Most of us are heating up with the impending release of Grand Theft Auto 4, but there's no need to lose your cool. Just like last week, a modest batch of titles will hit shelves as prelude to April's main act. Square Enix is ready to make some noise in The World Ends With You, while Nintendo is letting the Pokemon loose with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Time. The rest are waiting at the full article.

* Article originally posted Apr 21, 2008 at 12:48AM

Major Nelson, on his blog, revealed the Xbox 360 Live activity for the week of March 31, 2008. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the Xbox 360 (also available on PlayStation 3 and PC) is at the top of the list once again. To check out the full list for yourself, head on over to the full article.

 Longtime game industry stalwart Hudson is back with more games from the old days. It's bringing back pinball classic Alien Crush with a new twist for WiiWare. Three new screens for it are out, plus fresh skinny on Karaoke Joysound has been dished out. Hit the jump and get the details.

Three new entries have found their way into the upcoming NeoFlash Spring Compo 2008 competition: Look Out v0.70, Paper Battle v1.0, and Bumper Harvest. More details in our full article.

Download: Look Out v0.70 NeoFlash Edition
Download: Paper Battle v1.0 (CFW 1.5, CFW 3.xx, Windows)
Download: Bumper Harvest (with LUA player, stand alone Lua version)

Homebrew developer Relavak is cooking up a homebrew game for the Nintendo DS in his labs, titled PinHockey. The latest release, PinHockey version 0.2, adds new options and movable paddles to the air hockey/pinball hybrid. Learn more about it at the full article.

Download: PinHockey v0.2

Southpeak Games is releasing a new pinball game for the PC, Wii, and Nintendo DS this Spring. The game is called Dream Pinball 3D and boasts of a realistic physics engine and stunning visuals. Details and screenshots for each platform lie in the full article.

The guys behind the Nintendo Emulator for the iPhone have done it again, rolling out another version that's yet again full of fixes and tweaks to improve your retro-gaming happy. Yes, folks, it's NES.app v1.6.2, fresh and ready for download onto your nifty Apple gadget. Let's get to the changelog, and see what's been improved for this release:

1.6.0    
[nervegas]

• Cleaned up compiler warnings
• Fixed sound envelope decay (Punchout, Pinball, Kung Fu)
• Fixed volume control restoring music and sounds in many games
• More tweaks to Palette A
• Added "CPU Clock" advanced option, see README
• More work on auto frame-skip
• Fixed triangle sound channel
• Added bass boost option

1.6.1   
[nervegas]

• Jacked up volume
• Compiled with debug on; no debug seems to mess up colors

1.6.2   
[nervegas]

• Addressed crashing issues on orientation change

Whew! Certainly a lot of changes made since the previous update. One very notable change is the tweaks to the audio, and we all know that you can't play any of the Nintendo Entertainment Games properly without enjoying that sweet, sweet retro sound. If you find yourself liking the NES.app, why not pop on over to the team's webpage and showing your appreciation? It's for a good cause.

Be forewarned that Apple's Software v.1.1.1 will hinder all your efforts to use NES.app. If you haven't updated your iPhone software already and wish to continue using NES.app, don't upgrade at all.

Download: NES.app v1.6.2

Wii owners in Europe take notice - Kirby's Ghost Trap and Devil's Crush will be making their way to your consoles very, very soon, via Nintendo's offering to the retro world, the Virtual Console.

Let's hop onto the time machine and pretend it's 1995 once more, just to see what these games are all about.

First up is Kirby's Ghost Trap. Not quite the ghost-busting title we'd want Kirby to star in, but a very fun puzzle game nonetheless. Defeat each and every one of Kirby's foes by strategically stacking and blending fast-moving, color-coded blobs.

If you do it right, you'll cause a massive chain reaction that will cause a torrent of ghostly ghouls to rain upon your hapless enemies. Featuring 16 levels and familiar enemies from the Kirby Universe, any fan of the pink blob with a black hole for a stomach will feel at home with this VC title. Kirby's Ghost Trap is available for download for a mere pittance of 800 Wii points.

Next up is the aptly-titled Devil's Crush. Again, no devil-crushing to be seen, but rather a wickedly-awesome pinball game with lurking enemies, and a cool-looking pinball board. Using the Devil Shooter and the requisite paddles to keep the ball crashing and smashing for points, you can unlock a total of six bonus stages for more demon pinball action. Definitely one for the pinball guys, and a steal for 600 Wii points.

It's time for another update about what's new on the North American Virtual Console. As usual, there are three new classic games for Wii owners to enjoy this week.

First is Kirby's Dream Course. For 800 Wii Points, gamers can get this SNES original and go for a really weird round of golf on a floating golf course in the sky. This one- or two-player game lets players pitch and putt Kirby through a maze of three-dimensional obstacles on a checkerboard course, hitting enemies along the way.

Next is Shining Force. This turn-based strategy RPG for the Sega Genesis is available for 800 Wii Points. Younger gamers may have experienced the GBA remake of this title, Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon. The objective in this game is to dispatch the Dark Dragon, who is threatening the world with hordes of evil creatures.

Finally, you can also grab Devil's Crush for 600 Wii points. This TurboGrafx-16 game is the sequel to the pinball game Alien Crush and is for one to two players. As a sequel, it brings enough pinball action to the table to satisfy even hardcore pinball enthusiasts.

A simple search at the online database of the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) will yield interesting results that should make any Wii owner happy. Accordingly, a lot of classic video games have just been rated, clearly slated for the console's Virtual Console (VC).

You have to take note though that these titles have just been rated and there's no telling when they will go live. Just the same, it's interesting to know what titles we could be having next month, or probably even next week.

With all that jazz said, here's the list:

• Shinobi III: Return Of The Ninja Master
• Eswat: City Under Siege
• Wrecking Crew
• Strider
• Devil's Crush - Naxat Pinball
• Drop Off
• Shockman
• Battle Lode Runner
• Silent Debuggers
• Bonk's Revenge
• Volley Ball
• Yoshi's Cookie
• Landstalker: The Treasure Of King Nole
• Ghouls 'n Ghosts
• Ninja Spirit
• Galaga '90
• Blazing Lazers
• Axelay
• Probotector Ii: Return Of The Evil Forces
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Crack Down
  
• Sonic The Hedgehog 3