Publisher: MicrosoftDeveloper: Hidden Path Entertainment
Platform: Xbox 360, Hobby
Reviewed on Xbox 360
Wits & Wagers is a trivia game originally released as a physical party game that rewards both trivia knowledge and poker-like betting skills. Microsoft, working with Hidden Path Entertainment, has released an electronic version of the game available through Xbox Live Arcade for 800 points ($10).
Activision confirmed that Edge of Reality is developing Pitfall: The Big Adventure for the Wii.
This week, no new downloadable games are being released for the Wii Virtual Console, but that's because today marks the premier of the WiiWare downloadable game service.
Electronic Arts confirmed that it is creating a version of Burnout Paradise for the PC.
Xseed Games has signed on to distribute Japanese publisher Marvelous Entertainment's games in North America. The first such game that Xseed will distribute under this agreement is Valhalla Knights 2 for the PSP to be released late this year.
Codemasters has acquired the exclusive right (for a time) to make games based on Formula One racing featuring all Grand Prix circuits, Formula One teams, cars and drivers.
Atari has received multiple letters from the Nasdaq threatening to delist the company. Yesterday, Atari reports, the company received a notice from the Nasdaq that a Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel has determined that the Nasdaq will delist Atari's stock and suspend trading as of the opening of business tomorrow.
Activision announced its financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2008.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission released the results of its undercover shopping investigation to see if movie, music and game ratings are being enforced by retailers, and found that "M"-rated games are increasingly difficult for underage children to purchase.
THQ has entered into a licensing agreement with Marvel Entertainment to make video games based on the Marvel Super Hero Squad.
by Kyle Ackerman
Sometimes I miss New York City. Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV isn't the real New York City – it's a condensed caricature. But the fidelity made possible by the latest generation of consoles and the detail added by the team at Rockstar North made Liberty City close enough to the Big Apple to make me listen for the rumble of the subway and the mixed smells of burnt pretzels, sour garbage and laundry vents. The landmarks are all there, from Lincoln Center and Grant's tomb to Coney Island's Cyclone roller coaster and the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows. (Different names, but still.) But it's not the landmarks that make Liberty City so accurate. It's the little details: the architecture in the nameless buildings; the style of familiar stores; the street-level garages of particular hotels; the barriers in the middle of streets; the ever-present scaffolding; and even the signs reminding me that it's a two-point offense to "block the box." The South Street Seaport was so perfect that I started to think "Hey... there should be a heliport just past the Seaport that I don't see." Then, as I cruised further south, the heliport popped into view, and I discovered I could take helicopter tours. The city felt so real that I was transported back to the city I was both ecstatic and sad to leave a few years ago. Sometimes realism &ndash even virtual realism &ndash isn't as great as it's cracked up to be.
