Just days before the real life trauma of E3 takes hold, Atlus announced that it will localize the recently revealed Trauma Center successor, Hospital, as Trauma Team for the Wii in North America. As previously noted, the game will feature gameplay across six different medical fields, as players play as a general surgeon, diagnostician, E.M.T., orthopedic surgeon, endoscope technician, and medical examiner.

Atlus hasn't yet sewn up all of the details, However, the game is expected to be among the publisher's titles on display during next week's show and we look forward to finding out more before Trauma Team scrubs in next Spring.

Of the many things we look forward to when unwrapping a new game, box art ranks just above the new game smell and that little card that falls on the floor when the box is opened, quietly pleading for feedback. This is not the case, however, for Atlus creative designer Jeremy Cail, who makes it his job to judge books -- make that games -- by their cover, and in a recent blog post breaks down all of the effort that went into designing the cover for next month's Trauma Center sequel for the DS.

Besides the differences between North American and Japanese boxes, the designer expounds on the virtues of title placement (can't have it be covered by the shelf, can we?) and the importance of Derek's glowing hand (Uh oh, it's magic). He also discusses the title itself, noting that Under the Knife 2 was not the team's first choice, with subtitles such as "Surgeon's Oath" or "Under the Gun" also in the pot for consideration. And what of Nurse Angie's new maid cafe-inspired attire? Cail writes that "I hope that gives you cosplayers out there some extra inspiration this year at anime conventions." Man, it's like you read our minds. Creepy.

Trauma Center did a swear!

It's common knowledge that Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2's setting and storyline is to involve disease, civil war, and refugees, but now swearing has been added to this gritty mix. Shocking! We'd expect disease in a game about making people feel better, but we hope that Atlus' game doesn't start taking itself too seriously. For this blogger, the otherwise excellent Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was a little too dark for its own good, and yours truly missed some of the inherent silliness of previous games. Here's hoping Trauma Center 2 retains its sense of humor.

On the other hand, we appreciate that some of you couldn't give two hoots about the story. Regardless, make a careful incision and enter the gallery below for six new shots.


[Via press release]

Why do we love the Wii with friends? Because we want all to share the splendor and majesty that comes from playing the best home gaming console around. So that's why we set out to bring you a nice, easy package of great multiplayer games for the Wii.

Both online and local multiplayer is covered, as well as games that have released and those that are still in production. We hope you find this useful in your own life, in some small way, or at least a good place to link a friend who has no idea what they're getting into with the Wii. So read on and see what we have in store, then come back here and tell us what multiplayer experiences you enjoy most on the Wii!

Atlus this afternoon announced plans to bring Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 stateside, giving us plenty to keep busy amidst reruns of Scrubs and E.R. when the game ships for the Nintendo DS this summer. Atlus confirmed that the sequel, which follows the 2005 release that made us all believe that we could cure cancer with a flick of the wrist, will make it to retail on July 1, offering new modes and operations for armchair surgeons.

But wait, isn't that a full month before the game will be released in Japan? Has the world gone topsy-turvy? We touched based with Atlus and learned that this is indeed the case -- not that the world had gone into a tailspin, but rather that we can expect to stitch up wounds vicariously through Derek and Angie before our friends overseas. The official we spoke to also noted that while the team struggled with a number of titles for the sequel "there really was no other more fitting thing to call the game than Under the Knife 2." Honestly, they can call it anything they want, just get it in our hands STAT!

Trauma Center, in case you hadn't already heard, is making a return to Nintendo's handheld to make ham-fisted would-be surgeons feel inadequate all over again, and Famitsu has just delivered an array of details and shots of the new game.

According to this, we'll be getting a sprinkling of old and new characters, a slightly more Wii-like user interface, and a number of operations that will be familiar with us all, including the really cringeworthy ones where you have to yank excruciatingly long shards of glass from your patients (well, they made us cringe, anyway).

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit to take from this scan, however, is the mention of a Japanese release date -- it's a little hard to make out, but the magazine seems to suggest the game will be released there on August 7th. That's by no means an official date, obviously, but if true it means we could be seeing a western release in 2008.

The Nintendo Power news just keeps on coming in! If you're not already a subscriber, we very much suggest you pick up a copy of this month's issue when you can -- it's packed with exclusive announcements and screenshots.

Almost three years since Under the Knife captured the hearts of wannabe surgeons on the DS, Trauma Center is finally coming back to the handheld after a remake and an indirect sequel on the Wii. Dr. Stiles stars in the game, once again, and is joined by Nurse Angie Thompson as they deal with the effects and "unanswered mysteries" left by the defeated GUILT Virus.

Developer and publisher Atlus didn't reveal any new surgical instruments for this direct DS sequel, titled Under the Knife 2, but it did state that the old tools will have "improved functionality. Addressing difficulty complaints many often cited with the original game, Atlus has also included a mode for those of you with unsteady hands and frail nerves. Expect to hear a lot more about Under the Knife 2 from us before it hits stores this summer.

