Following reports earlier this week, Bizarre Creations has confirmed that Kuju Entertainment's Surrey branch is developing Geometry Wars: Galaxies, a Wii and Nintendo DS version of Bizarre's well-loved top-down shooter, previously seen on Xbox and Xbox 360. Vivendi Games will be publishing the title via its Sierra Entertainment label.

Today's announcement revealed new details about the game, first revealed in Nintendo Power. Galaxies contains what is described as "mission-based gameplay," featuring a variety of settings and new types of backdrop grids as well as new weapons and enemies. Specific details about the games' control methods, which are said to involve the special control capabilities of each machine, were not revealed. Geometry Wars creator Stephen Cakebread worked on the prototypes for the Wii control scheme before handing the game's main development over to Kuju. Galaxies will not be Kuju's first effort on the Wii; the dev house is currently working on the Wii sequel to its 2005 Cannon Fodder-esque Battalion Wars (GCN).

Galaxies will also introduce multiplayer to the Geometry Wars series, with cooperative, versus, simultaneous play, and hot seat modes available. The Wii version will also feature online leaderboards. Vivendi announced that the game will include some kind of connectivity feature between Wii and Nintendo DS, but did not elaborate further.

"The game is really a three-way joint venture between ourselves, Sierra, and Kuju, and as a result there have been some really nice features planned," said Bizarre's Ben Ward on the project. Vivendi sent over several screenshots of the Wii version. Geometry Wars: Galaxies is set to ship for Wii and Nintendo DS this fall.

Foundation 9 co-founder Andrew Ayre will be leaving the independent developer conglomerate to head up Other Ocean Interactive, formerly Backbone Charlottetown. Other Ocean Interactive will be fully independent from Foundation 9, and Ayre will serve as its CEO and majority owner.

The Prince Edward Island, Canada-based studio was founded in March 2006 and was responsible for porting Konami's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night to Xbox Live Arcade. Currently, Other Ocean is developing Tron and Discs of Tron, announced earlier this month for Xbox Live Arcade.

Terms of the deal, expected to close early next month, were not disclosed.

Microsoft sent word today that K2's ninja-themed Tenchu Z has gone gold for Xbox 360. The game will be released in North America on June 12.

For the first time in the nearly 16 years the two video game icons have battling it out on the sales charts and in the hearts and minds of crazed gamers, Mario and Sonic will match up within one game. Nintendo and Sega today jointly announced that their mascots will appear in the upcoming sports game collection Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, to be developed by Sega and overseen by Nintendo design head Shigeru Miyamoto. It will be licensed by the International Olympic Committee and will bear the branding of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

In the works for Wii and Nintendo DS, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is set to feature numerous Olympic sports including the 100m dash, table tennis, and swimming, set in locations drawn from the upcoming Beijing-hosted event. Other Nintendo and Sega characters confirmed to be playable in the game are Luigi, Yoshi, Tails, and Knuckles. The only media currently available is this piece of artwork.

"Mario and Sonic have been respectful rivals since the early days of video games," said Miyamoto. "In fact, for a long time they have been discussing the possibility of one day competing against each other. Now that they have been given the perfect opportunity to meet at the Olympic Games, we may finally learn who is actually faster, Mario or Sonic?"

Some have taken today's news as further evidence that Sonic is likely to appear in Nintendo's upcoming Wii fighter extravaganza, Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Konami character Solid Snake was one of the first announced fighters to join the previously Nintendo-exclusive roster for Brawl, and when previously asked about Sonic's potential inclusion, Miyamoto has indicated his own personal interest. Sega and Nintendo have grown increasingly close in recent years, with several Sega multiplatform franchises selling particularly well on Nintendo systems, and Sega executives having commented that Nintendo hardware is the most fitting place for Sega's brands since the company's exit from the hardware market.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is set to ship for Wii and Nintendo DS this holiday season. It will be released by Sega in North America and Europe, and by Nintendo in Japan.

Having held on to the video game rights to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings adaptation for the past six years, Electronic Arts announced that it has renewed its license with New Line Cinema. The Lord of the Rings movie games will stay the domain of EA through 2008. EA also holds a license from the Saul Zaentz Company via Tolkien Enterprises to develop games based on J.R.R. Tolkien's literary trilogy. Those rights had previously been held by Vivendi Universal until EA acquired them in 2005.

"We have a long history of making great games with EA and are thrilled to extend our longstanding relationship," said David Imhoff of New Line Cinema. "We look forward to working closely with EA to create even more compelling Lord of the Rings adventures in the future."

Along with the renewal announcement, Electronic Arts revealed that it has an "all-new" game based on The Lord of the Rings in development that it plans to ship in 2008. No details were given.

Earlier this year, we reported that EA's ambitious The Lord of the Rings, The White Council had been quietly dissolved, with producer Steve Gray no longer at EA. EA eventually stated that the game was put on indefinite hold, and has yet to release any further information.

Peripheral manufacturer Nyko today released its long awaited Wii Charge Station, allowing two Wii Remotes to be charged via a wall AC outlet using the two included NiMH battery packs. For good measure, the Charge Station also includes two rubberized battery cover grips. It runs $29.99.

Along with the Charge Station, Nyko also released a battery-powered Wireless Sensor Bar for $19.99, an eight foot Wii component cable for $19.99, and a set of two rubberized battery cover grips for $5.99.

