Bringing the Iraq war into your home, Konami has announced Six Days in Fallujah, a third-person shooter being developed by Atomic Games.

The game is being billed as a realistic take on the United States’ attack on the Iraqi city, told over a period of six days.

"We mean six days literally," said Atomic Games president Peter Tamte to the Wall Street Journal. "We track several units through the process and you get to know what it was like from day to day."

Apparently, a lot of research was conducted for the game, alongside consulting more than three dozen US soldiers who fought in the war. It is being tailored around the experiences of the soldiers, though the developers aren’t aiming for “social commentary,” according to Konami marketing VP Anthony Crouts.

"We’re not pro-war. We’re not trying to make people feel uncomfortable. We just want to bring a compelling entertainment experience. At the end of the day, it’s just a game."

You’ll be spending six days in Fallujah sometime in 2010.

Gas Powered Games sent out word that its action RPG/RTS Demigod has gone gold and will hit stores on April 14. It will also be available through Stardock’s Impulse digital distribution service.

The standard version will cost $40, with a $50 collector’s edition also available. It will come with a pewter figurine of the walking castle Rock demigod, a soundtrack CD and poster.

The game will have players battling in arenas as demigods to ascend to godhood, seeing as how a god has fallen and there an opening in the pantheon.

The Nintendo DS offers another kind of game to help hone up the gaming experience. When you hear a catchy tune, you probably find yourself tapping your fingers in rhythm to the beat. If you can do that, you’ll be a natural for Rhythm Heaven, a new game that is now available for the portable Nintendo DS system.

Rhythm Heaven asks you to tap, hold and flick your stylus on the touch screen as you keep the beat in more than 50 rhythm-based mini-games. It’s hard not to crack a smile as you enjoy the game’s unique visual style and infectious game play.

“Rhythm Heaven represents another example of how Nintendo creates new experiences that surprise and delight people,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “The game exudes a simple charm and captures an endearing quality that makes it very appealing to all types of players.”

Remember that Rhythm Heaven, as with nearly the entire library of 850+ Nintendo DS-compatible games, also can play on the new Nintendo DSi system which was launched last April 5.

To catch a better glimpse, here is the commercial spot of Rhythm Heaven with Beyonce:

(Source) Press

Zorro Coming In Spring
Sony Says DSi “Just For Kids”
Spider Man: Web Of Shadows–The Best Spider Man Game Ever. This Still Doesn’t Say Much.
Elements of Destruction Game Review–Everybody Talks About The Weather….
Silent Hill Reimagining Officially Announced
Stargate MMO is Dead
LEGO Rock Band Accidentally Confirmed
Shenmue Developer Steps Down at Sega
Your Playstation Has Worms
Resident Evil 5 “Versus” Coming Tomorrow
See the Future in Fable 2 DLC
Quebec Passes Language-Related Game Law
Crytek files new trademarks
Meteos Wars for Xbox 360

In 2007 developer 505 showed some teaser screenshots of a Wii game. It let players take up the cause of Spanish sword-wielding vigilante Zorro on his adventures across 1800s Spanish California. Until now there hadn’t been anything more, with the promised release of 2007 having slipped by without any further information.

New information has hit the website letting it be known that the game will be released this spring. The Wii’s motion controls seemed perfect for sword-swinging gameplay, but its lack of true 1:1 motion sensing made that difficult to effectively implement. The announcement of Wii Motion Plus and the previews stating that it’s achieved true 1:1 motion sensing controls make these sort of games possible again, but it seems that the Zorro game is going to be released before the release of the Wii Motion Plus accessory.

The DSi has recently launched outside of Japan. For months the DS Lite has held a high place on the sales charts and with the DSi’s online store, a camera and sound support it could be just as successful. Although Apple is trying to convince the public that the iPhone is the future of gaming, the only other real competitor for the handheld gaming market is the Sony PSP.

Sony is no stranger to the hype game and they’ve released a statement to the media blasting the DSi, claiming that it’s ‘just for kids’ despite the fact that the system’s incredible sales couldn’t be propelled by youngsters alone. They claim that Nintendo is ignoring “significant gamer demographic groups” and that there are “limited opportunities” for third party games to do well on the DSi.

They go on to point out the ‘many’ blockbuster releases that are coming out for the PSP this year, citing the ‘diversity’ of them and the ‘wide variety’ of genres they include. On the list are Rock Band Unplugged, Assassin’s Creed, Dissidia Final Fantasy and Hannah Montana. This is a strange list of games to choose to display the PSP’s superiority. Although the DS version of Guitar Hero doesn’t work for the DSi it probably won’t be long before a new version is made. The DS also has its own Assassin’s creed game and tons of Final Fantasy games. Lastly to include a Hannah Montana game when you’re accusing another system of being ‘for kids’ doesn’t make much sense.

Perhaps the single most schizophrenic game on the shelves right now is Spider Man: Web of Shadows.  Featuring fully THREE different versions compatible with seven different hardware platforms, it’s amazing that so many versions of one game can exist.  For the sake of our coverage today, we’ll be handling the Xbox 360 version, which also saw releases on the Wii, the PS3, and the PC.

