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Mario Hoops 3 Screenshot

Siliconera has a great article up explaining how the controls will work in the upcoming Nintendo DS title Mario Hoops 3 on 3.  Although I am excited about this game, I hadn’t given much thought to the control scheme it will use.  Mario Hoops 3 on 3 uses the touchpad for dribbling, shooting, and stealing the ball as well as performing character specific special shots.  Hopefully Nintendo has implemented this innovative control scheme in a user-friendly manner, as it is unclear what functions will be assigned to the other buttons.  I can only hope Mario Hoops 3 on 3 will be as good as my favorite 3 on 3 classic Tiny Toon Adventures: Acme All-Stars for the Sega Genesis.


Read More | Siliconera


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Tingle RPG4 Color Rebellion got some scans from the latest Weekly Famitsu, and there’s a preview of the new Tingle RPG for the Nintendo DS. Ever since first appearing in Majora’s Mask, Tingle has been a really weird presence in the Link mythology, with possibly his largest role in Wind Waker. People with a fondness for the odd, middle-aged fairy may miss him due to his absence from Twilight Princess, but for those fans, he’s getting an RPG, called “Mogitate Tingle no Barairo Rupee Land” or, from 4 Color Rebellion’s translation, “Freshly-picked Tingle’s Pink-coloured Rupee Land.” Apparently, the story follows Tingle since his boyhood. The game features a quite cartoon-like rendering style, but gamers may have something to fear if the game gets the “Touch Generations” label.


Read More | 4 Color Rebellion


Description Description

Nibris has released new screenshots for their Nintendo DS title called Raid over the River.  The game is a top down shooter which has 3 different time periods including medieval, World War II, and the near future.  Depending on the time period you are playing in the choices of fighters change.  The fighter choices range from dragons to futuristic planes.  The game is due out for the DS in 2006.  Nibris is a small game studio based in Europe who are also working on Sadness, a horror game, for Nintendo’s Wii.


Read More | Nibris


Command and Conquer

Here is an early look at the new Command and Conquer 3 from Electronic Arts.  The game is officially called Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.  I have been looking forward to a good RTS game since Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 was released.  The screen shows C&C’s infamous tiberium and provides an early look at it’s latest iteration.  You can check out the official Command and Conquer 3 site to subscribe to a newsletter update.  The developers are also putting out a podcast to keep you up to date.


Read More | EA


Final Fantasy XIII

Some new Final Fantasy XIII scans have surfaced over at The Magic Box, and it looks like at least some of the images have been pulled from the E3 trailer, but some of them may be new. The higher-resolution scans show off some of the environment of the new Final Fantasy game, and some of the action sequences as well. As Square-Enix continues to make graphical improvements to the in-game segments of the game, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate the interactive sequences from the pre-rendered narrative sections, but given the power of the PS3, this definitely will be the best looking Final Fantasy game to date. No release date has been announced for either Japan or the United States, but the new game will definitely be a strong draw for the PS3.


Read More | The Magic Box


Burning Crusade

Gamespot today published a new Q&A with Jeff Kaplan, lead designer on World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. The Draenei were officially announced as the new race in the expansion pack during E3, and today Jeff fills in anxious gamers on some details with other content going into the expansion, including how gamers will access the new content in the Outlands. A new profession, jewel crafting, will also be introduced, along with a slew of new items to support the gems created through the new skill. Also discussed are the new main game content, like new armor items, and the Scourge invasion scheduled to drop with version 1.11 of the World of Warcraft client, and the new flying mounts. Kaplan also confirms that the client is built so that the graphic engine can be updated, paving the way for Windows Vista and Direct X 10.


Read More | GameSpot


Star Trek Legacy

We had a chance to speak with Eric Krasnauskas, a designer with Mad Doc Software, the developers of Bethesda Software’s newest Star Trek title – Star Trek Legacy.

The variety of ships at your disposal comes from the entire Star Trek series starting with the recently departed Enterprise, and includes The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager.  Not only are the original ships available, but ships can also be customized to suit your every whim.

