Nintendo today sent out the planned North American release schedule for Wii and Nintendo DS games during the months of July, August, and September. Most notable among the list's revelations is the announcement that Retro Studios' Metroid Prime 3 Corruption (Wii), which previously had no stated release projection since it was pushed past its initial status as a Wii launch title, will be released on August 20, 2007. Next Level Games' soccer sequel Mario Strikers Charged (Wii) is being released on July 30, 2007; the game ships this week in Europe. Kuju Entertainment's Battalion Wars 2 (Wii) is set to launch during the month of September.

On the Wii third party front, Electronic Arts plans to release EA Redwood Shores' Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 and EA Tiburon/EA Canada's Madden NFL 08 in August, with EA Montreal's rhythm-based Boogie (see our Boogie first look) shipping some time during the fall. Outpost Kaloki X (X360) developer Wahoo Studios will release its Space Station Tycoon in August, courtesy of Namco Bandai Games. Gearbox Studios' Brothers in Arms Double Time is slated to be released by Ubisoft in September.

Not all third party games were included on the list. Rockstar Toronto's brutal horror game Manhunt 2 is set to ship July 10, while Capcom's puzzle-based adventure Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbados' Treasure has a general fall release projection.

The Nintendo DS lineup shows more heavy-hitters from third parties. In July, Electronic Arts plans to ship EA Japan's SimCity DS. Eidos will release ODenis Studio's action/strategy game Glory Days 2 (comes with optional 3D glasses! seriously!) during the same month. On August 14, Square Enix will release Brownie Brown's real-time strategy game Heroes of Mana. The strategy genre will also get entries of the turn-based variety that month when Atlus releases Image Epoch's Luminous Arc and THQ releases Team17's Worms: Open Warfare 2. Capcom will keep on plugging with Mega Man in August when it releases the three versions of its Mega Man Star Force. Arcade-style action fans will be treated to Coyote Developments' top-down shooter Operation: Vietnam, released by Majesco that same month.

Following in September will be the next installment in Capcom's Phoenix Wright saga, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations. That month, Ubisoft will release Plato's sublime guitar simulator and music creation tool, Jam Sessions.

On the first party front, Nintendo will release Jupiter's duotone puzzle game Picross DS on July 30. Nintendo's Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day will follow on August 20. Paon's DK Jungle Climber, a followup to the studio's Game Boy Advance game DK King of Swing, will be released on September 10. Finally, Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol, Skip Ltd.'s sequel to its original Chibi-Robo on GameCube, is set for release on September 24.

For the full provided list, including numerous other third-party Wii and Nintendo DS games, check out Nintendo's press release.

Rockstar Games has announced plans for a special edition set of Rockstar North's immensely anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, X360). Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition will ship not in a DVD case but in a metal safety deposit box, and will include the game as well as an art book, a partial soundtrack, a Rockstar-branded duffel bag, and a Rockstar-branded keychain on which one may keep the keys to the lockbox.

Grand Theft Auto IV Special Edition will ship alongside the standard games for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 16 in North America and October 19 in Europe. It will be priced at $89.99 in the US.

Last week, UK trade publication MCV reported that Starbreeze's highly-revewed movie-licensed game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Xbox, PC) would be heading to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The news was soon confirmed by Starbreeze, which stated that the game would be entitled Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena and released later in 2007.

Further details were revealed by Pete Wanat, executive producer at publisher Vivendi Games, this weekend on SpikeTV's television program GameHead. Though Assault on Dark Athena is a remake of Escape from Butcher Bay, it will feature new content in addition to its boosted visuals, giving players story extending beyond the events of the source game.

Starbreeze is currently also working on the comic-adapted action game The Darkness for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Shacknews has contacted Vivendi Games with further inquiries.

Following up on its initial announcement and seven-track reveal of Harmonix's Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80s (PS2), publisher Activision today revealed seven new tracks that will be featured in the slightly renamed Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. All seven tracks are listed as having been "made famous by" their respective performance artists, suggesting that they are cover tracks rather than original recordings.

The newly announced tracks are The Police's "Synchronicity II," Skid Row's "18 and Life," Billy Squier's "Lonely is the Night," Eddie Money's "Shaken," Faster Pussycat's "Bathroom Wall," Extreme's "Play With Me" (best known from the climax of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure), and Poison's "Nothing But a Good Time."

In unrelated news, Dan Connors, CEO of Sam & Max episodic series developer Telltale Games, once stated during a Shacknews interview, "Heavy metal died because Poison didn't listen to its fans," while speaking on the necessities of developers listening to their core audiences.

