Nintendo Co Ltd.'s (ADR: NTDOY) Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS), -0.61 DKP (-1.77%), a seemingly low profile adventure game for the Nintendo DS, has been grabbing the attention of traders following positive reviews. The game first started drawing attention with early videos and screenshots of the game pointing to a different style of video game, a repeating phenomenon with the DS that has been welcomed by many gamers looking for something new.

On Monday, shares rose 9.11% in heavy trading. Buying continued on Tuesday as the stock rose another 3.11%. The stock has pulled back a bit today, currently trading at 33.86 DKP (forecasts 338,600 copies sold world wide over lifetime). Although the market appears bullish on Hotel Dusk, it has been recently disappointed by similar “unique game play sleeper hits” such as Viva Pinata (Xbox 360), which received great reviews but weaker than expected first month sales, and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All (DS), both down dramatically from their highs.

Yesterday, Vivendi Universal’s Blizzard announced that its highly anticipated expansion for its best selling MMORPG World of Warcraft sold 2.4 million copies worldwide in the first 24 hours. The company had shipped 4 million copies to prepare for the demand. Traders considered this bullish news, buying up shares of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, +3.00 DKP (+0.53%), which closed up 1.72% yesterday at 565.29 DKP (forecasts 5.65 million copies sold worldwide over lifetime). Shares had lingered in the 550 - 560 DKP price range for the past month as traders questioned how many players would purchase the expansion due to the relatively small portion of gamers who could actually make use of the expanded content.

"Voting" on the simExchange is now known as "bidding" on content. The reason for this change is to reflect the evolving concept, which requires users to put down DKP to take an opinion on user submitted content with the potential of gaining or losing DKP. Appropriate for a prediction market, right?

As you know, you now gain 10 DKP for each player who bids the same way you do (after you) on an article, image, video, comment, or user submitted game. However, it costs 25 DKP to bid on content. Submitters of content also gain 200 DKP for each up bid and lose 100 DKP for each down bid. Commenters also gain 100 DKP for each up bid and lose 50 DKP for each down bid.

A new Bids on Content tutorial is now available in the Help section. The Rules and Glossary pages have also been updated.

The game covers on the game stock pages have now been enhanced. As many users have noticed, when you mouseover the cover, you can now see the current price at which the game is selling at Amazon. For games that are not out, you can see the expected release date according to Amazon. And as some have pointed out, yes, you will be supporting the simExchange by navigating to Amazon from the cover and making your next game purchase that session.

Sony Corp's (ADR: SNE) God of War II for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) will debut on the simExchange on Monday, January 29, 2007. It will be categorized under the Action genre. Shares will open for purchase at 135 DKP (forecasts 1.35 million copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The release for this game is scheduled for March 13, 2007 in North America. The listing was submitted by Reitoei. The game's page is found here. The summary of the game is:

God of War II is the sequel of God of War, which was released in 2005 for the PS2. The sequel continues the story of Kratos, a feared warrior of Sparta. The series' setting is mythological Greece. Kratos is endowed with the powers of the Gods such as Poseidon's storms and Zeus's thunderbolts. The game features the same engine as the previous game and can be quickly picked up by fans of the original.

God of War II is a 3rd-person action game. The gameplay focuses on combat and puzzle-solving. The previous game was known for its fatality minigames, in which time will pause when an enemy has critically low health and the player can attempt to complete a minigame-like feat such as button mashing combos and joystick rotation. Success will result in performing an execution that results in the enemy dropping health or magic restoring orbs.

Kratos is armed with "the Blades of Chaos," swords that are chained to his arms so that they can be swung for greater distance. These weapons allow the player to piece together combo attacks. The game also features contextual attacks where the player must press certain buttons in certain situations to perform special attacks, such as dismounting a rider.

Atari, Inc's (NASDAQ: ATAR) upcoming Dungeons and Dragons Tactics for Sony Corp's PlayStation Portable (PSP) will debut on the simExchange on Friday, January 26, 2007. It will be categorized under the Strategy genre. Shares will open for purchase at 30 DKP (forecasts 300,000 copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The release for this game is scheduled for March 13, 2007 in North America. The listing was submitted by Raviv. The game's page is found here. The summary of the game is:

Dungeons & Dragons Tactics is a new turn-based strategy game for the PSP. The game uses the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition Rules. The player controls a party of characters and engages in turn-based tile combat. Characters can be created from a number of pre-set classes such as the Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Psion, Psychic Warrior, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Wizard or the player can create custom classes or choose pre-designed characters from the “character library.”

There is a single-player campaign where the player's characters are in the middle of an epic war between two dragons. You can choose whether to advance the story as a good or evil character. There is also multiplayer gameplay where players can pit their characters against each other in deathmatch and a number of other modes. You will also be able to trade characters and items with friends over Wi-Fi.

