HowStuffWorks has up an article describing how the Nintendo Amusement Park works. This is the New York city area theme park in the making with a physically augmented ride themed around Super Mario Bros. They plan to make the side-scrolling course 100 meters long with a safe and fully interactive course with foam crash padding platforms powered by hydraulic actuators."
From the article:
"It's really a single 'ride' — a real-life interactive adventure that allows players to dress up as Mario or Luigi, enter the Mushroom Kingdom and perform the actions that the heroes perform in the video game. Players can jump over obstacles, land on and ride moving platforms, and smash enemies. They can even collect gold coins and punch power-up boxes."

More info ...

In a concerted effort to promote mobile phone gaming, 02 is to install five free mobile game demos from developer Fishlabs on new Nokia and Sony Ericsson mobiles.

The handsets will come with an application allowing users to sample 3D titles Planet Riders, Galaxy on Fire, Burning Tires, Robot Alliance and Heli Strike.

"Many mobile phone owners are not aware of the fact that they are holding a mobile game console," said Mark Tins, product manager of games at O2.

"These pre-installed games introduce users to the concept of mobile gaming enabling them to simply download the full versions if they want to."

Initially the demos will be available for the Nokia 6233 and Sony Ericsson K610i and K800i models. ...

Via Gamesindustry

Wild Hare Entertainment is to publish several undisclosed PSP titles from developer Alten8 in North America.


The two companies intend to enable smaller developers to gain access to the wider European and North American markets.

Paul Andrews, CEO of Alten8 Limited, added: "With reciprocal content publishing and distribution between our like-minded companies, we can create a strong alliance for a cross-Atlantic partnership, which opens new doors not only for us, but for the developers, which up until now have had no access to mainstream publishing and distribution in Europe or North America."

"Both companies have a very strong upcoming portfolio of games and content to bring to market which we believe will bring a new fresh dimension not seen in the market for many years," he added.

"Our companies are based on the same philosophy and share the same vision for bringing the very best interactive entertainment to audiences worldwide," said Matt Tolleson, VP of publishing at Wild Hare.

Via Gamesindustry ...

Electronic Arts' FIFA '07 continues to demonstrate its retail staying power by remaining the top-selling title in the UK All Formats software charts on its second week of release.

Although sales have dropped by 29 per cent, the football favourite has still managed to sell more than the seven next best-selling all formats titles combined, while the rest of the chart has shuffled around in a week without any new entries in the top ten.

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy has fought its way back up the charts to number two, while Tiger Woods PGA Tour '07 stubbornly holds the number three position for the third week running.

Eidos' Just Cause continues to perform well at number four, while Square Enix's RPG Kingdom Hearts II stays at number five.

THQ's movie tie-in Cars bumps back up the charts to number six, overtaking acclaimed strategy title Company of Heroes at seven, while Dr Kawashima's Brain Training continues to bother the top ten at eight.

Codemasters' soccer sim LMA Manager 2007 sits at number nine, while Bizarre Creations' Project Gotham Racing 3 breaks back into the top ten on the back of a Xbox 360 promotional bundle.

Via Gamesindustry ...

Via Eurogamer

SEGA has confirmed rumours that the deal it recently signed with Planet Moon Studios was for a new After Burner game for PlayStation Portable.

Called After Burner: Black Falcon, it's due out in spring 2007 and promises a single-player campaign along with competitive and co-operative Wi-Fi multiplayer modes.

Planet Moon will be injecting the game with 19 officially licensed, customisable planes, as players embark on a story-rich campaign to discover the origins of the titular mercenary group Black Falcon, responsible for the theft of 13 top-secret planes.

SEGA creative director Matt Woodley says After Burner will be "a good example of updating one of the all time SEGA classics for the current generation of gamers", maintaining the arcade original's fast pace and challenge.

For his part, Planet Moon CEO Bob Stevenson said building the game from the ground up on PSP has given the team license to explore multiplayer, customisation and "over-the-top" gameplay where it might not otherwise have been able to. "Most importantly, it's approximately 9000% more portable than the original arcade cabinet," he joked.

It's also got a lot to live up to, mind - and it'll be interesting to see how Planet Moon gets on with it. Not long to go either, with spring pegged as the release target. ...

An update for the Xbox 360 version of Prey, which went live on Marketplace this morning, adds four brand new multiplayer maps as well as various new character models.

Similar to the update released for the PC version, the Prey patch adds Becky, Elhuit, Elite, Hunter and Jen multiplayer characters, as well as Gravity Labs, Space Oddity, Topillogical and Tunnel Rat maps.

