Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was the first Metroid Prime to use the motion control in the Nintendo Wii Remote. The game did fairly well and Nintendo has decided to bring motion control to the entire Metroid franchise.

Nintendo is releasing all three Metroid games on one disc. The compilation of Metroid games will be titled Metroid Prime Trilogy. Metroid 1 and 2 will be redone so players can use the motion control of the Wii Remote to control the action.

“Metroid Prime Trilogy puts the best first-person adventures all in one place, with a host of new additions that make these three timeless titles more engaging than ever,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “A great deal of care and detail has gone into Metroid Prime Trilogy, providing longtime fans with new ways to experience the games they love.”

Metroid Prime Trilogy will sell for $49.99 on August 8th and is probably a good deal for Metroid fans. The disc contains all three games with a menu to easily choose the game you would like to play. Can’t really go wrong with three games on one disc.

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Happier Than You is an interesting puzzle game. The game is different from any other puzzle game I have played. The goal of the game is to make the faces happy. The game starts out fairly easy, but the difficulty can be changed by the user. Players can add more faces, more invention pieces or envy. All items make the game more challenging.

There are three faces in the beginning of the game and each face wants a specific invention. The inventions are made of three different types of circles. The circles are orange, green and blue. The faces want specific combinations of circles. Each time the player makes a match they gain happiness points. The goal is to get each face up to the allotted happiness points.

Happier Than You allows players to set the difficulty of the game and besides adding more faces, players can turn on Envy. Players can turn on envy for every face making the game that much harder. When one face envies another they want to get more points than that face. A small colored circle below the face lets the player know which face is envied. In other words, players have a red, green and blue face. A little circle below the red face is colored blue. This means the red face envies the blue face and if the blue face gets more happiness points than the red face, the red face will become envious and points will be deducted. Envy adds a whole new dimension to the game.

Balancing the happiness points and envy sounds like a hard enough task, but it doesn’t end there. Players have to balance money too. Players can have negative money, but get bonus points if they manage to make more money in a round than they spend. Players start the game with only so many circles and need to purchase more as the game progresses. The price of the circles is governed by supply and demand. The more faces that want that type of circle the higher the circle will cost. Players can sell circles for money too. The goal is to buy low and sell high, but it is not always easy to do that. The money system adds a new puzzle to balance, but at least players can have negative money without any penalty.

At the end of each round, players are given points. The points are given for things such as making more money than you spent, finishing the round with bonus time still left on the clock and many other things. Players want to gain as many points as possible because points move you to the next level. At the end of the points screen, players are told how many points they need to reach the next level.

Over all, Happier Than You is a unique and challenging puzzle game. It took a few rounds to get use to the game play and trying to balance all the different aspects of the game. Once I got the hang of it, the game became fun and had an addicting nature to it. I kept playing another round trying to make more money and keep more time on the clock. Basically, always trying to get better than I was last round. If you are looking for a different, but fun, puzzle game, check out Happier Than You.

Kyobi is an interesting match three/puzzle game written with Shockwave. The goal of the game is to match three of the same colored block. The blocks will break and clear away when matched. The difference between this game and other match three games is players are able to throw the pieces around the screen to match them. Throw a colored block into two or more of the same colored block and the matches will break away.

Breaking away matches keeps the pile from getting to the top of the screen. If the blocks manage to pile up and reach the top of the screen, the game is over. Players click on a block and hold the mouse button down and then fling the block across the screen using the mouse action and letting the mouse button go. It is a neat concept for a game and at first it takes a little getting use to.

The first time through the game I only made it to level two because I was getting use to the game play mechanisms. Once you are familiar with the game play machanics the game becomes a fun toss and match game. Any of the blocks can be tossed around the screen or tossed off of a big pile, which will cause the pile to shrink and not reach the top of the screen.

Over all Kyobi is a fun and different type of match three game. It is nice to see new innovative types of match three games. If you are into match three/puzzle games, head over to Shockwave and check out Kyobi.

Righteous Kill 2: Revenge of the Poet Killer leads players through New York City in a hunt for a copy cat killer. Players have to hunt down clues and collect evidence in this hidden object game. The evidence is then examined in forensic mini-games to put it all together. Players have to determine who they can trust and who they can’t because as the evidence unfolds even people on the police force become suspects. Players have to determine who the new Poet Killer is before he strikes again and takes another life.

The race is on. Can you find the copy cat killer before he strikes again?

eGames, Inc has announced the release of Blood Ties on retail shelves. The game has done well on casual game portals and is now moving into the retail stores. Blood Ties is based the Lifetime series of the same name.

Players have to help the main character Vicki Nelson and her partner track down missing members of the Hellfire Club. Vicki’s partner is a vampire, wich is not your average partner. Players search for clues among seedy locals and the dark locations around Toranto. The game is a hidden object game and has sold nearly 100,000 units in 2008 and is aiming to sell more now that the game is on the retail shelves.

If you like hidden object games, especially ones with vampires, check out Blood Ties at your local retail store.

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