Patapon 3 (PSP)

Patapon returns with an all new rhythm adventure game.

Release Date: Apr 12, 2011

The brave Patapon tribe cross the recently constructed bridge at the end of Patapon 2. A mysterious box lies in their path and they combine their efforts to break it open. They successfully break open the box to release… the seven evil spirits! All the Patapons are turned to stone except for Hatapon. He has escaped the tragedy and finds a silver Hoshipon at the bottom of the box which gives him a new power to defeat the evil spirits: Superhero Patapon.

The third in a series of innovative, rhythm-based 2D action games, Patapon 3 introduces this new Superhero Patapon, which players can use to head into musical battle, devastating opponents with deadly, rhythmic attacks. Players will go on multiplayer Quest with friends or go head-to-head on an epic four-against-four battle against other Patapon clans with network play (up to eight players). Patapon is a fully customizable experience, with different weapons and abilities that combine music and dance to create the only multiplayer portable adventure full of rhythm and war.

Devastate your opponents with attacks as Superhero Patapon in the third iteration of the critically acclaimed rhythm-based action adventure. Play campaign with friends, go head-to-head, or even take on a clan of other Patapon gamers with network play allowing up to eight people. Customize your tribe with different weapons and abilities in the greatest portable adventure of rhythm and war.

Hey patapon fans! The big day has finally arrived! Patapon 3 is finally here! We’ve got loads and loads of new features and content (its all so new and so fun!).

Available as both umd and as a PSN download (wallet friendly price of 19.99), this new chapter in the patapon saga will throw you into massive online battles, cooperative and competitive, crazy single player adventures and some of the most intense rhythm/action warfare your PSP has ever experienced.

Every game will come with a complementary digital guide – giving you much needed tips for when the action gets too intense for your beat matching skills. If this is not enough for you – then here’s something that will surely make your Tuesday: free stuff.

That’s right kids, for a limited time only, we’ll be giving away a stylish Bald Cap helm. This diligent helm stays with you through thick and thin. Reflects sun beams for increased burn rate. This voucher code will entitle you to this special item for your Patapon giving you an added advantage in combat. Once redeemed be sure to equip this item in the headquarters before you deploy!

The code is: JCAF-CENE-ECN4

This code can be redeemed for a limited time only & available while supplies last so don’t delay!

So see there you go: digital strategy guide, free stuff, online gameplay, musical warfare and more evil bosses than you can shake a stick at. See you kids online!

SpongeBob Squigglepants (WII AND 3DS)

SpongeBob Squigglepants has players tilt, flick, tap, and draw through more than 100 Nanogames set in six zany worlds.

Release Date: Apr 12, 2011

In SpongeBob's most crazy, creative adventure yet, be prepared to laugh your SquigglePants off as you tilt, flick, tap and draw through more than 100 Nanogames set in six zany worlds. SpongeBob SquigglePants puts you in the driver's seat for a dizzying series of lightning-speed Nanogames, giving you mere seconds to finish one before moving right on to the next. Within this rapid-fire succession of challenges, SpongeBob SquigglePants exposes players to never-before-seen SpongeBob art styles from the Nickelodeon vault. SpongeBob SquigglePants also lets players digitally draw, paint, color and choose from dozens of SpongeBob-themed stamps, using the uDraw to create a masterpiece worthy of a place in Patchy's own collection of SpongeBob art, or their own refrigerator, thanks to the uDraw's exclusive ability to export art to the Wii's SD card slot. The entire game is hosted by SpongeBob's biggest fan, Patchy the Pirate, in a never-before-seen live action experience for an added level of under-the-sea silliness.

We'll be honest here. When an early copy of SpongeBob SquigglePants showed up at the office, we weren't sure what to expect. After all, it sported an "E" rating, was based on a kids' cartoon, and the PR sell sheet listed "endless creativity" as a bullet point. Then, with a group of 30-somethings gathered around the TV, we fired up the Wii and promptly had a blast.

SpongeBob SquigglePants is more or less a SpongeBob take on WarioWare. The game is packed with more than 100 minigames (dubbed nanogames by the developer), all of which are designed to last an average of five to seven seconds each. Of course part of the fun is figuring out exactly what you're supposed to do, as the games aren't big on instructions. You're often given a single word only moments before the game loads and expected to figure it out from there.

