DS Video Games News

We're not the biggest fans of pipe music; pan pipes are for hippies and the less said about bagpipes the better.  But Link has always been a fan of the wind instruments so we're willing to look beyond our own prejudices in this case.

Nintendo today announced that you'll need to master such instruments in the forthcoming The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.  Thankfully it doesn't seem as though you'll have to whistle songs into the DS' microphone, instead using the stylus and touchscreen to control the pitch and play the correct melodies to restore the tracks to each of the temples featured in the game.  

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The English translation to Nintendo's Q&A session following the company's recent six month financial results has finally arrived.  Much of the information has already been revealed via hasty Google translations of the original Japanese transcript; however, like my mother always says, the devil is in the detail.

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The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will mark a landmark in the history of Zelda games. Not only will it cast aside the archetypal damsel in distress storyline, but it will also place Princess Zelda alongside Link as they fight together to save the land of Hyrule.

Zelda, who has traditionally been saved by Link at the end of his many epic adventures, will now be able to command Phantoms with her spirit and provide handy navigational tips for Link (uncovering new areas, storyline arcs, and items) as he drives Spirit Tracks' train.

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A lack of key Wii releases and the recent price drop were cited as determining factors in Nintendo posting a 52% drop in net income for the six months ended September 30th 2009 compared to the same period last year.

Net sales for the six month period ended September 30th 2009 amounted to 548.06 billion yen, which represents a 34.5% drop compared to the same period last year and 21.7% below forecasts issued earlier in the year.

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Despite only a few days ago denying that a new Nintendo DS was in the pipeline, the Japanese hardware giant today unveiled the Nintendo DSi LL, due to be released in Japan on November 21st for 20,000 yen (£134).

As previously reported the new version features larger 4.2" screens compared to the DSi's 3.25".  As a result the dimensions of the device have increased by approximately 15% to 161mm x 91.4mm x 21.2 mm, and weighs 100g more than the DSi.  The format will initially be available in three colours: Wine Red, Dark Brown and Natural White.

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Following increased speculation that Nintendo is on the verge of announcing a new Nintendo DS, the Nikkei Shimbun is reporting that the fourth iteration of the popular handheld will feature larger screens.

The article fails to reveal any further specifications, although reports from GI.biz indicate that the screens will now measure 4 inches compared to 3.5 inches on the current DSi and is designed to compete with the iTouch/iPhone instead of the PSP.

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Since the days of the GameCube Nintendo has stuck with ATi to provide the graphics processors behind many of its machines.  However that could be about to change, as a report on Bright Side of News alleges that nVidia will produce the graphics chipset for Nintendo's next handheld.

The article suggests the successor to the Nintendo DS will utilise a Tegra chipset, which has previously been employed in Microsoft's Zune HD player.  Citing inside sources, nVidia will provide a Tegra system-on-chip processor, which contains a CPU, GPU, a media processor and system memory on a low-power consuming chip.  The fact that the Tegra chipset is based on an ARM 11 processor hints that backwards compatibility with DS titles appears likely.

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How long does it take to draw thousands of nouns from the English language, put them in a videogame, and then designate specific properties to each object? Only a year and three months, according to the visionary behind recently released DS title, Scribblenauts.

"About a year and three months, which is crazy," said Jeremiah Slaczka, the co-founder of 5th Cell, Scribblenauts' developer. "That's probably the only thing I don't like about 5th Cell's development. It's just how it is. That's the way it is. We're competing against companies like Square Enix and Nintendo, triple-A products.

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Watching Ryo Hazuki race alongside Sonic, Eggman and Ai-Ai in Sonic and SEGA All Stars Racing may not be the return that Shenmue fans hoped for, but at least it signals the first time we've seen him in over eight years.

On the plus side it does have Ryo racing around in a forklift truck - and for that we're very, very happy SEGA.  What used to be mild curiosity over a fanboy kart-racer has now turned into something we're genuinely craving over, simply to see Ryo in action once again.

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EA Sports' FIFA 10 has become the fastest selling FIFA game in UK history and the second biggest game launch ever, with only Rockstar's GTA IV selling more copies during its launch week.

This is according to official Chart Track figures, which place FIFA atop the UK charts following its release on Friday. FIFA 10's sales at launch were 48% higher than its predecessor, while the format spread was 2% higher on the Xbox 360 than they were on PS3 (Xbox 360 - 48%, PS3 - 46%, other formats - 6%).

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EA discovered the perils of releasing unfinished features in a finished game across the launch weekend of FIFA 10.  Attempts to use the Game Face technology or Live Season 2.0 failed abjectly, with servers allegedly struggling to keep up with the sheer demand.

Players struggled to log-in to the website www.easportsfootball.co.uk, and on the rare occasion when the editor was actually available, problems such as editing or saving meant that a lot of disgruntled customers were intensifying the heat in EA's official forums across the weekend.

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UK Supermarket Tesco is currently offering EA's FIFA 10 at £24.97, which is a markdown of 50% from the game's RRP of £49.99, while other retailers have attempted to follow suit with similar price reductions.

We purchased our copies at the store this morning from a promotional display that was setup front and centre at our local Tesco Direct but, if you can't be bothered to make the journey, then there's always the online option via the TVG Store.

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Nintendo has announced a UK release date of December 11th for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Link's latest adventure on Nintendo's DS platform.

Judging from our hands-on with the E3 build of the game earlier this year, Spirit Tracks is very similar in format to 2007's Phantom Hourglass. The major new additions include a steam train instead of a boat in the exploration sections, while Link now has control of a Phantom companion for the puzzles.

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The creators of Wallace & Grommit will be bringing a series of short films to the Nintendo DS during the run up to Christmas.

The shorts will be created by Aardman's Tim Ruffle with Flipnote Studio, a flipbook animation application available for free via DSiWare.  The first of which, 'The Sandwich Times' will be available to download from September 16th.

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Following an appearance in the latest issue of Famitsu further details on Okamiden - or Okamiden: Chisaki Taiyou to give its full title - have come to light.

The DS outing is a full-blown sequel to the critically-acclaimed yet commercial failure PS2/Wii title, and not an adaptation as first believed.  The sequel takes place barely months after the events of the original, but features a new protagonist going by the name of Chibiterasu.  

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The rumours surrounding 'Okamiden' were true... well nearly.  Revealed in the latest issue of Famitsu, Okamiden is confirmed as being a new title on the Nintendo DS.

Next to no details are known about the game at this stage, although judging from the Famitsu images it appears that Okamiden remains faithful to its PS2/Wii predecessor.

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FIFA 10's Producer, David Rutter has just revealed a new mode for FIFA 10 at EA's GamesCom keynote address in Germany. The new Virtual Pro feature will incorporate EA's Photo Game Face technology into FIFA for the first time.

The technology, which allows a user to upload a photo of their face into the game and paste their likeness onto an in-game avatar, has been previously used in EA Sports' Tiger Woods series.

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Eidos has announced that a demo for IO Interactive's next opus, Mini Ninjas, will be released for Xbox and PC on Wednesday of this week (via Live and the official Mini Ninjas website respectively), while a PS3 demo will surface on PSN a day later on August 20th.

The cartoon styled action adventure follows the story of Mini Ninjas Hiro, Futo, and Suzume as they travel through feudal Japan and try to restore a harmonius equilibrium back into the world by eliminating the chaotic dark forces that have overpowered it.

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The usual heavyweights of World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty fuelled Activision-Blizzard's results beyond expectations for the fiscal second quarter ended June 30th 2009.

For the period, the world's largest third-party publisher posted GAAP net revenues of $1.04 billion and a GAAP operating income of $218 million.  On a non-GAAP basis, the publisher recorded net revenues of $801 million and an operating income of $156 million for the period.

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Although we’re still some time away from day one releases on Games on Demand, Microsoft today released the list of titles that we can expect when the service launches with the Xbox 360 dash update on August 11th.

The full list includes:

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According to reports that have surfaced overnight, a Wii version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward's 2007 original) will be released alongside the series' highly anticipated sequel this November 10th.

This news comes from a Kotaku report, which states that Activision will officially announce the game today and, with Activision's Q1 financials incoming tonight, it wouldn't surprise us one little bit if the report is accurate.

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Activision has announced a DS companion for this November's Modern Warfare 2 in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilised, which will release alongside the home console versions on November 10th.

A wide range of warring gameplay has been promised for the handheld spin-off, such as taking control of battle tanks and spy drones, manning an AC-130 gunship's cannons, and hacking computer terminals.

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Plunging worldwide Wii sales and a lack of software releases has led to Nintendo posting decreases in net sales, operating income, and net income for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30th 2009.

Nintendo's net sales for the period dropped by 40.1% to 253.50 billion yen compared with 423.38 billion yen in the previous year.  As a result operating income for the period plunged to 40.40 billion yen, representing a 66.1% decrease on 119.19 billion yen for the same period in the prior year.  Net income for the period dropped by 60.6% to 42.32 billion yen compared with 107.27 billion yen in the previous year.

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Sony's exclusivity period in Europe for Terminal Reality's Ghostbusters will end on October 23rd of this year when the game will release on the Xbox 360, Wii, DS, and PC according to Namco Bandai Partners' latest release schedule.

Up until May of this year, Namco Bandai Partners (then Atari) was poised to release the game across all of its originally slated formats until Sony swooped in and purchased an exclusivity deal for the title, which then released for PS3 and PS2 in June (a PSP version is still planned for a later date).

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Disney Interactive has announced the development of an Alice In Wonderland game that will release in conjunction with Tim Burton's upcoming film starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Helena Bonham Carter, and Anne Hathaway. The game is being released in the same week as the film's release (March 5th 2010) for the DS, Wii, and PC.

As with the film, the game's story is set after the events of Lewis Carroll's original stories when Alice returns to Wonderland in her late teens. Alice must find her way through Underland by solving puzzles and unravelling mysteries, before ultimately defeating the Red Queen and Jabberwocky to restore Underland back into Wondelrand.

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The first game didn't exactly set our pulses racing but still managed to sell relatively well, so the fact that a sequel is on the cards is hardly surprising;  but then again, a superhero movie adaptation timed alongside a Hollywood blockbuster is never really a hard thing to push. 

"Renowned" comic-book author Matt Fraction will pen an entirely new script for the game (in between moving to the coast), which borrows elements from the forthcoming motion picture and the Iron Man comic-book universe.  The game promises to offer fans characters and elements that are not in the movie sequel, including new enemies such as Crimson Dynamo.

