Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (NDS)
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an entirely original entry into the critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto series, and brings a new level of interactivity to the world of Liberty City. Players will assume the role of Huang Lee, a member of the Chinese Triad crime syndicate who must navigate his way through the streets to uncover the truth behind an epic tale of crime and corruption.
"Our teams set out to create the most massive and intense action experience on the DS," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "Rockstar Leeds has innovated on what the 'Grand Theft Auto' series has stood for and the end result is something we’re incredibly proud to share with our fans."
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the NDS is rated M for Mature by the ESRB.
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (NDS)
Pokémon Platinum Version brings a host of new features, including the mysterious new Distortion world, never-seen-before forms of powerful Pokémon, exciting online games in the new Wi-Fi Plaza and strategic battles that are the hallmark of the main Pokémon game series.
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure combines an exhilarating adventure game on the top screen, and an enthralling puzzle game on the bottom screen, to create an interactive game play experience unique to the DS.
"We are excited for players to experience how much fun it is to fuse these two popular genres," said Scott Walker, Executive Producer. "Casual players will enjoy jumping right into the fun, while more seasoned gamers will really get into the strategy behind how to utilize the puzzle to progress through the adventure."
Players will embark on a journey through a wonderful new style of gaming as Henry Hatsworth, a light-hearted, tea-sipping British chap. As Henry, the top Adventurer in the Pompous Adventurer Club, players will explore 35 levels in five exotic worlds. Players also will take on delightfully strange opponents, including outrageous world-ending bosses such as Leopold Charles Anthony Weasleby the Third (the #2 Adventurer in the Pompous Adventurer Club) and Lance Banson (voted Sky Pirate Magazine’s Handsomest Most Eligible Bachelor of the Year).
Throughout the game, players switch back and forth between navigating an action-platform game on the top screen, and mastering a fun yet challenging puzzle on the bottom screen. Worlds collide as the player begins to see how game play on the top and the bottom screens affect one another, creating a cause and effect relationship. Players will defeat enemies in the top screen only to find that they then become part of the puzzle mode on the bottom screen. Players complete puzzle combinations in the bottom screen to earn power ups, health and energy that will enhance their ability to play in the adventure mode on the top screen. A mastery of puzzle strategy and skill results in Tea Time, a supercharge of energy where Hatsworth turns from his charming self into a giant, indestructible mech robot!
Developed by EA Tiburon, Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, rated E for Everyone, has an MSRP of $29.99.
Men of War (PC)
Men of War is a stunning mixture of RTS and a third-person action that takes players to the most brutal battlefields of Europe and North Africa during the height of World War II. The game unfolds across three different campaigns played out through the eyes of Soviet, Allied and German soldiers. Each campaign has its own scenario and structured timeline bringing a different story of the war to life. Whether in single or multiplayer warfare, gamers can employ the unique Direct Control System, which allows for player control of any single soldier or vehicle on the battlefield at any time. Men of Warfeatures epic multiplayer battles, realistic vehicles and weapons, and highly detailed environments and characters.
North American gamers will find the robust and deep RTS a joy to install and play thanks to the game's lack of DRM software. The first five titles published by Aspyr under license from 1C in North America - Men of War, Death Track: Resurrection, Cryostasis, Necrovision, and 4X4 Hummer - will all ship DRM-free.
Men of War, rated M for Mature, is available for PC for the suggested retail price of $29.99.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Wii)
Wii owners now have the ability to experience Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 with exclusive co-op play. As one of the premier soccer games on the market, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 for Wii offers an authentic soccer experience, incredible realism, and exciting new gameplay. Featuring real players, a large variety of licensed teams and a number of professional arenas, gamers will be able to re-create the excitement surrounding the world's most popular sport. As in previous releases, the ball is treated as a separate entity, with the timing of shots completely controlled by the player. An updated AI system ensures that teammates will be constantly seeking the best field position, making intelligent moves on both offense and defense. Unique to the Wii version, players can easily move their players on the pitch using intuitive controls, enabling a variety of offense patterns on the fly. Dribbling control has also been enhanced, and a number of subtle moves have been added to bypass defenders in order to move the ball down the pitch. For the first time, to further the gameplay's realism, the Wii version now features the acclaimed 'Master League Mode' where players can complete a squad with real players based on transfers, blending real soccer strategy with real soccer fun.
