After breaking our hearts by showing us the Road Rash remake which never will be, the gaming industry's Encyclopedia Brown, supererogatory, dug up another pair of intriguing titles which sadly never saw the light of day. The personal blog of game designer Ward Moore mentions two Sim games which were ultimately canceled in order to focus on the blockbuster The Sims franchise: SimCastle, a game based on the SimTown engine set in medieval times, and SimMars, which ... simulated life on Mars, we guess?

Moore's blog included a look at the called-off Martian endeavor, seen above. The blog of illustrator Corey Keller includes a few conceptual designs from SimCastle, one of which can be seen after the jump. SimAnt, which perplexingly somehow got made while these two promising titles didn't, can be seen here. Life can be awfully unfair at times.

It was only a few months ago that Ferrari officially unveiled the successor to the F430 in the much rumored Ferrari 458 Italia. With Forza 3 just over a month away, we can certainly understand how developer Turn 10 couldn't find extra time to fully develop the brand new car for its game. Even though the game went gold recently, the developer got right back to work, announcing recently that the mid-engine V8 monster will arrive as DLC this holiday. There's even a sweet video of the car in action that you can see above (and compare it with the real thing found after the break).

We pressed Microsoft for a price and only heard back, "We're not announcing any other details about the Ferrari vehicle at this time, other than to celebrate its inclusion in the game since it's a sick car." Maybe Microsoft will gift us all free Ferraris for the hoidays!

This ain't your papa's ship simulation game. This is Ship Simulator Extremes, the latest entry in Dutch developer VSTEP's series of nautical piloting sims. The press release which announced the game includes a lengthy list of features, but all you need to know is in the title -- it'll be "Extremes." Not just "Extreme," mind you -- but "Extremes." As in, more than one "Extreme." We can assume this means the game will take you to the razor-sharp edge of seafaring Extreme-ness, then, just for kicks, it'll take you a bit farther.

The game sounds like it'll go over quite well with the world's expansive community of boat enthusiasts -- we just hope it can stay afloat (nailed it!) in the crowded waters of Q1 2010.

[Via Big Download]

Pokémon Snap fans, beware! Afrika is the Pokémon game you know and love, just all grown up ... and, ya know, without all those Pocket Monsters. Instead, you're chasing around lions and tigers and, erm, zebras with fancy Sony brand cameras, trying your best to capture shots and not get trampled.

Oh, wait, that's right! There is no "trample." In fact, there's no interaction with the animals of any kind. You don't even get the satisfaction of oddly petting them like in Endless Ocean. With Afrika, you get an African safari simulator and little else. Which really makes it hard for us to even classify Afrika as a "game" as opposed to edutainment. Sure, there are assignments and "challenges," should you so choose to engage them, but there is little (if any) real progression through the experience.

Better cameras do unlock as you complete assignments and a whole mess of National Geographic footage/stills/information also serve to reward various complete objectives, but none of this makes the "game" any more game-ey. Those of you looking for an interactive African safari simulation, Afrika is for you. For those of you whose first interest is seeing if you can run down a rhino, look elsewhere -- this "game" ain't for you.

We introduced Order!! yesterday, the upcoming WiiWare title that puts the player in the role of a 16-bit RPG's king. AndriaSang's preview of Poisoft's game helpfully gives us more details about the gameplay, which diverges significantly from My Life as a King (and also Little King's Story -- by the way, what's the deal with all the king games on Wii?).

As the king, you are visited by heroes, whom you send out to fight monsters. When they return, you reward them with items. Sometimes those heroes will explore your castle and just take items -- much like we all would when playing heroes in RPGs. You also build the infrastructure of your kingdom with item shops, farms, schools, and other such buildings.

While all that sounds pretty similar to My Life as a King, there's another layer of gameplay: you control your kingdom's foreign policy as well, deciding whether to use the army (which you build) to attack and invade neighboring kingdoms. You can use diplomacy, warfare, or even assassinations to achieve your goals.

Our favorite detail of the game: "You don't even have to set your sights on world peace. If you prefer, you can choose to support the demon lord by giving money to the demon army or capturing heroes and turning them in." The preview also mentions a sneakier approach: reducing the number of health items for sale in your kingdom to make it less hospitable to heroes.

At this point, after "supposed" artwork was leaked and the franchise's publisher, Microsoft, circulated a survey inquiring about the game, you'd think the company would just up and announce Forza 3 already. Not so, however, as Microsoft's also notoriously cagey about the game's "possible" existence within its own doors!

As you can see in the video embedded after the break (and in the less than beautiful screen grab above), Microsoft hides a logo for Forza even when showing the game to its own employees a group of Xbox community members from PortalXbox.com.br during a recent, camera-laden meeting in Brazil. The crowd audibly cheers "Forza!" when the logo appears and the man in charge goes on to speak about his love for past entries in the franchise -- never mentioning "Forza 3" by name, mind you. All we get after this is a banner marked "AGUARDEM," meaning "coming soon."

Will we see more of the game at E3 2009? Our money's on "Yeah, we'll probably see it then." Oh, and hey, Portuguese-speaking readers, feel free to drop us a tip with the fully translated transcript when you get a second. Thanks!

UPDATE: Reader Daniel Gomes has informed us that the event was actually the "National Forum on April 25th in São Paulo" for PortalXbox.com.br, "the largest Xbox community in Brazil." Good to know!

UPDATE 2: Apparently the YouTube clip we embedded after the break got pulled. Luckily, we had already downloaded the video! Feel free to check it out, still after the break!

What a glorious day, which was only made better by EA's announcement that MySims Party will be available for Wii and DS this March. Yes, the saccharin collection of minigames -- 40 in the DS version and 50 on the Wii -- will keep you smiling ... like you just ate the family pet and nobody knows.

