Genre: Party/Puzzle
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: Dimps
Release Date: October 2006

Well … Crash is back.

Crash Boom Bang! is sort of weird, in that it's the first game in the long-running Crash series being made by a Japanese developer. For Crash's DS debut, the reins have been given to Dimps, the house behind Dragon Ball Z: Budokai.

As a result, Crash Boom Bang! has taken a turn for the anime. (Look, Mom, I'm using nouns as adjectives!) The game is more colorful than its American predecessors were and definitely more cute; Crash has gone from looking insane to looking

Genre: Sports
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: JC Entertainment
Release Date: Q1 2007

It is within the bounds of possibility that you could sell a million copies of anything in Korea, as long as it was a massive multiplayer online game. Ideally, it should be an MMO you can play with one hand, freeing up the other hand to smoke a cigarette.

Freestyle Street Basketball is, at once, a demonstration of this principle and an idea I'm surprised we haven't seen before now. This is a game where you can create and kit out a cel-shaded cartoon avatar, and then

As a young wedding designer, create the perfect wedding that satisfies the bride's taste and meets her expectations.

Key Features:

• Manage the weddings of six different brides, each with their own personality and specific tastes.
• Design the wedding invitation, choose the dress, veil, bouquet and more! You can also choose the bride's hair and makeup, the location of the ceremony and the music!
• Choose who will be in the ceremony and select the outfits that will please the bride.
• Live the big day! Ensure everything goes smoothly and your bride is happy! If not, you may face some unexpected events during the ceremony!
• Unlock

As a member of the Earth Rescue Team (ERT), your mission is to save the wildlife on a beautiful island that has been threatened by pollution.

Key Features:

• Save a beautiful island:
• • Heal wild animals.
  • Clean wild areas of pollution and recycle the waste you find.
  • Prepare the environment and reintroduce vegetative plants for the animals to eat.
• Protect and rescue 12 wild animals: The island is a natural haven with four different environments (forest, taiga, savanna, desert) from a cold forest with bears to a dry savannah with lions.
• Help the local inhabitants develop a

Genre: Action/Adventure
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: Krome Studios
Release Date: October 2006

Spyro's newest venture is entitled A New Beginning, and for good reason. With this new game, the reset button's been hit on Spyro; all past adventures have been forgotten in favor of giving one of the hardest-working mascots in video games a fresh start.

In this case, it means shifting the onscreen action's focus from cutesy platforming to surprisingly intense action. Krome Studios, the dev house that gave the world Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, has set out to make Spyro's newest adventure feel like "playing through a

Players take on the role of Greg or Mila, and help their uncle save endangered marine species.

Cruise around an undiscovered island and rescue hurt or sick sea animals. Explore the island to develop open space pools, while respecting the environment. With the help of specialists, take care of and heal the many different animals before releasing them into the ocean.

Save the endangered marine species and try to help the rarest of them all: the giant Blue Whale.

Key Features:

• Interact with new animals and endangered marine species such as sea lions,

Genre: Simulation
Publisher: Vivendi Universal Games
Developer: Tilted Mill
Release Date: Q3 2006

Caesar IV is the latest in the distinguished Caesar line of city-building sims that rose to great fame as part of the late, lamented Sierra Entertainment. Even though it's been a good eight years since the last iteration came out to positive reviews and much love from simulation fans, Vivendi Universal has allowed developer Tilted Mill to bring back the franchise for one more outing on the PC. What's special about this title is that the development team includes many staffers who've worked on

Genre: Real-Time Strategy
Publisher: Vivendi
Developer: Most Wanted Entertainment
Release Date: September 2006

You may be able to overcome countless terrorists, foreign insurgents, and enemy armies, all before breakfast, but in Joint Task Force, your greatest enemy might be CNN.

JTF is a story-driven, tactical RTS from Most Wanted Entertainment. You play the part of a fictional, multinational peace enforcement unit, with missions set in such recent real-world hotspots as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Colombia, Iraq, and Somalia. Your unit may not be real (Most Wanted's aiming for gameplay over realism here; to quote them, "Real is not fun"), but

Play as a young vet, who has just opened his/her first animal clinic. Take care of your neighbors' domesticated pets, as well as the local exotic baby animals.

Diagnose, cure, observe and heal the animals to gain your clients' confidence and respect.

Uncover the mystery behind the animals' illnesses. Investigate to find out if the local factory could be polluting the rivers and thus be causing the animals' diseases.

Face real challenges on the journey to becoming a great veterinarian, and possibly join one of the world's most prestigious NGOs.

Key Features:

• Treat more than 12 animals, both

Genre: Grand Theft Pacino
Publisher: Vivendi-Universal Games
Developer: Radical Entertainment
Release Date: Fall 2006

The Godfather might have been a fun sandbox game in its own right, but let's face it: it completely failed as a licensed title. From the total lack of subtlety to ludicrous elements like the horse-head stealth mission, the game sometimes felt like a profoundly extended exercise in missing the point of the original movie. I bring this up because the upcoming Scarface: The World is Yours is in some ways a remarkably similar title. Not only is it a GTA-style sandbox