Ever wondered why localization of a game takes as much as six months? Am sure you have, along with countless other curious souls. And finally, somebody takes the time to explain, step by step. Atlus lists the detailed procedure of localization, in hopes of appeasing the impatient gamers out there. The six steps to localization, as laid out by Atlus, can be found after the jump.

Back at E3, Atlus announced that they had picked up the rights to publish Shiren the Wanderer in North America. The game features randomly-generated areas, intense boss battles, and extensive item customization. The Japanese original also had online features like the rescue system, leaderboards, and a versus mode. Thing is, Atlus hasn't confirmed yet if the online modes will make it into the North American release.

Atlus has scored quite a coup for the more hardcore Wii fans, securing the North American publishing rights for Shiren the Wanderer, a critically-acclaimed roguelike RPG from Chunsoft. The Atlus PR only mentioned it as such, but this game is actually a localized version of Fushigi no Dungeon - Furai no Shiren 3: Karakuri Yashiki no Nemuri Hime. Yeah, well, good call. Plain Shiren the Wanderer is shorter. More details after the jump.

We've had a few publishers whip their E3 lineups out this week, so we're starting to get a picture of all those publishers and developers packed inside the LA Convention Center next week - but hold up, a few won't cut it. There are over a hundred different companies flocking to show their goods at the Electronic Entertainment Expo - publishers, developers, retailers, game sites, and all sorts of businesses having to do with electronic entertainment. For this edition of our QuickPeek E3 Specials, let's put the spotlight at what some of gaming's hottest companies have in store for us at the expo.

Are you traumatized yet from failing an aneurysm operation in Trauma Center? Not yet? Good, cos there's another one coming from Atlus, and this time it brings it into the more stressful world of hospitals. Simply called Hospital, this iteration of the Trauma Center franchise puts the coat on Wii-med students to play as doctors and as cosmetic surgeons. Don't blotch up that nose job now.

Overall, the April line-up for video game releases were what we could safely describe as abysmal. Not all hope is lost though, as the final week of April 26 brings about an improved stable of games. Kinda. Well, Wolverine's out to save the day, and I say that ought to count for something, right? And Velvet Assassin's painting the town violet, too. Ready to dive in?

The dark side of hacking rears its ugly head once more, spreading malware all over internet. This time, Atlus.com falls victim to a "third-party entity" which apparently managed to hack into the site, embedding the dreaded trojan virus into the system. What's worse is that the virus may have spread to the visitors of the said site, giving gamers from all over the world a very, very bad day.

If you thought last week was a ho-hum time for game releases, then there's really no other way but to describe this week of April 12 to 18 as worse.  There are a couple of bright spots here and there, however, so you might as well check out the list anyway. You know, just in case something catches your fancy.

I remember so many times when I burned hours away playing Minesweeper on Windows. For a visually lackluster game where all you do is guess and click, it sure packs some suspense, or am I just too easy to please? Anyway, get the latest update for the Minesweeper Wiibrew here.


Download: Minesweeper v1.2

Square Enix remakes and Sony's gaming handheld are considered to be among the latest crazes to hit japan Japan as the latest results of the top software and hardware sales from Media Create have finally been tallied. Check out the complete list of what's hot in the country during the week of July 14 to July 20 after the jump.