Continued

Mario Party 8: (late May) Try to find a Nintendo Wii in stores. Go on; we dare you. Can't find one, huh? For those of you lucky enough to purchase one this latest game in the Mario Party series has to be high on your list. The first for the Wii console, this new collection of dozens of mini-games is sure to be popular with its use of the motion control features of the Wiimote.

Hour of Victory (June) Publisher Midway gets into the WWII shooter genre with this Xbox 360 exclusive title that's being developed by nFusion Interactive. This Unreal Engine 3 based title will give players a way to control three very different characters, each with different skills and abilities, as they battle on the front lines to take out the seemingly endless Nazi horde.


The Darkness (June) 2K Games brings this PS3-Xbox 360 first person horror title to stores this June which was developed by Starbreeze Studios, who previously created the acclaimed action game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. Based on the Top Cow comic book series about a Mafia hit man who can turn into a supernatural beast, this title has already wowed members of the media who have previewed the game's impressive graphics and gameplay.


Ninja Gaiden Sigma (June) PS3 owners finally get a chance to play with Tecmo's classic ninja action game series this summer but this isn't just a graphical remake of the original Xbox title. PS3 owners also get an new mini-campaign with the player controlling Rachel as well. The game also added support for the PS3 SIXAXIS motion sensing features as well. If you like super tough and challenging games and own a PS3 console this might be worth looking at even if you played the original Xbox version.


Lost Planet PC (June) While there will be games that will require Windows Vista to be installed on your PC (Halo 2, Shadowrun), Capcom has taken the lead with their upcoming PC port of their Xbox 360 sci-fi action game Lost Planet to bring DirectX10 features to games for the first time. While the game will also run on Windows XP and DirectX9, Lost Planet PC will be the first commercially released title to have support for DirectX10 graphical features out of the box.


FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage: (June) Bugbear's first two games in their arcade racing series looked great on current gen consoles and had tons of physics interaction. Now Bugbear finally heads to the next-gen consoles with this Xbox 360 version. Expect better graphics, even more crashes and interactions with other cars and the tracks and yes, the ragdoll driver mini-games will be back in force.


Tomb Raider: Anniversary (June) Lara Croft has been around for over 10 years now and this year its publisher Eidos decided to look back at the game's first edition and give it a graphical remake along with some new stuff. This PC-PS2 title uses the same graphics engine that was used for last year's Tomb Raider Legend so expect some impressive visuals in this title


Call of Juarez (June) Europeans have had this game for the PC for several months now but developer Techland and publisher UbiSoft finally bring this Wild West shooter to both the PC and Xbox 360 for US gamers this June. Will this game make us forget the great LucasArts title Outlaws? Maybe. Like Lost Planet, this game is scheduled to have a DirectX10 version for the PC although its unclear if the game will have this feature out of the box.