Majesco Entertainment and Eidos Interactive have started a partnership to distribute Majesco titles across Europe and Australia. This partnership focuses on Nintendo DS and Wii titles such as Cake Mania, MechAssault: The Phantom War, Nancy Drew: The Deadly Secret of Old World Park, and The New York Times Crosswords. The deal also encompasses unannounced Nintendo Wii video games that Majesco is currently developing.

Ian Livingstone, the Product Acquisition Director of Eidos, spoke on this new partnership saying, "There is an obvious synergy between Eidos’ focus on the casual games market and Majesco’s expertise in this field." He added that, "This is just the start of an exciting relationship with Majesco and furthers our commitment to casual games."

From the side of Majesco Entertainment International, Managing Director Jason Dutton, has also stated how this partnership is beneficial to both parties involved.

This partnership with Eidos provides us with a focus that our mass market games will really benefit from, and is a natural progression in our company’s evolution. It’s also a fantastic opportunity to work with some of the best professionals in the industry while benefiting from a proven international distribution network.

This is not a short-term deal that both companies entered. Eidos has already committed to distributing 8 video games this summer with 15 more to follow suit. If this partnership works out, then European and Australian gamers should be happy for the greater selection of games that will be made available to them.

Mech Assault: Phantom War for the DS features a spanking new storyline and has all the perks of a console game. There are full-rendered cutscenes for point in the storyline, a good voice-over for radio communication, a variety of mechanized war vehicles for missions and campaigns, and multiplayer experience with various modes, not just deathmatch.

Gameplay: Fun with a good amount of challenge. Players can jump in and out of mechs easily but there are very few missions requiring this for you to finish them. Touchscreen mini-games can be a bit deceiving as they're not as easy as they look, especially when you get to later missions. Campaigns can be both easy and difficult, some require nothing but getting to a location unscathed, while some require you to protect a location against armies of tanks and mechs.

Graphics: As much as Backbone may have tried to bring the game's Xbox graphics to the DS, the visuals still have lower-resolution textures and simplistic mountainous terrain. They may have given the game a whole new storyline, but the graphics would've needed a little more tweaking. However, the game does attempt to make it up to gamers by a few kicks here and there such as buildings toppling with a KABOOM! when severely damaged and little humans cavorting around to get underfoot of your giant mech.The 3D environments are also far from impressive as compared to other DS games. Things are okay when the bare minimum's on the screen, but explosions and multiple mechs clutter up the view and you'll get slowdown and tearing.

Read the rest of it after the jump!

Majesco Games' Battletech-based third-person shooter MechAssault: Phantom War can now be pre-ordered through superufo.com (which also gave the box art for the game - check stage right). The pegged price is US$30.74, and will be shipped to the buyer when the game hits stockrooms and store shelves starting September 16 (with the usual "Please allow (a certain amount of time) for delivery." Oh, the burden of snail mail).

MechAssault returns to the Inner Sphere plunged into a new crisis. Something has knocked out the Hyperpulse Generators (HPGs), the instruments of long-range communications between worlds, and has plunged them into chaos and conflict. MechAssault: Phantom War is the first handheld appearance of the game series, having appeared before on the PC and Xbox, and true to its DS platform, features wireless 4-player multiplayer combat.

Game releases for this week is said to be one of the biggest ever for the United States, with a whopping 46 new titles for various consoles. NDS players will have a lot to choose from this week, whether it be from popular franchises such as Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Mega Man ZX, to the more original and new Cooking Mama and Harvest Moon.

Available for all platforms this week is LEGO Star Wars II, one of the most anticipated games since its prequel. LEGO Star Wars II will feature similar gameplay to that of its prequel, and of course, will allow gamers to mix and match the heads and bodies of  their beloved Star Wars characters. Below is the complete list of DS games to be released this week:

- Cooking Mama
- Harvest Moon DS
- LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
- Mario Hoops 3-On-3
- MechAssault: Phantom War
- Mega Man ZX

MechAssault: Phantom War for the Nintendo DS is coming out on August 29! That's only a few weeks from now!

But is it worth checking out? Well, we know that fans want their science fiction and fantasy games to have good stories (and be lots of fun), and the makers of MA:PW spent a lot of time making sure they got the BattleMech details down right (if you don't believe us, you can check out the screenshots and the trailer).

First, let's look at the messy universe where you take out your BattleMech and go Kaboom!Zap!Destroy! all over the place.

The story is set in the year 3134. Planets use HPGs (Hyperpulse Generators) to communicate across the vast distances of space. Then the HPGs mysteriously stop working. What happens when planets can no longer communicate with each other? A big mess, that's what. Chaos. (Turn on the scary dramatic music.) A Dark Age. (Make the dramatic music louder.) The Phantom War. (Dah dah dum!)

