'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.

Okay, we were cool with our new big brother-in-arms -- after all, we had some sweet connectivity to look forward to, and it just gave us more excuses to crow about Nintendo taking over the world with devices what print crisp new bills. But today's announcement ruins everything. We hate you, Mr. Johnny-Come-Lately Wii, because you stole our Trauma Center.

Listen, we think it's keen and all that Trauma Center: New Blood is going to do what the first Wii port didn't -- that is, feature actual character voices and video. Y'know, the sort of things one expects from a console game. The text adventure style of the DS game suited the DS just fine, but once the game made the jump to the Wii, we expected a lot of things we didn't get. We also think the Iron Surgeon new coop play mode is pretty keen. But why can't we have a little piece of the action on our handheld? Are we supposed to be satisfied with Lifesigns? We're certainly pleased about the localization of another medical-themed game, but we want our Trauma Center! We require gut-wrenchingly difficult gameplay and the satisfaction of touching during surgery.

We know it's a bit rich to complain about Atlus, considering the flood of announcements today. But really, why have they taken away our surgery game? We're so sad. You've cut out our hearts, Atlus ... and the healing touch of other new games just isn't enough.

Quirky game champion, Atlus USA, today announced several new games to be shown during the E3 media summit. Featuring medical professionals, touchy-feely detectives and gyrating combatants (sadly not in the same game), the lineup focuses primarily on the Nintendo DS.

Draglade (Nintendo DS)

It's a beat 'em up, you see, where "it's not just about how hard you hit or fast you move, it's also how well you can groove." Released in Japan earlier this year, Draglade features clashing combatants equipped with "glades," weapons that emit distinct sounds when struck against something -- preferably your opponent's head. With the sounds of battle forming a symphony of destruction, we're half expecting a playable Pied Piper character.

Given Atlus' sales success with Trauma Center: Second Opinion, timing the remake to release with the Wii's launch, it's no surprise that the small publisher has readied a true sequel for the surgery sim. Trauma Center: New Blood introduces two young surgeons, Markus Vaughn and Valerie Blaylock, along with several exciting features: a cooperative mode, online leaderboards, and a 16:9 widescreen mode. Throw on your scrubs and hit the gallery up for New Blood's first screenshots.


[Via NeoGAF]

We've had enough time now with the Wii to discover some real gems (how many hours have you put into just Wii Sports so far?) ... but like any system, there are also a few duds, particularly within the launch window. If you're looking to expand your collection, or if you're one of the Wii-less trying to figure out how to budget when your day comes, we're here to help you find the best and the worst of the Wii so far.

A study at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York found doctors who had played video games at least three hours per week made "37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills."

Following a study we reported on today that games don't actually lead to violent behavior, can we say games will help make better doctors? "Parents should not see this study as beneficial if their child is playing video games for over an hour a day," said Douglas Gentile, one of the authors of the study. "Spending that much time playing video games is not going to help their child's chances of getting into medical school." Gentile was also part of a survey in 2004 that found adolescents who play video games for an average of nine hours a week had a 94 percent chance of being aggressive, getting bad grades and generally being sloth like.

The prognosis here is that playing at least three hours a week makes you a surgeon, but around nine hours you'll end up becoming a blight to humanity. So, get your kids some Trauma Center, let them play it one hour every day during the week and call us in 20 years.

The rumor floating around this week is that the infrared Wiimote interferes with pacemakers. While nothing has been confirmed or denied by Nintendo, it makes for some interesting conversation.

Some signs were spotted at the Nintendo World event in Japan warning older players but there is still no word if the rumors are real. If the grandparents, great-grandparents or anyone esle in the family with a pacemaker wants to get in on the games, family members beware. You could end up with a real life Trauma Center on your hands. No one wants that!

[Via 1P Start]

For those of you who just can't wait until Sunday to get your hands on something Wii-branded, some North American Gamestop stores are already selling select Wii games that were shipped to stores on Tuesday. Our local store was selling Super Moneky Ball: Banana Blitz, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Call of Duty 3, and GT Pro Series (other titles were in stock but explicitly embargoed until launch day). Of course, supplies and availability may vary at your local store, so call ahead first if you're planning on jumping the gun.

While you obviously won't be able to actually play the games until you have your hands on the system this weekend, you can stand them up next to your Wii accessories from Target and stare at them lovingly as you count down the seconds.

Wii was recently put to the test by the BBC's Rebecca Morelle, a self-proclaimed "videogame-phobe." Looks alone were winning Morelle over until she was handed a controller and clumsily gyrated herself into embarrassment playing WarioWare. A few rounds of Wii Sports didn't help -- the awkwardness only grew. After Trauma Center and Excite Truck the playtest had improved to just "so far, so OK." Enter: Twilight Princess.

To Nintendo's surprise, it wasn't the disjointed inanity of WarioWare or the "swing away" nature of Wii Sports -- as Morelle notes, some just lack sporting ability -- that would win over the uninitiated. Instead, Morelle reveals that narrative lifted her veil of skepticism; a sense that her movements and the characters on screen were combining to create a coherent story.