'The road less traveled' seems the mantra for Irvine, California-based Atlus USA. With an impressive catalog of obscure titles to its credit, Atlus is looked to by many North American gamers as a beacon of originality, having localized such titles and franchises as Odin Sphere, Persona, and Growlanser, among many others. But why does this company remain dedicated to games of such niche appeal? Unable to come up with a consensus, we marched upon Atlus USA itself, and spoke with some of the employees who didn't duck out of sight when they saw us coming, including editor Clayton S. Chan, PR and sales assistant manager Aram Jabbari, production director Bill Alexander, and QA lead Victor Gonzalez.

What did they have to say? Read the complete interview, including in-depth insight into the company's upcoming PS2 and Wii 'hardcore' dungeon crawler Baroque, after the jump.

Yeah, we know what you're thinking: "Each and every member of the DS Fanboy team is pretty much perfect, so why the heck would such unblemished, shining beacons of humanity require New Year's resolutions?" We thought the exact same thing, before we each took a minute to stare deeply into the recesses of our souls, and realize that even we -- WE! -- could take steps to improve ourselves. And here's how we plan to go about it:

• Alisha: I promise to try not to go crazy and pee myself every time Square Enix remakes a game they've remade before, but it's going to be very, very difficult, and I will probably fail. Ask me again tomorrow.
• David: This year, I resolve to beat Contra 4 in front of a live studio audience. I will then reap the benefits and rewards of having a studio full of people not know who I am or what I am doing look at me with faces full of confusion as I rip my shirt off in conquest and scream wildly.
• JC: I resolve to play one of those RTS or SRPG or TRPG games. I've always believed I wasn't smart enough to play these things, while simultaneously believing that I was smart enough to pursue advanced degrees.
• Candace: I resolve that I will resist my urge to download the entire catalog of Phoenix Wright songs onto my cell phone. But not really.
• Chris: To not see in another New Year with gaming's answer to high-class narcotics, Animal Crossing Wild World. Also, to finally wrap up Trauma Center: Under the Knife, by which time I fully expect to boast the dexterity of an actual surgeon.
  
• Eric: I resolve to never trust a big butt and a smile. That girl is poison. Poison.

So now we've shared, what about you, reader? If you haven't already, tell us about your DS-related resolutions for 2008.

If, like us, you've been wondering where Atlus' creativity went with its terribly plain Trauma Center: New Blood boxart, you'll be happy to hear that we managed to find some of it in the latest issue of Nintendo Power. While not as hilarious or ridiculous as the Geometry Wars: Galaxies piece we featured late last week, this blood transfusion ad we spotted certainly is creative. Jump past the post break for the full page.

With Contra 4 about to give us a heart attack, and Ninja Gaiden also on the way to make us doubt our ability to do things, we thought we'd ask you about the difficulty of currently-available DS games. There are some brutally hard games out there, and we're sure you've run into one of them. Some are difficult for not-so-great reasons, like control issues, but some are just hard.

What's the most difficult game you've played on the DS? And did you enjoy it? Bonus points if the game isn't Trauma Center.

Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.

Thought of by many as the "Disney of video gaming," Nintendo has crafted themselves an image of family-friendly entertainment. But to certain generations and classes of gamers, the term "family-friendly" is synonymous with "kiddy," and immediately sparks disinterest. But ever since publishing Rare's Killer Instinct, they've been working on broadening the public's perspective. Trying to appeal to the bloodlust of the Mortal Kombat crowd didn't give them any headway, and as generations progressed and they've garnered more "mature-themed" titles, they still haven't been able to shake the "kiddy console" stigma.

Even after snagging the exclusivity to the Resident Evil series for a generation, Nintendo was largely overlooked by the Playstation-bred gamers that were brought up on the series. How much more will it take for Wii to be regarded as a platform that can satisfy the tastes of mature gamers?

We love Trauma Center. It's just good, clean, surgical fun, and the forthcoming New Blood just looks awesome. It's just this box art we're not sure about. Maybe it's just us, but it seems so ... plain. So mundane. So not in-keeping with the other games. What do you think of it?

Look, don't get us wrong. We're likely to sink an unhealthy number of hours into it anyway, because that's what we do in the seven minutes of spare time we have per week. It's just that sometimes, we're forced to shake our heads over boxart decisions, and this is one of those times.

In the battle for retail shelf eye candy, there are some games that prefer to go the rout of foil-embossed cardboard slip covers, while others prefer a more subtle, tasteful approach. Take for example Atlus' upcoming Trauma Center: New Blood for the Wii, which replaces the anime styling of the first game's box art with a plain cross as if to say 'I'm the medicine Wii owners have been searching for.'

Interestingly, the box also carries the logo for Nintendo's free Wi-Fi Connection service, though despite the addition of local multiplayer, a quick call to Atlus confirmed that New Blood's online influence will only be felt through leaderboards, meaning if you want to throw down scalpels over a patient with a debilitating hematoma, you'd best be prepared to do it side by side.

Atlus disappointed gamers with Trauma Center: Second Opinion for Wii, offering up an uninspired remake of the DS original, but the company is out to make amends with armchair surgeons in Trauma Center: New Blood. The sequel promises new features, missions, and characters, as well as a new cooperative mode, which will let you and a partner hack at a virtual patient for both points and living room bragging rights. Trauma Center: New Blood ships to retail on November 20, giving you plenty of time to sharpen your slicing and dicing skills.