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UK retailer GAME may have accidentally leaked a crucial tidibt about the upcoming PS3 version of SingStar. The karaoke game allows wannabe performers to record their performances with EyeToy and post them online to a personal SingStar page. In addition, players will also be able to save their recordings to PSP, to share with friends at any time. With both a PSP system and SingStar handy, you'll be able to show off your next embarassing karaoke performance forever. ...

Forget what happened with the absolutely dreadful Crash Bang Boom! game released on the Nintendo DS last year -- the new Crash design that Radical's working on for Sierra, Crash of the Titans, is also in the works for the dual-screen system as well, and scheduled to be released at the same time as the console versions.

Though Sierra didn't have the game on-hand when the company showed us the Wii version, it did give us an early look at the game through the modern miracle of screen grabs. In these shots, we can see that the company's working the action-based design with the same "attack and jack enemies" mechanics on the portable. It also appears that there will be some mini-game focus using the touch screen, including a pachinko challenge.

The Nintendo DS version's in the works at Amaze, known for the DS versions of Spyro as well as the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean. The early views look promising, as the team appears to be incorporating a full-screen 3D engine for this version of Crash of the Titans.

Via ign ...

via ign

Today Disney Interactive Studios announced Spectrobes was the best-selling third-party Nintendo DS title in March 2007. The game, developed by Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories creator Jupiter, was an original IP -- a bit of a departure for Disney Interactive, which is known for licensed games based on Disney properties. A successful game usually means sequels, and that seems to be just what Disney has in mind.

"Spectrobes has quickly become a global phenomenon and has consistently been among the top-selling Nintendo DS titles since launch," said Craig Relyea, VP of Marketing for Disney Interactive Studios. "We look forward to growing Spectrobes as a Disney franchise and providing more content for the increasing number of Spectrobes fans worldwide."

Spectrobes allows players to excavate, train, and battle with nearly 500 creatures. While some have written the game off as a lesser Pokemon, consumers are voting with their dollars and making the title a success. ...

If they wanted to, Disney Interactive Studios could probably put together a Flash-based game where players attempt to toss bottles of rum into the mouth of a poorly animated Johnny Depp and sell the thing to thousands of ravenous Pirates of the Caribbean fans. Thankfully, that's not the plan for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

This week, the House of Mouse let IGN get its hands on the videogame that combines action from the movies Pirate of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and unreleased Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The first thing that jumps off the screen with At World's End is the detail developers have already put into this tale. Orlando Bloom's face is spot on, the drunk-like stagger of Captain Jack Sparrow is recreated with the push of the joystick and vocal doubles for the cast of characters are perfect.

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Crash Bandicoot may have started his career as an unofficial mascot for the original PlayStation, but he's too big for just one system. The wacky furry critter's made the leap across all the platforms in the past few years, as a platform hero, a go-kart racer...even most recently as a party game host on the Nintendo DS. Sierra's ready to give the ten year old marsupial a fresh beginning with an upcoming adventure: Crash of the Titans, a different style of game that incorporates both old and new Crash Bandicoot games for this Wii-centric experience.

Developed by Radical Entertainment, this action-focused adventure not only gives Crash a whole new look, but changes the core mechanic of the gameplay style that most Crash Bandicoot fans are familiar with. Sierra recently let us have a look at an early version of Crash of the Titans in action on the Wii so we could see some of the ideas in motion on the Nintendo console.

The big change in the Crash Bandicoot design is the shift in game mechanics. Where Crash used to be a platform hero, in Crash of the Titans he's now taking a more "physical" role in this punch-and-kick focused brawler style of design. In Radical's take, Crash must work his way through the 3D environments, beating up on evil critters using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk combination. Punches and kicks will take down the smaller enemies, but the key design element in Crash is the ability to "jack" enemies and use their specific attributes to take down the bigger creatures. As the developer put it, there's a "food chain" device where Crash won't be able to take down the gigantic creatures -- instead, he can take down the smaller ones, jack them when they're stunned, then use that creature to knock out even bigger creatures so Crash can jack them...and so on.

The level progression focuses on the player's ability to "attack and jack" enemies -- some routes will be locked by giant gates that can only be knocked down by the big beasts, and some routes will be blocked off by doors that need to be opened by triggering targets with enemies who can shoot. There will be fifteen different creatures to fight and jack, and players will earn the ability to play as these creatures once they're unlocked -- Crash will wear a "suit" of that creature to take advantage of their capabilities.

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Those of you lucky enough to get your hands on a Wii in the past few months are likely thankful to Konami for its early investment in the console. Last year, the company had one of the finest launch-window games in the form of Elebits, a fun, light-hearted romp that made great use of the Wii controller. Elebits turned out to be a sleeper hit, increasing the notoriety of the game's producer, Shingo Mukaitoge. A few months ago -- at the Konami Gamers Day -- Mukaitoge announced the development of Dewy's Adventure, a new Wii-exclusive title headed to the console later this year. Recently, Konami was kind enough to stop by our offices with the latest build of the game so that we could do the dew for ourselves.