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s is set to ship for PlayStation 2 this summer.

In another dual-release week, Konami's action platformer Rush'n Attack and Namco's Galaga-based top-down shooter Xevious will be this week's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays games. Rush'n Attack will include both local and online cooperative and versus play as well as the option to play with updated graphics. Both games will feature online leaderboards and a total of 200 available Gamerscore points. According to Microsoft, Xbox Live Arcade's Xevious is the first 100% arcade-perfect port of Xevious.

Rush'n Attack and Xevious will be available via the Xbox Live Marketplace this Wednesday, May 23 for 400 Microsoft Points ($5) each.

This week's spate of three Virtual Console games exhibits a higher average name recognition than most, with Donkey Kong Country 2, Streets of Rage 2, and Blazing Lazers all making their way to the Wii's download service.

Rare's sidescroller sequel Donkey Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest (Super NES, 1-2 players), first released in 1995, is available for the standard Super NES price of 800 Wii Points ($8). Sega-AM2 and Ancient's well-loved brawler Streets of Rage 2 (Genesis, 1-2 players), first released in 1993, goes for 800 Wii Points ($8). Finally, Compile's classic shoot-em-up Blazing Lazers (TurboGrafx-16, 1 player), is priced at 600 Wii Points ($6).

As usual, check back tomorrow for the Shack's reviews on all three new Virtual Console games.

Following the brief tease earlier this week, EA today officially announced The Simpsons Game for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS and PSP. Developed by EA Redwood Shores, the game is expected to ship this fall and marks EA's first use of the Simpsons license since the company acquired it from Vivendi Universal in 2005.

Based off the long-running television show and soon-to-be feature film, The Simpsons Game follows Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa as they attempt to save the world. According to the announcement, their efforts will be supplemented by "exciting, all-new powers," "an amazing array of villains" and "parodies of multiple popular games." All of the voice actors from the show are slated to reprise their roles for the game.

"Our goal in developing The Simpsons Game is to create the most original game ever, which is a lofty goal and only possible given the close collaboration with 'The Simpsons' creative team," revealed The Simpsons Game executive producer Scot Amos. "We're also especially proud of the game's warm visual feel, which captures--for the first time ever in a game--the look of the TV show."

The executive producer then took the opportunity to reference of the most well-known Simpsons jokes. "As Comic Book Guy says," Amos jested, "'Best. Simpsons Game. Ever!'"

"The EA group was so enormously talented and beyond belief energetic that I am thinking of suing for second hand exhaustion," said Simpsons television and film executive producer James L. Brooks.

Though the Square Enix Party 2007 blowout isn't set to begin until this weekend, the most recent issue of Japanese gaming publication Weekly Shonen Jump has the scoop on Square Enix's latest DS effort, a remake of Final Fantasy IV. Much like the Final Fantasy III remake released on the DS last year, FFIV will be rendered in full 3D, ditching the 2D aesthetic of the original. Originally a Super Nintendo title, FFIV has also seen release on the PlayStation, the Japan-only WonderSwan Color, and Game Boy Advance.

While there has been no official word, the DS version of Final Fantasy IV will most likely arrive later this year in both Japan and North America.

Namco has confirmed rumors of a new Soul Calibur title on Wii, though fans may be dismayed to learn it is not a traditional Soul Calibur game. Instead of a 3D fighter, Soul Calibur Legends will be a third person action adventure set in the Soul Calibur mythology. Throughout the game, players will take control of various Soul Calibur characters as they fight to gain experience, earn titles and unlock more powerful attacks.

No specific mentions of a release date or control scheme were made, though the game will utilize both the motion-sensing Wii Remote and Nunchuck.

This isn't the first time Namco has produced a third person action game based off one of its fighting series. Fans of Namco's Tekken may recall 2005's poorly received Death by Degrees, which starred series assassin Nina Williams.

THQ will be publishing 5TH Cell's DS doodler Drawn to Life, a game which allows players to draw their own characters and take control of them. After customizing one of four different hero forms with the game's arsenal of stamps, colors, and brushes, players can modify the surrounding environment, sketching out different items to help their hero in his or her journey to save the land from darkness, as well as share their character with other players.

Drawn to Life is expected to release this fall.

Though Nintendo has yet to comment on the matter, a report from the Seattle Times reinforces last week's rumor that Nintendo would be relocating its sales and marketing team and sheds some additional light on the move.