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The third portion of DLC for Call of Duty: World at War, imaginatively titled Map Pack 3, will be coming to PSN and Xbox Live this August according to an Activision announcement this afternoon.

Four new maps will be included in the DLC, three of which will be for the adversarial multiplayer ('Battery', 'Breach', and 'Revolution') as well as one entitled 'Der Riese' for the Nazi zombie co-op mode.

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Following the announcement that Colin McRae DiRT 2 would see a slight delay on PC in order to gain fancy DirectX 11 powered visuals, Codemasters today confirmed that the sequel will be appearing on the Xbox 360, PlayStation3, Wii, DS and PSP on September 11th.

Based around the third-generation of the EGO engine, DiRT 2 promises to "take racing games to a new level".  Featuring over 100 different events set across diverse and demanding real-world locations, from the muddy tracks of the Malaysian rainforest to spectator-packed stadiums of London and Los Angeles, players compete in "contemporary off-road race disciplines" such as Rallycross, Trailblazer, Raid, Landrush, and Rally.

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FIFA 10's Producer, David Rutter isn't one to mix his words and he's also quite the perfectionist. This is one of the major reasons why FIFA 09 (the first FIFA game that Rutter produced) was such a huge improvement over its predecessors.

Like all perfectionists though, Rutter is never happy with his previous achievements and wants to keep making things better. Perhaps this is why he admitted to hating FIFA 09 now that his EA Canada team is improving the formula so much with FIFA 10:

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We suspected that this was the case but never expected an EA Producer to admit that he already knows the major new features for the next three iterations of an EA Sports series. Nonetheless, that's exactly what FIFA 10's Producer, David Rutter has revealed to TVG in a recent interview:

"I know already what the major new features will be for FIFA 11 and 12," explained Rutter at a recent FIFA 10 preview event. However, before you get all hot under the collar and start petitioning EA for all the new features to appear in this year's game, Rutter went on to explain why it's not that simple:

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EA has just announced that this year's FIFA will be reaching European shop shelves on October 2nd when it will release across all formats.

Be sure to check out our freshly posted Q&A with FIFA 10's Producer, David Rutter and a hands on preview that reveals a number of new features including the Create-a-Set-Piece mode.

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Colin McRae DiRT 2 will look a little bit better on the PC thanks to the game gaining DirectX 11 support.

The latest version of the API isn't scheduled to arrive until October 2009 alongside Windows 7, making this one of the first games to confirm support.  Key improvements include the addition of Shader Model 5.0, providing enhanced depth of field, ambient occlusion and shadows, while hardware tessellation results in improved water appearance and crown animations.

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Harold Ramis, who co-wrote and starred in the Ghostbusters movies, has been talking about some of the challenges that game writers face when they're trying to pen a funny script.

Ramis explained that because game scripts are so long, the challenge of writing enough comic alternatives to make the dialogue funny is like producing three hit movie scripts.

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Activision and Treyarch have announced that last year's Call of Duty: World at War has now passed through the 11 million unit sales mark, making it one of the most commercially successful games released in 2008.

World at War has reached this milestone in approximately half a year, while its predecessor (Infinity Ward's original Modern Warfare title) has totalled 13 million unit sales according to Activision figures announced earlier in the year.

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Speaking at E3 last week, the Producer of Assassin's Creed and its incoming sequel, Patrice Désilets has stated that the original game has now totalled sales of a whopping 8 million copies, putting it right in amongst 2007's commercial heavy hitters.

Désilets made the comments in an interview with Joystiq where he said, "We sold some eight million copies of it, you know," while fielding a question about the original game's mixed reviews and criticisms of repetitive gameplay. "Some people really enjoyed and loved the game," he continued.

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If you're a European Xbox 360 owner and a little peeved that there's going to be no Ghostbusters action (for a little while at least), there could be a solution to ensure you're busting ghosts and getting slimed with Venkman, Ray, Egon and Winston.

Destructoid reports that the North American version of Ghostbusters on the Xbox 360 is region-free, meaning that if you're desperate to play the game then you simply need to check out your local game importer or scour the web for a copy.

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EA today outlined the big new features that are set to ensure FIFA 10 continues the improvements laid down by its predecessor.

More sophisticated ball control and enhanced physical interactions between players are top of the list, along with the "first ever-true" 360 degree dribbling system allowing skilled dribblers to face the defender and use highly responsive dribbling to skip past him. 

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During its presentation at E3 today, Nintendo announced three new projects for the DS by publishers THQ, Ubisoft, and Square Enix.

As far as Sqaure Enix's RPGs are concerned, Nintendo announced Golden Sun DS and a US release date of September 29th for the DS exclusive Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.

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Nintendo has announced that the hit DS game in Japan, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, is coming to the Western market this autumn.

The game puts gamers in control of a shrunken Mario and Luigi as they attempt to escape from Bowser's innards.

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DSi owners will soon be able to upload pictures taken with the handheld console straight to their Facebook profiles, Nintendo has just announced at its E3 Presentation.

The online functionality is coming this summer according to Nintendo and follows Microsoft's announcement of Facebook integration with Xbox Live yesterday.

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Embattled publisher Atari signalled a statement of intent last year with the appointment of Phil Harrison, formerly President of SCE Worldwide Studios.

However it appears that the recent announcement that Atari Europe will fall under the Namco-Bandai family has ruffled a few feathers, with confirmation that Harrison will no longer serve as President of the publisher.  Instead Harrison's new role is the slightly less significant position of non-executive director of the group.  Atari adds that he will continue to assist, support and guide the company's strategy.

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Sonic's quite a versatile hedgehog.  Not merely content with running from left-t-right (and occasionally loop the loop) at supersonic speeds, we've also seen him spin around pinball tables, hit a few slices at the tennis court, and sprint around the Olympic running track.

Having recently taken a step into Arthurian legend and restored some pride in the occasionally brilliant Sonic Unleashed, it seems the blue hedgehog and chums will be taking a break by burning some rubber on the track with the announcement of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing.

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The first game announcement from E3 has dropped a fortnight before the expo is due to begin, as an Entertainment Software Association (ESA) promotional list for the event has unveiled The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest.

Warner Bros. Interactive is heading-up the project in what will be the publisher's first Lord of the Rings title since the game rights were dropped by EA. And what are they doing with the license? Making a LOTR game for kids, it would seem:

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LucasArts' Star Wars Battlefront series will get its first outing on Nintendo's DS if recent postings by the American game ratings board, the ESRB, are anything to go by.

Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is listed for both Nintendo's DS and Sony's PSP in the game ratings, which have surfaced prior to any official announcement from LucasArts.

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Since leaving Countdown, Carol Vorderman has never been short of endorsement opportunities, charity work, and television shows.  But now it seems she's going to be keeping DS owners fit and healthy with the announcement of Nintendo's Active Health with Carol Voderman.

Now forgive us for being slightly cynical, but don't you think Nintendo is taking this whole fitness thing a little too far?  Nintendo's Walk With Me! for the DS is on the horizon, and like this title, that also includes a pedometer and keeps a track of your activities throughout the day.  Couldn't they have used Vorderman's talents a little wiser, perhaps promoting mathematics or debt consolidation?  Soon we'll have Walk Yourself To Wealth with Alan Sugar!

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THQ has officially unveiled its next instalment in the MX vs. ATV series, MX vs. ATV Reflex, which will come to Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, and DS this year during the run-up to Christmas.

New features for the series include some impressive looking surface deformation technology, a dual thumbstick system for weight distribution and steering controls, as well as a renewed focus on making the series more accessible for the average gamer while retaining its hardcore audience.

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Atari's global operations will soon be narrowed down to the US only as Namco Bandai is reportedly set to acquire Atari Europe from parent company Infogrames next month.

Having already acquired a 34 percent stake in Atari Europe last year, Namco Bandai is now expected to purchase the remaining 66% of the company next month (reports MCV), when it will be swallowed up by the newly formed Distribution Partners (a.k.a. Namco Bandai Partners).

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Activision Blizzard has announced its earnings for the first quarter of its 2009 financial year (January 1st - March 31st 2009) and is reporting net revenues of $981 million (£651 million) for the quarter, which is $121 million (£80 million) up on its previous predictions.

That equates to a net income of $189 million (£125 million) for the company during Q1, $146 million (£97 million) more than its net income for the same period last year. As a result of these figures, Activision Blizzard is raising its year-long predictions for calendar 2009 by $100 million (£66 million) to $4.3 billion (£2.6 billion) in net revenues.

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Defying recent pessimism and suggestions the Wii had lost some of its steam, Nintendo today reported an increase in net sales, operating income, and net income for the fiscal year ended March 31st 2009.

Record breaking net sales for the period increased year-on-year by 9.9% to 1.84 trillion yen (£12.29 billion).  Operating income for the year stood at 555.26 billion yen (£3.71 billion), leading to a further record breaking net income of 279.09 billion yen (£1.86 billion).

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Ghostbusters has now gone through three separate publishers in its bid to reach the market following a deal between Sony and Atari that will bring the title to PS2 and PS3 initially, with a PSP version to follow.

This is according to gi.biz, which reports that Terminal Reality's game will now come to Sony's PS2 and PS3 exclusively on June 19th alongside the Blu-ray launch of the original films, while a PSP version of Ghostbusters is now planned for release several months later.

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If you're one of the few people not inspired by the change in the forthcoming Need for Speed: Shift, then news of two new DLC packages for Need for Speed: Undercover is likely to be

The first package, Challenge Series, is available for free and introduces 60 new challenges across two new game modes:  Highway Wars promises to blend Highway Battles and Sprint Racing, with players racing through congested highways against three AI opponents to become first across the line.  Highway Checkpoint is a race against time to make the next checkpoint before the timer runs out.

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War is set to continue waging across the world in June with confirmation of the second Call of Duty: World at War DLC, featuring three new multiplayer maps and a brand new zombie map.

World at Wars fans can fight to gain control of a tall river bridge deep within enemy territory on the Banzai map, come face to face in a ruined Russian train yard, or fight to gain control of a bombed out submarine base in the constrained Sub pens map.

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Following the reasonable Heroes of Might & Magic V and the somewhat flawed Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (let's not even mention the atrocious 360 port), it appears that Ubisoft are returning to the enduring franchise.

Nested deep within its latest financial report is confirmation that Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is currently slated for a Q1 release (Apr-Jun 09) for the Nintendo DS.

