Rat Hunter is a first-person action shooter with a mystery story in a hi-tech world. The player fills the shoes of a reporter who investigates a string of mysterious events on a remote planet. In order to obtain hot evidence, he gets a job of a rat hunter at one of the colonies. What starts as a simple investigation will soon turn his life inside out. You’ll dive into the haunting memories of the past and discover jaw-dropping truth about main character's real identity…

Rat Hunter features are traditional, by-the-book gameplay, which does not wander into the realm of tactical shooters.

The first game to reintroduce the Might & Magic universe to the public will be Heroes of Might and Magic V. Gamers will delve into a more mature, consistent fantasy universe that will appeal to fans of all fantasy genres. One of the most successful turn-based strategy franchises, the Heroes of Might and Magic series, with its distinctive touch of RPG, is a benchmark in the Heroic Fantasy genre, with considerable commercial and critical acclaim. The new game will benefit from the features and characteristics that established the success of the initial saga while offering a wealth of innovations such

Genre: 3D Action/Adventure
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Release Date: TBA

Ultimate Spider-Man, at its core, is a re-telling of the classic Spider-Man story with a slightly younger cast and a contemporary spin.

You all know the gist of it by now: a nerdy kid gets bitten by a radioactive spider, gets super powers, and uses both them and his mind to solve crimes while at the same time possessing the ability to upstage just about everyone on Def Comedy Jam without even trying. The Ultimate line of comic books puts the Spidey stories in the here and now, with today’s

The first new 2-D Mario platformer since Super Mario World has arrived. Boasting incredible 3-D graphics to accompany classic 2-D game play, this fast-paced adventure will have Mario fans cheering as they make their way over fields, under water, through castles and into the air. New and familiar enemies are everywhere, not to mention mind-blowing challenges made possible by the dual screens of the Nintendo DS. Not only that, but players can link wirelessly with a friend to play as Mario and Luigi in multiplayer mode.

Genre: Action
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Seven Studios
Release Date: Q3 2006

In case you missed the memo the first time around, here’s another copy of it:

Pirates Are Cool.

Heck, just go ask Guilty Gear X’s Johnny, or the entire cast of Skies of Arcadia. Pirates are always fun to play as in video games. There’s just something about being able to break all the rules, play dirty, and fight as underhanded as one possibly can whenever one feels like it that translates wonderfully to the genre.

Few pirates are better at all of this than one Jack Sparrow, and he’s going to

Gears of War

Genre: Action
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Epic Games
Release Date: Q1 2006

Going into E3 2005, the game I was most excited about seeing was by far the very impressive Unreal Engine 3-based Gears of War for the Xbox 360, and it sure didn't disappoint.

The story behind Gears of War paints a pretty bleak picture for humanity, thanks to some really nasty creatures that will send chills up and down your spine the first time you see them, and many times after that as well. The setting is the planet Sera, which is very much like Earth, just slightly more

Genre: Action/RPG
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Release Date: Fall 2005

If nothing else, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness answers one question I’ve had for a while about the Castlevania series. Simply put, it’s this: when you leave and come back into a room in a Castlevania game, where does the fresh wave of monsters come from? Is there a hidden wing of Dracula’s castle that’s entirely dedicated to the care, feeding, construction, and breeding of new monsters to replace the ones you’ve been hacking to bits?

Apparently, there is, and it’s staffed by people like Hector. As a Devil Forgemaster, Hector

The game is set in some African country. A coup d’etat and the country gets a dictator as its governor. And it slowly but steadily plunges into chaos. White farmers have been drawn from their land and now groups and fight with looter bands for the control over certain territories. The U.N.O. is involved and tries to give humanitarian help. As for the ex-rulers of the country they try to sit back. What makes the new game differ is that it’s up to the player to decide whose part to support. There are several starting points in

Atlantis: Evolution (PC)

Dark Fall 2: Lights Out (PC)

Dungeon Lords (PC)

Painkiller: Battle Out of Hell (PC)

Sentinel: Descendants in Time (PC)