According to the article, Nintendo executive Bruce Meyer told Redmond deputy planning director Jim Roberts that the company would be moving its sales and marketing division--which employs roughly 80 people--from Nintendo's Redmond, WA-based headquarters to an undetermined location in either New York or San Francisco. No other divisions are known to be affected at this time, and the company informed Redmond mayor Rosemarie Ives that the loss of any jobs moved out of the city would be offset by the creation of new local positions.

A game based off 2004's feature film is on its way to DS and PSP courtesy of publisher Crave Entertainment. Apart from the inclusion of distinctive characters such as Napoleon, Kip, Uncle Rico, Pedro, and Tina the Llama, no other details were provided.

"Napoleon Dynamite is one of the great cult classics of the past decade," commented Mark Burke, senior VP of product planning and business development at Crave. "It's one of those films that has great memorable lines and characters, and we expect that fans of the movie will really like the game."

Community manager Che Chou has revealed that the demo for Turn 10's racing sim Forza Motorsport 2 will be available for Xbox Live Gold subscibers through the Xbox Live Marketplace on Thursday at 2 AM PDT (5 AM EST). Weighing in at about 700 MB, the demo is said to include 24 different cars and support for the Xbox 360 force feedback racing wheel. The full version of Forza Motorsport 2 is slated to hit stores on May 29.

Sony Online Entertainment's version of Midway's Rampart arrives on PlayStation 3 tomorrow, May 10, via the system's online PlayStation Store. Priced at $4.99, SOE's edition adds online multiplayer to the classic strategy game.

Ubisoft has released a set of new maps for Ubisoft Paris and Red Storm Studios' Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 on Xbox Live Marketplace. Selling for 800 Microsoft Points ($10), the Throwback Pack features remakes of 7 maps drawn from Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 (PS2, Xbox, GCN), Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 Summit Strike (Xbox) and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (PS2, Xbox, X360, PC).

PlayStation 3 has now officially launched in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, approximately three months later than the system's release in North America and Japan. Reports of the various launches from sources across the internet paint a variety of pictures as to the level of demand for the system, though on the whole the concensus seems to be that crowds were not overwhelming.

In a surprise move at its official UK launch at the Virgin main location in London, Sony announced just before midnight that it would be giving all of those standing in line a 46-inch Bravia high definition TV--as well as a taxi ride home. The company ended up giving away some GBP 250,000 ($490,450) worth of televisions to approximately 120 new PS3 owners.

Sony has also launched its official backwards compatibility website, which lists the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games playable on European and Australasian PS3s using the system's software-only emulation.

The following games launched alongside the system this week:
- Ubisoft Romania's Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWII
- Treyarch's Call of Duty 3
- EA Chicago's Def Jam: Icon
- EA Chicago's Fight Night Round 3
- Studio Liverpool's Formula One Championship Edition
- Pseudo Interactive's Full Auto 2: Battlelines
- Game Republic's Genji: Days of the Blade
- EA Redwood Shores' The Godfather The Don's Edition
- BEC's Gundam: Target in Sight (aka Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire)
- Raven Software's Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
- Evolution Studios' MotorStorm
- Visual Concepts and Kush Games' NBA 2K7
- EA Canada's NBA Street Homecourt
- EA Black Box's Need for Speed Carbon
- Visual Concepts and Kush Games' NHL 2K7
- Insomniac Games' Resistance Fall of Man
- Namco's Ridge Racer 7
- Sonic Team's Sonic the Hedgehog
- EA Redwood Shores' Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
- Neversoft's Tony Hawk's Project 8
- Sony Online Entertainment's Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom
- Sega-AM2's Virtua Fighter 5
- Sega-AM2's Virtua Tennis 3
- Blade Interactive's World Snooker Championship 2007

PlayStation Network games available through the PlayStation Store are as follows:
- Bluepoint Games' Blast Factor
- SCEE's Super Rub-a-Dub
- Namco's Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection

Electronic Arts today unveiled Boogie, a new rhythm game developed for Wii by EA Montreal. The game combines singing, dancing, and music video creation with an off-beat visual style and 40-50 licensed tracks including KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)." The announcement of the game, which is expected to include some kind of karaoke feature, lends support to rumors earlier this month of a Wii microphone peripheral in the works.

EA Montreal is not new to the Wii platform; the studio recently released the Wii-exclusive SSX Blur.

"We're creating something new and different for gamers of all ages to enjoy; the complete party package where gamers can dance as well as sing," said EA Montreal GM Alain Tascan. "Nintendo's Wii is an amazing console that really gives us a platform to be creative and to re-think traditional game development."