You’ll re-live epic battles from the Star Trek universe, and one example we were shown was a battle from ST: The Wrath of Khan.  Instantly recognizable by any ST fan, your point of view shows the unsuspecting Enterprise approaching the Reliant, with Spacelab Regula One in the background.  True to the movie, Khan quickly gets the upper hand by launching a surprise attack, and it is at this point you take control of the Enterprise.  Severely damaged, the Enterprise needs a helping hand and the nearby Mutara Nebula can help even the odds.  We were concerned about being “forced” to follow a pre-determined course of action, but Eric reassured us that sticking to a movie’s plot wasn’t a requirement for winning a battle.  Although it will be more difficult, it is possible to defeat your opponent without adhering to “historical” precedence.

Click to continue reading Star Trek Legacy Impressions


Company of Heroes

Company of Heroes was brought to the public’s attention at E3 2005, but was still heavily in production at the time.  Now, after three years of work, the PC game is well on track for a scheduled release in Q3 2006.  If you’ve been living under a rock, here’s a quick rundown on what you can expect.
In wanting to make a game they would truly enjoy themselves, the developers built an RTS game that is truly dynamic, and one that doesn’t feature traditional choke points based on geography and other static game elements.  Instead, the game features a totally deformable world which you can use to your advantage.  Everything you see in the game can be destroyed, and we do mean everything.  To illustrate, imagine a flank attack that would strike at the heart of your opponent’s infrastructure, but a wall stands between you and your objective.  Instead of going around the wall, have your soldiers concentrate their attack on the wall to destroy a portion of it allowing you unfettered access to your enemy’s unprotected flank.  That kind of scenario is a simplified concept of some of the awesome things that can be done by using the terrain and buildings to your advantage.

No longer will you need to coddle your soldiers for fear their stupidity will be the death of them.  Such brilliant acts like standing in the middle of a street while under fire, or failing to utilize available cover nearby and offering themselves up as cannon fodder will be a thing of the past.  With Company of Heroes, your units will automatically seek any cover available to them, while still following the orders you provide to them.  That means running and crouching between cover points, and realizing that some cover is better than others.  During the course of battle, craters caused by artillery fire or mortar rounds will likely be created and these craters can provide cover for your men as they advance on an enemy’s position.

Click to continue reading Company of Heroes Coming Q3 2006


Draenei

The new Alliance race in World of Warcraft will be the Draenei, according to reports in the New York Times. While the Blood Elf race joining the Horde was announced quite a while ago, there has been a lot of secrecy around the new Alliance races. The Times also features a Q&A with lead designer for Burning Crusade, Jeff Kaplan. At this time, the Draenei players will be able to choose to be either the warrior, priest, paladin, mage or hunter classes, and there will be new entry points for the new races as well. In the interview with Kaplan, things like changes to flight paths and item distribution and content development are discussed, and screenshots and trailers are available for download. The Burning Crusade is targeted to be available in late 2006.

Read More | New York Times


DescriptionI’ve played Lemmings since it was a DOS game on a single 1.44 MB floppy and absolutely loved its crazy, maniacally difficult levels, with classic MIDI music in the background and only one goal: Get the green-haired somethings out alive. I played it on the SNES and then Lemmings Revolution which attempted to be in 3D. All good times. So without fail, I sat down and played my way (successfully) through a level of Lemmings for the PSP. It’s nice to see such a fun franchise hasn’t died.

The graphics for Lemmings were what you’d expect. They’ve gone back to the 2D platform concept, but the textures and artwork were especially nice. The controls were a bit weird at first, but I figured them out soon enough, and was especially thankful for the fast-forward button—a true innovation that’s been a long time coming for Lemmings. It’ll be available May 23rd, 2006 and includs over 150 levels. They also include a level editor that I didn’t get a chance to play with, but really have no idea how easy it might be to use on the PSP. You can even upload and download new levels and share them with all your Lemmings-loving friends. That’s right. All of them.


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