Is Faith leaping off to other platforms specifically to the Wii, DS and PSP? We've heard of the game getting a sequel, but not this. Unseen64 is reporting that Electronic Arts has commissioned Backbone Entertainment to create a demo of Mirror's Edge (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) for the aforementioned platforms. They even have a screenshot of the alleged Wii demo. Check it out at the full article.

Curious to know how Backbone Entertainment's upcoming Monster Lab looks like in action? Well, we were able to grab a fresh new video that shows off the things that can be expected from the game like the challenges and fights. Catch the video after the jump!

Amaze Entertainment, famous for their works with handheld games like Eragon PSP, The Sims, Pirates of the Carribean 2: Dead Man's Chest, and Shrek III has just announced that they're merging with the even bigger Foundation 9 Entertainment company.

The merger was signed by Francisco Partners, F9E's owners, and is seen to make F9E now one of the largest game developers worldwide - this even after F9e's recent acquisition of Shiny Entertainment Studios.

Before their merger, Amaze had these studios under its command: KnowWonder, Griptonite, Monsoon and Fizz Factor.

F9E's roster included this list: The Collective, Backbone Entertainment, Pipeworks, ImaginEngine, Digital Eclipse, and Shiny Entertainment. The new company merger will then have a total of 11 studios under its belt, with roughly 725 employees spread out among them. Considering the track records between these two developers, and the kind of games they're churning out, we look forward to further news on how this merger will affect their future plans.

  

So, what's your costume this Halloween going to be? Personally, I'd like to dress up as Loco Roco, but I don't think I'd be able to pull it off due to my skeletal body structure. Lo and behold, here's something that will suit me fine (and for others who are also bone-thin like me)! What better way to spend your Halloween than as Death Jr. himself?

Backbone Entertainment just released a costume line based on their Death Jr. franchise. You can choose between Death Jr., Grim Reaper, Pandora, and Smith and Weston masks. These are available at buycostumes.com and smiffys.com, and go for around US$29.99 to 36.99 depending on whose face you want to slap onto yours.

So. Whether you want to trick or treat yourself to these costumes, you also might want to check out the second installment in the series. Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil is rising out of its coffin for the PSP and NDS right in time for Halloween.

Atari's Shiny Entertainment Studio has recently been acquired by Foundation 9 Entertainment, the largest independent game developer in North America.

Shiny Entertainment is best known for its work Earthworm Jim which will remain an Atari property unlike the two games that were based on the hit blockbuster, "The Matrix." They join the incredible F9E studios family which includes The Collective, Backbone Entertainment, Pipeworks, ImaginEngine, and Digital Eclipse. The team will co-locate with The Collective in 2007.

"Shiny Entertainment fits well with the current studios of Foundation 9 Entertainment and aligns with our long-term goals for the future. The studio has tremendous talent and experience working with big Hollywood franchises and will be working with us on a major, as-yet-undisclosed day and date release. The Shiny team will only add to our capabilities and technology base." said Jon Goldman, Chairman and CEO.

The company is currently at work on more than 20 titles including two new editions of its original property, Death, Jr., to be published by Konami; Dirty Harry to be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment; and, Sonic Rivals to be published by Sega. The company’s Backbone studio recently shipped MechAssault: Phantom War for the Nintendo DS, published by Majesco Entertainment.

Backbone Entertainment Vancouver was recently awarded at the Canadian Awards for Electronic and Entertainment Arts for the company's work on Age of Empires: The Age of Kings for the Nintendo DS. The game won Best Game Design of the Year.

As if that isn't enough, the game also picked up a nomination from the BAFTA game awards for best strategy game.

If you do a quick search on the game, you'll see that Age of Empires: Age of Kings got a lot of love from game-reviewers. It's well deserved since the turn-based game delivered hours and hours of deep and involving strategic fun. Five campaigns, unique technologies, dozens of unit types that are both useful and not that redundant, good music, decent presentation, what more could you want?

Well yeah, the game isn't that popular, but design-wise, it's a winner. Congratulations, Backbone. You guys deserve it.

Buy: [Age of Empires: Age of Kings]

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!

Let's face it: Apart from the odd outstanding title like Star Fox Command, Summer of 2006 has been rather dry for DS fans seeking to enhance their collection with outstanding games.
But as we're closing in on the end of the year, Nintendo and other publishers have prepared a huge number of promising titles to hit DS shelves well before the Christmas season.

To get you an overview of what will be the most interesting stuff on offer this Fall, IGN has posted an article detailing 22 games you shouldn't miss. We picked out the best ones for you, featuring our own take on the games. For the full list, read IGN's original article.

Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (September 11): The craziest sports game to hit handhelds for quite a while, Hoops is a joint effort between Nintendo and Square Enix and if that doesn't convince you yet, the game will feature a ton of guest characters and extensive touch screen functionality to ensure smooth and fun gameplay.

Mega Man ZX (September 12): The Mega Man Zero series on the GBA was the long-awaited return to form for Capcom's prominent franchise, albeit the blue robot wasn't even in the main cast. With ZX Capcom seeks to fuse the complexity and depth of the Zero titles with the classic, action-filled gameplay of the X series. Hopefully, we'll really get the best of both worlds, and if the listing on IGN's article is any indication, it should be a good game to have.

Read more of the article after the jump!

Well, it looks like Charlotte's Web is making a comeback with the upcoming live action remake of the classic movie. And then there's also the much-anticipated game version that will be hitting the Nintendo DS at around the same time as the movie's release.

In the game, Charlotte's Web, players will be sent on sweeping scavenger hunts for letters that make up special phrases. When woven into Charlotte's web, these phrases will let the world know just how special Wilbur is. Interesting, huh?

The Nintendo DS version contains numerous extras that maximize the handheld's unique capabilities including stylus support and wireless multiplayer for up to four players. An additional, unlockable mini-game, where gamers can play as Fern and care for Wilbur is also waiting to be discovered.

If you can't tell already the game is aimed toward the little ones that will want to see the movie, you can still go ahead and check out the full article to see all the screenshots or check out a few by clicking on the thumbnails below.

    
   

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).