Like World War II games? If you do, don't worry. You won't run out of World War II games as far as Gearbox Software is concerned. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders of the development company behind Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway ((PC, Xbox 360, PS3) explains why they won't quit making World War II games. Check out the full article to find out why.

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)]

If this post from retail chain EBGames is correct, fans of aerial combat simulator games will have another title to look out for on January 1, 2008 in the form of Heroes of the Pacific. Yep, it seems that the critically-acclaimed PS2 game from IR will be making an outing on the PlayStation Portable.

We checked the title's official site if the developer or even publishers Codemasters and Ubisoft have updated it but unfortunately, the companies have yet to do so. Allow us to speculate a little though in saying that this is not at all an impossibility. It is common practice for video gaming companies to bring PlayStation 2 games to the shiny handheld and vice versa.

Heroes of the Pacific, like we said, is an aerial combat simulator game and delves around WWII. It begins during the attack on Pearl Harbor, with players taking the role of pilot William Crowe. Battles will include famous, or even infamous, Pacific campaigns in Iwo Jima, Philippines, and Wake Island among others.

As much as we would like this one to be a reality, we're putting this one under the Rumor tag for now. As always, updates as we get them!

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!

Occupying the top position of LucasArts and Frontier Developments' to-do list is to bring the whole amusement park experience to your favorite consoles via Thrillville -- the game that'll surely bring us back to the days when there were no bills to pay, no GPA to maintain, and everything was all happy-happy-joy-joy.

You've seen videos and a cartload of screens so we won't bother with that anymore, what we will focus on right now are the equally important minigames that the game will feature, and as you'll see, there are tons of thrilling ones to further add to the whole amusement park experience.

So enough with the chitchat, here's the complete list of minigames you'll get to play in Thrillville come November 21st:

• RC Wars - puts the 'car' in carnage as you smash, destroy and conquer in remote-controlled cars
• Saucer Sumo - Fuzion Frenzy-like minigame that requires you to push and shove your enemies to remain the last one standing in the ring
  
• Shooting Galleries - Ghoul Gunner, Star Sniper, Prospector Stakeout and Blackbeard's Booty: Use your combo skills, alien accuracy, gunslinger reflexes and piratical cunning (respectively) in these shooting galleries with a twist.
• Luftwaffe Air War - WWII arcade vertical-scrolling shooter (see topmost image)
• Auto Sprint - floor it as you burn rubber in motorsport racing minigame
  
• Event Horizon - side-scrolling arcade space shooter with loads of weapons
• Trojan Quest - Hack, slash, and strategize through this top-down arcade battler.
• Mechanic - Link up the circuit boards to ensure that Thrillville runs smoothly.
• Sparkle Island - Jump and shoot your way to rescue the Feeyos from Uasgi-san's Mekagoo in this 2D platformer
• Bumper Cars - Cmon, do we even have to explain this one?!
• Mini Golf - get to design your own courses with ramps, jumps, obstacles and windmills
• Shootzones - The Haunting, Robot Invasion, Wild Frontier and Pirate Raiders: four differently themed first-person shooters
• Saucer Soccer - show off your soccer skills in this flying-saucer version of soccer
• Trampolines - Spooky, Sci-Fi, Wild West and Adventure: four trampoline settings requiring you to perform tricks and combos to get the highest score
• Race Tracks - Go-Karts, Formula Thrillville, Monster Trucks, Dune Buggies and AntiGrav Racer Design race tracks for five different vehicles: go-karts, high-performance cars, monster trucks, dune buggies and futuristic cars, respectively.
• Entertainer - Ala dance-revo where you dance to the beats to hype up Thrillville-goers
• Groundskeeper - Race against the clock to BlowVac Thrillville and clean the place up
  

Games that have people's name attached to the title seem to be doing well. Great  examples are Tony Hawk and Tiger Woods-themed games. However, there's also one more familiar name that needs to be mentioned: Tom Clancy.

Tom must be really happy right now. Besides being an author of various military-related books, his name is attached to two games that are bound to be as much of a best-seller as his paperbacks. Ka-ching!

