Newsbriefs: Punch Out!! VC, Carcassonne, Pirates GH

Author: by Staff

[UPDATED: 3:40pm PST] Today's regularly updated newsbriefs include news of the latest “new” games for download over the Wii's Virtual Console (including Punch Out!!), tabletop conversion Carcassonne coming to XBLA this June, and Pirates of the Caribbean going Greatest Hits on PlayStation 2. - Nintendo has released three “new” games for download over the Wii's Virtual Console. Purchasable from the Wii's online Wii Shop Channel, the games released today include NES classic Punch Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream, a 1990 slightly changed re-release of 1987's Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. The game is available for 500 Wii Points ($5). Other additions to the service today include Sega's seminal fighter Virtua Fighter 2 for the Genesis for for 800 Wii Points ($8), and NEC's Turbografx 16 action platformer Bonk's Revenge, sequel to the original Bonk's Adventure, for 600 Wii Points ($6). - Sierra Online has announced that its strategy title Carcassonne -- one of three popular German tabletop games also including Settlers of Catan and Alhambra being converted for console play -- will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade this June. Primarily a multiplayer game for 2 to 5 players, each player will earn points by strategically placing tiles and claiming land, completing towns, roads and farms. Strategy comes in the form of building the largest towns, longest roads and biggest farms, as well as monasteries, by "poaching" the properties from others. The game will feature multiplayer modes both offline and online allowing players to compete against up to five players on Xbox Live and four players on a single Xbox 360. A closer look at the tabletop version of the game can be found at Gamasutra sister site GameSetWatch for more information on the ins and outs of its brand of strategic play. - Officials from Bethesda Softworks (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) have announced that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow has been added to the PlayStation 2's Greatest Hits line. The game, inspired by the feature film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, is now available for $19.99. "We are thrilled that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow has been so enthusiastically received by consumers following its release last summer," said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks, "The fact that the game has been added to the list of best-selling games for the PlayStation 2 system is a wonderful recognition of the legions of fans around the world who have enjoyed this entertaining title." - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include a look at a roguelike game based on the classic first-person shooter Doom, a collection of articles on game production, and news of a pair of new XBLA games coming from Bizarre Creations. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sisterwebsite Game Career Guide include the latest "Ask the Experts" column, which investigates the meanings behind the sorts of industry jargon found in the typical game industry job ad. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Big Huge Games, Cranky Pants Games, Disney Interactive Studios, Iron Lore Entertainment, Monolith Productions, Paleo Entertainment, Pandemic Studios Brisbane, Sierra Online, Snowblind Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Visual Concepts.