In Vacation Isle: Beach Party, up to four players can compete in unique vacation-style games, ranging from wakeboarding to surfing and even fire dancing. Players can engage in these exciting sports challenges and other activities using either the Wii Balance Board accessory or the Wii Remote. Along the way players will collect hundreds of Sand Dollars that can be used to purchase a wide variety of sports accessories and beach gear from the Surf Shack to uniquely personalize their Vacation Islander avatar. Vacation Isle: Beach Party delivers fun player customization; a wide variety difficulty settings and a multitude of course options. Catering to the young or young-at-heart, Vacation Isle: Beach Party is the perfect destination for everyone from the casual to the most competitive beachgoers right in the comfort of their home.

You will also be able to take advantage of the Wii Balance Board with Vacation Isle: Beach Party. No idea on pricing, but it ought to be somewhere in the same region as that of other Nintendo Wii titles.

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Tetris TV on DISH Network features two popular Tetris games: Marathon and 40-Lines. Marathon has 15 challenging levels of game play, and 40-Lines is a race to clear 40 lines in as fast a time as possible. In future releases of the Tetris TV service, subscribers will also be able to compete with other DISH Network subscribers by posting their names and scores to national leader boards managed by Oberon Media’s iTV community and service management technology, JIVE. Additionally, Oberon Media’s JIVE technology will allow for the management of Tetris tournaments in future releases. Tetris TV will take advantage of this technology by offering prizes to top players later in the year.

Something tells us that those crazy Japanese Tetris players will introduce total ownage of everyone else – ever tried playing Tetris DS with them? Also, it would be interesting to see whether new peripherals will be introduced in terms of a TV remote-cum-gaming controller if Tetris TV really takes off in a big way.

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With Impulse, users purchase their game and can then immediately download and install the game through the Impulse client which seamlessly manages updates, community features and more. Games become part of that user’s account such that when a user purchase a new machine, a user can simply re-download the Impulse client, logon to their account and re-download all their purchases, even years into the future.

According to Brad Wardell, CEO and president of Stardock, said, “We have had a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Atari, spanning almost a decade. We are really excited about seeing these blockbuster titles come to Impulse.” Digital distribution is the way to go, but there is just something about owning an actual physical media in the form of DVDs and game manuals. Guess there is a little bit of something for everyone, but digital distribution certainly takes the higher moral ground by being more environmentally friendly.

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Players will jump into the title role of the unyielding Nier as he begins his desperate quest to discover a cure for his daughter, Yonah, who is stricken with the deadly Black Scrawl disease. Armed with powerful magic as well as mighty swords, Nier will battle alongside formidable allies against waves of dark enemies and giant bosses to discover the truth about the disease, his daughter…and himself. NIER, the newest franchise from RPG masters Square Enix, delivers unique and memorable characters, intense action-packed battles, explosive magic and storytelling like only Square Enix can.

Expect to enjoy unbelievable story twists and reveals in an amazingly intricate storyline set in a world plagued by human anguish, buried secrets and a ravaging disease. We wonder whether it is capable of throwing a real mind twister for us gamers, but we do believe that Square Enix has it in them to include plot twists around every corner for a truly amazing storyline.

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Taking place in the year 2409, Star Trek Online boasts extraordinary features and lets fans both new and old experience unparalleled adventures. Players have the opportunity to become a high ranking Starfleet officer and participate in missions that take them into the depths of space, across exotic planets and even inside other starships. Star Trek Online offers total customization, from a player’s avatar to the ship he captains. Additionally, legendary actor Leonard Nimoy and Hollywood’s latest Spock, Zachary Quinto, have both lent their voices to the game. Nimoy voices the introduction for Star Trek Online and other key scenes in-game. Quinto plays the part of an Emergency Medial Hologram and voices the tutorial for this first-of-a-kind massively multiplayer online role-playing game, teaching fans how to explore the Star Trek Online universe, improve their characters, attain higher ranks, succeed in space combat and excel on away missions.

The Internet has certainly come a long way in freeing the minds of people, allowing them to live in a fantasy setting. With the advent of superior graphics, this experience gets even more surreal, and we wonder whether Star Trek Online will see the same levels of addiction as found in World of Warcraft, and the first MMORPG “crack” – Everquest.