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent (Xbox 360 and Wii): series has so far sold 14M units globally.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360, PS3, PSP): another of Tom's name on one of the better sellers: 14M again.
Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii, Nintendo DS): The Rayman is back to sell more than 17M units worldwide.
Far Cry Vengeance (Wii): FPS series that sold 2M worldwide.
Brothers In Arms D-Day (PSP): young but sold 3Mso far. Good start.
Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII (Wii): planes and WWII--some of the things you'll need for a good game.
Prince of Persia Rival Swords (PSP): This old game has been selling over 8M globally.
Petz (Nintendo DS): Top Ten on GBA
Red Steel (Wii): The FPS created just for the Wii. Looks awesome.
GT Pro Series (Wii): takes the Wii controllers for a real ride.
Open Season (Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii) the movie-tie-in game that's all over the gaming consoles and handhelds this year.
Star Wars Lethal Alliance (Nintendo DS, PSP): the first Star Wars built just for the next-gen handhelds.
Monster 4X4 World Circuit (Wii): Scary and big trucks come rolling down the Wii.

Eragon will be flying to the PSP very soon. Eragon is a best-selling novel (naturally--to be turned into a movie) written by Christopher Paolini. It's a story of a young farm boy named Eragon who helps a dragon. From then on, you'll have to read the book. The game however is a different matter, developed by Stormfront Studios, will be on all gaming platforms, but this post will concentrate on the PSP version.

The game will focus more on dragons rather than sword fighting, making it more of a action-based flight game. It will be a multiplayer-type game, they say with nine game types. Examples are Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and more. Maps for these matches will be tournament-style.

The game feels like a WWII game. Dog(Dragon?)fights will be appearing quite a lot here. What ammunitions are available for our Dragon? Fire, magic spells like: concussion, lightning, confusion, and swarms of locusts. You can also drop down on enemy dragons and take out the riders. "Yeah, your dragon may rock but if the rider's dead..."

Single-player has a good storyline, it'll be focused more on arena challenges. To liven up the carnage, you will be provided with different challenges wherein winning will get you the needed armor or dragon upgrade you need, for instance.

The PSP game is a relaxing respite from the console version of the game.

Eragon for the PSP will be out, along with other versions for different consoles and the movie itself, December 2006.

Activision has revealed some juicy info on its upcoming Shooter title, Call of Duty 3. It has been earlier announced that it is coming to Xbox 360, with versions planned for PS3 and Wii; well according to Activision, a version of the game will still come out on Wii, including PSP, PS2, and Xbox, but no word of it branching out to PS3 was mentioned.

A third installment to the quite-successful Call of Duty franchise, this Treyarch-developed game is set to hit video retail stores this Fall. Here are some updates (thanks MDN360!) on the game's story and features:

ALL-NEW CLOSE-QUARTERS COMBAT: One of the most dramatic scenes on WWII was the close-quarters combats, where enemy troops is so close soldiers can hear the commands of the opposition's superiors. It's only right that this WWII-themed title brings justice to that scenario, and they have done so by featuring close-quarters battle mechanics that brings you face-to-face with the enemy. Fight hand-to-hand, disarm traps, improvise explosive devices, and execute a host of other battlefield challenges that require cunning and swift reflexes.

NOWHERE TO HIDE: One of the basics in winning a war is destroying the enemy's stronghold. In Call of Duty 3's environmental physics, you will be able to wipe out soft cover hideouts, such as wooden walls, barrels and crates—forcing your foes out in the open. Off course it won't be a fair battle is the enemy can't inflict the same damge to your camp, so better watch out.

CHOOSE YOUR PATH TO VICTORY: Wars are won by making the right decisions, so your judgement calls in battles play a huge role in every outcome. Next-generation level design provides multiple attack routes that let you decide how to confront the enemy, either by valiantly striking them head on, or sneaking on them behind their back. Each choice you make requires you to use special tactics, from sniping and demolition to straight out frontal assaults.       

UNPRECEDENTED COMBAT OPTIONS: Execute parachute drops, armored assaults or SAS commando raids. Riddle battlefields with tank shells and explosives. Drive tanks to topple barricades and invade enemy emplacements.

TEAM-BASED MULTIPLAYER WITH VEHICLES: Intense multiplayer functionality has been built from the ground up. Up to 24 players can battle it out as a variety of player classes, including riflemen, infantry, scouts, and others. Multiple-occupancy vehicles let you coordinate attacks with friends, driving while they fire a mounted machine gun from the turret. The game's wide range of vehicles include tanks, jeeps and motorcycles with sidecars.

Capture the glory, drama, and heartache of World War II without having a single bruise and collateral damage (except electricity bills and blistered fingers from too much playing). Are you ready Soldier?!