlockable and available from the get-go. A trio of mini-games is available for those wishing to take a break from the story, featuring a nifty little shooting gallery that I probably spent far too much time playing. Then you've got your standard artwork, video clips, and 3D models, unlocked as you progress through the game. There are also weapons you unlock by purchasing them with money or earning them through playing, essential if you want to really rock in the game's ultimate unlockable, the aforementioned dual-wielding mode.

Canned Visuals: Headstrong goes a great deal towards getting around the Nintendo Wii's graphical limitations by employing various filters to the game's graphics to make the whole game feel as if it's playing out on an old reel-to-reel projector. Dust and scratches play across the screen, further immersing the player in the grindhouse feel of the game. The film effect is used to particularly evil effect later on in the game, though I won't spoil it for you.

Hated
Can A Game Be Too Gratuitous?: Within minutes of first loading House of the Dead: Overkill into my Wii I had already heard the F-word at least five times, and that's before I even got to a menu, much less played the game. The profanity and adult humor are novel at first, but towards the end of a play through they wear really thin. With tons of profanity, allusions to incest, and that one particular song that had me turning several shades of green, Overkill has a tendency to go a little bit overboard.

Shoot The Red Circle: When it comes right down to it, a light gun shooter is all about pointing and clicking, but the boss fights at the end of every level should offer something different to spice things up a bit. While several of them do just that, a few of the boss fights simply amounted to shooting a red circle until the big bad guy was dead. The first few episodes ramp up the difficulty nicely, only to have the third completely let me down. Things picked up nicely towards the end, but it seems like Headstrong phoned a couple in just to pad things out.

How entertaining can a light gun shooter be? That's a question I've been pondering since the Leipzig Games Convention last year, when McWhertor popped into the pressroom carrying a press kit disguised as a 70's horror movie on VHS. Headstrong's answer? Pretty f***ing entertaining. Fully realizing the limitations of the genre, Headstrong crafted a solid shooter and then set about infusing it with a unique 70's grindhouse style, resulting in a title with more personality than any light gun game deserves. The exploitation horror-film vibe has been so fully realized that you'll completely forget that you're simply moving a cursor about the screen and pushing a button. You might need a shower afterwards, but its a good kind of dirty feeling.

The House of the Dead: Overkill, along with being a brilliant relaunch to an aging series, is a rare game that manages to highlight the unique features of the Wii while delivering a unabashedly adult experience to the console.

The House of the Dead: Overkill was developed by Headstrong Games and published by Sega for the Nintendo Wii. It was released on February 10th for $50. Played both normal mode and Director's Cut mode to completion, and tried out each of the mini-games at least once.

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According to Lead Designer Alastair Halsby: "We have done our utmost to ensure that it feels like playing an arcade machine — albeit an arcade machine that is out to entertain a paying customer, instead of one that is trying to lever money out of players. Our players have already paid their money, so it's also our job to make sure they have a thrilling ride."

What we've seen from this title appears great so far. And that 1970's pulpy grindhouse look? Love it.

Wii Fanboy Interview: Headstrong talks House of the Dead: Overkill [Nintendo Wii Fanboy]

Black. Magic. VIOLENCE.

"They've come for brains, you'll give them bullets" [NeoGAF Thanks, Ishaan!]

Well it looks like we don't have very long to wait before we find out. I recently received this glorious post card from Headstrong Games and Sega Europe. On the back it reminds us to visit them in Leipzig in the Sega Suite and be one of the "first in the world to see our latest game in action."

Here's hoping it's going to be that rumored new Jet Grind Radio. Sounds like Leipzig is going to have some real zing to it this year.

[Hat tip to Saimon]

Ian Baverstock, CEO for Kuju Entertainment, said, “Headstrong is the final ‘piece in the puzzle’ for Kuju’s offering in the UK. As action specialists they complement the other studios that have already rebranded and together offer publishers a full service solution to their development needs. ”

The development studio is expected to stay busy-busy through the rebranding, working on several projects, including an unannounced game for Sega. Teases.

Kuju London renamed Headstrong.

Headstrong launched today as the rebranded London studio of the Kuju Entertainment network. The central London developer has already enjoyed huge success with Nintendo's Battalion Wars™ and Battalion Wars™ 2 and continues to focus on what it does best; great Character Action titles. Headstrong offers publishers a specialist service on the Wii™ and occupies an exclusive position in the market due to a wealth of experience gained by working on Nintendo titles.

Studio Head, Bradley Crooks, commented, “We have the ideal opportunity to build on a solid foundation at Headstrong and we have some great projects in development. The studio has a real advantage on the Wii due to our experience with both single-player and multi-player development and we can get projects up and running quickly with our mature technology and tools”.

The studio is expecting a busy schedule over the coming months with discussions on a number of projects. Headstrong has a flexible approach to new opportunities and is happy to work with publishers on licensed products, existing IP or to develop new ideas.

Ian Baverstock, CEO for Kuju Entertainment, said, “Headstrong is the final ‘piece in the puzzle’ for Kuju’s offering in the UK. As action specialists they complement the other studios that have already rebranded and together offer publishers a full service solution to their development needs. ”

Headstrong is located in the Bankside area of London, near the Tate Modern, and is working on a soon to be announced title with SEGA® and a number of other projects.