Because the minigames all make use of some sort of drawing motion, THQ's uDraw GameTablet peripheral is required if you want to play the game on the Wii. Essentially a video game version of a Wacom tablet, the uDraw attaches to a Wiimote and provides a stylus-based input for the console. It's simple, direct and easy to understand, which makes it accessible to both gamers and non-gamers alike.

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (PS3, XBOX 360 AND DS)

Alternate between exploration and turn-based puzzle battles in an attempt to save the world of Ashan from demonic chaos in Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes.

Release Date: Apr 12, 2011

Clash of Heroes is a fantasy adventure about five young adults from different cultures banding together to stop demons from taking over the world. It's set in the Might & Magic universe (see: knights and wizards) but is a standalone story, so don't worry if you're unfamiliar with the series like I am. 

The role-playing elements are found between battles when you're exploring lush environments, chatting with locals, gaining party members, and leveling up your characters. It's a rewarding system that allows for a little creativity in how you approach combat. Once you engage in battle, you are thrust into an addictive puzzle game. 

With the battlefield divided in half, your army is on the bottom and the enemy's on top. The object is to launch attacks at your opponent and deplete his or her health. By creating vertical stacks and horizontal rows of at least three same-colored units, you create attackers and defenses, respectively. 

Those are the very basics of combat in Clash of Heroes, but from this foundation the game spins out many rules, unit abilities, and combo opportunities. Things get pretty intense when your Champion Dragon still has one turn left before it unleashes its poison breath and your opponent has a fused elite unit and a level-two wall formation in the way. (Don't worry, the game will explain all this to you in helpful tutorials.) By the second chapter, Clash of Heroes is a very challenging game. 

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes was originally released on the Nintendo DS back in 2009. Several upgrades are included here on the PlayStation 3: 

• Multiplayer now supports up to four players and is available locally or online. 
• The visuals have been completely redone from pixilated sprites to hand-drawn characters, giving the game a very pleasing cartoon look. 
• New spells, abilities, and artifacts have been added to the campaign. 
• You can now revisit every faction's chapter to finish side quests.

Intricately detailed environments and smooth animation make Clash of Heroes a beautiful game. Beams of sunlight illuminate dark forests, pixie dust lazes through the air, and each of the five playable factions has a distinct, colorful style. 

Clash of Heroes' weaknesses are its story and dialogue. While the battle system is complex, the premise and character chatter is childish, bad Saturday morning cartoon fare. It's easy to ignore it all, though, and focus on the satisfying combat and puzzles. Oh, one other downer is the constant loading. 

The campaign is a lengthy adventure including many a sidequest, and beyond that you can spend even more hours playing multiplayer. Two players can go head-to-head much like the solo campaign battles, but there is also a new four-player mode where you can pair up with a friend and cooperate in order to best two enemies. It's fun and requires a lot of communication between partners.

CLOSING COMMENTS

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is where it's at. I loved it on DS, and this HD version is even better. A deep, clever puzzle game mixes well with a beautiful role-playing adventure. This is a game to get lost in, providing hours and hours of single- and multiplayer fun.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance (PS3)

Alliance is a four player, co-op, RPG original, playable locally or online.

Release Date: Apr 12, 2011

 This is a big step forward from the original's single-player only campaign. Also like the original, players will be able to choose one of three different classes: Rogue, Warrior, and Mage. Rogue and Warrior are melee attackers and Mages cast magic from a distance. 

The game opens in the Royal Tomb dungeon where you're woken from a sarcophagus by a fairy who claims she's just saved you from death. Not wasting any time, you're thrown into dungeon-crawling action fighting against clusters of Goblin Crawlers. 

Playing with a DualShock 3 is simple and easy to get into. The X button is a regular attack, Square triggers a heavy attack, R1 is used to interact with environmental objects, and the L2 triggers a special Fairy Attack, which deals lightning damage to every enemy in a wide radius around the player. 

Royal Tomb was fairly straight-forward. Goblin Crawlers were easily beaten with 4-5 whacks of a sword or a few bursts of Mage magic. Sprinkled throughout the level are various story points where you can read up on the lore and, occasionally, pull switches to open gates. Mid-way through the level we encountered a Cremator, a lumbering stone giant whose body was in flames. He was effectively a mini-boss and it took about two minutes of orchestrated thwacking with my three other partners to take him down. 

