“This is truly a historic day for both EA and Mythic as we prepare to send more copies of WAR to retailers than any other newly launched MMORPG in North America and Europe. Over the course of our beta, over a million gamers throughout the world sent a clear signal to us - they want WAR, and we are more than happy to oblige them,” said Mark Jacobs, co-founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. “In three days the real battle begins – we have declared September 18th the ‘Day of Reckoning,’ and WAR will soon be upon us!”

WAR set a company record for the most retail pre-orders placed by consumers for a PC title in EA’s 26 year history. Overall, the company has sold 1.5 million units of WAR to retailers.

We at GameBump have a policy about not mentioning the name of a certain troll/bully lawyer unless we absolutely have to. This not yet being one of those instances, I'd just like to say that -- whoever he is -- he faces trial today against the Florida Bar who seeks to disbar him for his legal antics as of the last few years.

His attempts to delay the trial this weekend failed, and as much as he decries the discrimination against him for his "Christian activism," because Christians are the most repressed minority in America, the trial will go on as schedule. The court has apparently even cleared out its whole schedule this week just for this.

Will MFA be disbarred? Without any legal leg to stand on, will he still try to poach grieving families and convince them to blame video games? Will he still be invited to appear on Fox News every time someone under the age of 25 commits any act of violence? Who knows. I can't see him going gently into that good night just because of a massive embarrassment like this.

Check out GamePolitics for full coverage.

Ubisoft has signed on action/shooter developer Red Storm Entertainment who plans to bring the Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 engine to the game. The title will feature single and multiplayer modes and give players the option to battle it out with a variety of fighters including snipers, rifleman and grenadiers. Meanwhile, the multiplayer will include eight maps for Xbox Live.

No date has been announced yet, although True Soldier is expected to release in September.

Transforming the traditional Sims gameplay for the Wii and Nintendo DS platforms, MySims moves the player to a delightful but disorganized town where – thanks to the easy and unique controls – they can re-shape everything and make it their own. The town is rundown, but the player can make it much more dynamic. Using a selection of building blocks, unique patterns and engaging creativity tools, players can design furniture and appliances, architect new homes and businesses, and re-define the entire MySims landscape!

As players explore and build up the town, they will get to know dedicated, long-time residents like the always-busy Mayor Rosalyn P. Marshall and Buddy – the mostly-lazy hotel Bellhop. Once things start to look up, they’ll meet and choose from a variety of colorful, would-be residents. Will they build a restaurant for Gino Delicioso the Italian Chef, or will they help Ocean Breeze set up his Yoga studio instead?

Design is everyone’s domain in MySims. From building a new Pizza Oven for Gino to putting the finishing touches on a new roof for Buddy’s busy hotel, each completed task will help the town grow. As it expands to new areas, players will receive special building blocks, decorations and patterns which help customize their unique creations. From furniture and buildings to the town as a whole, every choice informs how residents and visitors feel and behave.

The game puts you in the role of army soldiers from Earth as the alien Strogg invades. Lead Game Designer Paul Wedgwood said, "The stories of the Strogg invasion of Earth have always fascinated me, and now through Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, we're able to bring this incredible war to life with an uncomprimising level of detail and realism."

Players are give the option to choose one of five unique classes as both humans and Strogg's army. You will also be given the opportunity to use over 40 vehicles as well. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars will be on display at this week's E3 in Activision's booth. Check out more later this week.

The titles are based around the idea to keep your brain active and have had a lot of success in Japan by selling over 1 million units each.

Nintendo Executive Vice President of Sales, Reggie Fils-Aime said, "Our brain-training series, led by Brain Age, builds on the popularity of word and number puzzles and acts as a treadmill for the mind."

Brain Age: Train Your Brain is scheduled to release on April 17th, while Brain Age: Big Brain Academy will hit retailers on May 30th.

Reid Schneider, Senior Producer at EA Montréal noted, “This is the game we’ve always wanted to create. Until now, the hardware would not allow us to deliver truly intelligent AI characters. We’ve built this game with co-operative TWO man gameplay as the centerpiece of the experience. Whether you’re playing with PAI or a friend, it’s about the TWO man missions, TWO man strategies and the TWO man advantage that really sets this game apart.”

The pet simulation game features 48 species of fish, different ways to decorate your tank and a 3D camera. As you watch your swimmers grow and prosper, Sim Aquarium will also allow you to set your screensaver as your fish tank.

"My Sim Aquarium allows all fish lovers an opportunity to enjoy their pets like never before. Rarely does virtual pet software allow the user the chance to engage their pets in their own environment. With My Sim Aquarium, players have the freedom to play, swim, and feed their fish from a full 360 degree underwater perspective," said Viva Media CEO Carlo Voelker.

