Totally Games' Alien Syndrome work for the PSP and Wii only marks one of many milestones for this storied developer, well-known among older gamers for X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, for starters. TG founder and president Larry Holland talks to Gamasutra about three things, one of which this writer severely disagrees with.

• Updating the 1984 Sega Alien Syndrome for the very much present-day PSP and Wii.
• Being invited to work with DARPA - that's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
• Why Totally Games moved out of the flight/space sim genre it made its name on, because the genre's "on a long and slow decline." (This writer says: nuts to that)
  

The original arcade Alien Syndrome was an arcade shooter (sorry for the redundancy), so to bring the game up to speed for the early 21st century for a handheld and a Wiimote, Totally Games decided to fuse it with elements from the action-RPG (ARPG) genre.

The gameplay of this new version definitely places emphasis on the action component of the ARPG genre by requiring the player to refine his skill with range and melee weaponry in order to progress through the game. In addition there is plenty of loot to collect, weapons to upgrade, character skills and proficiencies to balance and an inventory to manage.

In summary, the game is all new, with new characters, weapons, environments, gameplay and a new story. Therefore this version of Alien Syndrome is not a simple graphics upgrade but a complete re-design from the ground. The result is an intense, ranged-combat oriented game with lots of strange and horrific aliens threatening to tear the player from limb to limb.

The Wii version of Alien Syndrome will come with special mini-games designed around the Wiimote's motion-sensing, geared to crafting items for the player. The interface will also be unique to the game (likely because you use the Wiimote with the interface, no doubt). Other than that, Holland says the Wii and PSP versions "share much" and are being developed concurrently.

Talking about working on a government project, and breaking the hearts of all X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter veterans everywhere at the full article.

Sega's apparently caught the UFO bug. Just after announcing their plans to produce a game lineup following 20th Century Fox's  "Aliens" franchise, they once again revealed the planned release of another classic alien title.

Alien Syndrome, one of Sega's old classics, is currently in production under the Totally Games studio. It should be ready for release by as early as the summer of '07. For the non-retro gamers, the game's an old action-rpg arcade title Sega released back in 1987, and allowed you to play as soldiers Ricky and Mary.

This time around, the game puts you in the controls of Aileen Harding (Elaine Ripley knockoff?), as she blasts her way through the game's varying environments using a combination of weapons (20 in total) and character skills.

The game's expected to make full use of the Wiimote's motion-sensing capability. But aside from the usual activity of using it to fight their way through threats, players can expect the Wiimote to be used for more delicate tasks, such as upgrading gear, or hacking computers.

PSP owners on the other hand can expect the game to make use of the portable's Wi-Fi- capability. This allows up to four players to join in the game's fun, though expect more goodies to be announced as the game goes through its production phases.

"Completely re-designed from the ground up for the PSP and the Wii, this new Alien Syndrome offers a refreshing blast-athon on a venerable classic," said Totally Games' President and Creative Director, Larry Holland. "As well, it has allowed us to exercise our science fiction chops to the fullest to create a totally involving futuristic action-RPG game experience."