Spidey’s got a lot on his plate this go-round, with Luke Cage needing help with New York’s gang problem, the Kingpin running amok with a collection of supervillains, including parts of the vaunted Sinister Six like Vulture, Electro and Rhino, and of course, Spidey’s worst nightmare Venom working on conquering the planet with a collective of symbiotes peeled off his own superstructure.  Worse, the Venom symbiotes are going to start attaching themselves to various locals, including some superheroes.  Man, you’ve never seen freaky until you’ve seen Wolverine in a symbiote-black suit.

Let me start off by saying that this is possibly the most fun I’ve had playing a Spider Man game yet.  It’s set up in kind of a sandbox format, so you’ll have a lot of room to webswing around to get from place to place and mission to mission.  I have never had so much fun with the web swinging component of a Spider Man game.  And the combat is also a pretty new and interesting step—you’ll actually be able to upgrade your attacks using experience points, allowing you to do all sorts of strange and highly effective attacks.  In fact, there’s one great sequence where you’ll fight the Vulture by webswinging from flying henchman to flying henchman until you can get in web range of the Vulture himself, and then take him on in mid-air.

However, there’s a down side to all this—the lock-on mode isn’t exactly always there, and has an annoying tendency to just suddenly decide not to lock on any more.  And the difficulty can be somewhat unbalanced at times.  I remember my first bout with Venom—there would actually be moments where I couldn’t land a punch on ANYTHING in the area because there would be so many enemies simultaneously trying to pound me that I couldn’t stay on my feet.  I tried every trick I had in my repertoire, which I admit was rather extensive by that point, and it still didn’t work for several tries. That, as far as I’m concerned, qualifies for a second look in the whole difficulty department.

It’s hard to hate Spider Man: Web of Shadows because it’s easily the best game in the whole series…but then, that’s not really saying much.  Has there been a good Spider Man game yet?  I can’t think of one offhand, frankly.

I loved swinging from place to place on my weblines, humming one of the various Spider Man theme songs that have cropped up from sheer joy.  It didn’t matter—I could climb the highest buildings, or I could swing only feet above the streets of a surprisingly extensive New York City.  I pummeled thugs and broke up gangs and took on all the biggest names in the Spider Man universe.  And though some parts were better than others, I still had a lot of fun.

And at the end of the day, isn’t that the point?

If you, like me, spend a lot of time complaining about the weather and wishing you could do something about it, then Xbox Live has the solution for you.  Also available on your Nintendo DS, it’s called Elements of Destruction, and it’s plenty of fun for one low price–either in dollars or Live points which were formerly dollars.

The DS version is, not surprisingly, toned down, but in the 360 version, you play a research scientist downsized at the height of his career.  Vowing revenge, he converts his body into energy and takes control of the very elements, including earthquakes, lightning and tornadoes, and goes forth to destroy everything in his path.

First disgruntled mailmen, now disgruntled scientists.  These days, you’ve got to watch who you fire, because you never know when they’re going to come back with a gun or a tornado on a leash or something.  All kidding aside, the result is surprisingly fun if a bit repetitive, and allows you to grind entire civilizations into the dirt with a variety of weather powers, which is undeniably fun, especially in small doses.  If you want a quick shot of fun that doesn’t take long to get into or get out of, then the forecast is clear for Elements of Destruction.

Working on a franchise is a difficult task. Every sequel has to add something new to the gameplay without deviating too far from what made the original games popular. Survival horror games began quite often with characters who were either ill suited to defend themselves or with the proper skills but limited resources. Later series eventually changed things so that many titles became a little more action based.

Rumors have been circulating regarding a new Silent Hill game that’ll be bringing the series back to its roots and today Konami officially announced Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii, PS2 and PSP for this fall. It’s being developed by Climax UK, the team who were behind Silent Hill: Origins.

The title features Harry Mason once again searching the town of Silent Hill for his missing daughter Cheryl. For old fans of the series they’re adding in some new features, making NPCs frequent new areas and adding in new clues and details. As you explore the game will be keeping track of where you go, what clues you find and how you react to other characters and altering the overall experience accordingly, a feature they’re calling ‘Psyche Profiling’.

The Wii version will of course feature motion controls. The Wiimote functions as a flashlight to illuminate the dark corners of the town and a cellphone, allowing you to take photos and access a GPS function to help navigate. Some puzzles will also be solved by manipulation of the Wiimote.

Things aren’t looking good for the Stargate Worlds MMO, as an executive producer of the television series has insinuated that the game is as good as dead and that its failure is a “terrible shame”.

“We don’t know,” said Brad Wright, who worked as a creative consultant, when questioned about the game’s status. “It’s a shame. If it doesn’t happen – and, let’s be honest, it should be happening now if it was happening – it’s a shame. It’s a terrible shame.”

He added that the developers had support and “significant funding” to get the game done. and that “it didn’t happen.”