Guitar Hero is a series of rhythm games first released in 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs. Players match notes that scroll on-screen to colored fret buttons on the controller, strumming the controller in time to the music in order to score points, and keep the virtual audience excited. The games attempt to mimic many features of playing a real guitar, including the use of fast-fingering hammer-ons and pull-offs and the use of the whammy bar to alter the pitch of notes. Most games support single player modes, typically a Career mode to play through all the songs in the game, as well as competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes. With the introduction of Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008, the game includes support for a four-player band including vocals and drums. The series initially used mostly cover versions of songs created by WaveGroup Sound, but most recent titles feature soundtracks that are fully master recordings, and in some cases, special re-recordings, of the songs. Later titles in the series feature support for downloadable content in the form of new songs.
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords is a puzzle video game designed by Steve Fawkner for Australian game developer Infinite Interactive and published by D3 Publisher in 2007. The game combines role-playing with tile-matching elements. Taking place in a high fantasy setting, the player moves their character around the game's world and encounters monsters and other enemies to fight so as to gain experience and acquire treasure as in a typical role-playing game. Combat takes place on a board similar to Bejeweled, and by making matches of coloured gems, the combatants can cause damage to their opponents, cast spells, or perform other abilities that affect the flow of the game.
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon is a 2007 role-playing video game published by Square Enix for the Wii. It is an installment in the Chocobo series that focuses on Chocobo and his quest to free a town lost in time from eternal forgetfulness. It is a loose sequel to Chocobo's Dungeon 2 on the PlayStation.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter video game in the Call of Duty franchise, developed specifically for the Nintendo DS. It was released by Activision in November 2007. The game features many elements of gameplay typical to the series, including vehicular missions and the usage of iron sights.
Guitar Hero World Tour is a 2008 rhythm game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fourth main installment and the sixth overall installment in the Guitar Hero series. The game was launched in North America in October 2008 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 consoles, and a month later for Europe and Australia. A version of World Tour for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X was published by Aspyr in July 2009. A mobile version developed by Hands-On Mobile was released for BlackBerry, Android, Java, and the N-Gage platform.
George of the Jungle and the Search for the Secret is a platform video game based on the animated television program George of the Jungle.
007: Quantum of Solace is a 2008 shooter video game published by Activision. Based on the James Bond films Casino Royale (2006) and Quantum of Solace (2008), it was developed by Treyarch for PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Xbox 360 and by Beenox for Microsoft Windows and Wii, and is mostly played as a first-person shooter, with occasional switches to third-person. Eurocom developed a similar version for the PlayStation 2 (PS2), played solely as a third-person shooter, while Vicarious Visions developed an entirely different version for the Nintendo DS, which is also played from a third-person perspective.
The Spiderwick Chronicles is an action-adventure video game adaptation of the film of the same name. It was released on February 6, 2008, in North America, and on March 14, 2008, in Europe for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2.
DJ Hero is a 2009 rhythm game developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision. It is the first spin-off of the Guitar Hero series. It was released on October 27, 2009, in North America and on October 29, 2009, in Europe. The game is based on turntablism, the act of creating a new musical work from one or more previously recorded songs using record players and sound effect generators, and features 94 remixes of two different songs across numerous genres.
Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir is a puzzle adventure video game developed by Big Fish Games and Griptonite Games and published by Nintendo, for the Nintendo DS. It was released in North America and Australia in 2008, and Europe in 2009. It is the second Mystery Case Files game to be made for a portable device.
Military Madness: Nectaris is a turn-based strategy game developed for WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network by Hudson Soft. It is the latest game in the Nectaris series, and an enhanced remake of the first game.
Zen Pinball is a series of pinball machine video games developed and published by Zen Studios. It was originally released on iOS as two separate applications, each containing one table; Zen Pinball: Rollercoaster, released July 7, 2008, and Zen Pinball: Inferno, released October 31, 2008. Zen Pinball for the PlayStation 3 features four tables, plus an additional six tables as downloadable content. It was released on the PlayStation Network on May 14, 2009. It is the non-Microsoft counterpart to the Pinball FX series on the Xbox 360, and the first pinball game on the PlayStation 3. The game was also released on Android devices as Zen Pinball THD on December 1, 2011, and the Nintendo 3DS as Zen Pinball 3D via the Nintendo eShop on December 1, 2011 in Europe and January 12, 2012 in North America.
Puzzle Bobble Plus!, known in North America as Bust-A-Move Plus!, and in Japan as Puzzle Bobble Wii, is a video game developed by Taito for WiiWare. It was first released in Japan on April 7, 2009, and later in the PAL regions on June 26, and in North America on July 6.
Guitar Hero: Van Halen is a 2009 rhythm game developed by Underground Development and published by Activision. It is the tenth installment in the Guitar Hero series and the third to focus on the career and songs of one rock band, Van Halen, following Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (2008) and Guitar Hero: Metallica (2009). The game was released in retail for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii systems on December 22, 2009, in North America, and in February 2010 for PAL regions. However, as part of a promotion with Guitar Hero 5 (2009), the game was shipped to Guitar Hero 5 purchasers in North America prior to its retail release. The game features 25 songs from Van Halen along with 19 additional songs from selected artists that have been inspired by the group. The gameplay UI from Guitar Hero: Metallica was carried over.
DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue is an action role-playing game by game designer Ron Gilbert and is the sequel to DeathSpank. It was announced on August 23, 2010. The game adds new environments, modernized weapons, increased boss fights, and a new multiplayer character. Thongs of Virtue was released on September 21, 2010 on the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network and on September 22, 2010 on the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. The Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X versions were released November 30, 2010 and December 14, 2010, respectively via Steam.