Utilizing the Wii capabilities, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 has exciting new online features and customization options. Featuring a co-op play that supports up to 4 players, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 has a greatly improved online mode that can support up to eight players competing online simultaneously, using two consoles and with four players per Wii console. Anything up to four against four is allowed online, while offline allows for four players simultaneously. Based on controller preference, players can choose from the nunchuck and Wii Remote, the horizontal Wii Remote or the Classic controller. In addition, this version offers the Edit Mode where players can create badges, kits and soccer stars from scratch.
Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 offers gamers the ability to compete as the world's best players as it is the only game on the market to have the UEFA Champions League Mode. Additionally, Argentinean forward Lionel Messi and one of Mexico's finest soccer players, Andres Guardado will be the faces of the latest version of the multi-million selling Pro Evolution Soccer series. Messi is regarded as one of the most exciting talents of the modern game as this 21-year-old is an ever-present fixture on both the Argentinean national team and his club team, FC Barcelona. Guardado, known for his renowned play on the Spanish professional club team Deportivo de La Coruña and for the Mexican national soccer team, has developed a large and loyal fan base worldwide.
Taking the commitment to Latin America one step further, Konami has also invited two renowned Latin narrators into the Pro Evolution Soccer family, adding to the impressive roster of different language narrations. Well-known soccer analysts Luis Garcia and Christian Martinoli will be the Spanish commentators in the game, allowing players to listen to the personalities they have grown accustomed to while watching their favorite teams.
Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution (Wii)
Bringing the beloved franchises to Wii for the first time, Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution retains all the hit features of best-sellers Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 1 and Round 2, while delivering a knockout punch of style and attitude, with ludicrous special moves, droll taunts and massive-scale arenas. Tailored to take advantage of the motion-controlled realism of Wii, Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution lands its powerful fun-packed punch at retailers across North America.
Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution features a roster of 18 wildly caricatured cartoony boxers, parodied characters from the worlds of sports, music and movies who enter the ring as larger-than-life "Rumble-ized" versions of themselves. Players will step right up and see if they can knock these super-sized egos down a peg or two!
One of the characters featured in Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution is Dewie Streudel, a fun knockabout parody of everyone's favorite beach hunk, the inimitable David Hasselhoff. In the last week The Hoff got involved in live demos of the game at the Beverly Center in LA against unsuspecting shoppers, and on the Jimmy Kimmel TV show taking on the main man Jimmy himself and forcing him to eat Wii canvas.
The game is hosted by "The Voice of the Champions" Michael Buffer, famous for his "Let's Get Ready to Rumble" trademark call. Characters are brought to life with hilarious moves, detailed facial animations with damage and fighting techniques including special moves, combos, extreme knockdowns and special "Rumble" combos. An all new Championship Mode lets gamers create their own unique boxer and nurture his skills through mini-games, developing him as a fighter and creating a completely personalized Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution experience.
Resistance: Retribution (PSP)
With an all-new story and cast of characters, Resistance: Retribution takes a third person approach to the franchise as gamers work their way through Western Europe to destroy a Chimeran conversion center in Paris. The third title developed by the Bend Studio for the PSP system, the team has utilized their expertise in creating high quality titles such as Syphon Filter®: Dark Mirror and Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow to create a world with rich characters, detailed environments, and special effects that truly capture the look and feel of the Resistance universe.
Introducing an unprecedented feature, Resistance Connect, owners of both PS3 exclusive title Resistance 2 developed by Insomniac Games, and Resistance: Retribution have the opportunity to experience the game in a distinctive manner. Divided into two options, Resistance: Retribution Plus and Infected, players connect their PSP system to their PS3 system via a USB cable to take advantage of these features. In Infected mode, the players earn regenerative health, the ability to breathe underwater, access to new collectable intelligence, a new skin for their avatar, an alternate storyline, and the HE .44 Magnum, a fan favorite weapon from Resistance 2. With Resistance: Retribution Plus, players can take advantage of the second analog stick and rumble features of the DUALSHOCK 3 wireless controller as the controller for the PSP system. Combined with the video-out port on the PSP-2000 or PSP-3000 systems, Resistance: Retribution Plus transforms Resistance: Retribution into a console game for the home.
