Publisher: Deep Silver
Developer: Sproing Interactive Media
Genre: Survival Horror
Release date: Available now

Cursed Mountain is a survival horror game, one that is steeped in mystery and a unique idea, if not just for the mountain and the ghost. It’s most promising aspects are its atmosphere and its capacity to keep you hooked. But the game never lifts its foot off the pivotal stepping stone into the realm of engrossing gameplay.

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Publisher: Natsume
Developer: Marvelous Entertainment
Genre: Sports/Fishing
Release date: Available now

It shouldn’t be surprising to find that whole cadres of fishing games have been developed for the Wii. Just one look at the Wiimote and you can picture the handle of a fishing rod as players battle a catch from the comfort of their living-room couches. Reel Fishing: Angler’s Dream attempts to cash in on this niche.

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Publisher: Ronimo Games
Developer: Ronimo Games
Genre: Real Time Strategy
Release date: Available now

If gaming history has proven anything to us, it’s this: Real-time strategy games on consoles have never really worked out. But sometimes, people learn from their mistakes. When I was given Swords and Soldiers, I was more than reluctant to play. My RTS background is on the PC; I was already a little biased to the genre. But you at least have to try things once, right?

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Publisher: Southpeak Games
Developer: Collision Studios
Genre: Action/Adventure
Release date: Available now

It’s simply common knowledge that what every kid wants to be when he grows up is a shaman. Now, they can all get their chance to call upon the spirits with Brave: A Warrior’s Tale, an action adventure title set in a Native American backdrop. The concept is intriguing, but gameplay always supersedes any of that. The kid friendly appeal masks an experience that no child should have to go through.

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Publisher: Disney Interactive
Developer: Genki
Genre: Action/RPG
Release date: Available now

Video-game consoles inspire a great deal of loyalty from fanboys ready to ignite flame wars at the mere sight of a message-board troll. Then there are the players who enlist alongside Master Chief or get to work freeing Warcraft from the Horde and settle down for a multiyear engagement with their game of choice, ignoring the lion’s share of competing releases. This loyalty seems to be an innate trait of the more mature gamer, though, and while the prime demographics have certainly skewed older in the last decade, there is still plenty of cash to be mined from the pre-tween set, who are less finicky about their game choices than they are about their veggies. Kids think nothing of pinballing from Pokemon to Bakugan and back again, allowing properties like Disney’s Spectrobes: Origins to make a serious run for the throne.

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Publisher: Oxygen Games
Developer: Twelve SRL
Genre: Platformer
Release date: Available now

The current generation of consoles has given developers the ability to latch onto archetypes from gaming’s past and pull them into the light for new generations to enjoy. We’ve already seen digital distribution channels such as Xbox Live and WiiWare reanimate the adventure genre through games such as the recently released Tales of Monkey Island. Side-scrollers have also benefited from the nostalgia, with Bionic Commando Rearmed and its ilk receiving wide acclaim. In an age when former gaming poster child Sonic hustles from gimmick to gimmick looking to reclaim a hint of his past glory, does CID the Dummy stand a chance to become America’s Next Hot Mascot?

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Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Tiburon
Genre: Sports
Release date: Available now

At this year’s E3 conference, Microsoft garnered lots of press with the unveiling of Project Natal, a motion-sensing device seemingly ripped from the film “Minority Report” but owing just as much inspiration to the Nintendo Wii. At the same conference, Sony displayed its own unnamed version of the Wiimote and its waggling wizardry. The message was clear: while Microsoft and Sony offer powerhouse, pixel-bursting consoles, they clearly lag behind Nintendo’s lower-powered Wii, which thus far outsold the competition on the strength of its innovative control scheme. Despite that success, core Wii owners would counter that the Wii has yet to fully reach the potential promised when the system first debuted in 2006, a fact that Nintendo has sought to remedy through the introduction of Wii Motion Plus, an enhancement designed to produce true one-to-one motion control. While we won’t know how well Nintendo has implemented the device until Wii Sports Resort reviews start appearing, Electronic Arts has jumped to the forefront, embedding the technology into this year’s installment of its venerable Tiger Woods golf franchise, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010.

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Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sumo Digital
Genre: Sports
Release Date: Available Now 

With the advent of the Wii Motion Plus, gamers are going to find more and more games dedicated to the Wii console’s core strength: interactivity focused on simple body movement. As indicated by the whopping success of Wii Sports and its sequel, a market exists for well crafted and executed sports-themed games. Virtua Tennis 2009 is a perfect example of this, a game that entertains while capitalizing on all of the unique functionality the Wii has to offer.