Check out Shack's first look at Boogie for more, as well as these screenshots released today.

Electronic Arts plans to ship EA Montreal's Boogie for Wii worldwide sometime in 2007.

Recently, rumors surfaced indicating that a new game in Namco's Katamari Damacy franchise is in the works for Xbox 360. Now, product pages found on the website of game rental service GameFly suggest that the game, entitled Beautiful Katamari, may also be heading to Wii and PlayStation 3, as well as the expected Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game are listed as releasing on October 30, 2007, while the Wii version's date is November 30, 2007.

As noted in our prior story, retail outlet sites tend to be accurate in terms of identifying the existence of games, but are frequently incorrect when it comes to release dates for officially unannounced products. Expect a multiplatform Beautiful Katamari sometime this fall or holiday season. (Thanks GameSpot.)

Last April, Microsoft announced that Square Enix would be publishing a new Seta-developed Xbox 360 title in Game Arts' Silpheed space shooter franchise. First unveiled as Project Sylph, then changed to Project Sylpheed and now Project Silpheed, the game has only been officially confirmed for release in Japan.

Now, the game has shown up on a GameStop product page as being published by Microsoft Game Studios, suggesting that Square Enix declined to bring the title over to North America but Microsoft felt it would be worthwhile. GameStop gives the game a release date of July 10, 2007. Microsoft has not commented on the listing. Previously released screenshots are available here.

Sony sent over word today that Evolution Studios' racer MotorStorm will be updated tomorrow to include a new buddy list feature. The list will allow MotorStorm players to check the current online status of those on their PlayStation 3 friends list and create games limited only to friends.

The buddy list patch will be available on Friday, March 23, in all PS3 regions.

Opera Software's Internet Channel web browser for Wii, currently available in free trial form, was originally scheduled to fully launch this month, but Nintendo today announced that the software will not be complete until April. Nintendo stated that the delay is because Opera and Nintendo developers are incorporating additional features based on consumer feedback. Tweaks will include being able to hide the large toolbar, a new zoomed font, keyboard buttons corresponding to common URL letter collections, and improved loading, zooming, and scrolling.

Upon release, the full version of the Opera browser will be free through June. From July on, it will be available for 500 Wii Points ($5); users who have already downloaded the browser at that time will not be required to purchase it.

Brian Ashcraft over at Kotaku chats with Jeremy Roush about the unconventional usage of Team Ico's Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) in Mike Binder's upcoming film Reign Over Me.

Sony has revealed its final release date, pricing, and launch lineup plans for the PlayStation 3 in Europe and Australasia. As has been hinted in the past, the 20GB hard drive model will not be offered at launch. Indicating that the lack of the lesser model is in response to "retail and consumer demand," it will follow "later in the year dependent on demand." One million 60GB hard drive units will be made available on March 23, 2007 to the PAL territories.

PlayStation 3 will sell at retail in Europe for 599 Euros (US$778), in the UK for GBP 425 (US$842), in Australia for AU$999.95 (US$791), and in New Zealand for NZ$1199.95 (US$841).

Releasing during the systems "launch period" will be some thirty games across retail and downloadable formats. It has not yet been confirmed which titles will be released alongside the console on day one of launch. The launch period games are as follows:

Retail:
- Blazing Angels Squadrons of WWll (Ubisoft Romania, Ubisoft Entertainment SA)
- Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch, Activision UK Ltd)
- Def Jam: Icon (EA Chicaco, Electronic Arts Ltd)
- The Elder Scrolls lV: Oblivion (Bethesda Game Studios, Ubisoft Entertainment SA)
- Enchanted Arms (FromSoftware, Ubisoft Entertainment SA)
- Fight Night Round 3 (EA Chicago, Electronic Arts Ltd)
- F.E.A.R. Vivendi (Monolith Productions, Universal Games Intl SA)
- Formula One Championship Edition (SCE Studios Liverpool, SCEE)
- Full Auto 2: Battle Lines (Pseudo Interactive, Sega Europe Ltd)
- Genji: Days of the Blade (Game Republic, SCEE)
- The Godfather: The Don's Edition (EA Redwood Shores, Electronic Arts Ltd)
- Gundam - Target in Sight (BEC, Namco Bandai Games)
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (Raven Software, Activision UK Ltd)
- MotorStorm (Evolution Studios, SCEE)
- NBA 2K7 (Visual Concepts/Kush Games, Take 2 International SA)
- NBA Street 4 Homecourt 2007 (EA Canada, Electronic Arts Ltd)
- Need for Speed Carbon (EA Black Box, Electronic Arts Ltd)
- NHL 2K7 (Visual Concepts/Kush Games, Take 2 International SA)
- Resistance: Fall of Man (Insomniac Games, SCEE)
- Ridge Racer 7 (Namco, SCEE)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, Sega Europe Ltd)
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 (EA Redwood Shores, Electronic Arts Ltd)
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Entertainment SA)
- Tony Hawk's Project 8 (Neversoft, Activision UK Ltd)
- Untold Legends: Dark Kingdom (Sony Online Entertainment, Electronic Arts Ltd)
- Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega AM2, Sega Europe Ltd)
- Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega AM3, Sega Europe Ltd)
- World Snooker Championship 2007 (Blade Interactive, Sega Europe Ltd)