Dewy's Adventure has a look and feel that is somewhat similar to Elebits. The game centers on an animated dew droplet charged with saving the world from the forces of the maniacal Don Hedron. Dewy (as the lead has been so cleverly dubbed) happens to be the last surviving hope the world has of defeating Don Hedron and eliminating his Dark Water from this world. To rid the earth of this blight, Dewy must traverse a series of platform stages while solving puzzles, fending off baddies, and cleaning up puddles of Dark Water.

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You've got to hand it to that Jack Sparrow. Even after a giant kraken burps up half of the digested crew of the Black Pearl in his face, the scallywag still manages to find his way into a third Pirates of the Caribbean flick and the licensed movie-game.

Hey, we're not complaining. We haven't seen so wily a character as Jack, played with over-the-top panache by the exceptional Johnny Depp, in a long while. In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the upcoming swashbuckler from Disney Interactive Studios, Sparrow is re-created in fine form, thanks to a bang-up facial scan. Disney enlisted Industrial Light and Magic to help with the characters, and you'll instantly recognize almost all the major players from the films: Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner, Davy Jones (looks great), the crew of the Pearl and Jones's crew of underwater sea villains, including the first mate hammerhead.

At World's End spans both Dead Man's Chest and the upcoming summer blockbuster of the same name, and we recently got to play through a few levels from the first half of the game. Disney was tight-lipped on the levels inspired by the third movie. If you check out the trailer here, you can bet Jack and company will visit some exotic locales like the Far East, navigate past giant icebergs, and shoot cannonballs. Lots of cannonballs.

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Set a game in 1960s San Fransisco and it's likely to conjure up images of a mind-bending rhythm actioner with psychedelic visuals guaranteed to pop your eyeballs in an explosion of colour. This is Hei$st however, a brutal bank-robbing game which involves car-jacking, hold-ups and vicious shootouts. So much for 1969's Summer of Love.

While the hippies got high and the cool cats lapped up the city's new-found open-mindedness, Johnny Sutton enjoyed his first day out of the slammer. The latest in a long line of high-profile thieves, Johnny was banged up for following in the family's footsteps and pulling off a small-time robbery. Thing is, being inside didn't put him off a life of crime; instead it gave a thirst for the major league, an ambition to become known as the greatest bank robber of all time.

We've only seen snippets of the city but hope it's busier in the final game.
So begins Hei$t, a shooting 'n' stealing epic set in an open-world recreation of '60s San Francisco. It's a cross between Grand Theft Auto and a squad-based shooter like Ghost Recon, with players stepping into the no-doubt-stolen shoes of Johnny, out to make a name for himself.

It's not quite that simple, however - you can't simply walk into the first bank you see, empty the vault and then sit back and watch the credits roll. Every job needs to be meticulously planned otherwise you'll be back behind bars in a flash. That's where Uncle Sal comes in; he's the brains behind the outfit, the guy you go to when you need blueprints for the bank, details of the vault, the locations of the cameras - whatever you want, he'll get it for you, providing you give him time.

Pulling off a successful robbery is still not easy though, even if you're armed with every last piece of info on your target. Learning from experience is the only way you'll get the skills needed to tackle the bigger jobs, so it's best to start off small. Thankfully, Sal can help out here too, by highlighting the smaller local banks whose security isn't quite so tight. Once you've picked a target it's into the car and off around the city.

It's worth noting at this point that much of the city we explored in this very early build of the code looked desolate and sorely lacked detail. Compared to the bustling streets in the GTA IV trailer, Hei$t's city looks like a ghost town, with few cars and even fewer people trawling the streets. While we have no doubt the game will be considerably more populated and detailed by the time it's released in October, it was certainly the weakest part of the game so far.

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If you think the ASBO-ridden streets of Manchester are a nasty place to get caught after a Friday night out, spare a thought for the poor folk who live in the Middle Eastern city of Al-Khali. Turns out this once-peaceful town was built on top of the ancient ruins of a dozen conquerors and one Wednesday afternoon - or maybe it was early evening - all hell broke lose and a portal to the underworld opened up, allowing a tidal wave of unspeakable evil to come flooding through that, unless stopped, will spell the end of the world.

If ordinary weapons don't have any effect, try magic.
All is not lost, however. Like the proverbial thug-nicking bobby on the beat, Al-Khali has its own police presence, but the guys who are patrolling the streets in this game are a hell of a lot meaner than the rozzers who roam the local estates. In fact, the Jericho team are a bunch of misfit psychopaths who probably shouldn't be trusted with high-velocity machineguns, but they're the only suckers stupid enough to enter the city limits of Al-Khali to find out what exactly's going on.

So begins Jericho, a squad-based, horror-themed first-person shooter penned by British gore god, Clive Barker. After all contact with Al-Khali was lost, a seven-man strike team - the Jerichos - were sent into investigate. It's an adventure that travels through time and space, with team Jericho fighting through the modern-day city, as well as incarnations set during World War II, the Crusades, during Roman times and back to the fourth millennium BC, when the trouble all started.

Starting in the modern day, scouring the labyrinthine streets, the Jerichos are surrounded by demolished buildings which rise up on each side while flaming debris lies scattered across the ground. More worrying however, is the army of ghoulish freaks roaming the shadows. These skeletal warriors have travelled up from the depths of Hades and, within seconds, it all kicks off.

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