If one of your partners dies during combat another player can bring him back to life by standing over him and hitting R1. So long as another party member is alive you can keep bringing back fallen party members. The loot drop system is also a fairly streamlined operation, with gold automatically divvied up between players. There are occasional treasure chests throughout each level with class-specific weapons that you can pick up. 

After dealing with the Cremator, we made our way through the last half of the dungeon fighting slightly more challenging clusters of Goblin Crawlers and Goblin Sorcerers, ranged magic users who'd hurl fireballs at us from a distance. Once out of the dungeon, we arrived in Thanos Village, one of the game's hub environments where we were able to buy new weapons and items with our gathered gold, assign skill points, and talk to villagers to learn more story tidbits and get directions for future assignments. 

Playing with the Move controller changes the experience significantly, but so far it doesn't seem to be much of an enhancement over a traditional controller. The Move controller works like a mouse: you'll move around an icon on screen and then hold down the trigger button to make your character move in that direction. The face buttons still control basic attacks but the Fairy Attack gets motion treatment, requiring a shaking back and forth to pull off the area attack. Playing with the Move is, in theory, closer to the old school controls, but the Move sensitivity was so high it felt like small gestures would send it careening all over the screen. The game is already pretty tough to follow with four small characters clumping on top of one another in the dungeon murk, so adding a layer of indirectness to the controls doesn't much help the experience. 

Alliance was also slightly underwhelming visually. Environments are detailed and look much sharper than the iPhone version, but the art style doesn't make the transition from iPhone to console as well. The original was a neat technical feat in spite of its forgettable designs. Alliance is much less of a technical feat on PS3 and the lack of personality in the art really dampens the experience. 

Alliance ran smoothly in my play session and it certainly occupies an area of game design that not many console designers are competing in at the moment. It definitely doesn't have the wit and style of DeathSpank, but it does offer a much more traditional, if predictable, experience. 

Fantastic Pets (X360)

Fantastic Pets lets players custom create, collect and interact with unlimited varieties of their very own dream pets.

Release Date: Apr 12, 2011

"Fantastic Pets offers an incredibly high level of interactivity, creativity and originality," said Martin Good, Executive Vice President, THQ Kids, Family, Casual Games, and Global Online Services. "As you discover your pet's personality and become enmeshed within the world, Fantastic Pets becomes more like a personalized adventure and less like a game."

About Fantastic Pets

Fantastic Pets brings a world of adventure into the living room. Players start with four domestic animals – dog, cat, horse and lizard – that can be morphed into imaginative creations from mystical unicorns to ferocious dragons. Kinect for Xbox 360 technology enables players to step inside the world and onto the screen where they can play and care for their pets. Voice recognition allows players to command their pet throughout mini-games and Talent Shows to reach the professional ranks of a Pet Trainer. Players can unlock news items and activities, in addition to taking pictures of themselves and their pet to share with family and friends.

About THQ

THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) is a leading worldwide developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software. The company develops its products for all popular game systems, personal computers and wireless devices. Headquartered in Los Angeles County, California, THQ sells product through its global network of offices located throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. More information about THQ and its products may be found at www.thq.com. THQ, Fantastic Pets and their respective logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of THQ Inc.

DanceDanceRevolution (Bundle) (PS3 AND X360)

DanceDanceRevolution for the Xbox 360 mixes in fitness, free movement, and fun for all fans.

Release Date: Apr 12, 2011

DanceDanceRevolution comes back to the Xbox 360 with nonstop dancing action in your living room! Experience interactive gameplay linking music visuals and your dance steps! New gimmicks are implemented including the Groove Trigger that allows you achieve a bonus score. In the new Battle Mode players can compete in a Dance Off! Players take turns to dance as they compete over the ownership of arrows. See who can pull off their moves and be the center of the party! Club Mode allows players to play 4 to 20 songs consecutively. The difficulty level varies depending on how well the player is dancing in addition to several different gimmicks. Numerous original songs from the DanceDanceRevolution series will be provided as downloadable content. Users can dance to songs recorded in the arcade and console versions of the game. Includes over 50 tracks of original Konami music and popular hits including "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga "Battlefield" by Jordin Sparks and "So Fine" by Sean Paul.