Nintendo should not underestimate the power of its key franchises to command emotional attachments (like, go easies on the party games, 'kay?). Marked by intuitive control, Wii might be (so-called) videogame-phobes' best shot at understanding these narratives that we hold so close to our hearts.

[Thanks, Aisling]

We've shown you a few of the major pieces ... Twilight Princess and Red Steel, for instance ... but through the dark voodoo powers they wield so willingly, IGN Wii has compiled a collection of no less than eighteen official boxarts for various launch titles. It's certainly a colorful collage, though the sight serves to remind one that there are perhaps one too many children's games on launch day. Oh well. Twilight Princess has the cojones to offset a hundred Barnyards, and you know it.

What are your opinions on boxart? In a perfect world, all consumers would educate themselves with interviews, previews, and various review scores; alas, a large majority of the world still judges by the cover. Can the elegant white stripe lure in the uninformed soccer moms? C'mon, o' bearer of the young. Your kids need this thing.

Nintendo of Japan's website offers a list of those purported sixteen launch titles...and they're not all necessarily what you would have expected. Take a look!

• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Wii Sports (including boxing and bowling to round out tennis, golf, and baseball)
  
• WarioWare
• Wii Play
  
• Red Steel
• SD Gundam Revolution
• Tamagotchi
• Ennichi no Tastsujin (a drum game, along the lines of Taiko Drum Master)
• Trauma Center: Second Opinion
• Elebits
• Necro-nesia
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
• Super Swing Golf Pangya
• Wing Island (demoed at E3 2006, the "plane game")
  
• Kororinpa (a Marble Madness-type game of some sort)
• Machariku Domino (a domino game)

Interesting! It's good to see a rhythm/music game so early, and we'll post details on some of the more mysterious entries as we receive information.

It's the first time the U.K.'s gaming awards have been in their own spotlight (instead of relaxing in the shadow of the film and television awards), and the Nintendo DS has snared some of the attention. We would expect nothing less.

Electroplankton and Brain Age both picked up nominations in multiple categories, and they'll be butting heads (brains?) when it comes to which game is Britain's choice for the most innovative of the year. Trauma Center got a nod as well in the simulation category. We're not sure the other nominees are even worth mentioning next to that one. Too bad there isn't a category for games that make you sweat, 'cause they're just that damned hard at times. Trauma Center has always made us idly wish for a third hand, but we love it like ice cream. Can't say we agree with everything they're doing across the pond, though -- they've got New Super Mario Bros. tagged as a children's game. Oh well. I guess we should all put it down and step away slowly.

The winners will be announced on October 5. Check back for confetti and poppers when the DS snags some awards.

GameFront has a really lush set of scans on Trauma Center: Second Opinion that offer a look at the controls for the Wii. Now if only we could get someone to translate the text! Oh well, the pretty-pretty pictures are enough for a lazy Tuesday afternoon.

Look closely, too, for an inset that appears to compare the DS original with the expanded "Wiimake" that will launch with the new console.

Is it just us, or could this be one of the best games to introduce a world of irregular gamers to the Wii? Considering the popularity of medical-themed shows, we're thinking the only better possibility could be CSI: Wii. Wait, not better ... make that other.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife was an excellent game, one of the those precious few on the Nintendo DS that could not be played with a standard console interface; it was also hard as Chuck Norris' abs. Regardless, the upcoming launch title Trauma Center: Second Opinion has garnered quite a bit of hype, and the latest issue of Famitsu has some details.

Unfortunately, Second Opinion will primarily be a retelling of the original DS title. The game does add a few extra missions (broken bones and heart transplants were mentioned) and several new characters, but Atlas is hoping that the Wiimote will offer up an experience fresh enough to warrant a repurchase from surgery vets. Three difficulty settings are now available (thank insert-your-deity-of-choice-here), and the game will be fully voice-acted. Please, Atlus, get a decent crew for the voice work.

Is this a cop-out, a scam, a ripoff? Is a fresh coat of paint enough to convince you to relive X6: Paraskevi? Will Derek ever hook up with Angie? Tune in at launch...and we might find out.

Addictive cut-and-preserve hospital sim news now, with Atlus announcing that they'll be sending out enormous crates filled with copies of Trauma Center: Under the Knife to stores everywhere at the end of July. This should come as most excellent news to those who have experienced difficulty in getting their gloved hands on one of the best DS titles available, as well as to those who simply enjoy slashing a stranger's spleen into tiny, unrecognizable pieces.

Jim Ireton, the VP of Sales and Marketing for Atlus USA, notes that the "continued demand for Trauma Center: Under the Knife is both gratifying and overwhelming. We apologize to Nintendo fans who've had a tough time finding the game, and we hope this scratches their surgical itch until we ship Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Wii later this year." Apology accepted, Mr. Ireton.

Rejected titles for this post:

• "Trauma Center stock receives transfusion"
• "Atlus bypasses Trauma Center shortage"
• "Anemic Trauma Center supply cured"
• "More copies of Trauma Center discharged"
• "Trauma Center is a really good game"

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]