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Despite fourth quarter sales of 2008-09 dipping to 206 million euros (£184.54 million) from 217 million euros (£194.39 million) for the same period last year, Ubisoft managed to post full year sales of 1.06 billion euros (£949.56 million), representing an increase of 14% year-on-year.

A strong showing of Wii titles during Q4 ensured sales were inline with previous predictions for the French publisher, with sales of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X also passing the million milestone during the period.

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Following a record breaking year in both revenue and profit, UK retailer GAME has released details on the lifetime sales of the major formats in the country

It makes for a largely unsurprising read, with Wii leading the charge at 4.9 million units to-date since its launch back in December 2006.  Despite making an appearance beforehand, the Xbox 360 is in second spot with 3.2 million units, while the PlayStation3 has sold 1.9 million since March 2007.

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We already knew of its existence, but MTV Games and Harmonix have today confirmed that Lego Rock Band is being developed by TT Games and is scheduled for release later this year on PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii (a DS version is also being developed by Foundation 9 Entertainment).

As you might expect, the title will be aimed at a more casual audience, with the press blurb stating that Lego Rock Band "will allow families, tweens and teens to experience a wild journey to rock stardom".

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It seems the fact that Mature themed video games just don't do well on Nintendo has been cemented, with NPD sales figures for March 2009 alarmingly revealing that both GTA: Chinatown Wars and MadWorld fared pretty poorly.

Rockstar's foray onto the DS, widely considered a test bed for future GTA iterations on Nintendo formats, only managed to shift 89,000 units for the period.  The figure represents a considerably poorer performance than the 200,000 - 400,000 sales that analysts had previously predicted.

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Satoru Iwata and the naysayers of doom and gloom appeared to be right, as the release of March's NPD figures revealed a 17% drop in Wii sales for the month compared to last year.

Sales of Wii dropped to 601,000 units, representing the first decline in 14 months since supply issues hampered sales back in January 2008.  As a result of the drop, Nintendo's share price dropped by 6.6% to close at 26,180 yen, representing the biggest decline since February 2nd.

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The CEO of American retailer GameStop, Dan DeMatteo, has suggested that Nintendo may have a "key property" in the works that's due for release later this year.

Speaking to CNBC, DeMatteo said, "We think there will be a Nintendo key property coming out by the end of the year. They haven't given us any insight, but they have told us to reserve [shelf] space."

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A large disparity in sales projections for Rockstar's GTA: Chinatown Wars has surfaced between various industry analysts as the US market research firm, NPD prepares to publish its sales figures this week for the month of March.

According to Gamasutra, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich has predicted a figure of 200,000 unit sales for the title during March, while noting that these sales would make it the best performing mature title on Nintendo's DS.

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Japanese publisher Konami has announced a new title for DS, Miami Crisis, which is due for release on the handheld this coming September and is set to offer a blend of action and puzzle solving gameplay.

Players will take control of two characters in the game: a hard-nosed Miami PD officer called Martin Law (kudos on the surname, Konami) and the bloodhound-like crime solving nose of FBI agent Sara Starling.

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Satoru Iwata has announced, via a speech to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, that 600,000 units of Nintendo's DSi console have been sold in North America and Europe during the handheld's first two days on sale.

According to Iwata, the sales were split down the middle between each territory, with both the US and Europe tallying up 300,000 unit sales each.

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In an IGN interview, Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America VP sales and marketing, confirmed that we can expect to see plenty of her at Nintendo's E3 conference following the infamous appearance at last year's event.

Promising there will be no snowboarding or mother's day cards on show this year, Dunaway maintains that all she'll talk about this year is the games (although we're not entirely sure that's necessarily an improvement).

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Following the Wii's recent adoption of high capacity SD cards it seemed almost inevitable that Nintendo would look towards video services on the format.

Today, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has provided the first official confirmation that the Japanese hardware giant is looking into the opportunity, although expectedly it will be with a slightly different slant.

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The UK Market has swallowed up Nintendo's DSi, with early figures tabulating 92,000 unit sales of the handheld console in its first two days on sale after launching in the territory last Friday.

This is according to official ChartTrack figures (reports MCV), which back-up earlier reports that the DSi has topped the combined sales of every other platform over the weekend.

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It appears that confirmation of LEGO Rock Band took a step further during the weekend, with the title appearing on a GDC presentation slide recently taken from Harmonix' designer Dan Teasdale's blog.

TVG discovered from an inside source earlier in the year that LEGO Rock Band was very much on the cards alongside other LEGO themed titles - we're just hopeful that the brick-based music peripheral does actually make it as well.

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It all seemed so plausible: a PSP version gets added to an ESRB rating for Atari's upcoming Ghostbusters: The Video Game, thereby handing the publisher a clean sweeping all platform title for one of its biggest releases of the year.

Not so fast, though, as the PSP listing has since been pulled from the ESRB's website and Atari has now told Eurogamer that any claims of a PSP version being in the works are just "not true".

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A string of new titles from THQ and rough release dates were recently spotted from a sheet during an investor's presentation, courtesy of Gamespot.

New titles slated to arrive during the current fiscal year (01/04/09 - 31/03/10) that we didn't know about are an untitled Marvel Superhero Squad title (with a follow up in the following fiscal year, and the year after that), a new Drawn to Life title along with SpongeBob's Tenth - presumably to celebrate his tenth anniversary.

Confirmed for fiscal year 2011 (01/04/10 - 31/03/11) are Saints Row 3, an untitled action title from Relic Entertainment, and a racing title, alongside the customary WWE, UFC, Drawn To Life and SpongeBob titles.  WWE Online could end up being focussed on the Asian markets like Company of Heroes Online.

During fiscal 2012 (01/04/11 - 31/03/12) we'll see the follow-up to the as-of-yet unreleased Red Faction: Guerrilla with the release of Red Faction 4, along with a Darksiders sequel and the long rumoured Warhammer 40k MMO.

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A listing on the ESRB website, the ratings board for games in the US, has added the PSP to its list of platforms for the upcoming Ghostbusters: The Video Game title from publisher Atari.

The PSP title is listed with the PlayStation 2 and Wii games, so we assume it must be the version under development at Red Fly Studio. Different versions of the game are also being developed by Zen Studios for DS, and Terminal Reality for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

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Comments: (18)

Contrasting the typical controversies and negative headlines usually associated with video games, a report featured in the journal Nature Neuroscience by a team of scientists has highlighted the benefits that playing video games bring to a person's night vision.

Scientists at the University of Rochester in New York, found that playing action games can significantly enhance people's ability to see objects in the twilight hours, when colours gradually diminish into shades of grey.

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Comments: (58)

The proposed takeover of Eidos by Japanese publisher Square-Enix is set to go ahead as planned next month after Eidos shareholders voted in favour of the bid by a majority of 85%.

Once Eidos' shares are delisted, which is estimated to happen next month according to gi.biz, Square-Enix will takeover the company at a rate of 32 pence per share.

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As widely expected, Satoru Iwata came to the rescue of Wii owners' storage problems with confirmation that the Wii can now download and store WiiWare, Virtual Console titles, and Channels to High Capacity SD cards.  The new compatibility is available via today's system update, but does require that games launched from the SD card will require an equivalent amount of internal Wii memory – so plenty of swapping around awaits it seems.

In addition Iwata-san used his keynote speech to announce a new Legend of Zelda title currently in development for the DS.  The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks employs the same control setup as Phantom Hourglass, while the early information centres around concept travelling across the world via a steam locomotive.

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With an arsenal of "evergreen" titles and an ability to sell virtually anything, it's fair to say Nintendo is doing pretty well at the present time despite continued global financial insecurities.  However it wasn't that long ago when their fortunes weren't so rosy, the GameCube was languishing in third place in a three horse console race, and wild rumours suggesting that Nintendo might pull off a 'SEGA' and ditch the hardware race began to circulate.

In a recent interview with Famitsu (translated by 1UP), Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto has spoken of the sadness that this period, most notably the GameCube era, instilled in him and the initiative it provided to shift Nintendo's philosophy.

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Establishing the Nintendo DS in a small bracket of hugely succesful video games formats, Nintendo has today announced that shipments of the popular handheld have surpassed 100 million units worldwide.  Such success has also seen 83 DS titles passing 1 million sales, whilst seven of these have sold over 10 million copies.

Labelling their uncanny ability to continue selling things months after their initial release, Nintendo's "evergreen" quality seems to suggest we can expect much more along the lines of Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What To Eat? And Walk With Me: Do You Know Your Walking Routine? from the illustrious Japanese publisher.

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Comments: (66)

Thinking about stimulating your mind with one of many 'brain trainers' on the market for Nintendo DS in order to stave off the signs of cerebral old age?  Well it seems that the latest research into the effects of titles like Dr Kawashima's Braining Training has proved that there's at best weak evidence to show they actually work.

The latest research, conducted by consumer group Which?, has shown that many of the positive claims about brain trainers is actually false.  Showcasing the products in front of several neuroscientists, Which?'s report has suggested that the same levels of blood flow to the frontal cortex of the brain – said to enhance memory – could be achieved by just surfing the web and engaging in conversations.

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We're not quite sure what happened planets one to fifty, but the video game tie-in to upcoming indie animation Planet 51 has found a publisher in SEGA.

The CGI animation, currently in production at Ilion Animation Studios in Spain, is due for release this winter.  The video game adaptation is being developed by Ilion's sister-company, Pyro Studios, which previous worked on Commandos.

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News from Codemasters' Gamers Day event in San Francisco has percolated through to TVG, revealing launch windows for FUEL, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Colin McRae: DiRT 2, Jumpgate Evolution, and the publisher's second wave of Overlord games.

On the driving game side of things, FUEL and DiRT 2 are scheduled for releases in May and September respectively, with both games being pinned down for release on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC (as well as handheld outings for DiRT 2 on PSP and Nintendo DS).

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Nintendo has announced that it will be releasing the next iteration of its DS handheld console on April 3rd in Europe. The DSi will set UK gamers back £149.99 at retail and will be available in white and black colours.

This new handheld will come to Europe two days earlier than the US, where the system is expected to launch on April 5th. According to an MCV report, Nintendo UK is confident that the DSi won't experience hardware shortages at retail, as was the case for the system in Japan where demand far outstripped supply.

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Last week, Square Enix revealed that a bid to acquire UK publisher Eidos had been made, which would see Lara Croft, Agent 47, and augmented humans fall under the House of Cloud Strife.

