Atari, Inc's (NASDAQ: ATAR) Bullet Witch for the Xbox 360 will debut on the simExchange on Thursday, February 8, 2007. It will be categorized under the Action genre. Shares will open for purchase at 35 DKP (forecasts 350,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The game will be released in North America on February 28, 2007. The game was released in Japan on July 29, 2006 and has sold 14,500 copies. The game listing was championed by Zukaus. The summary of the game is:

Bullet Witch is a third-person action game from Japanese developer cavia that combines a shooter with magic. The setting is a post-apocalyptic 2013 when the world has been devastated by a series of natural and man-made catastrophes. Naturally, demons are involved and mankind rediscovers magic to counter this threat. The player takes the role of Alicia, your classic gun-toting witch. Alicia is armed with Gunrod, a weapon that can transform into a shotgun, a machine gun, a gatling gun, and a cannon, and her collection of magic spells. Alicia gains skill points depending on how well you complete a stage and you spend these skill points to gain additional Gunrod forms and new spells.

Magic introduces the unique dynamic to Bullet Witch. To aid your traditional run, shoot, and reload gameplay, you can summon ravens to distract or blind your enemies or a magic wall to hide behind. Both your life and magic powers regenerate over time, so you won’t be stuck in situations where you can’t get enough health packs or ammo to continue. The North American and European versions will feature a more polished production than the earlier released Japanese version.

To reflect the recent name change in Midway Games’ and Epic’s upcoming Unreal Tournament 3 (previously known as "Unreal Tournament 2007"), the stocks for the underlying games have had their names change. This is merely a label change for the stocks now identified as Unreal Tournament 3 (PS3) and Unreal Tournament 3 (PC).

Atlus Co Ltd’s Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Wii), -1.07 DKP (-2.48%), saw its shares fall 11.98% yesterday following another month of weaker than expected sales. Traders on the simExchange had high hopes for the game, forecasting sales as high as 714,200 copies worldwide over lifetime until November sales data emerged. The stock had dropped to the mid-50s but gained some life recently, rising to 65.77 DKP (forecasts 657,700 copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The stock began a correction on January 30, falling 25.5% as of February 4. VGCharts then reported Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Wii) had sold 73,250 copies in December, putting it at a total of 119,250 copies sold in North America. Japanese sales are reported to be 17,000 copies sold total. These numbers were well below expectations. Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Wii) closed at 43.12 DKP yesterday.

Shares of Konami Corp’s (NYSE:KNM) Elebits (Wii), -2.30 DKP (-2.58%), declined 10.18% yesterday following reports of weak sales in North America and Japan. VGCharts had reported the game only sold 64,750 copies in North America during the critical holiday shopping season. The game has sold 41,250 copies in Japan to date. Elebits (Wii) had opened the day at 99.20 DKP (forecasts 992,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime). Traders soon realized that this price would be unattainable on such weak holiday sales and began dumping the stock. Elebits (Wii) closed at 89.10 DKP and continues to decline today.

Electronic Arts Inc's (NASDAQ: ERTS) SSX Blur for the Wii will debut on the simExchange on Wednesday, February 7, 2007. It will be categorized under the Sports genre. Shares will open for purchase at 70 DKP (forecasts 700,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The game will be released in North America on February 27, 2007, in Japan on December 31, 2007, in Europe on March 30, 2007, and Australia on March 15, 2007. The game listing was championed by simulazn. The summary of the game is:

SSX Blur is the fifth installment of the SSX snowboarding series and a Wii exclusive title (SSX games in the past have been cross-platform). For those new to the series, SSX is an exaggerated arcade like action snowboarding game, not intended to simulate the sport realistically. The series focuses on monster tricks in the air, called "Uber Tricks."

SSX Blur is designed specifically for the Wii's motion sensing controllers. There are two sets of controls, one for when you are on the ground and another for when you are in the air. When on the ground, tilting the nunchuk simulates your character's movement on the board. You can hurl snowballs using the B button to slow down your opponents and the Z button to boost your speed. All you have to do is flick the nunchuk upwards to jump. Once you jump, you manipulate the Wiimote to spin or flip.

Uber Tricks are unlocked in SSX Blur through picking up things throughout the game. Once you have unlocked an Uber Trick, you can activate it when your "Groove Meter" (previously known as "Momentum Meter") has hit level 3 or higher by drawing a certain shape with the Wiimote.

