Trauma Center did a swear!

It's common knowledge that Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2's setting and storyline is to involve disease, civil war, and refugees, but now swearing has been added to this gritty mix. Shocking! We'd expect disease in a game about making people feel better, but we hope that Atlus' game doesn't start taking itself too seriously. For this blogger, the otherwise excellent Advance Wars: Days of Ruin was a little too dark for its own good, and yours truly missed some of the inherent silliness of previous games. Here's hoping Trauma Center 2 retains its sense of humor.

On the other hand, we appreciate that some of you couldn't give two hoots about the story. Regardless, make a careful incision and enter the gallery below for six new shots.


[Via press release]

Trauma Center, in case you hadn't already heard, is making a return to Nintendo's handheld to make ham-fisted would-be surgeons feel inadequate all over again, and Famitsu has just delivered an array of details and shots of the new game.

According to this, we'll be getting a sprinkling of old and new characters, a slightly more Wii-like user interface, and a number of operations that will be familiar with us all, including the really cringeworthy ones where you have to yank excruciatingly long shards of glass from your patients (well, they made us cringe, anyway).

Perhaps the most interesting tidbit to take from this scan, however, is the mention of a Japanese release date -- it's a little hard to make out, but the magazine seems to suggest the game will be released there on August 7th. That's by no means an official date, obviously, but if true it means we could be seeing a western release in 2008.

The Nintendo Power news just keeps on coming in! If you're not already a subscriber, we very much suggest you pick up a copy of this month's issue when you can -- it's packed with exclusive announcements and screenshots.

Almost three years since Under the Knife captured the hearts of wannabe surgeons on the DS, Trauma Center is finally coming back to the handheld after a remake and an indirect sequel on the Wii. Dr. Stiles stars in the game, once again, and is joined by Nurse Angie Thompson as they deal with the effects and "unanswered mysteries" left by the defeated GUILT Virus.

Developer and publisher Atlus didn't reveal any new surgical instruments for this direct DS sequel, titled Under the Knife 2, but it did state that the old tools will have "improved functionality. Addressing difficulty complaints many often cited with the original game, Atlus has also included a mode for those of you with unsteady hands and frail nerves. Expect to hear a lot more about Under the Knife 2 from us before it hits stores this summer.

Yeah, we know what you're thinking: "Each and every member of the DS Fanboy team is pretty much perfect, so why the heck would such unblemished, shining beacons of humanity require New Year's resolutions?" We thought the exact same thing, before we each took a minute to stare deeply into the recesses of our souls, and realize that even we -- WE! -- could take steps to improve ourselves. And here's how we plan to go about it:

• Alisha: I promise to try not to go crazy and pee myself every time Square Enix remakes a game they've remade before, but it's going to be very, very difficult, and I will probably fail. Ask me again tomorrow.
• David: This year, I resolve to beat Contra 4 in front of a live studio audience. I will then reap the benefits and rewards of having a studio full of people not know who I am or what I am doing look at me with faces full of confusion as I rip my shirt off in conquest and scream wildly.
• JC: I resolve to play one of those RTS or SRPG or TRPG games. I've always believed I wasn't smart enough to play these things, while simultaneously believing that I was smart enough to pursue advanced degrees.
• Candace: I resolve that I will resist my urge to download the entire catalog of Phoenix Wright songs onto my cell phone. But not really.
• Chris: To not see in another New Year with gaming's answer to high-class narcotics, Animal Crossing Wild World. Also, to finally wrap up Trauma Center: Under the Knife, by which time I fully expect to boast the dexterity of an actual surgeon.
  
• Eric: I resolve to never trust a big butt and a smile. That girl is poison. Poison.

So now we've shared, what about you, reader? If you haven't already, tell us about your DS-related resolutions for 2008.

With Contra 4 about to give us a heart attack, and Ninja Gaiden also on the way to make us doubt our ability to do things, we thought we'd ask you about the difficulty of currently-available DS games. There are some brutally hard games out there, and we're sure you've run into one of them. Some are difficult for not-so-great reasons, like control issues, but some are just hard.

What's the most difficult game you've played on the DS? And did you enjoy it? Bonus points if the game isn't Trauma Center.

Even the best games sometimes have flaws, though we often gloss over them when trying to sell our friends on our favorites. But today is a day for honesty (because, uh, we said so), so we thought we might discuss those flies in the ointment. From issues with "blue" in Brain Age to Trauma Center adding even more difficulty when arbitrarily deciding you've done something wrong, we've seen dark spots in even the best of what the DS has to offer. Of course, that leads to another question: could that explain why, despite all of the great games on our favorite handheld, the reviews often seem a little lower, on average, than games for other systems? Or is there another reason that you suspect?