DanceDanceRevolution is a rhythm and dance game with heart-pumping DDR designed to satisfy longtime fans while also accommodating less advanced players and those coming to it for the first time. The DanceDanceRevolution bundle includes a game copy and a DanceDanceRevolution dance pad controller. DanceDanceRevoltuion Bundle is available for PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii from developer and publisher Konami.

Michael Jackson The Experience (PS3, X360, PSP, WII AND DS)

Michael Jackson is an interactive performance-based video game inspired by the legendary King of Pop.

Release Date: Apr 12, 2011

Michael Jackson: The Experience was a big hit for Ubisoft on Nintendo Wii, DS and Sony's PSP last fall. Given the game's design that lets you dance like the King of Pop, it's better suited to take advantage of Sony's PS3 Move and, even more so, Xbox 360 Kinect.

To coincide the Michael Jackson: The Experience's launch on PS3 Move and Xbox 360 Kinect today, Ubisoft has passed along a trio of trailers that highlight how the Kinect controls work. The videos are for the songs Black or White, Don't Stop and Ghosts.

As you might guess from the Kinect gameplay footage, the game uses the same proprietary on-screen player projection system that Ubisoft's Your Shape: Fitness Evolved does. The Kinect camera captures the player or players from head-to-toe and projects their image into the game. It's not a crystal clear high definition projection but does get the job done.

Also of note in the new Kinect and Move versions of Michael Jackson: The Experience are a trio of songs not found in the previously released versions: Blood on the Dance Floor, I Just Can't Stop Loving You, and Stranger in Moscow.

'Michael Jackson: The Experience' has already sold three million copies worldwide since it was released in November on the Nintendo Wii, DS and Sony PlayStation Portable (PS3). On Tuesday, Ubisoft releases versions of the game compatible with Microsoft's Kinect hands-free control system and Sony's PlayStation Move motion controller, USA Today reports.

Ubisoft's Michael Beadle states, “As a company, Ubisoft looked at what each of the three platforms would be able to do from a tech standpoint. We obviously wanted to highlight each with something cool and exclusive while using the hardware the best way it could be used, working closely with the (Michael Jackson) estate.”

Taking advantage of the camera, voice and gesture tracking abilities of the Kinect, 'Michael Jackson: The Experience', tracks how well players are imitating the late King of Pop's dance moves.

Featuring Ubisoft technology, the projects players into on-screen scenes inspired by Jackson's live performances and music videos including iconic scenes from “Thriller”, AFP is reporting. Kinect users are represented as animated characters that mirror their likeness and movements.

Ubisoft senior vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key tells AFP, “You actually see yourself moving and your goal is to follow along with the backup dancers. You can see your hair flitting, what you are wearing -- all of that.”

Playstation's 'Move' version of the game records video and photos that can be saved on the PS3's hard drive or uploaded to the users Facebook account. “The accuracy of the Move with the camera makes it very precise and the HD graphics and high quality sound in both of these platforms is really high-end,” Beadle explains.

Ubisoft has long been perfecting motion controls for videogames and the potential for 3D cameras to enhance the universe that games allow you to enjoy. Ubisoft finished 2010 as the top third-party developer for Kinect.

Microsoft reports having sold more than 10 million Kinects, which lets people play with no hand-held controllers at all and recognizes faces and responds to voice commands. Ubisoft claims about 19 percent of the market of videogames for the Xbox 360 accessory that debuted in November.

Ubisoft title's represent about 80 percent of that type of play on Wii consoles. “The dance category for us has been a huge win,” Key said. “We created a reason for people to dance in their living rooms,” he continued. “This always turns out to be a great time for anybody who is in the house -- we really touched a nerve.”

Ubisoft's Facebook page features an abundance of dance game stories and videos posted by players. “More and more, the dance category is becoming a story that consumers are telling for us,” Key said. “How many videogames have people posting videos of themselves playing?”

'Michael Jackson: The Experience' will be priced at $49.99 when it becomes available in the United States on Tuesday with a European release expected two days later.