UK Chart

Stamina. Strength. Speed. Determination. What better way to recreate the feats required to enter the Olympics than by sitting at home with a piece of plastic in your hand? Beijing 2008 is up from #13 to #3, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games up from #8 to #4, and Summer Athletics from Eidos goes in at #25. But who’s #1 in the chart? That’ll be Mario Kart Wii.

Madden 09 arrives #17, while Soul Calibur IV has dropped from #2 to #8. Hellboy: The Science of Evil fails to get into the top 40, but goes in at #26 in the Xbox 360 chart.

Ubisoft’s Puzzler Collection looks like its proving popular despite no promotion. It’s currently at #34 in the all formats and #9 in the DS chart. People must be really desperate to do crosswords and word searches while waiting for the bus.

I expect we’re all guilty of picking out breakfast cereal as a child just for the free toy inside. Even on the wrong side of my 20s, I’d be tempted by one of the LCD Guitar Hero toys being packed inside Kellogg’s cereal. I bet the music’s a bit rubbish though.

They’re North America only - indeed possibly Canada only - at the moment from the looks of things. Any idea if Europe ever got the excellent sounding Indiana Jones Adventure Spoons?

Madden 09 is out, so it’s not going to be hard to guess what the best selling game this month in the US will be. If memory serves, last year’s iteration managed to get quite high in the UK chart, but I’d be surprised if it gets into the top ten. The Wii version is sub-titled ‘All Play’ and has been designed for new comers in mind, something that has angered a few of the ‘hardcore’ fans. You can’t please everybody.

Also on Wii this week there’s Table Football - which I’m going to assume is appalling - and the unofficial Summer Athletics (also out on PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360). And yes, there is indeed another movie license out this week - Hellboy: The Science of Evil. Eurogamer didn’t like it much, awarding it 5 out of 10.

In the world of downloads, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People is now available on WiiWare while Xbox 360 gets Fable II: Pub Games.

Codemasters’ Overlord was one of last year’s hidden gems and recently found a new lease of life on PlayStation 3. Sale figures must have pleased Codemasters, as not only is there going to be a sequel, but versions for Wii and DS too.

The Wii is getting Overlord Dark Legend. It’s a brand new game, not a port of the original, and from the sound of things the controller is going to be fully embraced. According to the interview on IGN, you’ll be able to pick up a single minion, shake and then lob him into the distance like a missile.

Climax are doing the DS version, entitled Overlord Minions, which focuses on just four controllable minions rather than a whole hoard - Giblet, Blaze, Stench and Zap. It looks brighter-coloured than the rest, and possibly might be aimed at the younger market.

The proper sequel - Overlord II - is on its way to PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. This time round the minions can ride mounts such as wild wolves, sail across seas and use war machines. The Overlord you control is a new fellow out to battle a Roman-inspired army in new environments such as an icy wasteland with Yetis and evil seals. More of the same? Probably. I just hope they do something about the dull dungeon sections that dragged the first game down.

Most Played

Since its release early last year, Shadowrun has been on the receiving end of a lot of flack, and to be honest, it’s mostly deserved. The single player mode is almost non-existent - you can only play against bots with less intelligence than a ’80s calculator - and there are no options to speak of. You can’t even fiddle with weapon sets to get a ‘swords only’ match going. It doesn’t look much prettier than an original Xbox game, and the art style is laughable. I promise the first time you lay eyes on a dwarf kitted out in full riot gear you’ll, well, laugh.

The Wii version of this turn-based strategy game was canned, as the developers thought they wouldn’t be able to get a decent version of the game running on the system. So why they thought that the DS could is a bit of a mystery.

The DS isn’t renowned for being a 3D powerhouse, but it can still produce some nice 2D graphics - take a look at the recent Soul Bubbles for proof. Visuals must have been the last thing on the agenda here though - it looks like an ugly Game Boy Advance game, with dull maps and no flair to speak of. There isn’t any music in game either, which hardly helps the atmosphere side of things. The controls work well though; so much so that there isn’t even the need for a tutorial at the beginning.

The Daily Mail are at it again, and this time they’re angry about Sega releasing Mad World on the “family friendly Wii”. Mad World, if you weren’t aware, looks like an unofficial tribute to the monochrome Sin City and lets you kill foes by sticking traffic signs through their head. It looks quite good.

