Plants vs. Zombies, released for PC and Mac a couple of months ago, is a quirky little tower defense game from PopCap Games that has players using plants to defend their house against a zombie invasion. If that sounds right up your alley, then here's some good news.

This week's release list can be described in a few words: college football. Tuesday marks the release of multiplatform sports game NCAA Football 2009 on every modern console there is to date. During our search, we've found that some games haven't surfaced in the previous weeks - even on online retail. So expect to see a repeat showing this week. Maybe we should consider renaming "On Shelves This Week" to "Should Be Out This Week"... Now there's a thought. Upcoming releases follows at the full story.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Forget it. Play a round of Bejeweled instead. According to a new study, casual games are proven to be beneficial for your health. Details in the full article.

The upcoming platform ninja game from Metanet, N+, will be making its way to the Xbox 360 Live Arcade, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable. It gets kind of confusing since all versions have the same name. But you can bet all three versions aren't as identical as the name. Read the full article to find out the differences between the three versions.

Xbox 360 owners will be getting a dose of brain training next year with Gameloft's Brain Challenge. The mobile phone game developer and publisher has announced that it will be bringing Brain Challenge to the Xbox Live Arcade in early 2008.

Brain Challenge will also be making its way to the Nintendo DS, iPod and PC soon. More at the full article.

Publisher Sierra Entertainment sends out word that Kuju Entertainment's Geometry Wars: Galaxies for Nintendo DS and Wii has just hit gold status thereby making it ready for mass production. Sierra is also announcing that the game will be available beginning November 20 for Wii and on November 27 for DS.

The full article awaits after the jump!

 

Together with the developers and publishers looking to show off their wares at the Tokyo Game Show 2007, SNK Playmore USA has released its list of titles for the said game show. Of course, the makers of The King of Fighters and Metal Slug has a number of titles lined up for this year's show, ranging from retro games for Xbox Live Arcade and Wii's Virtual Console to new ones for the consoles and handhelds.

And since SNK Playmore is still one of the coin-op kings, it also lists some titles coming to an arcade near you. Anyway, here's the list:

• The King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga (Wii, PS2, PSP)
• Metal Slug 7 (Nintendo DS)
• SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 (PS2, PSP)
• Samurai Shodown Anthology (Wii, PS2)
• Metal Slug 3 (Xbox LIVE Arcade)
• Samurai Shodown 2 (Xbox LIVE Arcade)
• Fatal Fury (Wii Virtual Console)
• World Heroes (Wii Virtual Console)
• Magician Lord (Wii Virtual Console)

New arcade titles:

• The King of Fighters XII
• The King of Fighters: Maximum Impact Regulation "A" 2
• Samurai Shodown Sen (Japanese Title)

Ben Herman, president of SNK Playmore USA, had this to say:

We're pleased to once again be bringing fans more of the quality fighting and great arcade games they've come to expect from us and with the addition of a number of downloadable console titles, SNK aficionados will have even more options available to them.

Cool eh? Better heat up your Wiis and 360s, fighting games are on their way.

Sega fans in the know are shaking their legs in anticipation for this year's Tokyo Game Show, and they have a pretty good reason why. Korean website Ruliweb dished out what is supposedly Sega's TGS 2007 lineup which seems to be more of a Sega fan wishlist.

Said to have cost US$ 70 million, Shenmue and its sequel easily became the biggest and most expensive series at the time. No thanks to the Dreamcast's early demise, many have missed the epic tale of Ryo in his quest to avenge his father. Still, Yu Suzuki's masterpiece created a following of zealous fans. Rumors have come and gone, and all hope is almost lost, but the list posted Shenmue 3 for the Xbox 360.

Other noteworthy titles coming from the classic archives include Fighters Megamix 2 and Virtua Fighter Kids 2. Some Dreamcast hits are also said to make a return, like ChuChu Rocket!, Skies of Arcadia 2, and Jet Set Radio Next.

Before this blogger throws fits, we'll have to say that the list is yet to be confirmed. Down to the rumor mill we go, but our ears are open for any official word.

Find the list after the jump!

Paul William Scott Anderson is a film director, famous for science fiction movies and for movie adaptations of video games. His body of work includes "Mortal Kombat," "Event Horizon," "Resident Evil" (he also wrote, but didn't direct, the sequels - "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" and "Resident Evil: Extinction"), and "Alien vs. Predator." Anderson was also one of the producers on "DOA: Dead or Alive."

Paul W.S. Anderson was expected to write and direct the upcoming "Castlevania" movie. But not anymore. At least that's what "a very reliable source" told Dread Central, the horror movie and videos news site:

The film, based on the long-running video game franchise from Konami, has been in development hell since it was first announced, but Anderson's always been on as director and writer. Apparently either he didn't like where the project was going or didn’t feel like waiting anymore, because now he's off all together.

Most of Anderson's movies have been love-it-or-hate-it pieces of work. "Soldier" got heavy criticism, and even his financially profitable movies like "Resident Evil" and "Alien vs. Predator" got pooh-poohed by fans of their respective franchises.

Some of us here at QJ.NET believe that not all the criticism against Anderson is fair (some of us think the criticisms against his movies are a bit exaggerated), but we can't help but wonder if there's truth in what Dread Central had to say:

You know a project is in trouble when Paul W.S. Anderson, a man who's spent almost his entire career turning potentially cool movies into steaming piles of pooh, leaves a film.

To the fans of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow or Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (both for the DS), the classic Castlevania with Simon Belmont (on Wii Virtual Console), or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Xbox Live Arcade), or the countless other versions of Castlevania (over two dozen games in the series!)... you fans may agree with us when we say this: yes, sometimes movie adaptations suck, but we're fans, and we'll be lining up for premiere tickets. See you there!

  

Koji Igarashi of Konami gave a talk at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007. Entitled The Light and Dark Sides of 2D Game Production, His keynote speech mostly reflected the benefits of using 2D animation, a style in video game production which he believes will never die. Igarashi produced the Castlevania series for Konami, a game loosely based on the novel by Bram Stoker and was mostly rendered in 2D. Here are some notes from his talk.

• An advantage in 2D is that the player sees the relation to the enemy or setting because there is only one full view.
  
• Pixel art is a huge part of the Castlevania series. The original series only had four colors, whereas the rest of the 2D series has 16, and sometimes 256 colors. 
• As systems get more powerful, it's harder to maintain the quality of the game. This is why it is so hard to create another pixel art Castlevania game on a console.
• Another advantage of 2D is the lack of issues with camera angles. 2D games also require a much smaller team than 3D.
• Some platforms that are viable for 2D games: DS, VC, Xbox Live Arcade and cell phones.
• Igarashi and his team are still considering making games for the Wii and other platforms.
  
• They are also exploring WiFi, and newer character for Castlevania.
  
• The last Castlevania title took 16 months to complete.