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Press release:
Empire Interactive today announced development on Unsolved Crimes is complete. The mystery puzzle solving game will release for Nintendo DS™ on September 23, 2008. Filled with suspense, mystery and intrigue, Unsolved Crimes will be teasing brains on college campuses across the country. The game has an ESRB Rating of “T” for “Teen” and retails for $29.99.

“Unsolved Crimes is more than just a mystery-solving game with brain-teasing challenges and logical reasoning, it’s sure to please brain boosting game and core DS fans alike,” said Karim Farghaly, vice president of sales, Empire Interactive. “The appeal this title has for such a diverse audience strengthens Empire and Atari’s partnership to deliver the ultimate gaming experience.”

Fully utilizing the unique Dual Screen capabilities of Nintendo DS, Unsolved Crimes integrates three gaming elements - an action game, a 3D crime investigation and a crime quiz - to provide players with a distinctive experience. Taking the role of a rookie detective as part of the New York Police Department, players will explore the 1970’s inspired New York environments in the process of solving Betsy Blake’s mysterious disappearance. Crime is rampant in the city and Blake’s disappearance is the latest in a frightening series of events that are slowly bringing New York to its knees. With more than eight independent cases to solve in the interactive environments, players will find themselves fully immersed into the mysteries in Unsolved Crimes.

Nintendo is launching the latest color of Nintendo DS, Metallic Rose, as a standalone player, with some celebrity help.

Grammy-winning Carrie Underwood, from Checotah, will be featured in commercials promoting the Metallic Rose portable video gaming device.  America Ferrera (”Ugly Betty”) will also be featured.
The Metallic Rose Nintendo DS debuted in 2007 as part of a “Nintendogs” bundle, but will become available as a standalone hardware system at retailers nationwide late this month. 

The Nintendo DS has sold more than 19 million units since its launch in 2004. 

– Matt Price

From Friday’s The Oklahoman: 

By Matthew Price

Assistant Features Editor

THE NEXT LEVEL

Zookeeper wannabes wait for a portable sequel to the popular “Zoo Tycoon” title is over  —  however, gamers will be disappointed. “Zoo Tycoon 2 DS,” for the Nintendo DS, isn’t much of an upgrade.

In the Zoo Tycoon series, gamers can build the park of their dreams. Designers can pick from dozens of animals, even exotic species. Gamers must match the correct vegetation and terrain for each animal for a successful habitat. Available animals hail from several different continents and range from ordinary to exotic to over the top. If a zoo is wealthy enough, it can even afford a prehistoric dinosaur for its collection.

Zoo designers can add educational buildings, as well as practical structures such as restaurants, gift shops and rest rooms to their parks. Keeping the zoo fiscally sound is essential for raising funds to build new exhibits and import new animals. Gamers can adjust admission prices, vendor prices, research funds and more. Gamers are also responsible for hiring staff to care for the animals and the zoo grounds.

New to “Tycoon 2” is the hands-on zookeeper feature, which allows the gamer to personally pet, groom and feed the animals using the stylus on the Nintendo DS. This feature is fun the first few times, but is nonessential to gameplay and loses its novelty very quickly.

In fact, besides the zookeeper mode and a handful of new animals, very little has changed in “Zoo Tycoon.” Graphics are very similar to the first version, released in 2006. Plus, a few new tweaks may actually make the game easier. Gamers can adjust the funds of their zoos at the beginning of the game, virtually eliminating the business management task from the game. Gamers can also start with a themed zoo, which softens the challenge of finding the perfect terrain for groups of like animals.

“Zoo Tycoon 2 DS” is essentially a redress of a 2-year-old game that was fun, but not revolutionary or challenging. With the advances made on the PC version, DS gamers should expect more. “Zoo Tycoon 2 DS” is rated E for everyone, and retails for $29.99.

Four of Hasbro’s popular board games are in handheld electronic form for the Nintendo DS. “Clue,” “Mouse Trap,” “Perfection” and “Aggravation” are all bundled onto one budget cartridge.

“Clue,” the whodunit classic of board games, suffers in this translation. The graphics are so pixilated, it’s hard to tell Miss Scarlet from Col. Mustard, and unless one has memorized the game board from playing at home, the rooms are virtually unlabeled. How to move the pawns is as big of a mystery as who killed Mr. Body. The game will keep track of each of your suggestions and which clues have been revealed to you, but it offers no way to allow you to keep your own custom notes on other players’ guesses.

The main appeal of “Mouse Trap” was building the complex, and often-flawed contraption that came in the box. That physical option is gone in the electronic format. Instead, moving mice around a blurry game board is as exciting as this one gets.

“Perfection” seems an odd choice for a video game, but it works the best in this format. In the original, gamers must fit all the geometric shapes into the puzzle before the timer goes off and the pieces leap off the board. In the electronic version, gamers simply drag the pieces onto the board and rotate them to fit. There are several time-limit options to change the level of difficulty. Although nostalgic and entertaining, this game is limited in its replay value.

Race your marbles around a star-shaped board in “Aggravation.” The game is a variation on Parcheesi that incorporates shortcuts and “super shortcuts” along the way. The electronic version is not forgiving to players who may not be familiar with the game’s dice-rolling rules, and the small DS screen can get uncomfortably cluttered when a lot of marbles are in play.

Budget is the key word when describing this bundle. It’s evident very little was spent in developing these games for the DS, and the video versions are a poor substitute for the playing the original board games. Even as a budget title, gamers could easily afford two of these board games for the same price as the DS bundle.

The Hasbro companion bundle of “Battleship,” “Sorry,” “Connect Four” and “Trouble” is also available for the DS.

– Matt Price