PlayStation Store:
- Blast Factor (Bluepoint Games, SCEE)
- flOw (thatgamecompany, SCEE)
- Go! Sudoku (Sumo Digital, SCEE)
- Go! Puzzle (SCEI, SCEE)
- Gripshift (Sidhe Interactive, Sony Online Entertainment)
- Lemmings (Team17, SCEE)
- Super Rub'a'Dub (SCEE)
- Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco, SCEE)

Accessories such as the Sixaxis wireless controller, Blu-ray Disc remote control, official HDMI cable, AV cable, component AV cable, and S-video cable will be available at launch. A new System Update will alo be available for download when the machine goes on sale.

PlayStation 3 owners can now download newly released version 1.50 system software, which Sony states makes a few fairly minor changes to the system's interface. Wi-fi encryption methods are now streamlined, Korean text input is supported, photos can be selected as user icons, and backup data can be deleted.

Most crucial, however--and bafflingly not mentioned on Sony's official update page--is a fix to the system's previously broken backwards compatibility feature. Prior to this fix, in an issue that seemed to stem from PS3's lack of dedicated scaling hardware, many PlayStation and PlayStation 2 games suffered from extremely low-quality scaling, introducing prominent jagged edges and artifacts and in some cases making text extremely difficult to read on many HD televisions. Now, fortunately, this graphical bug has been addressed, giving PS3 owners the ability to actually appreciate the breadth of the system's legacy game support.

In an announcement that is still seemingly being parsed by the press, Sony and recently merged Namco Bandai Holdings are creating a new company focused on content developed for the Sony/IBM/Toshiba-developed Cell chip. With a total investment of about 100 million yen (US$822,707) between them, Namco Bandai will hold a controlling stake of 51%, with Sony taking the remaining 49%. Heading up the company (as translated by Game|Life) will be Namco Bandai's Isao Nakamura, with part time directorial duties shared between Namco Bandai VP Shin Unozawa, Sony Computer Entertainment VP Akira Sato, and Sony Computer Entertainment chairman/group CEO Ken Kutaragi.

An early Bloomberg story painted the alliance as being focused on PlayStation 3 development, but it is unclear if this is actually the case. Other reports seem to stress the Cell chip in general, which will also be used in a broad range of other consumer-level products such as mobile phones, over PlayStation 3 specifically. Furthermore, the total investment in Cellius is only a fraction of what would be required to develop a showcase PS3 game. In statements reported by the press, Sony representative Satoshi Fukuoka seemed to decline to give specific details of products in developments, but indicating that they are in the works for various entertainment devices such as PCs and mobile phones.

Microsoft sent word that it will be handling North American publishing duties on K2 Interactive's Tenchu Z for Xbox 360, the latest entry in FromSoftware's long running Tenchu franchise. The game was previously released in Japan as Tenchu Senran.

Tenchu Z will feature several dozen missions requiring the player to conduct stealthy ninja activities using ninja weaponry and equipment including a grappling hook. The game features what Microsoft describes as a "stealth kill system," and also includes a character edit feature and online cooperative play.

Microsoft has not yet announced a release time frame for Tenchu Z in North America.

Last week, it became fairly clear that development of Harmonix's Guitar Hero franchise had switched over to long time Tony Hawk studio Neversoft. This week, speaking to Gamasutra, Harmonix producer Daniel Sussman confirmed that the series is out of Harmonix's hands and briefly spoke on the company's further ambitions.

"We are instead working on a different music game project, one that is a bigger and more ambitious endeavor than we felt we could pursue within the bounds of the Guitar Hero franchise," said Sussman. Prior to Guitar Hero, Harmonix was known for its original Frequency and Amplitude rhythm games for PS2, as well as several Karaoke Revolution titles for Konami. Harmonix was purchased last year by MTV.