Nintendo Co Ltd's (ADR: NTDOY) Diddy Kong Racing DS for the Nintendo DS will debut on the simExchange on Thursday, January 25, 2007. It will be categorized under the Racing genre. Shares will open for purchase at 275 DKP (forecasts 2.75 million copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The release for this game is scheduled for February 5, 2007 in North America. The listing was submitted by Joe80. The game's page is found here. The summary of the game is:

Diddy Kong Racing DS is a re-release of Diddy Kong Racing for the N64, which was released in 1997 and a global best seller at 4.88 million copies sold. Diddy Kong Racing DS is a kart racing game similar to Mario Kart but involves a bit of an adventure mode. Players can choose from a selection of characters from Rare games; however, Banjo and Conker will not be appearing in this version. The game includes all 20 tracks from the N64 version including a very similar adventure mode. This version also includes 8-player Wi-Fi play, remodeled characters and retextured track, and new weapons.

Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Crackdown for the Xbox 360 will debut on the simExchange on Wednesday, January 24, 2007. It will be categorized under the Action genre. Shares will open for purchase at 160 DKP (forecasts 1.6 million copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The release for this game is scheduled for February 20, 2007 in North America, February 22, 2007 in Japan, and February 23, 2007 in Europe. The listing was submitted by sonaive. The game's page is found here. The summary of the game is:

Crackdown (known as "Riot Act" in Japan) is a new open-ended open-roaming urban game exclusive for the Xbox 360. The game is developed by Real Time Worlds and the team includes David Jones who helped create Lemmings and the original Grand Theft Auto game. The game can be played in single-player mode or co-op over Xbox Live. Crackdown features the Havok physics engine.

Rather than playing an aspiring criminal like in similar open-ended urban games, the player takes the role of a super cop endowed with special abilities. The setting is the near future where traditional law enforcement has failed and the Agency has taken over security in Pacific City. Pacific City is built on a series of islands that are controlled by three gangs: your traditional street gang known as the Los Muertos, a disciplined militia known as the Volk, and the evil Shai-Gen Corporation, a government created defense research entity.

There are five areas in which you can develop your character: firearms, driving, explosives, agility, and strength. For example, your character gains experience points in firearms for shooting guns. You gain agility experience by attaining Agility Orbs that require some acrobatic/athletic feat to acquire. Leveling your agility will allow you to run faster, jump higher, and eventually traverse the city by jumping from rooftop-to-rooftop. You level your driving skill by performing stunts. Increasing your strength will allow you to throw people and later cars.

You can build up an arsenal that can be easily accessed throughout the City by securing Agency Supply Points. These areas allow you to teleport to other Supply Points, regenerate health, and restocks your weapons. Any weapon you bring to a Supply Point will be replicated in the future at all your Supply Points.

Square Enix Co's Final Fantasy VI Advance for the GameBoy Advance (GBA) will debut on the simExchange on Tuesday, January 23, 2007. It will be categorized under the Role-playing genre and under the DS platform. Shares will open for purchase at 100 DKP (forecasts one million copies sold worldwide over lifetime). The release for this game is scheduled for February 5, 2007 in North America. It was released in Japan on November 30, 2006 and has sold 237,250 copies. The listing was first submitted by Taloncarde. The game's page is found here. The summary of the game is:

Final Fantasy VI Advance is a re-release of the game known as "Final Fantasy III" in North America and "Final Fantasy VI" in Japan, which sold 3.42 million copies. The game was originally released for the Super Nintendo in 1994 and was later re-released for the PlayStation in 1999. This re-release is designed for the GameBoy Advance portable console, but can be played on the Nintendo DS, and includes extra Espers (magical beings that are summoned to assist the player’s characters and teach them magic) and new dungeons. This game was released on November 30, 2006 in Japan.

Final Fantasy VI is a 2D role-playing game of the classic Final Fantasy era. The player travels in a party of four in a zoomed-out overworld and are pulled into a separate battle screen from random encounters. The player enters specific zones from the overworld by walking over a town or into a cave. Combat is menu-based using a pseudo-real time system where characters get a new turn to take action based on their time bar filling up. The player can customize the characters using relics (much like the accessories in later Final Fantasy games) and magacite, which summons Espers. Equipping magacite in battle also trains the character in learning a new spell determined by the particular magacite that is equipped.

The homepage has been changed to display information that is more relevant on a daily basis. Instead of displaying the all-time most traded stocks and highest valued stocks, the homepage now displays today’s top gaining and declining stocks and today’s most traded stocks. This should make it easier to track which stocks are attracting attention today. You can still view the all-time most traded stocks and highest valued stocks on the new Top Games page.