Gamertell

The Lost in Blue series has been successful enough to warrant two sequels, and now the series is making the jump from the Nintendo DS to the Wii.  According to a post in GameLife, Konami has revealed Lost in Blue Shipwrecked, which marks the series’ first installment on a home console.

Each of the first three games put the player in the role of someone lost on a deserted island, and tasked them with surviving in less then ideal circumstances.  Gameplay consisted mostly of mini-games related to survival, such as starting a fire, catching food, or talking to island dwelling monkeys.  This new version looks to continue in the same mold, and will feature more then 40 different island survival based mini-games, including fishing and carpentry.  The game will use both the Wii remote and nunchuk in an attempt to make the actions as realistic as possible.

In order to ease newer players in the game, Shipwrecked will feature a rather extensive tutorial mode, intentioned to make the normally frustrating game much more accessible.  Lost in Blue Shipwrecked will be coming to the Wii in Fall 2008.

Read [Game|Life] Also Read [Videogamer]

Electronic Arts continues to hitch a ride on the Wii bandwagon, announcing Hasbro Family Game Night.  The game will feature five classic board games, including Battleship, Yahtzee, Boggle, Connect Four, and Sorry!  Best of all, the game will be hosted by the one and only Mr. Potato Head.

In addition to playing the traditional versions of the games, players will also get a chance to play newly enhanced versions like Connect Four Power Chips, Battleship Barrage, Reverse Yahtzee and Boggle Portal Cubes, which will feature new rule sets and power-ups.  The game will also allow players to customize their own game room with unlockable furniture, trophies, and other decorations.

EA is clearly going after the casual/family/party market, and as such, are going to be bringing the game to both the NIntendo Wii and the PlayStation 2.  Hasbro Family Game Night will be released in Fall 2008.

Read [1up] Also Read [Game Daily]

Namco Bandai has just issued a press release announcing exclusive Naruto figurines for people who preorder Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress. If you pre-order the game, make a copy of your pre-order slip, register for the Hokage’s Room website (providing your home address during the account creation process) and then sign up for the Hokage’s Room Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 pre-order Mission, you’ll receive one Naruto figure from the six pictured above. No, you don’t get to choose which one.

Click through for more information…

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Though the countdown to The Sims 3 is undoubtedly running through the minds of the series’ fans, EA won’t allow The Sims 2 to be forgotten. Another The Sims 2 stuff pack has officially been announced - The Sims 2: IKEA Home Stuff. For those who are new Sims fans, or are simply unaware of the series, the stuff packs aren’t really expansion packs. They add no new interactions, neighborhoods or abilities. Instead, they contain a handful of extra furniture, clothing, building materials or hairstyles for the game.

This isn’t the first time a Sims 2 stuff pack related to a store has been released. The Sims 2: H&M Stuff was released on June 5, 2007, and contained H&M clothes and items that would allow you to create an H&M store in your game. The Sims 2: IKEA Stuff will focus on IKEA furniture and accessories. It will be in stores on June 23, 2008 and will cost $19.99, like all previous stuff packs.

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One of the most under appreciated games in recent memory is 2003’s Beyond Good & Evil.  Despite a having rabid cult following and near-universal critical acclaim, the game experienced less then stellar commercial success.  Because of this, publisher Ubisoft has been reluctant to create a sequel, but it looks as though director Michel Ancel is going ahead and making one anyways.

While speaking with French magazine Jeux Video, Ancel said that the sequel has been in pre-production for almost a year.  A team of 10-12 employees has been working on the game, but there’s a catch.  Ubisoft has yet to give the game the go ahead for development.

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Of course we all remember how Capcom held a We Love Golf poll to let fans determine which 2 extra characters will be in the North American release of the game. Capcom wanted to make the NA Wii release We Love Golf! special. Now we can see the poll results in action, thanks to new screen shots featuring Mark as Ken (Street Fighter) and Stephanie as Morrigan (Darkstalkers).

Both characters won’t always look like Ken and Morrigan. Like the other characters already included, Mark and Stephanie will just have addition costumes which can be unlocked to make them appear like the iconic fighting legends. These characters will only be available in the North American version of the game, which should be out before the end of summer, 2008.

Click through to see Mark and Stephanie in their normal attire…

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It’s a given that not all Japanese games will make it outside of Japan. Some didn’t sell well enough in that country, others were too focused on a certain age group and sometimes they’re just too weird.

At the same time, there are quite a few phenomenal or funny games which should get a worldwide release, but don’t. Sadly, gamers don’t get a list of reasons from publishers or developers as to why we’ll never have the honor of playing a domestic version of one of these titles, but usually it is pretty easy to understand why.

So this week we’ll review four DS titles which will very likely never, ever be released in North America.

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Sega and Platinum Games have just announced an exclusive four game partnership, where Sega will publish four new titles developed by Platinum Games. The titles will be on multiple systems, and so far three of the four have been formally announced. The new games will all be available in 2009.

The first title mentioned is MADWORLD for the Wii. It will be a third person, black and white action game which mimics the style of manga and graphic novels. In it, players battle opponents with all sorts of unusual weapons while an announcer offers running commentary. It could be out as soon as Q1 2009.

Click through to read about the other two titles…

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The Xbox 360 is going to enjoy strategic RPGs as long as Atlus is arround. Zoids Assault, a strategic RPG based on the Zoids toy/anime/manga. Players will command an army of Zoid mechs, which they can fully customize. The game, rated “Teen,” will be available in North America on August 26, 2008.

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Slingo has just released an updated version of its Match’Ums web game. Match’Ums 3.0 is a memory game where you collect matching tiles for Slingo Coins.

The adjustable modes make it different than Match’Ums 2.0. In Match’Ums 3.0 you decide the difficulty level at the beginning, along with what kind of items you want to match. There are Easy, Medium and Hard modes, and the items you match can be numbers, symbols or a combination of the two.

The game also contains Slingo character cards. First is the Joker card, which can match with any other card to create a pair. The second new card is the Devil & Cherub card. If you match a Devil & Cherub to its partner or the Joker, your score doubles and you get more coins. If you don’t, then your score is cut in half.

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