The bad news only gets worse for the USG Ishimura in the upcoming Wii-exclusive Dead Space Extraction from EA’s Visceral Games development studio. This platform-exclusive survival horror game functions as both a prequel and side story to the acclaimed Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 original. We’ve seen the game a number of times so far (most recently, at GamesCom 2009), and yesterday, EA dropped by with an updated build of the game to show off a new level and give GameSpot an exclusive peek at the first boss in the game.

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Gazing around your local games store, you’ll notice that there’s certainly no shortage of rhythm or karaoke games. SingStar, Lips, Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band, and Karaoke Revolution seem to have karaoke gameplay pretty well covered, but developers 4mm Games is banking on the power of hip-hop, a partnership with Def Jam Recordings, and some unique features to swing the balance in its favour. We took a closer look at this infectious title at GamesCom 2009, in Cologne, Germany.

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Sonic is the fastest hedgehog on foot, but how does he fare when he’s put behind the wheel of a racing car? Pretty good, it turns out.

Sonic’s back again, but this time, he’s switched his red running shoes for a shiny racing car. Sega All-Stars Racing is coming out early next year on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Nintendo DS and is being developed by Sumo Digital (GTI Club Plus, OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, Virtua Tennis 2009). We checked out the PS3 version at GamesCom 2009 in Cologne, Germany.

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The plumber, hedgehog, and friends are getting ready for Vancouver 2010, and we checked out a few new events at GamesCom.

After the enormous success of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games–(Mario & Sonic win 5M Olympic medals) 5 million copies and counting–creating a sequel based on the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Games seems like a no-brainer. So far, we’ve seen a number of fun events for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, including bobsleighing, speed skating, and downhill skiing, as well as numerous characters with which fans of Mario or Sonic games will be familiar. We recently got a chance to meet some more characters and events at GamesCom 2009 in Cologne, Germany.

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Science has proven that cowboys and ninjas are mortal enemies, and now Ubisoft is here to show us why.

With its heavy focus on first-person swordfighting, the original Red Steel was met with disappointment from those expecting the Wii Remote to deliver precise replications of their every gesture when the system first launched. The time between then and now has proved that the remote was never really suited for those high hopes, but now that the Wii MotionPlus attachment has been released, there’s a new opportunity for developers looking to deliver on those early ambitions. Naturally, Ubisoft is looking to do this with Red Steel 2. We just checked out a quick demo at GamesCom 2009 after first seeing the game at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this past June.

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Lego Indy’s back, and this time, he’s entering the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The original Lego Indiana Jones was a smash hit, and with the arrival of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last year, there’s suddenly more material for a sequel. That’s the thinking behind Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, which will also include material from the original film trilogy that didn’t feature in the first game.

We got to see reproductions of both new and old films in our GamesCom demo today, both with the diner section from The Crystal Skull and the opening of the ark from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The latter cutscene was particularly memorable, as the Nazis were compelled to perform funky dance moves before disintegrating into thin air. In-game, Indy can now do more with his whip, such as tie enemies up and drag them around, as we saw in the diner fight scene.

Lego Indy 2 also has plenty of upgrades that will please fans of the Lego series. When two players drift apart, the screen now automatically splits in two, letting players do what they want before joining seamlessly together once they’re close to each other. There’s also a new level builder that allows you to put down boards and pieces just like you might have done with real Legos as a child. However, with this being a children’s title, you probably won’t be able to share these creations online, although LucasArts is currently looking into this possibility. At least you and a friend can both work on your design at the same time.

The hubs in Lego Indy 2 have also been expanded and improved, with three hubs from the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and three from the original trilogy. The hubs are themed around different areas in the films, and you can fly around in a plane, parachute out, and then jump into levels straight from these hubs.

Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is looking almost finished, which is a good sign given how close we are to release. The game will be released on all major platforms in the third quarter of 2009.

Check out the source at GameSpot

We finally got to slay some monsters with a localised European version of Tri.

Monster Hunter is a game that has been synonymous with the PlayStation brand up until now. The Japanese cult hit has sold millions of copies (and helped sell plenty of PSPs) in its home country but has experienced limited success in overseas markets thus far. Capcom hoped to challenge this notion with a marketing campaign in Europe for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, which launched to strong reviews, and is following this up with the series’ first outing on the Nintendo Wii. We embarked on a hunting quest at GamesCom 2009 in Cologne, Germany, armed with our wits and a Wii Classic Controller.

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The original Modern Warfare is coming to the Wii, and as we found out in Cologne, it’s an impressively faithful reproduction.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was a huge hit for Infinity Ward in 2007, and even though it’s been nearly two years since its release, the game continues to dominate the online gameplay charts. Its appeal is so enduring, in fact, that developer Treyarch is bringing the game to the Wii this November. As we found out in Cologne, there have been relatively few compromises necessary to bring the game to Nintendo’s console and there are even a few new features exclusive to the platform.

First up, it’s worth mentioning that the single-player game is exactly the same on the Wii as it was on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Sadly, it’s so faithful to the original that there’s not even a new Wii-specific level in the game–it’s exactly the same as it was before. Thankfully, though, this faithful reproduction also extends to the multiplayer side of the game, with all the same game modes, such as Search & Destroy, Domination, and Freefall all included. They’re also all playable online. The only difference is that the player count has been reduced to 10 players, although this is still up from the eight players that Treyarch managed in Call of Duty: World at War on the Wii.

Thankfully, there are also some features specific to the Wii version. Obviously, the control system is quite different, but like another recent Wii first-person shooter The Conduit, the controls are completely customisable. There are plenty of preset control schemes that are set up for different levels of skill, but you can also tweak these as much as you want and save them as your own. Then there’s the squadmate mode, which allows a second player to drop into the game for co-op play. The second player uses the Wii Zapper peripheral or the Wii Remote and plays the game like an on-rails shooter, taking out enemies that the main player may have missed.

Finally, the game also uses an upgraded version of the engine that has powered previous Call of Duty games on the Wii. Most notably, the textures are of a higher resolution than ever before, while the particle effects, such as explosions, have also been improved. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will arrive on the Wii in November 2009, and we hope to bring you a first hands-on soon.

Check out the source at GameSpot

EA’s racing series is getting a makeover for the Wii, and we got a chance to play its new Elimination multiplayer mode.

Need for Speed Nitro is the first game in the franchise developed exclusively for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Developed by EA Montreal, the game features an exaggerated, cartoonish style that feels naturally suited to the Wii while boasting a sharp 60 frames-per-second refresh rate. We got the chance to check out some new tracks and tried the Elimination multiplayer mode ahead of GamesCom.

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EA’s Dead Space challenged survival horror preconceptions when it launched last year, boasting spectacular graphics, nail-biting action, and strategic dismemberment. EA was so confident of Dead Space’s appeal that it began work on a Wii version even before the original game had shipped, and we got to finally try out the cooperative mode of Dead Space Extraction ahead of GamesCom.

“Some things, the more you understand them, the more you loathe them.”

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