Although the deal had the strong backing of the Eidos board, there were two potential banana skins: a vote by Eidos shareholders, and the opinion of Warner Bros, which currently has a 20% in the publisher.

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SEGA Europe has today confirmed the first details of 'Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2', which has been formally retitled, 'Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games'.

The game, which will be heading to Wii and Nintendo DS in time for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games, once again features some of the iconic characters from the two franchises, as they go head-to-head in a series of official sports from the Games.

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Disgaea DS, an updated version of the original Disgaea: Hour of Darkness on PS2, has been given an April 3rd European release date by publisher square Enix having been released in Japan and the US last year.

New additions to the game in this updated version will include a duel multiplayer system, wireless connection support that allows users to swap items with other Disgaea DS players, and an all-new story mode that follows Etna's quest to become Beauty Queen Ultimate Overlord.

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Nintendo has today confirmed a May 22nd UK release date for Pokemon Platinum.  The Nintendo DS game, which has already shipped nearly 2.5 million units in Japan since it launched there last September, features a massive selection of new Pokemon to collect and duel with, along with new gameplay options.

Set in the Pokemon world's Sinnoh region, Platinum includes a new 'Distortion World' that's bizarrely 'governed by neither time nor space', offering a new gameplay mode along the way.  Legendary Pokemon (including Dialga and Palkia) will be available to collect too, with Diamond and Pearl owners also free to transfer the Shaymin Pokemon to Platinum, unlocking its new Sky Shaymin forme.

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It's emerged today that Square Enix has put in an offer to acquire ailing UK publisher, Eidos.  The deal, which is being recommended by Eidos' director, is worth £84 million, 129% of Eidos' current share price on the London Stock Exchange.

The deal has to be approved by at least 75% of Eidos shareholders, and could pass by before the end of April.

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Walk with me! Do you know your walking routine?, Nintendo's pedometer infused walking game for its DS handheld console, has been delayed from its original February 20th release date in Europe.

Nintendo has stated that a new release date for the game will be announced shortly, so in the interim you can get some practice in by walking somewhere.

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Go, Joe! Not only is the veteran of many American toy wars set to sidle up to the silver screen later this year, but he'll also have his very own movie tie-in game published by EA to boot.

The game is due for release this summer alongside the movie, which comes to theatres on August 7th 2009, and EA plans to publish the game across all major home consoles and handheld systems.

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Treyarch has announced the first piece of downloadable content for Call of Duty: World at War. The DLC will include four new maps for the game, three of which will be for the adversarial multiplayer will a further map will be thrown in for the co-op Nazi zombies mini-game.

The competitive multiplayer maps include 'Nightfire' (featuring a flame lit, night time depiction of war ravaged Berlin), 'Station' (set in an underground train station), and 'Knee Deep' (where combat takes place across the island of Peleliu, which also features in the single-player game).

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After SEGA announced last week that it had obtained the official license to produce games for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, it seemed that it would only be a matter of time before Mario & Sonic 2 would get confirmed - a matter of six days in fact.

Vancouver 2010's Director of Licensing and Merchandising, Dennis Kim, is the source of today's news. He told The Province that SEGA intends to make use of the license by developing an official game of the event as well as a Mario & Sonic tie-in. 

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Electronic Arts has today confirmed that a new mode for FIFA 09, 'FIFA 09 Ultimate Team', will be available to download from Xbox Live and PlayStation Network from March 19th.

Sounding like a crazy cross between Fantasy Football and Magic: The Gathering, FIFA 09 Ultimate Team will give players the opportunity to collect virtual playing cards, create the ultimate starting line up of footballers, add tactics and managerial prowess, and them test them out against the dream teams of other players online.

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With the release of its latest financial reports for the nine-month period ended December 31st 2008, SEGA-Sammy became the latest Japanese publisher to suffer from the global credit crunch and the impact of the strong Yen.

Despite posting a 15.4% decrease in net sales to 309.02 billion yen (£2.29 billion) from 342.09 billion yen (£2.54 billion) in the previous year and a resulting operating loss of 2.76 billion yen (£20.47 million), SEGA-Sammy managed to reduce its overall net loss to 10.84 billion yen (£80.39 million) from 15.77 billion yen (£116.95 million) in the nine-month period from the previous year.

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Tomb Raider fans looking forward to the release of 'Beneath The Ashes', the first downloadable content taking place in the remains of Croft Manor, will have to wait a little longer it seems.

Originally due for digital release exclusively on the Xbox 360 tomorrow, Eidos has sent word that the package has been delayed due to technical issues.

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Comments: (39)

The appearance of a Transformers video game return to coincide with this year's Hollywood sequel was probably one of the least surprising entries from a marketing research leak last year: good sales of the original? Check; this summer's movie blockbuster? Check; generic, low-risk game design? ... Check.

So confirmation from Activision of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is hardly going to astonish, neither is the fact it's coming out on virtually every format imaginable.

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Comments: (22)

Speaking in a lengthy Q&A session after the release of Nintendo's latest financials, Satoru Iwata has confirmed that core Nintendo fans have been screaming out for ages... Wii Music was a disappointment.  TVG has summarised the most important bits but it's still a lengthy read, so be warned.

Responding to a question about Shigeru Miyamoto's latest creation, Iwata-san responds:

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SEGA Europe has today confirmed that it's secured the license to produce and publish video games based on the 2010 Winter Olympics, which are due to take place in Vancouver, Canada.

News of the deal comes after successful titles based on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, including the multi-million-selling Mario & Sonic at the Olympics, which is currently sitting in 12th position in the UK All Format All Price Top 40.

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Californian publisher THQ has today confirmed losses of over $191 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2009, which ended on December 31st 2008, despite the launch of several 'high-quality' titles like Saints Row 2 and WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2009.

News of the net losses comes as THQ revealed that net sales also dropped during the three-month period, from $509 million in the third quarter of FY 2008, to $357 million.

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Comments: (16)

Despite Sega's Iron Man adaptation falling woefully short of the mark it still managed to sell relatively well.  So news of today's renewed partnership between Sega and Marvel Entertainment to release Iron Man 2 alongside the movie in 2010 comes as little surprise.

SEGA Studio San Francisco (formerly The Secret Level) is believed to be residing over the game, having previously worked on such renowned hits as Golden Axe: Beast Rider, Final Fight: Streetwise, and the previous Iron Man title.

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It's another week atop the UK Charts for Wii Fit, which has now notched up three weeks on the trot at No.1 and eight total weeks atop the charts since it was released last spring.

Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty: World at War is refusing to let go of No.2, hanging on for the fifth week running despite an 11% drop in sales over the last week. Having spent 12 weeks on the charts in total, the game has never dropped below No.2, enjoying six of these weeks at No.1.

The only new entry into the top 10 this week is Need For Speed: Undercover, which re-entered at No.10 and pushed another EA title, The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, into No.11 from No.5 last week.

The remaining seven games in the top 10 were also there last week, although all but one of them have swapped positions. FIFA 09 moves up one place to No.3, Professor Layton jumps from No.10 to No.4, while Skate 2 drops two places to No.5.

The bottom half of the top ten is then made up of Mario Kart Wii at No.6 (up two places), Wii Play at No.7 (down one), My Fitness Coach at No.8 (also down one), and then Tomb Raider: Underworld holding its No.9 position from last week.

Those are the figures for Chart Track's all formats chart, which calculates the total sales for a game across all the platforms it was released on. The individual formats chart, which calculates sales for the individual SKUs of each game, reveals that Microsoft's Xbox 360 is the best represented console on the chart this week with 13 games in the top 40:

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Take-Two Interactive has today confirmed that the Wii and Nintendo DS versions of 2008's Xbox 360 title, Don King presents: Prizefighter, is due to release across North America on March 31st.  Whilst there's no confirmation about a European release, we can surely expect it to arrive on this side of the Atlantic on April 3rd, the following Friday.

Now known as 'Don King Boxing' – perhaps it's impossible to be a Prizefighter on DS and Wii – there's more than just a name change going on.  The Wii edition will be compatible with the Wii Balance Board, that bit of white plastic currently gathering dust now that our girlfriends have stopped 'playing' Wii Fit, enabling gamers to keep their centre of balance as well as judge a good clean punch.  Over twenty real-world boxers, together with locations such as Madison Square Gardens, feature in the game, which had been developed by 2K Games' outfit in China.

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After years of failing to deliver on its glory days, Electronic Arts has today confirmed that the Need for Speed franchise is undergoing a dramatic overhaul in 2009, with three titles arriving before the end of the year.

The revelation, which comes off the back of further staff cuts from the publishing giant, will see Need for Speed become a sim on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a casual racer on Wii and Nintendo DS, and a PC online racer.

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Details on the third Mario & Luigi RPG have been a little thin on the ground since its unveiling back in October.  However a recent update to the game's Japanese website has revealed a surprising twist.

With the ability to take control of Bowser alongside the brothers previously being revealed, it appears that both Mario and Luigi have found themselves exploring the insides of Bowser. 

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Bucking the financial gloom and despite a stronger than expected Yen Nintendo today reported a 17% increase in net sales for nine-month period ended December 31st 2008. 

Net sales for the period increased to 1.54 trillion Yen (£11.92 billion) from 1.32 trillion Yen (£10.24 billion) for the same nine-month period a year ago.  As a result operating income increased by 27% to 501.33 billion Yen (£3.89 billion) from 394.04 billion Yen (£3.06 billion), while net income saw an 18% decrease from 258.93 billion Yen (£2.01 billion) to 212.52 billion Yen (£1.65 billion).

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Comments: (343)

Never underestimate the selling power of fitness products during the bloated month of January, as Wii Fit has proved for Nintendo by staying atop the UK charts for the second week running with a 21% rise in sales.

Even though Wii Fit has visited the top spot seven times since it was released last April, this is the first time that the balance board aided phenomenon has managed to hold on to No.1 for more than a single week.

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Nintendo and Dr. Kawashima, or more specifically their partnership on the unit-shifting Dr. Kawashima: Brain Training, has come under scientific criticism during the weekend.

Following news of positive reports from a team of researchers based in Scotland last year, The Times is reporting on a French survey that suggests the title brings no benefits, and could actually make your memory worse!

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It's a portable gaming platform, a foreign language aid, and a virtual guitar, but the Nintendo DS will be adding a new string to its bow in Japan soon, with the launch of Hoshizora Navi – that's Starry Sky Navigator.

