Top on the UK gaming news is Medal of Honor: Airborne's defense against a trio of invading newcomers. On the week of the release of Midway's Stranglehold, Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword, and Nintendo's Super Paper Mario, the multiplatform WWII shooter from Electronic Arts still manages to attract the most gamers.

With Stranglehold's arrival at second, Super Paper Mario's debut at fourth, and Heavenly Sword's launch position at seventh, Electronic Arts still enjoys a three-title domination of the top ten games, with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 at third and The Sims 2: Bon Voyage in the eighth place.

Wii Play moves up nine whole spots to reclaim its lovely fifth seat, while More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima gains an IQ point to climb one spot to sixth.

Ninth is held by Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training, and still latching on to the last spot on the top ten is Take-Two Interactive's BioShock. In quick summary, you've got the following (for the week ending September 15, all formats in all price categories):

1. Medal of Honor: Airborne (Electronic Arts)
2. Stranglehold (Midway)
3. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Electronic Arts)
4. Super Paper Mario (Nintendo)
5. Wii Play (Nintendo)
6. More Brain Training from Dr. Kawashima (Nintendo)
7. Heavenly Sword (Sony)
8. The Sims 2: Bon Voyage (Electronic Arts)
9. Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo)

This week, Australia is going to have a lot of fun across the PC, Microsoft Xbox 360, and the Sony PSP. There's a handful of notable releases and they're led by Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC) and Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology for the Sony PSP.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology from Namco Bandai is a new spin-off of the Tales RPG series on PlayStation platforms. It tells the tale of a kingdom under siege from descenders who want to take over the domain. You can create customizable characters and use the Flex Range Linear Motion battle system taken from the video game's predecessors to beat the bad guys and save everyone in your land.

Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions from Ubisoft is a retro-style aircraft combat game that allows you to visit the bloodiest war in history with covert missions in store for you and the elite squadron that you command. Own the skies over Europe and thwart Hitler's plans to create weapons of mass destruction.

Other releases this week for Australia include:

• Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms (PC)
• Two Worlds (Xbox 360, PC)
• Enemy Engaged 2 (PC)
• Pangya! Golf with Style (Wii)
• Surf's Up (Xbox 360)
• Stuntman Ignition (Xbox 360)

Buy: [Two Worlds (PC)]
Buy: [Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions (PS3)]
Buy: [Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology]

European video game new site Eurogamer has posted an interview with Matt Tomprowski, the lead designer behind Electronic Arts' upcoming WWII shooter, Medal of Honor Heroes 2 (PlayStation Portable, Wii).

One of the interesting things Tomprowski mention in the interview is that while players will be fighting alongside squads of Allied soldiers, the main focus will still be on carrying out their own top secret OSS objectives. There won't be that much of a requirement to cover squad mates, and the designers have come up with a regenerating health system to "focus more on the intense action of battle".

Speaking of battle, Tomprowski also talked about Zapper support for the Wii version of Medal of Honor Heroes 2. The Zapper will be supported in all of the game modes including multiplayer. It'll also feature in a kind of on-rails training mode that will share the same - albeit redesigned - levels as the campaign mode.

The PSP mode will also have the 32-player multiplayer support that the Wii version has. In multiplayer mode, players can take part in Deathmatch, Infiltration (Capture the Flag) and the much requested Team Deathmatch mode. Tomprowski didn't reveal the total number of multiplayer maps, but he did mention that there will be "six all-new maps that vary in environment and size".

For the full interview, click on the Read link below. We'll keep you guys updated of any further developments regarding this game.


Buy: [Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (PSP)]
Buy: [Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 (Wii)]

  

Gearbox and Demiurge's Brothers in Arms: Double Time is looking to be one hell of a game. Unlike other shooters in this genre, this slower paced FPS puts an equal emphasis on a player's reaction time and squad tactics.The Director of Development for the game Al Reed shared a little insight on the creation as well as the new innovations that this game has to offer in an interview with IGN.