The game designers spent a lot of time reseaching the "MechWarrior: Dark Age" era, so you can expect this game to have lots of impact and depth. Also, a lot of teams worked together to make this an epic game. Backbone Entertainment developed MA:PW, but they worked with people from Microsoft (the company for the BattleTech electronic games) and WizKids (the company for the tabletop games and printed BattleTech works). They also worked with Day 1 Studios (the developers of MechAssault 2). They did all these to make sure that the art, the plot, the characters, the mechs, the planets, and everything else work together in the game as one huge playground for you to enjoy the Phantom War.

Oh. One last thing. If you're left-handed there's a feature for you to swap the controls so you can set up the buttons and stylus for left-handed play.

Ok. That wasn't the last thing. Just had to say that many of our faithful readers here at QJ are pretty young, so maybe you don't know that mech robots have been around since the early 1980's. This is a huge science fiction universe that has sold millions of video games, tabletop games, books, figures, and collectibles (I like their stickers).

MechAssault: Phantom War, the first handheld installment of the series, features popular franchise elements modified for the Nintendo DS touch screen. In this science fiction third person shooter, players assume the role of a MechWarrior trained to control the BattleMech - the ultimate war machine of the 32nd century.

MechAssault: Phantom War also features over 20 other combat vehicles all designed to wreak havoc on the enemy and environment with an arsenal of powerful, upgradeable weapons. You read the hype now watch the trailer (link below) and see if Majesco delivers.

MechAssault: Phantom War, by Majesco is the next game in the MechAssault series and it's coming to the Nintendo DS. Players assume the role of a MechWarrior, an elite fighter trained to control the ultimate war machine of the 32nd century, the BattleMech. Gamers experience fast-action, 3D Mech combat on the top screen, while the lower touch screen positions them inside the cockpit at the controls. In the game you will be able to master 24 single player campaigns across four planets and three exciting multiplayer game types. The game should be out sometime in the third quarter of this year. Go ahead and check out some of the thumbnails to see the screenshots in full cockpit view.

   
  

Majesco given out a press release outlining what games they will be showcasing next week at E3. One of the additions is a game we thought we'd never see outside of Japan, Cooking Mama. Keep reading for the games.

Guilty Gear Judgement (PSP)
Guilty Gear Judgement will be a two-in-one game. The UMD will contain both Guilty Gear X2 #Reload and a new side-scrolling adventure game. The Guilty Gear series is well known as one of the deepest fighting series' on the market.

MechAssault: Phantom War (DS)
Based on the best-selling game for the Xbox, MechAssault: Phantom War will let you use over 20 vehicles with fully upgradeable weapons. The game is a third person shooter in a sci-fi setting.

Monster Bomber (DS)
In Monster Bomber DS you will use the touchscreen to fling coloured balls upwards to bomb monsters. If the monsters reach you, you lose.

Cooking Mama (DS)
Cooking Mama is a quirky Japanese title in which you... cook. There are over 76 recipes to make in the game by using your stylus to chop, slice, dice, etc. You can even exchange recipes with other people by linking up with them. Could this be the next Trauma Center?

Majesco Entertainment Company today announced MechAssault: Phantom War for the Nintendo DS will ship to stores later this year. The first handheld installment of the critically acclaimed series, MechAssault: Phantom War features popular franchise elements while utilizing the Nintendo DS touch screen to deliver a new level of control and maneuverability.

"MechAssault: Phantom War fuses the best game play elements from the series with new features that take advantage of the unique mechanics of the Nintendo DS," said Ken Gold, vice president of Marketing for Majesco Entertainment. "The touch screen lets players intuitively 'touch' the cockpit controls to hack into giant 'Mechs, eject pilots, switch weapons and check battle techniques."

Developed by Backbone Entertainment,a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment, MechAssault: Phantom War brings the future of interstellar combat to today's handheld gamers in a third-person futuristic shooter. Players assume the role of a MechWarrior, an elite fighter trained to control the ultimate war machine of the 32nd century...the BattleMech. Gamers experience fast-action, 3D 'Mech combat on the top screen, while the lower touch screen positions them inside the cockpit
at the controls.

Exciting MechAssault: Phantom War features include:

• Commandeer over 20 types of vehicles, including 'Mechs, Tanks, Turret and BattleArmor;
• Wreak havoc on the enemy and environment with an arsenal of powerful, fully upgradeable weapons;
• Brand new story drawn from the popular BattleTech series which spawned highly successful games like MechWarrior & MechCommander for the PC and MechAssault & Crimson Skies for the Xbox® video game system.
• Use the touch screen to sneak into enemy territory, hijack enemy 'Mechs and wield the most secret weapon in the Inner Sphere;
• Wireless multiplayer combat for up to four players simultaneously;
• Master 24 single player campaigns across four planets and three exciting multiplayer game types;
• Unlockable 'Mechs, maps and cheats enhance gameplay.