"Resistance Connect is a significant step in the future of the PSP system," said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President of Marketing, SCEA. "This PSP exclusive title demonstrates technology that has not previously been demonstrated on a portable platform, allowing gamers to play a console quality game at home, then immediately continue the experience on the road. Combined with the intense single player campaign, innovative multiplayer modes, and the Infect option, Resistance: Retribution provides gamers with a lot of options on how they want to play and where they want to play."
The story of Resistance: Retribution is a bridge between Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 and introduces a new character to the franchise, James Grayson. A former British Marine on a personal vendetta to wipe out any and all Chimera he can find, Grayson is recruited by a French resistance group to destroy a Chimeran conversion center in Paris and take back Europe. Along the way players will battle through locations such as Rotterdam, Bonn, Luxemburg and Paris as Grayson discovers more about the Chimera, the mysterious Cloven, and answers questions raised in Resistance 2.
Building upon the Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 legacy of online play, Resistance: Retribution gives players five multiplayer modes to engage in both ad-hoc and infrastructure gameplay with up to 8 players. Utilizing full headset support, players compete as either members of the French resistance group, the Maquis, or as one of the Cloven on five different maps. Including modes such as deathmatch, capture the flag, and team deathmatch; Bend Studio has developed two unique modes: Containment, where players capture coolant nodes to overheat and destroy the opposing teams reactor, and Assimilation where seven players begin as Maquis soldiers and one as Cloven, the Cloven must kill the Maquis soldiers to incorporate them to the cloven side and win. With stats that tie into franchise web portal, myresistance.net, players can share their ranks with other fans.
Resistance: Retribution is a rated M for Mature.
Rune Factory: Frontier (Wii)
In Rune Factory: Frontier, play as the young, kind-hearted Raguna, a hero who always helps people in distress. Raguna arrives to the village of Trampoli in search of a missing girl, Mist, but soon finds himself living there for an indefinite amount of time. Within this new frontier, Raguna can pursue various trades including farming, forging, crafting and cooking, explore the town and dungeons, or adventure to the gigantic floating whale island that looms overhead.
As players continue working on their farm and interacting with the townsfolk, the village becomes more prosperous and will attract newcomers. The various residents of Trampoli, from shopkeepers, tavern masters and craftsmen, are all ready to become Raguna's friends, enemies and maybe more. With over ten different heroines to befriend, players are free to develop friendships and possibly even pursue a romantic relationship. Raise your 'love level' by giving presents and speaking with them often; eventually even asking for her hand in marriage.
Rune Factory: Frontier features stunning graphics and takes full advantage of the Wii's unique controls to fully immerse players in the Rune Factory universe. Rune Factory: Frontier incorporated an open-ended structure that allows players to choose the type of game they wish to experience. Whether it's growing crops, expanding the town, fighting (or befriending) monsters or even falling in love, the experience is unique to each player.
Rune Factory: Frontier is rated "E10+" for Everyone 10 and over by the ESRB and is available for the suggested price of $49.99.
Six Flags Fun Park (Wii)
Six Flags Fun Park offers players of all ages the entertainment and fun of a Six Flags theme park in a video game setting. The game includes more than 40 mini-games and rides, including boat racing, skee ball, haunted houses and batting cages. Players are also rewarded with coins and tickets for performing good deeds around the park, such as picking up litter and helping out patrons.
Six Flags Fun Park for the Wii retails for a suggested price of $19.99 and for a limited time each game will include a free child's admission ticket (a $29.99 value) to any Six Flags theme park. Select Six Flags parks will also feature the game.
Suikoden Tierkreis (NDS)
The latest iteration in the critically acclaimed franchise that was introduced more than 12 years ago, Suikoden Tierkreis is the first handheld game in the Suikoden series that will be available exclusively for the Nintendo DS.