From the initial conceptualization of the game, the developers really made sure that this wouldn't be your average WWII game. Reed shared more on this:

When the Wii came out and was so successful everybody started looking around, asking, "well, what can we shovel onto the platform?" And Gearbox and us were like, "shovel's not such a good idea." I mean there's a lot of crap, right? We looked at BiA critically and thought if it would work.

I think what happened in that process was we realized BiA is not a straight up WWII shooter. It's a lot slower paced, there is not a lot of sprinting and gunning. It's a lot more tactical. It actually lends itself to the Wii pretty well. Pick up other shooters, I won't name names, but in the fury of a standard PC FPS, trying to win a round really quickly just doesn't work with the Wiimote. So you need a different kind of shooter.

As most would know, the Wii is distinct in the fact that it has a very innovative control scheme. Because of this, the developers had to take some time to consider how they would be able to take full advantage of it. In the end, it all came down to testing as Reed described:

We sat our designers down and asked them, "what do you think the right way to do this is?" And they went and played every game out there and brainstormed on their own, implemented a couple schemes and tossed them up. And while we think our designers are brilliant, they're also not everybody.

So, we took their designs, put them in the game, and started bringing in reams and reams of people to play the game and give us feedback. So we forced the designers to prove that they know what they're talking about.

Brothers in Arms: Double Time is slated to be out by October 16 this year. All in all, this is shaping up to be a really awesome game. If you want more information on it, the entire interview can be found by clicking on our Read Link.

Electronic Arts is set to deliver more gaming goodness with Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for the Wii and PSP. The Fusion Team from EA Canada has been working on this title for a year now, and it looks like their hard work is paying off.

Lead Producer Matt Tomporowski was recently interviewed by IGN, and he gave out quite a few details any WWII-based FPS fans would undoubtedly want to hear.

First up would be the biggest news, some information about the 32 player online matches. While this was announced in the last E3, details were a bit sparse. Thankfully, Tomporowski has seen fit to enlighten the rest of the community on this.

The original Medal of Honor Heroes on the PSP had this feature. Because of this, the groundwork was already set for the current team. Tomporowski gave word that they "leveraged our technology and design as the framework for this, but we wanted to improve on the online experience and make it the best online multiplayer game on the Wii, with the most players at 32."

This is great news for players everywhere, he further expounded on this saying that they're really working hard to make good multiplayer maps, balanced weaponry, as well as providing popular game modes running at a smooth framerate.

This is all well and good, but the kicker is the fact that they're also planning to use a "continuous-joining server model," this means that players can just pop into a game even if it already started. Of course all of this would mean nothing if the overall product came out unplayable. You can rest easy with the knowledge that the playtest sessions are going pretty well as Tomporowski said in the interview:

We're super excited about how well the online multiplayer plays on the Wii and our playtest sessions often run well over their scheduled times with people trying to get one more frag in. We think gamers are going to have a lot of fun with 32 players online, especially because nobody has done it yet on Wii.

So strap up your boots, and get ready because Medal of Honor Heroes 2 is slated to arrive this November 6. This game could very well be the king of multiplayer on the Wii if it lives up to the developer's visions.

  

 

The release date of Brothers In Arms: Double Time for the Nintendo Wii fell back a month more, despite a previous release target set for September 21, 2007. The hopefully non-port of Brothers in Arms should hit Wii consoles by October 19, 2007 as claimed.

Although missing in the list, Ubisoft has reaffirmed the release date of Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is still on track for November. The WWII game's absence in the release list was a mistake, claims Ubisoft, and will be coming to the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as previously scheduled.

Titles going to be released along with it are the highly awaited Assassin's Creed (for the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360), the insane Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 (for the DS and Wii), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction (for the PC and Xbox 360) and Free Radical's Haze (for the PlayStation 3), although they are vaguely listed simply as "November release."