Okay, we were cool with our new big brother-in-arms -- after all, we had some sweet connectivity to look forward to, and it just gave us more excuses to crow about Nintendo taking over the world with devices what print crisp new bills. But today's announcement ruins everything. We hate you, Mr. Johnny-Come-Lately Wii, because you stole our Trauma Center.

Listen, we think it's keen and all that Trauma Center: New Blood is going to do what the first Wii port didn't -- that is, feature actual character voices and video. Y'know, the sort of things one expects from a console game. The text adventure style of the DS game suited the DS just fine, but once the game made the jump to the Wii, we expected a lot of things we didn't get. We also think the Iron Surgeon new coop play mode is pretty keen. But why can't we have a little piece of the action on our handheld? Are we supposed to be satisfied with Lifesigns? We're certainly pleased about the localization of another medical-themed game, but we want our Trauma Center! We require gut-wrenchingly difficult gameplay and the satisfaction of touching during surgery.

We know it's a bit rich to complain about Atlus, considering the flood of announcements today. But really, why have they taken away our surgery game? We're so sad. You've cut out our hearts, Atlus ... and the healing touch of other new games just isn't enough.

Etrian Odyssey director Kazuya Niinou has been posting fascinating, and disarmingly honest, blog entries on the game's official website. The fourth page was just posted, and contains a rather bold statement: "So I've decided! Etrian Odyssey will be the last great turn-based RPG." This was a reaction to the rumors of Dragon Quest IX going action-RPG-- rumors that turned out not to be true.

While we admire Niinou for his confidence that his game is good enough to exemplify a genre (confidence that increases our frothing demand for the game significantly), we're afraid Etrian Odyssey is going to continue to face stiff competition from Dragon Quest. And we doubt that any number of awesome blog posts will put down that particular cultural phenomenon.

All this week, the DS Fanboy staff is letting you in on a few of their favorite titles. Each day, a different member of the staff will present their personal top five DS games along with a snapshot of their gaming paraphernalia and habits, in an effort to provide our readers with a little more information on the tastes and personalities of our writers.

It's odd; in the past two years, I've played my DS more than any other system, console or otherwise. However, I very rarely play outside of the comfort of my own room. Sure, I have the ten minute bus ride to campus everyday, and an hour break between classes, but the bus ride is relaxing and the hour I spend on campus, playing chess with some friends. It's really a testament to the quality of the library on the DS, that it would stand against the heavy-hitting consoles without the added advantage of portability.

I'm a bit of a Renaissance gamer, playing titles far and wide. Sure, I've grown tired of the World War II shooters, but if a game is innovative and/or well-crafted, I'll give it a shot. I also like bunnies and salsa dancing and figure skating; I'm so macho.

It's the first time the U.K.'s gaming awards have been in their own spotlight (instead of relaxing in the shadow of the film and television awards), and the Nintendo DS has snared some of the attention. We would expect nothing less.

Electroplankton and Brain Age both picked up nominations in multiple categories, and they'll be butting heads (brains?) when it comes to which game is Britain's choice for the most innovative of the year. Trauma Center got a nod as well in the simulation category. We're not sure the other nominees are even worth mentioning next to that one. Too bad there isn't a category for games that make you sweat, 'cause they're just that damned hard at times. Trauma Center has always made us idly wish for a third hand, but we love it like ice cream. Can't say we agree with everything they're doing across the pond, though -- they've got New Super Mario Bros. tagged as a children's game. Oh well. I guess we should all put it down and step away slowly.

The winners will be announced on October 5. Check back for confetti and poppers when the DS snags some awards.

Addictive cut-and-preserve hospital sim news now, with Atlus announcing that they'll be sending out enormous crates filled with copies of Trauma Center: Under the Knife to stores everywhere at the end of July. This should come as most excellent news to those who have experienced difficulty in getting their gloved hands on one of the best DS titles available, as well as to those who simply enjoy slashing a stranger's spleen into tiny, unrecognizable pieces.

Jim Ireton, the VP of Sales and Marketing for Atlus USA, notes that the "continued demand for Trauma Center: Under the Knife is both gratifying and overwhelming. We apologize to Nintendo fans who've had a tough time finding the game, and we hope this scratches their surgical itch until we ship Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Wii later this year." Apology accepted, Mr. Ireton.

Rejected titles for this post:

• "Trauma Center stock receives transfusion"
• "Atlus bypasses Trauma Center shortage"
• "Anemic Trauma Center supply cured"
• "More copies of Trauma Center discharged"
• "Trauma Center is a really good game"

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in!]