Developed by Japanese astronomy software producer, AstroArts, Hoshizora Navi allows DS users to track the intergalactic positions of over 9,000 astral bodies, including the Moon and the planets of the Solar System.  In fact, their positions from the years between 1900 to 2099 can be charted – just in case you ever wanted to know where Uranus was the day you were born.

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Eidos has today confirmed the release dates for Tomb Raider: Underworld's Xbox 360 exclusive downloadable content.  The DLC, two new chapters, 'Beneath the Ashes' and 'Lara's Shadow', expands the storyline of the main campaign and feature addition costumes for the iconic Lara Croft.

In Beneath the Ashes, Lara returns to the ruins of Croft Manor and discovers crypts and caverns, which are used to protect (somewhat ominously) a 'deadly source of power'.  As for Lara's Shadow, Eidos is keeping quiet...

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Comments: (39)

Ubisoft has confirmed a raft of titles for the 2009/10 fiscal year, which runs from this April to the end of March 2010, including follow-ups to Ghost Recon, Assassin's Creed, and the long-awaited return of Splinter Cell.  News of the games came off the back of the publisher's latest financial results, which saw sales slightly higher than past forecasts of 500 million Euros.

Several of the publisher's big name titles in the fiscal third quarter (Oct-Dec 2008) enjoyed a strong showing at retail, including sales of 2.9 million units of Far Cry 2, 2.3 million units for Shaun White Snowboarding, and 1.5 million units for Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party.  The Prince of Persia reboot sold 2.2 million units globally, representing a slower up take than Ubisoft had anticipated.

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While rumours abound that Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2 is in development, TVG can confirm that the licensee for the International Olympic Committee (International Sports Multimedia) is currently in talks with game publishers regarding the license for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

When we asked International Sports Multimedia whether it was in talks with games publishers regarding the official license for Vancouver 2010, the company could confirm that this was the case although it was unable to give any details of the progress of these talks or which publishers were involved.

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Nintendo's Wii Fit has returned to the No.1 spot for the fifth time since it was released in April 2008, uprooting last week's top scorer (FIFA 09) on the UK all formats chart and holding off the threat of Call of Duty: World at War, which stands fast at No.2.

An 18% rise in sales is responsible for Wii Fit's triumphant rise from No.4 last week and it'll be interesting to see whether the title can stay at No.1 next week. Even though it's held the top spot five times previously, Wii Fit has never managed to hold on to the position for more than a week.

With only 2,500 unit sales separating the top three games in this week's chart, staying at No.1 next week will be no mean feat for Nintendo's balance board aided exercise game. As well as CoD's seemingly unrelenting chart run to contend with, Wii Fit will also have to fend off the highest new entry this week with EA's Lord of the Rings: Conquest at No.3.

FIFA 09 has done a direct swap with Wii Fit, moving from No.1 to No.4 this week, while Wii Play is a non-mover at No.5. The rest of the top 10 retains some of the same faces as last week, while two re-entries to the sharp end of the chart have also appeared, according to Chart Track's week 3 figures for 2009.

Take 2's Carnival: Funfair Games comes in at No.9 (from No.11 last week), while Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training refuses to exit the top 40 gracefully having been on the market for a year and a half, jumping from No.13 to No.10 over the last week.

Need For Speed: Undercover, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, and Guitar Hero: World Tour all hold on to top 10 spots at No.6, No.7, and No.8 respectively. While Mario & Sonic is a non-mover, NFSU and GHWT both drop places.

A pair of shooters return to the top 40 this week, with Halo 3 (No.29) and Resistance 2 (No.39) both posting new entries on the chart. The biggest chart jump in the top 40 goes to Rockstar's GTA IV. Thanks to a price promotion, the title enjoyed a 26% rise in sales and moved from No.33 to No.18.

Despite the PC release of Mirror's Edge this week, this couldn't stop EA's faltering parkour runabout dropping four places from No.23 to No.27 due to a 38% drop in sales.

According to Chart Track's top 40 by individual formats, the Xbox 360 has once again achieved the highest number of games on the chart, while the PC still trails with one game and the PSP fails to chart a single title on the top 40.

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Danish outfit Io Interactive, which has the Hitman games and Freedom Fighters amongst its list of previous accolades, has announced its latest project Mini Ninjas. The title is due for release in autumn 2009 for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, and PC.

Mini Ninjas follows the story of Hiro, a mini ninja who's on a quest to restore a world that's been sent into darkness by a band of evil samurai. Using an array of powerful Kuji magic and special skills, Hiro must battle through waves of evildoers into the game's ultimate conclusion against the Evil Samurai Warlord in his Fortress of Doom.

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Word on the web is that Nintendo's next upgrade to its hugely successful line of DS handheld consoles, the DSi, could be headed for an April 4th release with a $179.99 (approx. £125) price tag.

Multiple sources close to Nintendo have apparently relayed this information to IGN, noting that the handheld will come to the US market in the first half of the year, with Nintendo of America allegedly relaying to its partners that April (most likely April 4th) is the planned launch window.

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Comments: (66)

FIFA 09 has beaten out Activision's Call of Duty: World At War once again this week, making it the only game in Chart Track's all formats UK chart to sit on the No.1 spot so far this year.

However, the gap in sales between CoD and FIFA 09 went from small to minute over the last week, shrinking from 5,000 to just 400 units.

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Comments: (126)

It's been a long two years since we first laid eyes on the tech demo that was Indiana Jones at E3'06.  Since then we've heard virtually nothing on the title as LucasArts concentrated on mastering the power of NatrualMotion's Euphoria and Pixelux' Digital Molecular Matter in Star Wars: Force Unleashed

Depending on which side of the US reports you wish to sit, Indiana Jones has either been quietly cancelled according to IGN, or, alternatively, Joystiq reports a LucasArts representative stating:

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UK publisher Eidos has today revealed that global sales of its winter blockbuster, Tomb Raider: Underworld, have topped 1.5 million units – below internal forecasts.

Making the statement in a trade update, Eidos' Chief Financial Offier, Robert Brent, acknowledged that whilst Underworld “performed well against both competitive products and recent iterations of the franchise” in Europe, the game didn't quite have the same impact across the pond:  “In a difficult North American economy we have seen retailers restricting inventory levels and triple-A products being price discounted above our expectation.”

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On top of beating out Call of Duty: World at War for the Christmas No.1 spot and returning to the top of the UK charts for the first week of 2009, EA's FIFA 09 has sold over 2 million units so far in the UK alone, making it the fastest selling FIFA game in the series' history.

"The studio created a game that appeals to everyone. We've listened to our consumers and delivered the game they wanted with rich gameplay and innovation," EA's Marketing Manager in the UK, Dan Holman, told MCV before adding: "We have now sold in excess of 2 million in the UK making it the fastest selling FIFA title to date."

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Comments: (126)

Following the launch of the Escalation Pack last December, Ubisoft has today confirmed the release of the 'Faction Elite Pack' for Tom Clancy's EndWar.

The DLC, which costs 300 Microsoft Points or 3.99 Euros from the PlayStation Network, features new battalions and unit upgrades including the JSF 15th Special Operations, Ceramic Armour, and Caseless Ammo.

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Comments: (42)

It may have been inadvertent, but Sony Pictures has today revealed that Atari's recently acquired ex-Sierra title, Ghostbusters: The Video Game, will launch simultaneously with the 1984 movie's release on Blu-Ray.

Featuring a new storyline written by creators Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, the video game had originally been pencilled in for a late 2008 launch, but was dropped following the merger between Activision and Vivendi Games.

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With the football season entering the crucial second half and with EA never one to miss out on the possibility of squeezing a brand for all it's worth, EA today announced EA Sports Football Academy is heading its way exclusively to the Nintendo DS in March 2009.

Boasting a collection of mini-games and challenges to improve your football knowledge, Football Academy appears to be targeted towards the more casual DS owner than the FIFA fanatic - we won't be charging our DS batteries quite yet then.

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Following the continued success of the LEGO themed videogames in 2008, anonymous sources confirmed to TVG that this year will continue to be filled with brightly coloured blocks.

Amidst rumours of Harry Potter undergoing the brick treatment and some suggestion that the unlikely sounding Rock Band could follow, our source claimed that the first title to emerge will likely be the rumoured sequel to LEGO Indiana Jones.  Tentatively entitled LEGO Indiana Jones 2, TVG understands that the game will primarily be based around last year's movie Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, complimented with challenge modes based on key moments from the rest of the series.

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After pinching the Christmas No.1 spot from right under the nose of Call of Duty: World at War last year, FIFA 09 has retaken the top spot on Chart Track's UK charts for the first week of 2009.

EA's footie juggernaut dropped back to the No.2 spot behind CoD last week after spending the Christmas week at No.1, but now sits atop the chart for the first week of 2009 despite a 41% drop in sales. 

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Comments: (126)

Activision's Call of Duty: World at War has once again shown why it's the 3-1 favourite to retain the Christmas number 1 spot on Chart Track's UK all format sales chart, with this week's chart bringing the shooter in at the top of the pile for the fifth week running.

While the Christmas number 1 will be crowned with next week's chart results, CoD: World at War's refusal to budge from the top spot for the last five weeks would make it the longest running, uninterrupted, chart topping run-in for Christmas number 1 in Chart Track history, if it were to retain the spot next week.

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Originally planned for a winter 2008/09 launch, Rockstar Games has today confirmed that the debut of Grand Theft Auto on Nintendo DS, Chinatown Wars, will arrive across Europe from March 20th 2009.

Set in the GTA IV interpretation of Liberty City, Chinatown Wars is the latest instalment in the GTA franchise to arrive on a Nintendo platform, following Grand Theft Auto and GTA 2 on GameBoy Color, and Grand Theft Auto Advance on (surprise, surprise) the GameBoy Advance.  Featuring a raft of DS-enabled functions, Chinatown Wars is currently in development at Rockstar's handheld specialists in Leeds, in conjunction with Rockstar North.

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According to online reports, US entertainment outfit, Time Warner, has completed the purchase of ten million new shares in ailing UK publisher, Eidos.

News of the latest acquisition of shares by Warner comes from UK industry mag, MCV, which reports that the US conglomerate now has a stake in Eidos of a little over 19%.  Time Warner had previously increased its share to 16% back in October.  Under an agreement signed between the two outfits, Warner cannot exceed a 30% stake before the end of January, although a clause that stopped the media giant from purchasing more shares before then, has been lifted.