 

Over at the official forums from Infinity Ward's web site, forum administrator fourzerotwo announced that they had something to announce this coming Saturday, April 28. While they've been extra careful not to spill any additional details by accident, they did mention that their announcement was big.

Especially when compared to a vaccine for yellow fever, we'll take his word on the essence of "major" in Infinity Ward's major announcement. Infinity Ward is best known for their successful rendering of the Call of Duty franchise, so we speculate something rather relative to it. Call of Duty 4, perhaps?

But with the likes of Medal of Honor, alternate 'verse Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, and RTS Company of Heroes, we're not sure if a new WWII shooter is going to cut the cake for Infinity Ward this time around. Hopefully though, they could go about creating a new BattleField 1942 since there's only one of those out there. Big word is, Call of Duty could be going modern...

Two new games in the Brothers in Arms series have been slated for the Nintendo DS and Wii. Both games, published by Ubisoft and developed by Gearbox Software, are expected to bring new life to this FPS based on WWII.

The Nintendo DS version, simply called Brothers in Arms DS, has a lot going for it. This is the first Brothers in Arms for the system and the developers look to be maximizing the use of the touch screen. Other features of the game include 3D graphics, drivable vehicles, and even contextual movements.

The game will also have 16 missions and three different campaigns which include Normandy, North-Africa, and Ardennes. For those who crave human flesh, er, i mean human opposition, the developers have included a multiplayer option for you and up to three other players. You can compete in various multiplayer games such as Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch.

The Wii version, Brothers in Arms: Double Time, has features that maximize the use of the Wii's innovative control scheme. What they have dubbed an "Enhanced Control Scheme" allows players to issue orders and perform military gestures to command via the Wiimote.

The game will feature 31 different levels, all of which depict the highlights of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment's fight for survival during WWII. The developers have also assured that the game will be historically accurate, with players fighting in Airborne Infantry battles of D-Day. They have even recruited Military and Historical Director, Col. John Antal to ensure the accuracy of the game.

You can expect Sergeants Baker and Hartsock to be leading their boys into combat soon since both versions are scheduled to ship this year. No exact date has been given yet, but we expect the announcement to come soon.

Just a few more hours to go before Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII hits the Nintendo Wii console, and today we came across this video uploaded to YouTube by GoNintendoRMC that focuses on how the Wii's innovative Wiimote and Nunchuck control mechanics work in Blazing Angels. Check out the video below.

In Ubisoft's Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, players test their air-combat skills as they experience the most famous battles of World War II. As both squadron leader and ace fighter pilot, players pilot their aircraft with the Wiimote and Nunchuck as they engage in intense dogfights in some of the most the famous air battles of WWII.

1UP's James Mielke was ranting three weeks ago regarding the blatant use of the words "Call of", "Rise of", "Empire," "Nations," and "Ops" in game titles. (He was talking about Call of Juarez.) Well, we've lived through this type of stereotyping, but it doesn't mean we can't make fun of it right? Makes us wonder, do devs consult some sort of list when thinking of a title?

Anyway, the guys at GameSetWatch set out to come up with the "most stereotypical video game name... evah". The turnout was pretty crazy: Simon Carless (Game Developer/Gamasutra EIC) "Quaternion: The Beige-ning", Jill Duffy (Game Developer managing editor) came up with "Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Call Of Duty: Revenge Of Duty", and Brandon Sheffield (Game Developer features editor) gave the hilarious "Pauly Shore's XTREME Nude Wakeboarding II: The Awakening". The winner was Frank Cifaldi (Gamasutra features editor) with "WWII: World War II".

My fellow QJ staffers gave a few bits of their own. Victor B. came up with two - "Space Shooter: The Star Galaxy Trek Wars of Gradius" and "Final Generic Fantasy RPG Quest XX" - while our researcher R gave me this - "Death Ride Alliance: Blade War XIII". We're sure you have your own game title cliche and we'd love to hear about it. The more trite, the better.

Ready, set, go!