FINALLY, after all the delays announced by Nintendo, Europe finally gets a release date for Star Fox Command!

Fret no more our Euro fellas, for you'll soon be flying with Fox McCloud as you try to outmaneuver an armada of enemy ships and engage in flight combat. Offering full support for the handheld's wireless feature, the touchscreen, and multiplayer modes, you can battle it out with your friends as you all try to prove which one of you is the best pilot/captain.

The wireless connectivity will allow you to play with up to four of your friends in multiplayer mode while the Wi-Fi connection will let you battle it out with up to three persons from across the globe. Form your own Star Fox team and join forces as you all fight the new threat to the Lylat System.

Star Fox Command is set to zip through European atmosphere on January 26, 2007 and will sell for an estimated retail price of £ 30.

Have you ever gone through something that really disappointed you? Like looking forward to Christmas morning because your parents told you that they would buy you that thing that you've been asking them for since forever; and then it turns out that what they got you instead was a sweater, and it was pink and two sizes too small? We're thinking that's how some people will feel when they read this post.

See, Nintendo of Europe has just confirmed that quite a few 2006 releases will indeed be delayed. Actionloop, which was originally slated for an October 27 release date, is supposedly going to be the first game to be released in 2007. Square-Enix's Mario Slam Basketball, meanwhile, was not confirmed to be delayed but it seems like we won't be seeing the game on store shelves before February 2007. Star Fox Command, formerly set for November 24, will also be delayed.

There's still no word on the new release dates for the aforementioned games, but this development has left DS owners with only a few games to look forward to this year.

GameFly reports on this week's top rental charts, covering the most requested games, both released and still yet to come, for the week ending September 8.

Continuing its surge from recent weeks, Xbox 360 titles maintain top positions throughout the platform chart, with Saints Row dominating as the most requested game across all platforms. LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy climbs one spot higher to finally fall second to Saints Row in the Xbox 360, while successfully beating all other titles for the original Xbox. Racing game Test Drive Unlimited meanwhile rallies close behind at number 3.

For the handhelds, Nintendo's own Star Fox: Command clings on to the top spot for the Nintendo DS, followed by Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Mario Hoops 3-on-3. The PSP charts gets dominated by Sony's tiny blobs of joy, Loco Roco with LEGO Star Wars II still battling it out at the second spot for this category. Shooting scores at number 3 is Def Jam: Fight for NY -The Takeover from Electronic Arts.

GameFly is an online video game rental subscription service in the US. What makes this game rental company unique is that they allow subscribers to buy selected pre-played games at a reduced price, should they decide to keep the game.

The appeal of this system is that it allows gamers to just "fish" for the games that would be right for them, thereby helping them make the decision as to which games to buy. We all know how heavy on the pockets original copies of these games can get. And the last thing we'd want to get is some lame game that we bought just because somebody else said it was good, only to find out later on for ourselves that it just doesn't suit our tastes.

Yup, if you aren't sure of what to buy, renting the games first would really be one of the safest options to go for.

Fox McCloud does it again in Star Fox Command for the Nintendo DS. This time though, he and his cute (but formidable) crew can be played online on multiplayer mode. It's the first time in a while that another game in the Star Fox series has been introduced, and this time, players can connect via LAN or Wi-Fi. A great offer? Yeah, especially for those who think that they won't play another Star Fox game unless there's something new about it.

Despite this new gameplay mode, Star Fox Command kind of goes awry at some points. Sure, there's far more character conflict than in the other Star Fox games, but according to tech writer Matt Slagle, it suffers from "a limited number of turns". Also, you can't possibly understand when the teeny characters talk back because the voices and words are too garbled - in short, the dubbing has been thrown out of the window.

In Star Fox Command, the controls are now far more crisp than the original. The special alterations in the character may or may not sound cool to you (such as Slippy's ship having no lock-on feature), but if you adore the old characters, don't mind a little gibberish, then Star Fox Command with its new online multiplayer mode won't let you down.

RawmeatCowboy of Go Nintendo recently had the chance to playtest the online component StarFox Command. There are two different modes of battle in WiFi play - Battle Royale and Free Battle. Battle Royal seems to be just a "Quick Play" option in which you're matched up with three other players around the world for a quick match.

The Free Battle has four different ways of playing. The first is "Friend Battle" where you can play with people on your friends list (Friend Codes). You can also play "Random Battles" which will allow you to play against players close to your skill level (Rivals). In both cases, you can choose how many players you want to play with (2 - 3 others). This is a vast improvement over Mario Kart DS so it looks like Nintendo is learning! Rawmeat did not mention the last two modes of play.

During gameplay, the bottom screen functions as your radar. The action happens on the top screen. To win the match, you must collect the stars that opponents drop after they die. You don't have to be the one who destroys the ship to collect the star, so other players can loot your kill. The one with the most stars once time runs out wins the match. Each match lasts three rounds so you'll be playing with the same opponents two more times.

