To say that Level 5, creators of the amazing Dark Cloud RPGs, developed Dragon Quest VIII is a bit of an overstatement. While they did create the game's cel-shading engine and did a lot of core work with the title, there was also immense input from the initial creators of Dragon Quest. One of them, Yuji Horii, worked on the story and game design just as he did the original game. Akira Toriyama and his Bird Studios group of designers, famous for their work with manga classics like Dragon

The first in the Active Life series, Outdoor Challenge offers a variety of fast-paced games that engages your whole body for a fun and challenging experience.

Genre: RPG
Publisher: Xseed Games
Developer: Nautilus
Release Date: March 7, 2006

Alicia Ashby: Anyone who played Midway's releases of the two Shadow Hearts games quickly realized they were playing the best RPGs ever released for the PS2 - yes, even better than juggernauts like Final Fantasy and Star Ocean. Newcomer XSEED is showing off their localization skills with the release of the third game, From the New World, and it's shaping up to be everything fans could possibly want. The third game in the series follows a new protagonist and an adventure set in America, with a Chicago

Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Buena Vista
Developer: Traveller's Tales
Release Date: Fall 2005

If you're a fan of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers or similar hack and slash action titles, Buena Vista's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe might be right up your alley. The game will be released this holiday season, alongside the first movie (of seven, hopefully), The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

From the demo we saw at E3, TCoN is already looking pretty good, and although it is lacking a few features right now, things will only improve as

Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Buena Vista
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: October 11, 2005

If you've played God of War or Devil May Cry, you will already have a basic grasp of how to play Buena Vista's action/adventure title Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge.

In Oogie's Revenge, gamers play as Jack Skellington, who must fight his way through 25 levels of vicious enemies in order to prevent his sworn enemy Oogie Boogie from kidnapping all of the holiday mascots and proclaiming himself king.

Even though it is facing strong competitors, Oogie's Revenge is looking pretty good, and the fighting and the

Genre: Action
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Release Date: September 26, 2006

Bill Lange: Say it ain't so, Sam! Everyone's favorite fifth-freedom holder takes a walk on the other side of the law and spices up a series that was running low on ideas. Despite my "meh" attitude towards the third installment, I'm looking forward to Fisher's deep-cover assignment. Expect a much darker tone, tough moral decisions, and more of the innovative online play that's become a Splinter Cell trademark.

Hugh McHarg: A latecomer to the joys of stealth, I learned from the first Splinter Cell that I really did have

Genre: Action
Publisher: Vivendi Universal
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Release Date: August 23, 2005

If you've ever read an Incredible Hulk comic, you'll recall that almost every story has some point where Hulk has been, I don't know, shot by approximately 500 helicopters at once or something. Hulk will be all hunkered down, hands covering his face, experiencing some sort of animal rage… and then he'll just snap and go nuts on his attackers, like he suddenly remembered that he's functionally invincible. With a mighty "HULK SMASH!" he'll tear into every breakable thing in the vicinity. A few pages (or