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Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Electronic Arts
Genre: Puzzle
Release Date: Available now

The Nintendo Wii has defied all expectations and has emerged as this current console generation’s clear winner in pure sales. While Nintendo might not have pushed the envelope in terms of graphics quality or phenomenal processing power, they did accomplish their mission of pulling more gamers into the fold, some would argue to the detriment of their loyal, hardcore fan base. And while Nintendo has offered some compelling first-party content geared towards satisfying both camps, they’ve received much-deserved criticism concerning their tendency to grant the coveted Nintendo Seal of Approval to any developer looking to make a mint off of a poorly conceived and executed collection of minigames. It helps that the legion of new players is seemingly less likely to hit up sites such as Avault for a recommendation, and is more likely to make a purchase based solely upon the pretty pictures adorning the box. Fortunately, there are some developers who, despite their intense commercial interests, have assigned generous resources to their casual divisions to create compelling entertainment geared for everyone. EA, in partnership with Steven Spielberg, first hit paydirt last year with the ingeniously clever puzzle game Boom Blox, and they’ve returned with a more robust follow-up in this year’s Boom Blox Bash Party.

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Publisher: Sega
Developer: High Voltage Software
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release date: Available now

When Nintendo first unveiled the Wii, fanboys paged through their wish lists of new iterations in the Mario, Zelda and Metroid series and began to dream up new and exciting applications for their favorite genres. The so-called hardcore crowd immediately conjured up lightsaber battles as a no-brainer use for the Wiimote, while others saw the ability to closely replicate the pixel-perfect mouse-driven controls that PC first-person shooter afficionados have enjoyed for years. And while a handful of FPS games have trickled through the deluge of shovelware ports, none have lived up to that initial fanboy fantasy. Enter developer High Voltage and the much-anticipated The Conduit, a Wii exclusive that endeavors to deliver hardcore action thrills while rewriting the book on how a console FPS should be controlled.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: 7 Studios
Genre: Action
Release Date: Available Now
Reviewer: Christopher J. Troilo

It wouldn’t be a new month without a new minigame compilation being released for the Nintendo Wii. However, this new game has the distinction of being branded with a household name in its title. The Six Flags chain of amusement parks, known for their rides and carnival games, has been converted into a party title for the Wii, aptly named Six Flags Fun Park.

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Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Longtail Studios
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ed Humphries

True confession time: I’ve never seen an episode of Grey’s Anatomy in my life. My brain boggles at the notion of how the once geeky Patrick Dempsey pushed McSteamy aside to be stud du jour. I guess this makes me the perfect critic to check into the virtual Seattle Grace and review Ubisoft’s licensed game from ABC’s hot property Grey’s Anatomy. There’s no question that the show has grown to be a ratings powerhouse inspiring legions of fans, but does Grey’s Anatomy: The Video Game offer enough entertainment to someone who doesn’t know their McDreamy from their McLovin’?

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Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Tecmo
Genre: Action/Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ed Humphries

Despite its immense popularity, the constant knock against the Nintendo Wii has been its anemic software support for hardcore gamers. Store shelves are stocked with a variety of party games aimed squarely at the casual consumers who have pushed the Wii to its lofty perch, but, to date, the system has lacked the in-depth action-adventure titles that supported the last-generation’s big mainstream success, the Sony PS2. Tecmo aims to fill this gap with a port of their PS2 hit, Rygar: The Battle of Argus.

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Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Developer: Namco Bandai Games
System: Wii
Genre: Dance Simulation
Release date: Available now
Review by: Christopher J. Troilo

I often wonder if the Wii should really have been called the Simulator, since it appears that two-thirds of the “games” that are released for it are attempts to add graphics and motion controls to real-world activities. Such is the case with We Cheer, Namco Bandai’s gift to all the players out there who have been clamoring for a cheerleading game.

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Publisher: EA
Developer: EA Redwood Shores
System: Wii
Genre: Virtual Life
Release date: Available now
Review by: Ed Humphries

“Get a life” used to be an insult. Now, it’s a gamer’s prime directive. In addition to our normal 9-to-5, we’re always looking for an escape: to live a Second Life, teach the fine folks at Animal Crossing some new tricks or jack up the prices in Fable and see how the populace responds. This unquenchable desire to lead a simulated life has pushed The Sims series to great success, with many additions and expansions released over the years. The latest Sims incarnation is for the Nintendo Wii, MySims Kingdom.

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