Suikoden Tierkreis will expand the bounds of the handheld RPG as players journey with a variety of characters while exploring exotic locations and cultures across the game's universe of parallel worlds. In the beginning, players and four companions find a mysterious "Chronicle" and awake as Starbearers, which puts the epic story into motion. Throughout the game, gamers can travel around the universe completing a series of quests to get rewards, eventually meeting new allies. With its grand adventure and larger-than-life scale, the story is told through rich animation sequences and gripping dialogue, pulling the players even deeper into the world of Suikoden Tierkreis.
"Konami is excited to bring this latest iteration of the popular Suikoden RPG franchise to the Nintendo DS," said Anthony Crouts, Vice President of Marketing for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. "Suikoden Tierkreis takes full advantage of the DS platform and its online capabilities, delivering a unique RPG experience that challenges and intrigues both new and old Suikoden fans."
Utilizing the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Suikoden Tierkreis expands the boundaries of the handheld RPG with a robust online gameplay mode. With an active online community, players can send their characters on quests that other members of the Suikoden Tierkreis community will complete for them, as well as participate in unique boss battles.
Rated E-10+ by the ESRB, Suikoden Tierkreis is available on the NDS for an MSRP of $34.99.
TrackMania DS (NDS)
TrackMania DS is the most heart-pounding stunt-filled racing game ever to burn rubber on Nintendo DS. Over 100 tracks geared for blazing fast racing action — each loaded with daring jumps, thrilling loops, crazy ramps, and a host of other insane stunts — are just the start. Players have access to the most powerful portable track design system ever, giving TrackManiacs total freedom to create the most over-the-top race courses imaginable and offering practically unlimited value.
The more you race, the more you can do; TrackMania's "Coppers" reward system gives you credits for completed races which can be used to unlock new tracks, new car paint schemes, and most importantly, new parts to use in making the tracks of your dreams. With single and multi-card local wireless multiplayer support for up to four players at a time (and eight players via hot-seat mode), in addition to the ability to share and race on each others' custom tracks, TrackMania DS is the most feature-filled stunt racer for Nintendo DS!
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (NDS)
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, the latest entry in the Valkyrie Profile saga, brings the critically acclaimed series to NDS for the first time. A classic battle system enhanced by deeper strategic elements, captivating storyline with ties to Norse mythology and the creative expertise of development studio tri-Ace blend to provide an engaging gameplay experience.
Players familiar with the Valkyrie Profile franchise can now enjoy the storyline from a brand-new perspective as they follow the vengeful quest of a mortal in a beautifully rendered 3D world. With multiple story endings and over 20 possible allies to enlist, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume offers the latest in the series that has shipped more than 2 million units worldwide.
Wylfred was but a boy when the valkyrie claimed his father's soul and sealed his family's fate. In the agony of the aftermath the boy swore revenge, and now for the man, the time has come to reap it. To the valiant she comes, and so to the battlefield he goes.
Features
- A brand-new storyline perspective invites players to experience the Valkyrie Profile saga from the standpoint of a mortal. Follow Wylfred's dark quest for revenge on the Valkyrie Lenneth
- New gameplay dynamics add a refreshing twist to the familiar battle system. Overwhelm your foes with spectacular Soul Crush attacks and show them no mercy as you inflict Overkill to reap greater spoils
- Multiple story endings offer ultimate replayability. The choices that players make in deciding the fate of ally characters will not only affect the main character's personality, but change the course of the game
- A beautifully rendered 3D world presented in dynamic dual-screen, accompanied by engaging cut scenes and voiced battles, generates a rich gameplay experience
- With over 20 possible allies to enlist, players can customize their party to enjoy a variety of skill combinations and strategies in battle
- An unlockable bonus dungeon provides players with the opportunity to battle formidable foes and recruit new allies
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume is rated T (Teen). Please visit the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) website at www.esrb.org for more information about ratings. Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume is available at North American retailers for the suggested retail price of $39.99 (USD).