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Nintendo of America today celebrated the Wii achieving its best ever non-December month, with sales passing the 2 million mark during November.

It was an equally successful month for the Nintendo DS with sales surpassing 1.56 million across the period, representing the second-highest, non-December month for the handheld.

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Comments: (343)

Ubisoft has today announced the first downloadable content for Tom Clancy's EndWar, alongside a second title update which will add four versus four multiplayer gameplay.

Called the 'Escalation Pack', the content includes four new missions set in all-new locations across the game world, together with new unit upgrades, and ten new achievements/trophies.  The new missions are the Siege of the Kursk Firebase (Ukraine), the Assault on Devon beach (England), the Raid on Rota naval base (Spain) and the Conquest of Dorsey Knob (USA, West Virginia).

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Raven Software is fast becoming Activision's “Marvel Universe” studio, with news that the outfit is currently working on an adaptation of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, which is due to arrive in spring 2009.

The studio, which thankfully hasn't fully cut its illustrious to the first-person shooter genre by also working on the upcoming Wolfenstein, has become increasingly tied to the Marvel characters in recent years, having produced both X-Men: Legends titles, as well as X-Men: Ultimate Alliance.

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The favourite for the Christmas number 1 spot this year, Activision's Call of Duty: World Art War, has fanned its own flames once again by sitting atop the UK Charts (according to Chart Track's all format figures) for the fourth week running.

Despite suffering a 15% sales drop this week on top of a 30% drop the previous week, it seems CoD 5 is still way ahead of the competition. The Second World War shooter has now sold 1 million units in half the time it took CoD 4 to reach the same milestone in the UK.

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Leading US executives recently shared their thoughts on the current global financial crisis at the Reuters Media Summit, including opinions from the video games industry.

Signalling his displeasure at the term "financial crisis" hitting headlines on a daily basis, Strauss Zelnick, chairman of Take Two Interactive, offered a perplexing emergency room analogy of the current situation:

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Comments: (437)

Despite the successful launch of Tomb Raider: Underworld, the vultures continue to circle above Eidos, with Square Enix the latest name linked to a possible take over bid for the beleaguered UK publisher.

Industry publication MCV cites comments from one source that the Japanese RPG specialist, which has recently confirmed plans to expand into the West, is in the process of making a late bid for Eidos.  The report even mentions that Square Enix's president, Yoichi Wada, has paid a visit to Hitman studio, IO Interactive, based in Copenhagen.

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UK developer/publisher Codemasters has today confirmed the release of the '8 Ball Pack', downloadable content for the outfit's Race Driver: GRID, which launched across multiple platforms earlier in 2008.

Featuring a selection of supercars from the McLaren F1 to the TVR Cerbera, together with the likes of the Nissan GT-R and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, the 8 Ball Pack also includes new Achievements for Xbox 360 gamers worth 25 points: 'Jack Of All Trades', 'Drift Master', 'Gas Guzzler' and 'Clean Passing'.

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According to Chart Track data, Call of Duty World At War is atop the UK charts once again this week for the third time in succession despite seeing a 30% drop in sell-through sales.

Last week's most notable releases climbed a couple of places in the charts each, with EA's Need For Speed: Undercover coming in at number 2 (from 4) and Eidos' Tomb Raider: Underworld jumping from 9 to 7.

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Activision has organised a double XP week for multiplayer bouts of Call of Duty World At War, starting on Friday December 5th at 8:00pm GMT and continuing until 7:59pm the following Friday.

There's a catch though: only players who have successfully activated their Collector's Edition copies of World At War will be eligible for double XP.

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UK developer/publisher Codemasters has today confirmed the development of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Nintendo DS, Wii, and PSP.  Due to arrive in 2009, DiRT 2 is the first instalment in the decade-long franchise since the death of McRae back in September 2007.

Announcing the sequel, Gavin Raeburn, senior executive producer at Codemasters Studios, said: "Colin McRae was all about the speed, the excitement and the entertainment of rally driving. Even when we first worked with him over ten years ago, he captured a freedom and a spirit that enthralled rally fans...Later his showmanship shone through in events such as the X-games, the Dakar Rally and the Race of Champions. He could do things with a car that no one else would and that's where we're taking the series with new events at the extreme edge of rally and autosport. It will be a great tribute to an incredible champion."

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Despite the launch of Halo 3 last September, there's only really been one game dominating Xbox Live over the last twelve months: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.  The Infinity Ward title has consistently been at the top (or close to it) since it arrived in late 2007.

So with the launch of the next instalment, Call of Duty: World at War, you'd expect the throng of hardcore CoD fans to rush out and experience the same level of multiplayer depth, this time set at the end of World War II, and forget all about the SAS and USMC...

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This week's Chart Track data is in, revealing surprises that make this season's Premiership look predictable. Most notably, on its way to the number one spot on the UK charts, Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War has doubled the week one sales figures of CoD4 on next-gen consoles and PC.

A larger installed base of Xbox 360 and PS3 owners could go some way to explaining this, although it'll be interesting to see whether World at War has the staying power in the charts that CoD4 did. Infinity Ward's title returned to the number one spot during the Christmas week last year, while World at War is currently the favourite for Christmas No.1 this year.

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Activision Blizzard has today confirmed the acquisition of Iowa-based Budcat Creations.  The deal will see Budcat continue their recent focus on Guitar Hero titles on Wii and Nintendo DS.

Whilst financial details haven't been disclosed, it is confirmed that the staff in Iowa City has signed multi-year agreements with Activision.

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Due for release (finally) next week, Atari has today confirmed that a demo has launched on the PlayStation Network for Alone in the Dark: Inferno.

The game, developed by Eden Games, is an improved version of the survival-horror title, which launched on Xbox 360 and PC earlier in 2008.  A raft of changes have been implemented for the PlayStation 3, which should make the rough diamond the lustre a little greater this time around.

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Following Activision Blizzard's decision that Ghostbusters: The Videogame didn't have enough sequel possibility and couldn't be squeezed for every last penny, Atari today confirmed that it has picked up the title from development limbo.

Working closely with Sony Pictures and Terminal Reality, the all-new storyline penned by original Ghostbusters writers Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd, takes place two years after Ghostbusters 2.  Re-uniting the cast of the original, the game features the voice talent of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson along with their likenesses.

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Speaking in a post earnings report conference call, Activision Blizzard's CEO Bobby Kotick has defended the company's decision to sell off Vivendi projects such as Ghostbusters, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena following last year's Activision and Vivendi merger.

"There were a lot of different projects and businesses that we identified as not likely to achieve the profit margin potential that we look for," Kotick said while fielding a question on the matter.

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Activision has today confirmed that it has opened up the Call of Duty: World at War beta to all Xbox 360 gamers – a week ahead of the shooter's launch in North America on November 11th.  Treyarch's latest stab at the franchise is scheduled to arrive in the UK from November 14th.

News of the public status was made on the official Call of Duty website.

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Ubisoft has today released a demo for Tom Clancy's EndWar onto the PS3's PlayStation Network, just over a fortnight after a demo landed onto the Xbox 360 Marketplace.  A taster of what gamers can expect when the full game arrives at retail on Friday (North American gamers can get involved from today), EndWar is the fourth franchise from the Clancy umbrella after Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon.

Featuring a control system largely reliant on voice control and production headed by former Total War supremo Michael de Plater, EndWar is a new take on crafting RTS titles on the consoles, and sees the US, Europe, and Russia battle it out across forty locations around the three continents.

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It seems the DS truly is a money-making machine for Nintendo.  Just days after the November 1st Japanese launch of the DSi, Nintendo has celebrated the initial stock of 170,779 units selling out completely.

Queues formed outside virtually every outlet selling the handheld, as Japanese consumers clamoured to gobble up the DSi with its larger screens, inbuilt camera and enhanced online functionalities.

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Electronic Arts has today revealed that The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, developed at Pandemic Studios, will launch on January 9th 2009 outside of the United States.  American gamers won't have long to wait however - Conquest will see a release on January 13th.

Once again returning gamers to Middle-Earth, Conquest gives players the chance to either save or conquer the Free Peoples of Tolkien's world.

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Comments: (61)

Atari has announced that it has picked up the publishing and distribution rights for The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, which is set for release during the spring of 2009 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Initially billed as a remake of the cult classic film tie-in game, Escape from Butcher Bay, Assault on Dark Athena is now set to offer a new chapter to the Riddick saga as well as online multiplayer and remade content from the 2004 Xbox and PC game.

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DS owners will be rocking through the decades with the confirmation of the Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades final setlist.  Covering more than 40 years of rock with 28 master recordings, the complete setlist includes:

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Following on from a similar deal between Citroen and Gran Turismo, Electronic Arts has today confirmed that the new Nissan 370Z will be making an appearance in Need for Speed Undercover.

Due to arrive across North America on November18th, the latest Need for Speed will feature the new model the day before the 370Z makes its unveiling at the Los Angeles Auto Show.  The European release of Undercover is due on November 21st.

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Microsoft has released demos on the Xbox Live Marketplace for Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Tomb Raider: Underworld, two of the library's worth of titles due for launch before Christmas.

The third instalment of Rare's Banjo franchise, Nuts & Bolts is due to arrive across the UK from November 14th, with Underworld launching a week later on the 21st.  An updated version of the Nintendo 64 original Banjo is also due next month.

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As Azeroth gets overrun by zombies in World of Warcraft and a zombie plague spreads across multiplayer games of GTA IV, Treyarch has announced that Call of Duty: World At War will be the latest game to get in on the zombie craze that's sweeping the world of games.

Dan Bunting, Producer on Call of Duty: World At War, told Gametrailers about the Nazi zombie squelching game mode that will ship with Treyarch's latest CoD attempt next month: 

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A deal has been agreed between SCi Entertainment and Warner Brothers, which will stop the US media conglomerate from controlling more than a 30% stake in SCi before January 2009. The move  seems to suggest that the Britsoft outfit is relying on the Tomb Raider effect this Christmas in a bid to increase the value of its share price.

Warner Bros upped its stake in SCi earlier this month, taking it to 16%, leading to increased speculation that the company was looking to fully acquire SCi.  The beleaguered UK publisher, which has already experienced a massive corporate overhaul in 2008, has seen its 52-week share price on the London Stock Exchange fall from a high of 370p to just 18p. 

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She's already a hit in the kitchen, and now Nintendo DS gamers will be able to see whether they're 'Wonderful...Better Than Mama!' out in the garden, with confirmation that Gardening Mama is heading to Europe in spring 2009.