Viva Media, a New York-based publisher known for picking up educational and adventure-themed titles, has not announced pricing or release date information for My Sim Aquarium.

"The mesmerizing appeal of the Katamari franchise's game play continues to transcend cultural boundaries and receive critical acclaim," said Yoshi Niki, Business Unit Director, Namco Hometek Inc. "We are excited to expand our offerings to the PSP system, so that our fans can play Katamari whenever and wherever they are."

The game will feature wireless play for up to four people, and a new island interface that highlights player options and the different stages represented by animals in need of new homes. Look for information in the coming days.

Sony’s attempt at a hit party game for the PlayStation Portable utilizes the monkeys from Ape Escape in a new game titled Ape Escape Academy. In Academy, players take on the role of one monkey whose goal is to work his way through school in order to become an ape and work for Specter. 

Players start out in their junior year at school as they are taught by familiar bosses from Ape Escape 2. Your goal is to graduate from each grade by beating random mini-games on a tic-tac-toe board. In order to pass a grade you must complete a certain number of tic-tac-toe lines. It sounds easy, but as the game progresses it does get a little more challenging.

Ape Escape Academy includes a total of 45 mini-games; many of them, however, aren’t very good, but I’ll get to that later. A few are decent including some of the sports themed games like air hockey and soccer. Another nice touch in the game is the addition of six extra mini-games that are based on other Sony hits like Everymonkey Golf and Gran Turismonkey.

Overall the gameplay isn’t what it’s cracked up to be and instead you’ll notice that the solid graphics and decent audio end up being Academy’s saving grace. The character models, menus and entire look of the game are pretty good and very colorful just like any previous game in the series. The audio is fun and upbeat too as there are plenty of monkey shrieks and other sound effects. The music is also enjoyable although not too memorable.

There is plenty to be disappointed with in Ape Escape Academy. Probably the biggest problem is that it’s hard to tell which age group Academy is geared towards because many of the mini-games are dull, boring or simple. What’s interesting is that the terrible games are varied and include such things as simple math problems, knowing world flags, matching shapes among other things. I don’t know where the makers of Ape Escape thought up these mini-games, but they are pathetic.

If that’s not a big enough problem, a lot of the game’s instructions are just terrible. You go into a game not knowing what you’re exactly supposed to do and because this is a pass-fail game you’re done as soon as you’ve started. I recall a number of times playing a game for two or three seconds at best just because the game doesn’t feature a practice mode to try it out first before it counts.

The problems in Ape Escape go much further than these though because of a couple other issues. One such problem is that if you’re playing the game mode on the tic-tac-toe board and you can not accomplish a line, there is no way to back out of the game and restart. Instead you’ll find yourself forced to play the last two or three games for no reason or else you’ll be pressing the home button and restarting the game. This was just a horrible design flaw that frustrates players to no end. Another issue is that many of the mini-games feel kind of slow, particularly in the controls.

Finally, the multiplayer in Academy is a joke as there are just 13 games to “share,” and this isn’t what Sony was intending with the game sharing feature on the PSP. You’ll actually be sharing the system with someone else as one person uses the D-pad and L button while the other uses R and the face buttons. It should also be noted there is a Wi-Fi feature to the game, but you’ll need four copies to play with others.

Ape Escape Academy proves that these monkeys can’t be taught new tricks and they should stick to their platforming roots. Academy only succeeds in the graphics and sound, but by no means was it even amazing. It was just like what you’d see in any other Ape Escape game which is solid.

The game fails where it counts with bad mini-games, terrible instructions, slow controls and a pretty worthless multiplayer option. Ape Escape Academy certainly had the potential to be at least a decent diversion on the PSP handheld; instead it’s recommended that players just stay away from it altogether.

Controls vary by game. Some are good, but most are slow and slightly complicated.

The character models, menus and look of the game are solid, but the framerate is a little slow.

The monkey sounds and various other audio is decent, but nothing too memorable.

Many of the mini-games are very dull and a lot of them are ridiculously short.

Multiplayer is lackluster and the mini-games won’t keep you coming back.

]]> Wed, 25 Jan 2006 15:50:00 -0600 The Gaming Horizon Archive http://www.gamebump.com/go/sony_unveils_new_ape_escape_release_dates http://www.gamebump.com/go/sony_unveils_new_ape_escape_release_dates http://www.gamebump.com/go/sony_unveils_new_ape_escape_release_dates#

We will have more information on both of these titles in the coming days.

Simple, but the puzzles are great – most of the time.

The backgrounds are beautiful, but the fact that they can hinder puzzle solving is crippling.

Not all that memorable, but fits the moods and themes of the story.

If your idea of fun involves head-scratching puzzles, you’ll love this.

Every playthrough could be different, but there isn’t any incentive for repeat playings.

]]> Fri, 29 Apr 2005 15:39:00 -0500