MySims Party is part of EA's initiative to design more titles that appeal to the console's demographic. EA is likely taking a cue from 2K Games, which has found minigame success with its Carnival Games series. Next up for the MySims on Wii and DS: MySims Racing. Then, we speculate: Legend of MySims, Super Smash MySims and MySims Fit.

Spore's arrival on the Wii has been stretched out over such a protracted period of time it would make evolution itself blush. Will Wright first confirmed the project way, way back in October 2007; optimistically, we placed the game in a list of titles to look out for in 2008.

Nevertheless, let's say it again: Spore is coming to Wii. Yay! This time, to make things feel extra official and important, EA made the announcement, revealing that Spore Hero, a game built from the ground up for the Wii, would focus on "creativity and evolution." And that's really all we know for now, aside from the fact that the game will release this fall.

Considering it's taken EA the best part of fifteen months to announce the thing, and given the first game's reputation, we wouldn't be amazed to see some slippage. One to watch out for in our "Games for 2010" list, perhaps.

[Via Joystiq]

While not all of Hudson's WiiWare offerings are necessarily successful in terms of sales or critical response, they've been responsible for some of the best, and best-selling, games on the service. And even when they don't do so well, effort is evident. So why can't Hudson's parent company, Konami, take a lesson from their subsidiary? Since the launch of the service, they've released only two games: Critter Round-Up and this. So they've released, like, one and a quarter games.

Sandy Beach is a baffling release -- in that I can't fathom how Konami saw this and decided there was enough game to be worth releasing. It's really two games, but the sum fails to provide enough value for the 500 Wii Point cost.

Pedigree

Based on the PC series of the same name, the Zoo Tycoon games are rooted in the business / construction simulation titles that proved to be very popular in the 1990s. These types of games include the SimCity series and its numerous spinoffs, Theme Park, and the Civilization series. These sorts of titles usually appeal to those who take gaming very seriously; perhaps you could say "connoisseurs" of gaming. Thus, a certain level of quality and depth is expected.

Publisher THQ is neither fully innocent nor consistently guilty as a shovelware publisher. Developer Blue Fang Games is an interesting case in that the only games they've ever created are those in the Zoo Tycoon series. This game marks their first appearance on the DS, and one of only two games ever created for Nintendo's portable (the other being Zoo Tycoon 2 DS).

It's worth noting that while neither of the two PC Zoo Tycoon titles were excessively praised nor bashed, they have won numerous awards relating to its family-friendly play. I can't vouch for the prestige of any of these awards, but it's always interesting to find a disconnect between critics and award organizations.

The Critics Said ...

Nintendo Power gave Zoo Tycoon the sole positive review. They claim that it "faithfully reproduces the ZT experience, from building exhibits and guest facilities to managing cash flow." I haven't played the original, but I can't imagine the series being this successful if all of the games are similar to this (more on that later). Statements made by other critics seem to fit the shovelware definition to a tee. A few snippets from the critics: "the forced or rushed feeling of this title," "tedious gameplay," "unwieldy controls," and "it will bore you into hatred."Game Informer pleasantly noted that the game is "about as much fun as giving an elephant a suppository." Gee ... a simple "I didn't like this game" would have worked just fine.

Fantastic settings bring a lot of things to mind, and sure, one of them can be crabs. It helps when they're cute little red crabs, as briefly seen in the above trailer for MySims Kingdom. Of course the crabs are cute; it's MySims, and that's the primary point of the new franchise (also, you build).

But there's something else here we don't expect to see in the typical fantasy setting, and that's glowsticks. And dance floors. Okay, there are several things that seem a little out of place, but it's MySims, and we're gonna go with it. The mini-rave is probably just on one of the themed islands you can explore in the forthcoming game, but knowing that doesn't make the dancing any less jarring when it appears out of nowhere in the trailer!

Can you keep up with all these Harvest Moon games? It's getting pretty difficult, but the recently-announced Harvest Moon: Welcome to the Wind Bazaar should be memorable, thanks to the multiplayer elements ... but it's still Harvest Moon, and that means farming.

As with Animal Crossing, you can invite friends to visit your farm, but in Welcome to the Wind Bazaar, you can put them to work! You know someone's a good friend when they start taking care of your business.

As if they hadn't done enough, Marvelous has revealed another new Wii game: Discipline, a WiiWare "real-time simulation" game directed by Doshin the Giant and Tail of the Sun director Kazutoshi Iida.

We have very little information about this game, other than an intricate logo (it is a perfect ... logo!), a few cryptic screens, and a picture of a real-life version of the bizarre alien object seen in the game -- a disgusting-looking Wiimote surrogate. The game apparently involves escaping from a moving prison with the help of this device. It kind of looks like it gathers information about nearby objects? We'll find out more soon.

[Via NeoGAF]

EA has released a new trailer and screens for their Sim spinoff SimAnimals. Like the initial assets released during E3, this trailer, while putting on a happy-go-lucky face, illustrates a game almost exclusively about being a total jerk to animals.
"Oh, look, a happy little bear cub with his family," the interior monologue of the imaginary player seems to say, "Let's kidnap him! I wonder if bears eat squirrels? I wonder if this bear cub can swim!" The floating, gloved hand continues to disrupt the lives of once-peaceful forest residents like that while the narrator cheerily describes how much fun it is to interact with animals. This is horrifying.


[Via press release]

With all the fuss about Animal Crossing lately, we'd nearly forgotten about Rune Factory Frontier. That's not terribly surprising, considering that details on the franchise's Wii debut have been few and far between lately, and City Folk dominated the land-and folk-tending genre at E3. New screenshots have surfaced, however, and after ogling, we thought we'd ask you which you prefer: Animal Crossing or Rune Factory?