The announcement has been made by publisher 505 Games, which has revealed the challenge of turning a barren garden into a 'tranquil paradise', with the gameplay broken down into accessible mini-games such as digging holes, planting seeds, and mixing fertiliser.

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Scheduled to arrive on Wii and Nintendo DS before Christmas, Electronic Arts has today confirmed the soundtrack to Skate It, along with a fuller catalogue of songs for Skate 2 – due on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in early 2009.

The series, which won plaudits with its 2007 debut, has the monopoly in skateboarding videogames this year, following the decision by Activision to give Tony Hawk a well-deserved vacation.

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Their latest stab at the award-winning franchise hasn't even reached store shelves yet, but that hasn't stopped Treyarch from revealing a desire to work on more Call of Duty.

In an interview with TVG, Call of Duty: World at War producer, Noah Heller, has revealed that the team behind the fifth CoD would love to work on another instalment of the franchise:

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Ubisoft has announced that EndWar, one of the most highly anticipated RTS games this year, is coming to the handhelds alongside its release on the Xbox 360 and PS3 this November 7th.

This news comes less than three weeks before the title is due to be launched, although the PSP and DS versions will not feature the same real-time strategy and voice command system that the next-gen versions do. Instead, developer Funatics Software has built strategy gameplay that is both turn-based and has simultaneous move and attack phases.

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Days ahead of launching in North America, EA Sports has confirmed that FIFA 09 has become the fastest selling instalment in the football franchise ever.

Since it launched across Europe last week, over 1.2 million copies of the game have been sold, becoming number one in several charts, including the UK, Ireland, and Denmark.

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The rumours were true - a new Nintendo DS is on its way boasting all of the improvements and new features that were leaked earlier in the week.

Revealed at Nintendo's Press Conference, the DSi features slightly bigger screens, a 300,000 pixel camera and music-player support. Although the 0.3 Mega-Pixel camera sounds a little feeble by today's standards, it's worth noting that it's approximately two and a half times the resolution of the DS screen (256x182). So viewed on the DS, at least, images should be pretty clear.

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Following the earth-shattering revelation that Dragon Quest IX would shy away from next-gen technology and be developed exclusively for the Nintendo DS back in 2006, for a release at some point in 2007, it now seems we may have even longer to wait for the next title in the revered RPG series.

Following the first delay to its original release date into 2008, Famitsu is today reporting that the title has once again been shifted and will now release in Japan during March 2009.

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Following months of rumour, and despite the DS still selling like hotcakes, it seems reports of a new Nintendo DS are in fact true

A report from the Nikkei newspaper last week reveals that the alleged handheld will be more of an update as opposed to anything too drastic, with suggestions it will increase its media capabilities with an inbuilt camera and music playing functionality.

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Square-Enix has today confirmed a double-bill of Nintendo DS RPGs, heading to Europe in spring 2009. Both have been produced by Atelier Iris and GrimGrimoire studio, Nippon Ichi, and are already scheduled to arrive across North America in time for the Holiday season.

An update to the PlayStation 2's Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Disgaea DS includes additional features exclusive to the handheld, including multiplayer, Wi-Fi swap 'n' share functionality for items, and customisable rule systems.

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Electronic Arts has revealed that Will Wright's Spore, which landed on PCs earlier in the month, has gone platinum with over one million sales to date.

The game, which has been at the centre of significant online rants and debates over its Digital Right Management issues, has also spawned over 25 million species of weird and wacky creatures.

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In what could prove to be sensationalist fodder for the inner pages of Britain's tabloids, Rockstar's Dan Houser has revealed that there will be a drug dealing mini-game in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for Nintendo's DS.

"We wanted to have a drug-dealing mini-game in lots of the GTA games. We played with it a little in Vice City Stories, because it worked really well juxtaposed with the main story," Houser comments in this month's issue of Edge (via CVG).

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LucasArts has today confirmed global first week sales for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, with the latest title from the 'House that George Built' topping 1.5 million copies - a record for any Star Wars game, and a record for LucasArts as a company.

The game, which sheds light on Darth Vader's secret apprentice between the events of Episode III and Episode IV, had proved something of a challenge for LucasArts. The internal studio had to deal with the technological challenge of getting three third-party middleware products, Digital Molecular Matter, Euphoria, and Havok Physics, to work together and deliver what their 'next-gen' vision for the famed brand.

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Ubisoft has confirmed that the new-look Prince of Persia will be scrambling onto Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC from December 5th. The Nintendo DS version, Prince of Persia: The Fallen King, is also due out on the same day.

Featuring a new cel-shaded art style, together with a mysterious companion called Elika, the new Prince's adventure takes him on a journey against 'The Corruption', an evil force created by the destruction of the Tree of Life.

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Disgruntled Nintendo fans may have something to celebrate with confirmation that the hardware giant will be hosting a Japanese event on October 2nd.

Few details are known thus far although it has been suggested that the company will unveil new titles. Whether these fall under the much needed core camp or further games to extend Nintendo's appeal amongst the mainstream remains to be seen, but we're sure there won't be a repeat of executives pretending to play violins this time around.

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Comments: (343)

Ignition Entertainment appears to have more than SNK back catalogue on its book with the announcement that it will publish Mistwalker's Blue Dragon Plus for the DS across Europe and North America in March 2009.

Recently released across Japan, the DS title takes the anime influenced RPG onto the handheld. Following a year after the events of the Xbox 360 title, Blue Dragon Plus finds the world split in two since Shu and his companions defeated Nene. Strange cubes have appeared, in one of which King Jibral notices the Shadow of a Balaur begin to emerge.

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At a Japanese event to highlight future titles SEGA Japan has put its support firmly behind the handhelds, with the announcement of Phantasy Star Online Zero, Shining Force Feather, and Blazer Drive for the Nintendo DS.

Featuring Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection support and a PictoChat-like setup to ease communication, Phantasy Star Online Zero is the latest title in the popular online series that has graced the Dreamcast, GameCube, Xbox and PC. Phantasy Star Zero is scheduled for a Japanese release on December 25th 2008.

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Rumblings emanating from the GameStop Expo. In Las Vegas are suggesting that LucasArts' next-gen Indiana Jones game (originally shown at an E3 2006 tech demo with very few details surfacing since) will be revealed next week and is set for a 2009 release.

This news comes from 1up, with further details alleging that the Xbox 360 and PS3 game will use Star Wars: The Force Unleashed's game engine.

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Ace Attorney fans may have had the slightly odd situation of being treated to Apollo Justice' adventures with the European release of the fourth title in the series before the third, but it seems there's life in Phoenix Wright still with confirmation that Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations will finally make it to Europe on October 3rd.

The third title in the Ace Attorney series allows those hooked on the courtroom drama to not only play as Phoenix Wright, but also step into the shoes of his psychic assistant Mia Fey to head back in time and discover how she first encountered Phoenix before he had even thought about becoming a lawyer.

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A day after Electronic Arts confirmed that the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had been delayed to summer 2009 (thanks to the decision by Warner Bros. to push the movie into next year), an SEC filing has emerged showing how much the move has cost the publisher in the current financial year.

Originally scheduled to arrive on all platforms in November, the delayed start to the boy wizard's sixth year at Hogwarts is costing EA a little bit more than the average public school fees...to the tune of $120 million.

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After much speculation, Electronic Arts has today confirmed that the videogame adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has been pushed back to summer 2009, to coincide with the recently delayed movie.

Originally planned for a late 2008 release, Warner Bros. decided to delay the release of the sixth instalment to ensure a summer blockbuster from the Hollywood studio.

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Back in the Spring, Eidos revealed that 'old skool' title Gauntlet was in development for the Nintendo DS - today, the UK outfit confirmed that the update will arrive in October.

In production at Foundation 9's Backbone Entertainment, the latest handheld edition of the 1980s classic includes four-player multiplayer over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, along with VoIP via the DS' built-in mic. Over forty maps are being produced for the revamped title, which sees the iconic group of classes, Warrior, Elf, Valkyrie, and Wizard once again battling through the collective hordes of evil.

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Next Friday sees the double release of Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise on Xbox 360 and Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise on Nintendo DS, but it looks like Rare will be taking a lengthy break from the franchise.

In an roundtable interview with several Rare and Viva Pinata community sites, including MundoRare, lead designer Justin Cook confirmed that "...as the team is concerned we are taking a break from VP for a while to make something new." No details are available about what the 'something new' could be, whether that's an original IP or a new instalment in an established brand...like the often rumoured Killer Instinct 3 for instance.

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Somewhat out of the blue, Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings has turned up as a 16+ rated game on PEGI's site. The game will be published by Activision in Europe (which usually handles LucasArts' games in the territory) for DS and PSP, although neither outlet has released any information on the title to date.

The gaming press at large is currently speculating that Staff of Kings could be linked to an Indiana Jones game that was originally revealed at E3 2006 as a tech demo of Pixelux's Digital Molecule Matter and NaturalMotion's Euphoria technology.

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The strong relationship between Atari and Namco Bandai is continuing later in the year with the European release of Dragon Ball Origins, an action adventure title heading exclusively to the Nintendo DS.

Dialling back the events of past titles, Origins focuses on Goku's original hunt for the seven Dragon Balls, with players controlling the entire adventure with the DS' touch screen. Using a series of taps and lines made on the screen to perform Goku's signature moves like the Kamehameha, the hunt is on for the dragon balls, as the protagonist gets a helping hand from his sidekick Bulma.

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THQ and Rare have today confirmed that the Nintendo DS spin-off to Viva Pinata will arrive on the handheld from September 5nd in the UK.

Launching on the same day as its Xbox 360 big brother Trouble in Paradise, Pocket Paradise marks the first time that the brand has left Microsoft's console, finding a natural home on the DS.

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Electronic Arts has today confirmed that Will Wright's Spore has reached gold status, in time for the game's launch on September 5th across Europe.

The PC title will also be joined by Spore Creatures, which is set to arrive on the Nintendo DS from September 7th, alongside a special 'Galactic' edition of the game filled with extras including DVDs and a handbook.

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Having made an original appearance on Xbox 360 and PC, followed by a PS3 debut that raised hell, Codemasters has today confirmed that the Overlord will be making a return in 2009 in...Overlord II.