Sony Corp.'s (NYSE: SNE) Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters for the PSP will debut on the simExchange on Tuesday, February 6, 2007. It will be categorized under the Adventure genre. Shares will open for purchase at 80 DKP (forecasts 800,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime). This game will be released on February 13, 2007. The game listing was first submitted by Pherstothelee. The summary of the game is:

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters is the seventh installment in the Ratchet & Clank series and the first of the series for the PSP. The story continues from Ratchet: Deadlocked (known as Ratchet: Gladiator outside of North America), foregoing the sidestories of the Ratchet & Clank games for mobile phones.

The story sets off with Ratchet and Clank on vacation, where they meet Luna, a little girl who is later kidnapped by robots. Of course, Ratchet and Clank set out to rescue her, and of course, are caught up in a deeper mystery involving Technomites (a race of genius inventors).

Like previous Ratchet & Clank games, this is a 3D platformer/adventure game where the player uses melee attacks and special guns (such as a bee hive launcher or a vacuum-like sucking gun) to fight baddies. You can also level up your weapons and find better armor as your adventure unfolds. Putting together sets or combos of armor pieces will grant you bonuses. In Size Matters, the player be able to play as either Ratchet or Clank in various levels.

The game features 4-player online gameplay in both ad hoc and infrastructure mode. Size Matters includes the usual deathmatch, team deathmatch, and CTF options. However, the game will also include some new modes, such as Moon Cow Disease where your team must suck up more space cows than the other team. You can try to ninja your opponents’ meat crates after they pack the space cows or simply gank them to hinder their efforts.

Konami Corp.'s (NYSE: KNM) Lunar Knights for the DS will debut on the simExchange on Monday, February 5, 2007. It will be categorized under the Action genre. Shares will open for purchase at 15 DKP (forecasts 150,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime). This game was released in Japan on November 22, 2006 and has sold 35,000 copies according to VG Charts. The game will be released in North America on February 6, 2007. The European release date has not been announced. The game's listing was first submitted by Kaiserblack. The game page is found here. The summary of the game is:

Lunar Knights (known in Japan as "Bokura no Taiyou: Django and Sabata") is the spiritual successor to the Boktai series for the GameBoy Advance. Although the game's concept is very similar, Kojima Productions is removing any reference to the Boktai series with new character names. The basic premise of the game is that you play two very different vampire hunter brothers, one endowed with the power of the sun and the other endowed with the power of darkness. The former, Aaron, is a sharpshooter while the latter, Lucian, is a melee fighter.

Unique to the series are terrenials, elemental beasts that aid the brothers. Character powers are measured in Trance (power that builds up from dealing damage), which allows the brothers to unleash their terrenials. One such ability is Lucian's ability to fuse with his terrenial to gain vampiric powers.

Much of the game is based around the weather, though Lunar Knights relies more on in-game weather than real-world weather. Previous Boktai games came with a solar sensor that would charge your sun-based abilities depending on how much UV light you were collecting in real life. You will still be able to use the solar sensor in Lunar Knights, but it will not be required. The in-game weather will affect what you can do, such as cold weather freezing lakes, dry weather evaporating pools of water, or windy weather enabling you to travel by hang glider.

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Yes, you might not believe it, but the simExchange now has a Flash intro on the homepage (somebody just figured out how to do cool stuff on his Mac…Keynote FTW). Don’t worry. I know many of you have expressed a liking of the minimalist style presentation on the simExchange and I’m not about to flood your browser with blinking tackiness. I'm hoping the new intro will be more appealing and more easily communicate the point than the block of text that previously occupied that real estate.

Nintendo Co Ltd.'s (ADR: NTDOY) Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS), -0.33 DKP (-0.88%), shares dropped 8.68% yesterday after first week sales in Japan were nearly flat compared to predecessor Trace Memory (known as “Another Code” in Japan). According to VG Charts, Hotel Dusk sold 62,250 copies in the week ending January 27, 2007. Another Code had sold 59,250 copies in its first week back in 2005. The game ended up selling 124,000 copies in Japan and 59,000 copies in North America. Many had expected Hotel Dusk: Room 215 to be a "sleeper hit," combining unique adventure gameplay with graphic novel images for the Nintendo DS. The game's shares had jumped last week following strong reviews peaking at an intra-day high of 55.80.

The Getting Started tutorial has been updated. This is a good read if you have not checked it out already. There may be some fundamentals that will be helpful during your time at the simExchange that you may not be aware of already.