Publisher: Konami
Developer: Climax
Genre: Action-Brawler
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now

What hath Pokemon wrought? Ever since Nintendo’s vast menagerie of collectible critters hit the retail space, game and toy developers have worked overtime to pair collectible figures with the trading card craze. It seems everyone is looking to capitalize on the pre-teen appetite for destruction which can only be met by collecting as many critters as possible and setting ‘em on each other in mortal combat. Enter, Gormiti: The Lords of Nature – a new Wii title based off the collectible card and action figure series.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Genre: Dance/Rhythm
Release date: Available now

I’ll admit it. Back in high school I was a theater nerd. I love musicals, and I think done well they are a unique form of fun entertainment. However, there seems to be a strong desire for music and dance to make the leap to the video game world. Music I’m sold on, given the success and strength of both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, but dance I’m not so sure about. Still, I tried to remain optimistic while taking Dance on Broadway for a spin.

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Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

Hardcore gamers might already be familiar with the Monster Hunter series, even though very few of the games have made their way to North America thus far. Exceedingly popular in Japan, the Monster Hunter games are essentially exactly what you’d expect: you, the player, seek out and destroy creatures across the land. Monster Hunter Tri is the third installment of the series, and it comes to the Wii for the first time.

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Publisher: SouthPeak Games
Developer: Asylum Entertainment
Genre: Puzzle/Simulation
Release date: Available now

Sometimes I believe game developers confuse the Nintendo Wii for a smartphone. The Wii is a console, capable of handling strong graphics, sound, and games whose total playing time can be several hours long. So it’s beginning to baffle me more and more that games are still being released for it, even so-called “budget” titles with asking prices of $20 to $30, which have less meat to them than a miniaturized chicken wing. And so, we look at Sushi Go Round.

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Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

Adventure gamers who thought their treasures were lost to the ether of time owe Telltale Games a heaping helping of praise. During the last six years or so, the developer has resurrected many beloved properties that vexed our membranes way back in the mid-1990s, with rock stars such as Guybrush Threepwood and, of course, Sam & Max, earning their own continuing series of adventures. As Telltale opens the curtain on Sam & Max’s latest adventure (Season 3 just kicked off this week with Episode 1: The Penal Zone), they’ve also packaged the entire second season, Beyond Time and Space, for release on the Wii, a platform that, because of its unique control scheme, seems to welcome these point-and-click adventures with a little more grace than the other console powerhouses.

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Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Genre: Platformer
Release date: Available now

I must state first that I’m a sucker for a good Mario game. When Nintendo announced New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I couldn’t help but think of the sweet nostalgia I would be experiencing. This rendition is a revisit of the classic platformer of 1985 that catapulted this franchise to godlike status. However, this time around there are a couple of new twists added to the mix. So let us put on our plumber’s caps for one more go around.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

Rabbids Go Home marks the debut of the slightly deranged (but always comical) Rabbids in a console game without their usual anchor character, Rayman. The Rabbids have always been amusing creatures on their own, but are usually part of the backdrop or the antagonists. Now you can have some fun controlling the havoc that ensues whenever they’re around.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

When movies are made into games, they never seem to work out. They always feel too much like studio marketing department gimmicks designed to convince consumers to buy something that was churned out in a few hours of development. Of course, there are exceptions (Batman: Arkham Asylum, Chronicles of Riddick, Ghostbusters: The Video Game), but usually this is because the games’ storylines and adventures are completely separate from their movie counterparts. So how does the well-received “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” movie fare in its foray into videogame land? Pretty well, I’m surprised to say.

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Publisher: Activision
Developer: Now Production
Genre: Fighting/Brawler
Release date: Available now

As a 37-year old dude, I pride myself on my ability to stay hip to what the kids are playing these days. While some of that may come from the fact that I’m a parent, I also stay up-to-date on all the latest fads simply out of pure interest and curiosity. No matter how old I get, that boy in me who first geeked out over collectible Star Wars cards knows that “Force” will never die. That said, I admit that when my son first threw down a Bakugan on a Gate Card, he had his old man stumped. Would this new collectible critter craze be the one straw that broke this camel’s back? Alas, I’ve rolled with the best of them, racking up scads of G-Power cards so when Activision decided to take the Bakugan Battle Brawlers into the digital realm, I was ready to enter the ring.

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: Blue Tongue Entertainment
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now

Superheroes are big business these days. With most summer multiplexes reading like a Who’s Who in the Marvel Universe, it’s no surprise that the console market has seen a steadily increasing line of licensed properties looking to take their tights and flights to the digital domain. And while the developers can simply slap Woverine’s mug on a box and anxiously await their coffers to fill, there’s a genuine desire to mint a new generation of fervent fanboys. That’s where THQ and Blue Tongue come in, with their latest release Marvel Superhero Squad taking aim at the pre-tween set as they leave their Baby Einstein behind and graduate to big boy fare.

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Publisher: Frontier
Developer: Frontier
Genre: Puzzle-Platformer
Release date: Available now

Roughly halfway through this current generation of consoles, I can safely say that I have mined more entertainment and unique gameplay experiences from the bite-sized morsels available on the various digital distribution streams (such as WiiWare, XBLA and PSN) than I have from the mega-budget retail releases. Looking back over the last few years, my end-of-year Top Ten lists have skewed heavily towards the independent developers, with games such as Braid and World of Goo standing taller than their supposed big brothers. There just seems to be an air of creativity at the grass roots level that diminishes the higher you climb in the stratosphere, and while I’ll happily tackle the next GTA or Halo clone, my juices really start flowing when I’m adventuring through another finely crafted puzzle game. This digital revolution kicked off around the time the WiiWare service launched, featuring its greatest showcase title, LostWinds. Developer Frontier has toiled tirelessly for the last two and half years to finally offer fans their long awaited follow-up, Winter of the Melodias.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Game Arts
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now

It’s amazing to think that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have been around for 25 years. Throughout that time, the four now-iconic heroes have graced comics, television series, movies, a whole slew of merchandise (I think I had at least one lunchbox as a kid), and of course, games. After the enormous success of the Smash Bros. series from Nintendo, Game Arts and Ubisoft have seen an opportunity to pit these beloved characters against each other.

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Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Seamless Entertainment
Genre: Sports
Release date: Available now

When EA infamously locked up exclusive rights to the NFL, thereby firing a shot directly to the midsection of all competitors, they effectively blocked everyone from producing a game of professional football with any chance of retail survival. Without the teams and player likenesses that come with those coveted licenses, there really is no point as the industry is long past the days of Ten Yard Fight where we’d simply marvel at the ability to play the sport on our TV screens. These days we want to get into the game and ink the big contracts. That said, if there is one company out there with a trump card, it’s Tecmo, whose classic Tecmo Bowl lives long and strong in gamers’ memories, having heralded them through the Golden Age of the NES. While the dream of a next-gen Tecmo Bowl remains a fond wish, Tecmo has once again thrown on the pads with their latest release, Family Fun Football, and all eyes are upon it to see if it provides enough of a nostalgic kick to warrant grabbing another brand of pigskin.

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Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Torus Games
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

I’m of the belief that licensed titles are rarely worth playing, even when I really love the property on which the game was based. I would therefore expect that maxim to hold even truer when the underlying work, for instance, Scooby Doo, was something that I never liked at all. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found that Scooby Doo! First Frights is actually one of the better games I’ve played this year.

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Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Developer: Vanillaware
Genre: Action RPG
Release date: Available now

Call me a relic of the cold war: I was trained to fight in 2D, and I love ninjas. It’s why I’m afraid of sharks, James Kirk, and people who are really good at Counterstrike. It’s also why I love games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

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