Tetris is currently available on the Wii in the form of Tetris Party, and sort of available on DS (if you don't mind eBay) as Tetris DS. Today, Majesco announced that it will add to the Tetris selection with the release of new Tetris games for Nintendo platforms in spring 2010. No specific details or media have been released, so we don't know about any theme or gameplay variations that may be included -- though we can be quite certain that it won't be based on classic Nintendo characters. Tetris Online, Inc. is working with Majesco, suggesting that these are downloadable releases.Between the release of Tetris on iPhone and announcement of a PSP mini Tetris game from EA, and these two upcoming releases from Majesco, it's suddenly a wonderful time to like Tetris. Which is just a different way of saying it's a wonderful time to be anyone on the planet Earth.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The ESRB has revealed that, in addition to the PSP spin-off, another handheld Assassin's Creed game is on the way -- a DS Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles follow-up called Assassin's Creed II: Discovery. Could this be one of the "elements concerning the Assassin's Creed license" to which Yves Guillemot referred?It sounds less like a direct sequel to the first Assassin's Creed DS game and more like a companion piece to the console Assassin's Creed II, a belief based only on the fact that the ESRB content description notes that it is "set during the Renaissance." The only other useful information in the content description is that it's a "side-scrolling action game," which could mean the same kind of mostly side-scrolling play found in Altair's Chronicles.We're not surprised that Ubisoft hasn't said or shown anything related to this game. The company was similarly reticent about the first DS Assassin's Creed game -- after announcing it in October 2007, we didn't see a single screenshot until January, a month before its release.[Via GoNintendo]Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Originally a mobile developer, 5TH Cell rose to prominence on the strength of its DS games Drawn to Life, Lock's Quest and current media obsession Scribblenauts. In an interview with GameSpot, creative director Jeremiah Slaczka said that the company is now looking to start making games for bigger boxes, following the release of Scribblenauts and Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter."This is our big last hurrah for DS games," Slaczka said. "That's it for original stuff. We're now going to move on to consoles in the next year. We might still do DS; I'm not saying we're not going to [develop DS games]. But our focus is definitely going to be on console." Slaczka did not offer any details of console projects.Slaczka also indicated that Scribblenauts could see more installments -- but not an outsourced Spongebob edition: "We're definitely keeping it in-house for a while," Slaczka told GameSpot. "I really like Scribblenauts and think there's a lot of potential there, so we'll see what happens."Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

According to Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian, as reported by IndustryGamers, sales of Madden NFL 10 have been "slightly below" EA's plan for the title. Based on Lazard's retail data, Sebastian says he believes the lower than expected sales are the result of fewer purchases by mainstream gamers. Specialty game retailers seem to be having no trouble selling Madden, which indicates that "core game fans appear to be somewhat more resilient than mainstream shoppers," according to Sebastian. Not to worry though, as Sebastian believes the recent PS3 price cut, along with an expected 360 price cut and the beginning of the back-to-school season "could provide a later lift" for the game. We hope so -- because we're really hoping for a sequel.Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments