Today's round-up includes news of SNK's
Metal Slug Anthology in development for Nintendo's upcoming Wii console,
Kingdom Hearts II selling one million units in four months in the U.S., and the top selling PC software according to the NPD Group, as well as the latest GameSetWatch posts, Serious Games Source news, product news and Gamasutra job postings.
- SNK has confirmed that the company is bringing its complete
Metal Slug arcade collection to the Wii in one compilation, titled
Metal Slug Anthology. The popular series began life in arcades on the Neo Geo hardware in 1996, and has since developed a devoted following among fans. In addition, the company also confirmed that it is developing a new DS title called
SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS, which is expected to be shown during next week's E3. "Fans worldwide have been looking forward to our return to Nintendo platforms and what better way then to bring our complete
Metal Slug arcade collection to Wii. Additionally we enter the Nintendo DS category with our
SNK vs. Capcom Card Fighters DS game that will match the dual screen format to a great game," said Ben Herman, President of SNK Playmore USA Corporation. "The Wii controller will be used in a new and unique way that enhances the gameplay. Our fans have demanded that we support Nintendo platforms. Let the celebration begin."
- Square Enix and Buena Vista Games announced today that
Kingdom Hearts II has sold more than one million units in North America, making it one of the top-selling new releases of 2006. The action adventure pairing of characters from both Disney and Square Enix IPs shipped to North American retailers nationwide on March 28 and has been well received by both gamers and critics alike. “
Kingdom Hearts II has sold through one million units in just one-third the time of that of the original, proving that fans were waiting to get their hands on the sequel,” said Daishiro Okada, President & COO, Square Enix, Inc. “The winning combination of Disney and Square Enix has done it again and we couldn't be happier with the results.”
- The NPD Group has released the 10 best-selling PC games for the week of April 16.
The Sims 2 Family Fun Stuff Expansion Pack once again took the top spot, followed by
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Blizzard's popular MMO
World of Warcraft took the third spot, followed by both
The Sims 2 Open For Business Expansion Pack and the
The Sims 2 core game. LucasArts'
Star Wars: Empire At War strategically took the sixth spot, followed by the
Final Fantasy XI expansion
Treasures of Aht Urhgan in seventh. Microsoft's real-time strategy title
Age of Empires III dropped four spots from the previous week to the eighth position. The list was rounded out by
Tomb Raider: Legend in ninth, and Stardock's
Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords in the tenth and final spot.
- The latest updates on Gamasutra sister weblog GameSetWatch include a
look at the 16-bit classic shmup Darius Twin, the
second Shmup-dev compo involving dragons, and
Lumines for your mobile phone.
- Also updated today: Serious Games Source news on
a project to develop technology for visually impaired children, a
tool developed by Cisco to teach binary, and a
design-oriented article on the development of serious games, plus Gamasutra product news regarding the
release of the source code for MechCommander 2, as well as the latest
Gamasutra job postings, featuring openings from Airtight Games, Dundjinni, Freescale Semiconductor Games Organization, LucasArts, Spacetime Studios, and Yahoo! Media Group.