But this time, the anti-hero takes on the Roman-esque might of the 'Glorious Empire', with the minions making their mischievous return too. The gremlin-like creatures have also learnt new tricks, with the ability to ride wolves and other animals as well as the destructive skills to demolish buildings. Dutch outfit, Triumph Studios are once again taking the reins.

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Puzzle and adventure games collide with the announcement of Henry Hatsworth for the Nintendo DS courtesy of EA's Casual Entertainment label.

Promising to combine the action of an adventure game with the challenge of a puzzle game, players take control of Henry Hatsworth across five exotic worlds, fighting a variety of opponents and taking on "outrageous" world-ending bosses.

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Over thirty years after it stopped spinning (aside from its disastrous 2005 feature), The Magic Roundabout is making a return, this time in the form of a videogame for Wii, Nintendo DS, and PC.

Due on the three platforms before the end of 2008, the game adds to the bulging library of mini-game compilations already available on Wii and DS, Zebedee promises Dougal a gift on 'Friendship Day'. Deep Silver will be handling the publishing duties in the coming months.

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Following a poor performance last fiscal year, SEGA-Sammy today reported a net loss of ¥10.53 billion (£49.84 million) for fiscal Q1 period ended June 30th 2008. During the three-month period SEGA-Sammy recorded net sales of ¥74.60 billion (£353.08 million) compared with ¥95.42 billion (£451.62 million) in the same period last year, leading to an operating loss of ¥10.29 billion (£48.70 million) in contrast to an operating loss of ¥2.43 billion (£11.50 million) in the same period last year.

SEGA-Sammy attributed the poor performance to continued uncertainty surrounding the Japanese economy, blaming the food and fuel crisis for causing global instability. The number of pachinko parlours and players continues to drop, which is a key element to SEGA-Sammy business strategy, as a result of the new legislation forcing models to meet new standards. The sector recorded ¥12.29 billion (£58.17 million) in net sales, resulting in an operating loss of ¥4.35 billion (£20.59 million).

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As the battle of the bands begins to simmer, leaked track listings for either Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, or Rock Revolution (Konami's newcomer to the fraternity) are becoming a weekly occurance.

The latest rumoured set-list comes from a Kotaku report, where an anonymous tipster has apparently got their hands on some official Konami documentation that reveals the full list of tracks for Rock Revolution.

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MCV today brings word that FIFA 09 will launch shortly after the customary late September timeframe, on October 3rd 2008.

Boasting over 250 improvements from last year's version, including a 20-player online mode, improved shooting, ball physics, and AI, FIFA 09 has already begun to mount a strong challenge ahead of the new season kick off against Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 09.

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One of the game industry's leading analysts, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter, has suggested that Nintendo may have plans to unveil a new handheld this year. This follows Nintendo's Q1 financials yesterday, which revealed that DS sales were declining in Japan.

"It is likely that DS demand will continue to decline in Japan, and we think that Nintendo has a new handheld device ready for launch in that territory before the end of the calendar year," said Pachter, according to gi.biz.

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For the three month period ended June 30th 2008, Nintendo reported a 24% increase in net sales to ¥423 billion (£1.98 billion) compared to the same period last year. As a result operating income rose to ¥119 billion (£557.52 million) from ¥91 billion (£426.34 million) in the previous year, while net income increased from ¥80 billion (£374.80 million) to ¥107 billion (£501.30 million).

Buoyed by the success of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness/Explorers of Time, the DS continued to enjoy success overseas. However, the signs that the popular handheld could be slowing up were noticeable across Japan for the period, dropping from 2 million units in the period to 580,000 units. Total worldwide sales for the DS during the period stood at 6.94 million units, bringing life-to-date sales to 77.54 million units.

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In the ongoing saga surrounding the R4 cartridge, Nintendo, Capcom, and other DS developers have recently filed a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court against devices as represented by 'R4 Revolution for DS'.

The R4 card allows DS users to bypass security and run titles illegally downloaded from the internet. It has become such an issue that numerous publishers have expressed concern at the impact on DS sales, amidst some claims that up to 90% of DS users could be playing pirated software.

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Following in the aftermath of the Vivendi Games merger, Activision today announced plans to absorb a number of Vivendi's brands into its own catalogue and take a close look at the publisher's internal studios.

Brands now falling underneath the Activision banner include videogame stalwarts Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, Radical Entertainment's Prototype, Ice Age and an unannounced original IP.

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Nintendo's President and CEO, Satoru Iwata, has apologised for the distinct lack of anything 'Super Mario' or 'Zelda' at E3, while insisting that Nintendo has not forgotten its hardcore fans.

Speaking to Forbes, Iwata said: "If there is any perception that Nintendo is ignoring the core gamers, it's a misunderstanding and we really want to get rid of that misunderstanding by any means. We are sorry about [the E3] media briefings, specifically for those who were expecting to see Nintendo show something about 'Super Mario' or 'Legend of Zelda.'

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They're about as memorable as credit card numbers, and now even Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has confirmed that the Nintendo Friend Codes are far from perfect.

Speaking at an E3 interview with GameDaily, Iwata explained that, "I don't think the current system we have with friend codes is perfect. However, if it's an online world where you can get access to anybody without any restrictions, I as a father do not feel like allowing my daughter be engaged in that kind of world."

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For the handful of gamers who still reminisce over the good old days, Ignition Entertainment today announced an autumn European release for Metal Slug 7 on the Nintendo DS.

Joining the hallowed ranks shared by the likes of Police Academy, Metal Slug 7 is the first title in the once popular run-and-gun series not to be a conversion of an arcade original.

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Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond at the silver screen will be joined simultaneously with its videogame adaptation, as Activision has today confirmed an end of October launch for the publisher's debut 007 title.

The Quantum of Solace videogame, which takes in the events of the new Bond adventure together with predecessor Casino Royale, is set to hit the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS2, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PC on October 31st (the same day as the movie), according to UK trade mag, MCV.

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Without doubt, two of the head turning announcements of E3 2008 have been Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 and GTA: Chinatown Wars on Nintendo DS, both of which came like a bolt from the blue.

A debut trip to Liberty City on a Nintendo platform is certainly an eye-opener, even if information on the game itself is pretty scarce so far.

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In light of too many surprises, Nintendo today unveiled that GTA will be heading back to Nintendo with confirmation of GTA: Chinatown Wars.

Taking place in modern day Liberty City, Chinatown Wars employs the traditional free-roaming structure but with a game engine specifically designed for the Nintendo DS.

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We're guessing Lara Croft's return can't come soon enough for Eidos, but it seems we've all got a little while to wait with confirmation of the Tomb Raider: Underworld European release date.

Taking place on November 21st 2008, Tomb Raider Underworld will appear on the Xbox 360, PlayStation3, Wii, PlayStation2, DS and PC simultaneously, suggesting a likely Christmas No.1.

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Electronic Arts has revealed the first details of the Wii and Nintendo DS exclusive title, SimAnimals. The game, which is scheduled to arrive on the two platforms during January 2009, takes players right to the heart of the natural world, interacting with any number of animal species.

SimAnimals features a host of animals, from 'friendly' ones like hedgehogs and deer to more 'mischievous' creatures like raccoons and bears, with the player interacting with them through the forest. No doubt future expansions will see gamers travel to more exotic locations where lions and meerkats roam the plains...

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Keen to get in on the latest DS craze, Atari today confirmed it has partnered with one of TV's most celebrated chefs and school lunch crusader Jamie Oliver.

What's Cooking with Jamie Oliver features an interactive cookbook that boasts 100 recipes from the naked chef, along with mouth-watering photography from David Loftus.

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During the late 1980's and early 1990's one company ruled supreme in the PC gaming stakes, the Dallas based Apogee Software.

Widely responsible for establishing the shareware model, the mighty Duke Nukem, and offshoot label 3D Realms (which quickly became its official face), Apogee today sent word of its own resurrection with the revival of several brands and all-new licenses.

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After several years away from the TV screens, 505 Games has today confirmed the return of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for Nintendo DS, due for launch this November.

Set after the climax of the seventh series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice sees the slayer attempt to shut off the reopened Hellmouth, in an adventure set across Sunnydale. Sounding somewhat ambitious, the gameplay will feature both first and third-person sequences, as the 24 mission strong campaign takes in encounters with practically every character in the series, including the Scooby Gang, Angel, The Master, and First Evil.

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In a gesture up there with The Beatle's proclamation about being bigger than Jesus, Activision today celebrated the continued monumental success of Guitar Hero.

A week after launching in North America, Guitar Hero's debut on the DS has notched up over 300,000 copies, establishing it as the publisher's biggest DS title by a factor of eight and one of the top five best-selling launches in the company's history.

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According to Nintendo sales figures at the end of the last fiscal year, Nintendo's Brain Training games had sold almost 24 million units worldwide since release, so you'd expect the Japanese games giant to keep releasing sequels until the sales dry out, right?

Apparently not, according to Nintendo UK's Marketing Director Dawn Paine, who told MCV in this week's issue, "Given that both titles continue to perform well, there are no plans for any more titles in the series."

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Widely acclaimed as one of the finest videogames ever created, the recent appearance of a Square-Enix teaser website has caused fans to get into a fluster over the potential of a Chrono Trigger remake emerging on the Nintendo DS.

Unfortunately all we've got to go on at present is a clock indicating the current time, along with the fact that the URL ends with 'ctds' - Chrono Trigger DS?

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It's release this year was never in doubt, but Electronic Arts has today revealed details on FIFA 09, the upcoming instalment in the annual football franchise due for launch later in the autumn.

In development at EA's Vancouver studio, FIFA 09's multi-platform launch will see features tailored to the strengths of each platform, together with the promise of greater gameplay realism.

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With the final match of Euro 2008 kicking off this weekend, what better time for 505 Games to announce the development of Subbuteo for Nintendo DS?

The UK publisher has today confirmed the Subbuteo videogame, with the final finger-flicking release due on the platform in September. Using a classic flick control system together with a range of tournaments and leagues on offer, Subbuteo certainly sounds like a more traditional alternative to the likes of EA and Konami's football offerings later in the year!

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Although a new Prince of Persia DS adventure was announced at the same time as its home console counterparts, Ubisoft has today confirmed additional details on the handheld version.

Entitled 'Prince of Persia: The Fallen King', the portable adventure - separate to the events of its bigger brother - sees the acrobatic hero try to eliminate 'The Corruption', described as a dark substance that has infected much of Persia. Along the way, the Prince meets a new (and playable) character called Magus, but is the partially infected a true ally?

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