You can download it everywhere except Japan ...

I will now attempt to write about a basketball game! 2K Sports' upcoming PlayStation 3 version of NBA 2K7 (due out next March, obviously) will introduce the ability to shoot from the free-throw line using the "Sixaxis" controller's tilt sensor functionality. Altogether: ooooh!

Other things 2K's wittering on about include the return of last year's "shot stick pro" (no idea), the capture of individual players' distinctive movements, and authentic NBA motion-captured post moves like quick spins, drop steps, hooks, and fade-aways.

On top of that, there's a player-creator, and franchise mode claims to be the best ever with "multiplayer franchise, 3 team trading, progressive fatigue and season awards". As for general multiplay, there'll be no dumping of that here - quite the contrary in fact, with up to seven players supported on one PS3 and the ability to play five-on-five games over the Internet. ...

Take-Two has confirmed that it will publish Tecmo's PlayStation 2 version of Tokobot in Europe - and it's due out next month.

Based on the PlayStation Portable game it published earlier this year, Tokobot Plus: Mysteries of the Karakuri expands on the original gameplay formula, which saw players making their way through platformy environments assembling little formations of helper-robots to bridge gaps, flip switches and defeat enemies.

The PS2 version has all of that still in place, and features ten additional stages, new characters (including a rival called the Instructor), six new boss fights and an upgraded time attack mode. ...

Sony could launch with as many as 24 titles and Wii with 30, according to a new document detailing the two consoles' launch plans.

In a report on new hardware launches spotted by Next-gen.biz, Wedbush Morgan Securities released its "anticipated" launch line-up for the two consoles with the aid of the companies mentioned below, although both SCEA and Nintendo are yet to confirm their full launch rosters.

The list reads as follows, with WMS's own estimated sell-in numbers included:

PlayStation 3
Resistance: Fall of Man - Sony
Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom - Sony
Genji: Days of the Blade - Sony
Gran Turismo HD - Sony
NBA 07 - Sony
Call of Duty 3 - Activision (600,000)
Marvel Ultimate Alliance - Activision (310,000)
Tony Hawk's Project 8 - Activision (300,000)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Bethesda Softworks
Fight Night 3 - Electronic Arts (400,000)
Madden NFL 07 - Electronic Arts (700,000)
NBA Live 07 - Electronic Arts (500,000)
Need for Speed Carbon - Electronic Arts (800,000)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 - Electronic Arts (400,000)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Target In Sight - Namco Bandai
Ninja Gaiden Sigma - Namco Bandai
Ridge Racer 7 - Namco Bandai
Full Auto 2: Battlelines - Sega
Sonic the Hedgehog - Sega
NBA 2K7 - Take-Two Interactive (400,000)
NHL 2K7 - Take-Two Interactive (200,000)
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII - Ubisoft
Rainbow Six: Vegas - Ubisoft
F.E.A.R. - Vivendi

NINTENDO Wii
Wii Sports (bundled with hardware) - Nintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo
Excite Truck - Nintendo
Call of Duty 3 - Activision (200,000)
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance - Activision (200,000)
Rapala Tournament Fishing - Activision (50,000)
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - Activision (300,000)
World Series of Poker - Activision (50,000)
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 - Atari (200,000)
Trauma Center: Second Opinion - Atlus
Madden NFL 07 - Electronic Arts (500,000)
Need for Speed: Carbon - Electronic Arts (500,000)
Elebits - Konami
The Ant Bully - Midway m (100,000)
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy- Midway (50,000)
Happy Feet- Midway (100,000)
Rampage: Total Destruction - Midway (50,000)
Avatar: The Last Airbender - THQ (200,000)
The Barnyard - THQ (200,000)
Disney's/Pixar's Cars - THQ (300,000)
SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab - THQ (300,000)
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII - Ubisoft
Far Cry: Vengeance - Ubisoft
GT Pro Series - Ubisoft
Monster 4x4: World Circuit - Ubisoft
Open Season - Ubisoft
Prince of Persia - Ubisoft
Rayman Raving Rabbids - Ubisoft
Red Steel - Ubisoft
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent Ubisoft

It could be a very expensive Christmas then, if these predictions turn out to be correct. And with the exception Prince of Persia Wii - which Ubisoft previously announced for release next year - we'd say the report is a pretty fair stab as well.

It's also important to note that we're expecting even more titles for the European PS3 release list, considering its debut this side of the pond has now been pushed back to next year.

But we are of course taking the analysts' word with a very large pinch of salt, and we'll let you know when either company give official word. ...