For those of you looking forward to the next chapter in the ongoing UFO strategy series, you better find something to hold you over for a few more weeks. Tri Synergy has announced that the next game in the X-Com inspired series series, UFO: Extraterrestrials, has been pushed out from its previous release date of February 23 until March 16.

For those not in the know, UFO: Extraterrestrials is a turn-based sci-fi strategy game set in 2025 on the newly colonized planet Esperanza, where mankind’s foray into outer space has a meeting with hostile alien life. In defense of their fledgling outer space outpost, the player is summoned by the Esperanza government to face this threat from deep space. The player will have at their disposal squads of soldiers, light and heavy support combat vehicles, robots and air units located in bases throughout the Esperanza. In addition, UFO: Extraterrestrials combines global strategy with small, squad-based tactical combat against an alien invasion.

Hudson confirmed that will bring the uber-colorful Turbografx-16 puzzler Chew Man Fu to the Wii Virtual Console within the next month, with a mobile phone version also set to be released at or around the same time as well. Hudson notes that the Wii version of the game will be playable alone, or with a friend in a special “2-player kickball mode.”

In Chew Man Fu, players roll four magic spheres onto tiles that match the each sphere’s respective color, while avoiding enemies, in order to complete each level. Each sphere has unique properties to discover, which add another element of puzzle solving to the game; for example, one ball is better at breaking walls than the others. It is up to the player to free the Egg Roll Kingdom from the curse of the evil wizard, Chew Man Fu.

Are we scraping the bottom of the Turbografx-16 library already? Surely not!

While the Wii and Nintendo DS are still the highlights of many games’ living rooms and pockets on the go, some may have wondered what Nintendo has in store for players in the months ahead. Today, Nintendo of Japan, care of Japanese website Degenki Online, have announced a bevy of games heading to Japan this year for both platforms.

While most of these were already known, there are a few standouts, including Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Tamashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 , a four player rhythm action follow up to what domestic players experienced in Elite Beat Agents. According to IGN, the first part of the Japanese title translates to “Burn! Hot Blooded Rhythm Soul!” Exciting!

Other notable entries for 2007 include Chibi Robo! Park Patrol for the DS, which we saw late last year in video form at Nintendo headquarters much to our collective joy, as well as numerous previously announced Wii releases such as Mario Strikers Charged and Battalion Wars 2, each slated with the rather ambiguous release window of “2007”.

The full list of titles announced today are as follows (thanks to [url=http://www.1up.com/]1UP[/url] for the translation):

[u][b]Nintendo DS[/b][/u]

# Yoshi’s Island DS (March 8, 1P)
# Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 (April 12, 1P)
# Worldwide Club House Games (April 19, 1-8P)
# Panel De Pon DS [Tetris Attack] (April 26, 1-4P)
# Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 (2007, 1-4P)
# Archaic Sealed Heat (2007, TBA)
# More English Training (TBA, TBA)
# The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (TBA, TBA)
# Chibi Robo! Park Patrol (TBA, 1P)
# Wander Donkey DS (TBA, 1-4P)

[u][b]Nintendo Wii[/b][/u]

# Fire Emblem: Goddess of Dawn (February 22)
# Eyeshield 21 (March 8)
# Super Paper Mario (April 19)
# Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007)
# Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
# Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2007)
# Mario Strikers Charged (2007)
# Totsugeki Famicom Wars W [Battallion Wars 2] (2007)
# Disaster: Day of Crisis (2007)
# Wii Health Pack (2007)
# Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (2007)
# Mario Party 8 (2007)
# Project H.A.M.M.E.R. (2007)
# Wii Music (2007)
# Forever Blue (2007)
# Animal Crossing (TBA)
# Kirby (TBA)

I have spent a fair amount of time with the retail release of Crackdown and I wanted to touch on a few things and hopefully not steal the thunder of our full review. Let me start out by saying that by and large I am not a fan of these types of games. The sandbox style made famous by GTA3 never fit my style for some reason.

Maybe it was a moral issue or something else, but I never gave GTA3 a chance. I think a little bit of it was I didn’t like the negativity associated with causing mayhem all over a town. At any rate, Crackdown is a very close take on the GTA3 style of game with a few inclusions that have thus far made it worth my time. I have to applaud the inclusion of RPG style elements that “level” up your character, that I am aware did appear in later GTA games, as they really gave me something to strive for. After all, I am a huge sucker for leveling up and collecting things, both of which appear in Crackdown.

I have no idea how our reviewer will rate Crackdown, but I can tell you at this point in time it’s my “it” game. Is it a killer app that will move 360s? Maybe. It does fall into that area that GTA3 did where it could appeal broadly across lots of gamer types and just might boost sales. At any rate, I’m loving Crackdown. We should have a full review from one of our new writers very soon. Until then, I’ll see you agents online.

P.S. Don’t forget to snag the new 4 pack of agent skins, I identified with them much more than the initial skins.