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Unique to most RPGs, White Knight Chronicles International Edition has a three-pillar approach for the online gameplay features – GeoNet, Georama, and Quests. After completing Chapter 1, players will be able to unlock GeoNet, which will allow them to create a profile, post blogs, text message and make announcements. Using Georama, adventurers can create and customize their own towns and villages, create or purchase objects, offer shops and collectable items for visitors, as well as populate their towns or villages by inviting non-playable characters (NPCs) from the Story Mode. Quests allow players to have a shared profile with the Story Mode (level, skills, and equipment) as well as communicate with other players via text and voice chat to improve teamwork. As the story mode unfolds, players will unlock new quests, accumulate quest completion points to improve guild rank, and gain even more quests with better weapons and gear.

This is definitely one of the more engaging games which we’ve seen to date, and it allows the more cerebral gamers who love penning down their thoughts in the electronic format to get into the game. This ought to see the PS3 move a bit more units if it takes off in a big way. Image courtesy of Endsights.

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In addition, top bands 30 Seconds To Mars, Breaking Benjamin and Third Eye Blind lend both hit songs and new music. Epic alt-rockers 30 Seconds To Mars return to Guitar Hero with searing vocals, imaginative percussion sequences and blazing guitar riffs in a three-song track pack on February 4. The 30 Seconds To Mars Track Pack features hit singles “Attack” and “From Yesterday” from the band’s sophomore album A Beautiful Lie as well as “Kings and Queens,” the first single off of their latest album, This Is War. On February 11, breakout alternative metal band Breaking Benjamin makes their Guitar Hero debut with a three song track pack including “Sooner or Later” from their 2004 album We Are Not Alone and “Until The End,” off of the band’s third album Phobia. The Breaking Benjamin Track Pack will also have metal fanatics thrashing to the band’s newest single from their Dear Agony album, “Give Me A Sign.” Heavy metal pioneer and Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee Black Sabbath brings their original music to a music game for the first time on February 18. With master tracks of the hard-hitting, crunching classics “After Forever,” “Into The Void” and “Sweetleaf,” all off of their certified-platinum album Master of Reality, the Black Sabbath Track Pack delivers an unforgettable and intense music experience where fans can enjoy music they love in a whole new way.

Third Eye Blind will also make a much-awaited return to the Guitar Hero scene for an encore performance with a three-song track pack which will roll out this coming February 25th. That’s a little bit of something for everyone for each week, giving you just enough time to master a particular track in its most difficult setting before a fresh new challenge is issued. The 30 Seconds To Mars, Breaking Benjamin, Black Sabbath and Third Eye Blind track packs will hit Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 for 440 Microsoft Points, while PS3 owners can get theirs from the PlayStationStore for for $5.49 with Wii owners downloading theirs for 550 Wii Points.

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Well, how will this news affect you? Would you still go out and purchase Halo: Reach even though there are no motion controls supported, or would you stubbornly hold out for a potentially non-existent Halo title that offers just that? It really depends on the individual gamer, but at the end of the day, motion controls or not, you can bet your bottom corporate dollar that anything Halo isn’t going to be a flop monetary wise, as it is one of those indefatigable franchises that will go on and one, although it remains to be seen whether it has the star and staying power of Mario.

Source: 1Up

In Boys vs. Girls, players vie for the upper hand in more than 25 diverse missions and side pranks through lush forests, deep water and off-road trails. Just like any real summer camp experience, pulling pranks on the opposite sex is all part of the fun. By creating more than 30 different arts & crafts projects — including fake spiders, stink bombs and whoopee cushions — players will have the means to skunk victims, scare other campers, set traps, mess with camp food and engage in other shenanigans. Campers can compete in over 10 different sports including Water Balloon Fight, Eating Contest, Dodgeball, Canoe Race, Archery, Fishing, Potato Sack, Tug o’ War and Scavenger Hunt. Each game supports up to four players in motion-based play with the Wii Remote. Players can also track achievements, get to know their fellow campers and explore the world at their leisure by taking photos of rare animals and collecting hidden flowers for their Scrapbook.

Supporting up to four players, make sure there is enough space in the living room for a hilarious gaming session, and don’t make too much noise when you’re overexcited as you might just cause your neighbors to call the cops over when things get out of hand.

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In the first episode, The Lost and Damned, players will become immersed in the dark underworld of Liberty City and its motorcycle gangs led by Johnny Klebitz and The Lost motorcycle club. Players will follow the shady exploits of Luis Lopez in the second episode, The Ballad of Gay Tony, as he becomes involved in Liberty City’s fast-paced, corrupt nightclub scene. Both episodes feature new vehicles, weapons, and music.

At long last, the closing chapters of the GTA IV story will finally arrive on the PS3 this March 30th, where it will retail for a surprisingly affordable $39.99. But wait – there’s more, as The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony can also be purchased separately on the PlayStationStore through the PlayStation Network for $19.99 apiece, adding up to the same amount, give or take a cent.

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