Like Metroid Prime Hunters, the game features a ranking system. You'll start at a "Z" rank and I assume it goes up until you get to the "A" rank. You also have a win-loss record which obviously ties into the ranking system. It seems WiFi play is smooth with no lag even with lots of action on the screen. Nobody got disconnected from the battles either, which is good to hear! Last time I played with Nintendo of America and Nintendo Power employees in Mario Kart DS, it took me over an hour to even connect to them! It looks like Nintendo has really improved its service!

Dig Dug is expected to be digging and striking its way to the market on the 25th of this month. Fortunately for gamers in Europe, that's not all they'll be getting in the next few months - a release date list is recently being circulated.

After the release on August 25, the next one is slated on September 1 with Star Fox Command, while few more others come after two weeks. See the list below for a complete account of NDS titles. And oh, don't forget to check on the back links for related articles.

August
    25th Dig Dug Digging Strike

September
    1st Star Fox Command
    22nd FIFA 07
    22nd Guilty Gear Dust Strikers
    25th Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 March of the Minis
    29th 42 All-time Classics    
    29th Age of Empires: The Age of Kings

October
    6th Nintendo DS Browser
    13th Crazy Frog Racer
    13th English Training: Have Fun Improving Your Skills
    20th The Sims 2: Pets
    27th Actionloop
    27th Sudoku Master

Q-Games' Star Fox Command for the DS marks the franchise's first game on a portable system and is set to be released on August 28 2006 in North America.

In comparison to the standard Star Fox games, in which all gameplay is in "All Range Mode", Star Fox Command's gameplay is entirely stylus-driven and there is an extra tactical layer present in the missions. The game is import-friendly since only a degree of Katakana reading is required for menu navigation and the interface is very easy to learn.

This video is a commercial in the US. It runs only in 00:15 seconds but it shows the grid map of the play area. The players get to steer the ship by moving the stylus around, whereas erratic movements of the stylus will execute barrel rolls and such.

The game also allows multiplayer options (up to 8 players) so that means players can blow their friends out of the sky as they dogfight over a local wireless connection or take on up to four players from around the world on Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

For all you dogfight fanatics out there, here's a preview video for the DS title Star Fox Command, the latest in Nintendo's Star Fox franchise. It's a pretty nifty vid from GameTrailers, giving fans a little Star Fox retrospective as well as a taste of what the newest installment has to offer.

Those who were disappointed with the new direction the series took after the venerable Star Fox for the N64 will welcome the fact that Star Fox Command brings the series back to its roots. All you get from Star Fox Command is straight-up dogfighting action as you pilot your Arwing and command your forces while trying to keep your enemies from reaching the Grey Fox. This title will hit US shores on August 28.

Download: [Star Fox Command Preview Video]

Looks like Fox McCloud still has quite a solid following as 20,000 units of Star Fox Command for the DS was sold on its first day of release. It's an impressive showing for the smaller Nintendo franchise and DS owners might just catapult the latest Star Fox game on top of the game charts. The nostalgia factor still plays a big part in the success of the latest installment of the Star Fox series.

Another factor that's been driving up the sales is the first batch of high review ratings from Famitsu and GameBrink. With game critics loving the game, we'd expect the same strong showing of Star Fox Command when it reaches the American shores on August 28.

Star Fox Command's story takes place after the events of Star Fox Assault. The Star Fox team is re-assembled to fight the new threat to the Lylat System. The game features more than 30 missions, multiplayer co-op and competitive game modes - the perfect recipe for a truly engaging handheld game.

Star Fox Command has already launched in Japan and in August 28, it would grace U.S. store shelves. We mentioned earlier that the game got a very decent rating of 32/40 from the Japanese Famitsu, and now another review has been done by GameBrink. What score did they give? In their review, Star Fox Command got a grade of 82/100. The grading system says that the 80-89 grade range "represents wonderful games that have a few nagging details that set them back from greatness. You'll most likely enjoy them if the bad parts are bearable".

According to the review, the game stuck closely to the original Star Fox game on the SNES:

Players are allowed to make decisions during the story allowing them to play through different routes and levels. They only have one choice during their first play through single player mode as the other two are locked. Once the game has been finished once, you obtain a key that allows you to unlock the other choices giving the single player mode some replayability with over nine different endings to unlock and view again in the gallery section.

The review also tackled about the Star Fox Crew's enemies. They said that the enemies offer a fair amount of challenge as they will "nearly always try to attack you from behind, forcing you to make good use of your piloting skills". What makes it harder are the moving and stationary predators scattered around the battlefield, forcing you to dodge or make use of your barrel rolls. But when the review talked about the bosses, the reviewer said that the bosses are big but they seem to be easy to defeat -- "A bomb or two and a couple of laser shots finish them in no time."

The pros of the game are good 3D visuals, plenty of enemy variety and different environments; fast paced shooting action, timer keeps you killing fast; non-linear story with different routes, levels and endings; stages can be selectively replayed to beat score records; and stylus only control system works well for accuracy and speed. The pros outnumbered the cons which include single player not taking long to finish if you don't decide to replay the different routes; and enemies can be very easy to beat including the bosses.

To read the full review, click on the 'Read' link.