John Beyer, director of mediawatch-uk, says:

“It seems a shame that the game’s manufacturer have decided to exclusively release this game on the Wii. I believe it will spoil the family fun image of the Wii.”

Resident Evil 4, Mortal Kombat Armageddon, Scarface and The Godfather didn’t do Nintendo’s image any harm, John. Plus the game is likely to receive an 18 certificate anyway. You can read the full story here, which includes Nintendo’s say on the matter.

Verdict: The Daily Mail had a slow news day.

It’s tough being a fan of Geometry Wars. Not just because if you blink you usually end up dying, which can lead to some very dry eyeballs, but also from a monetary point of view. This year has already seen two versions on DS and Wii, and now just six months later a ‘proper’ sequel has been released. Buying them all at full price would amount to over £55, which is a fair old whack for a game often referred to as asteroids on steroids.

You might be alarmed to find that Activision are charging double the price of its predecessor, (£6.80, as opposed to £3.40) but don’t let that put you off - there are plenty of new modes, enemies and such to make it worth your while. It’s a much more varied game this time round too.

At the start of the game only one mode - a three minute infinite life affair entitled Deadline - is available, with more being unlocked as your skills improve. Each are suitably different to one another and have with their own background music. In Pacifist mode enemies can only be killed by flying through explosive gates that detonate when you pass while. Then there’s King mode where you can only shoot while inside a bubble, which gets smaller and smaller before reappearing somewhere else on the map. A few ideas from Galaxies have been included too, including collectible geoms that boost your multiplier, and the graphics are a bit slicker with a new neon colour scheme.

One nice idea is that achievements are linked to different modes; if the game notices that you’re going to get an achievement a tracker bar will appear to chart your progress. There’s also a four-player mode, but sadly it’s not online. A feature no doubt held back for Evolved 3. But until then pour yourself a big strong coffee, pull the curtains, turn up the volume and play this until your eyes turn into goo.

Count yourselves lucky - while we happily sit and play on our Wiis, Xbox 360s and Atari Jaguars, gamers in Brazil are still getting to grips with the Sega Master System. Tec Toy have been manufacturing the console for the past few years over there and have just unveiled their 2008 model - the Master System 3. It’s quite stylish.

Like the other systems they’ve produced in the past it has no cartridge slot, but does have 131 games built in. There’s also a Mega Drive 3 with 81 games built in, but that’s less interesting than a 22 year old console being brought back to life.

Word has it that The Mummy III - out this week on PlayStation 2 and DS - is going to be the last game published by Sierra before they become Activision Blizzard. It’s a shame to see them going out with a fizzle rather than a bang - they had a decent reputation in the ’90s for their bounty of point and click adventure games. Worse still: IGN didn’t like the PlayStation 2 version one little bit.

The only other releases of note are Race Driver: GRID on DS, which is apparently pretty good, and obscure RPG Growlanser: Heritage of War on PlayStation 2. So that’s two new games for PlayStation 2 this week and nothing for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 or Wii. Now there’s a thing!

Soul Calibur IV shot straight to the top of the chart, which isn’t surprising seeing as it’s the first one-on-one brawler to be released in ages. It’s the Xbox 360 version of that has shifted the most copies so far - 56 percent, in fact.

Wii Fit has dropped to #2, Big Beach Sports has risen from #10 to #5, while Lego Indiana Jones has done the reverse and fallen from #5 to #10. Don’t forget your hat, Mr. Jones!

SBK 08 goes in at #8 in the 360 chart, #17 in the PlayStation 2 chart and #10 in the PSP chart. The only other new entry is Puzzler Collection in the DS chart at #24.

Alone in the Dark has now left the top 40 despite being one of the most hyped games of the year. A demo has just gone up on Xbox Live though, so maybe it’ll be back in again next week.

The wait for a definitive Transformers game is over - Glu have just released Transformers G1: Awakening for mobile phones. It’s based on the original 80’s series and has more than a hint of Advance Wars about it.

Two versions have been made - one with 2D battle scenes and another with 3D battles for those with flashier mobiles. The recently released video shows that it’s authentic to the TV series, with 23 Transformers from both Autobot and Decepticon camps. A fully playable demo is available on Glu’s website if you fancy it.

A DS version is sadly doubtful, but a 3D / 2D platformer based on the rubbish new Transformers Animated series was announced at E3.