Following the release of Cavia's Bullet Witch for Xbox 360 last month, publisher Atari this week released additional downloadable content for the game via the Xbox Live Marketplace. Currently available are a new mission entitled Dynamite Beauty, a version of the Clad in Streaming Black mission with "Great Spells" unlocked, and a version of the same level with a higher difficulty setting, each for 20 Microsoft Points ($0.25). A White Witch costume for protagonist Alicia is also available for free.

Artwork pertaining to the costume pack is available here.

Publisher Sierra Entertainment sent word today that Day 1 Studios' PlayStation 3 version of Monolith Productions' F.E.A.R., which has previously come to PC and Xbox 360, will ship to North American retail shelves on April 24, 2007. It will feature a newly developed level and weapon not included in prior versions.

This week, Microsoft released a significant dashboard update for its Xbox 360 console via Xbox Live. After doing so, however, some users begain claiming that the update had apparently permanently crashed their consoles, rendering the systems useless. Today, Microsoft acknowledged the problem via its employee-written Gamerscore Blog. According to Microsoft marketing employee John Porcaro, the issue affects "less than 1%" of users. He noted that a new version of the update should be available within 24 hours of the time of his post, made at 1:39PM Pacific time.

Microsoft has not stated the conditions under which a console would fall victim to the bug, or whether specific conditions have been determined. Initially, users speculated that it only affected illegally modified Xbox 360s, while more recent claims suggest that it has affected Xbox 360s which had not been patched with the spring 2006 dashboard update.

Update: According to Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, the new update is now available via Xbox Live. Users with continued issues should contact Xbox support.

Nintendo announced today that it has committed to shipping some 4 million Wii systems from the machine's North American launch on November 19 until the end of calendar year 2006. The launch will follow in Japan on December 2, Australia and New Zealand on December 7, and Europe on December 8. Of the 4 million planned units, Nintendo claimed that the bulk will be shipped to the Americas, though specific breakdowns were not provided. The company claims that Wii's launch will be the largest console launch in over ten years.

Despite the high targets and the company's plans of "maximizing all its resources for a rapid replenishment program designed to consistently pump Wii consoles into the supply pipeline and keep retailers' shelves as filled as possible," Nintendo still expects demand to outstrip supply. This expectation was reinforced as retailer Wal-Mart opened up online preorders for the system this morning and within hours sold out its allotted stock, including its $533.56 four-game Customer's Choice Bundle.

Yesterday, Nintendo released the most recent launch lineup information for Wii and its Virtual Console service.

According to statements made by Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios' Phil Harrison speaking to the Sony-sanctioned Three Speech blog, Sony is currently developing about 40 games to be distributed via PlayStation 3's downloadable game service. His comments seem to indicate that these games are being funded and published by Sony; it is possible that third party publishers have their own games in the works. Three Speech claims that some studios are currently dedicated entirely to creating downloadable PS3 games.

"My strategy was to encourage developers to push the machine technically, creatively, artistically--to innovate in lots of different ways," said Harrison. "But don't be restricted by ghettoising games into a particular genre, or a particular display mechanic, because what we've seen on other systems tend to be retro 2D games, and we're pushing the 3D capabilities of the PlayStation 3. Plus, the fact that every PS3 has a hard disc drive means that we're not restricted by the size of the download, and that has a huge impact on the kind of game design that you can do."

Despite its eventual plans for PS3 to download and play games first published on the original PlayStation, Sony has made it clear that its downloadable game service is strongly oriented towards newly developed titles rather than retro games.

Today, Electronic Arts made available a bevy of purchasable vehicles and upgrades for the Xbox 360 version of EA Black Box's Need for Speed Carbon. Available via Xbox Live Marketplace, today's eleven various additions are valued at a combined 3940 Microsoft Points ($49.25), with a bit of overlap as one of the packs contains content included in three others.

The biggest bundle of content on sale for Carbon is the Collector's Edition Upgrade, consisting of 12 tracks, 6 Challenge missions, and 10 cars, such as the '92 Nissan 240 SX, '07 Jaguar XK, '06 Camaro concept, and '06 Koenigsegg CCX. Apparently, these cars cannot be modified or used in Career mode. The Collector's Edition Upgrade goes for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Its content is exclusive to the downloadable pack and cannot be obtained in the game through other means.

There are three performance bundles, the Performance Drivetrain Bundle, Performance Engine Boost Bundle, and Performance Handling Bundle, which contain different in-game upgrades that can be applied to your vehicles. Each runs 400 Microsoft Points ($5). The Ultimate Performance Bundle consists of all the content from the three performance bundles and runs 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Some of the content in the performance bundles can be acquired in-game through other means.

Next up are three body modification kits, the Muscle Car Autosculpt Body Kit, Autosculpt Tuner Body Kit, and Autosculpt Exotic Body Kit, each of which includes new Autosculpt features for its respective vehicle class. Each runs 300 Microsoft Points ($3.75). Some of the content in the autosculpt bundles can be acquired in-game through other means.

Finally, there are three standalone cars available for 80 Microsoft Points ($1) each: the '99 Nissan Skyline GR-R R34, '04 Lamborghini Murcielago, and '06 Dodge Viper SRT-10. These cars can also be unlocked in the game's Career mode.

Sierra Entertainment sends word that a demo of the Xbox 360 version of Stormfront Studios' Eragon is being added to Xbox Live. At time of writing, it is not yet available. When it is, it will include a sample of the single-player game's dragon-riding gameplay. The full version of Eragon includes a cooperative mode.

Stormfront Studios' Eragon ships November 14, 2006.