Thanks to a busy summer schedule, I’ve not been playing a lot or posting. Who said, ‘summertime, the living is easy’? Still, the summer is good for gaming, and in my opinion, the Wii has one of the better summers among the consoles, with games like The Conduit and Overlord – Dark Legend.

Unfortunately, I see a couple a couple of Zack & Wiki titles, games that are very good games but sell poorly for whatever reason.

The more promising title is Dawn of Discovery, which is the retitled, North America release of Anno–Create a World. which IGN rated an 87. This is a strategy game, something that we’ve seen too little of for the Wii which would seem to have the best controls for a strategy game. If you’ve not played the PC or DS versions, now’s your chance to play a very solid, fun strategy game. It’s a city building game with resource management, but it also has an exploration, combat element. It’s a quick style of strategy, not one where you can crunch the numbers and come up the most efficient path [which is not my idea of fun].

Next is Cursed Mountain, a horror adventure game set in the Himalayas. Adventure games seem well suited for the Wii, but a horror game depends so much on the delivery and cinematics that it’s hard to know from a clip what to expect. And I’m uncertain about the combat. Still, it has potential, and it’s not a horror adventure with zombies, which seems to be all we get on the Wii.

Plus, my H.P. Lovecraft interest is piqued by the frigid mountain setting, although I doubt we’ll see giant blind penguins in this game.

If these are indeed good or excellent games, I hope gamers notice them and don’t let them fall to the wayside. And if you still haven’t picked up Zack & Wiki, you should.

I’ve been trying to focus less on games that aren’t out yet, but this IGN preview of Silent Hill – Shattered Memories has me excited.

For one, I’ve not played a Silent Hill game, even after a friend’s description of playing it fascinated me years ago.

Second, I love the idea of not being able to fight monsters in a game. I think this just makes for a very good, tense, even somewhat fearful experience.

Third, I like a game that builds choices into a game, especially less conspicuous choices, such as what object you first focus on when you enter a room. [And if solutions to obstacles and problems are equally open, then this might be my game of the year.] Decisions and actions change the game . . . great stuff, friends.

Yet, we need to remember four words . . .

Alone in the Dark.

A Fading Memory is one of the more intriguing community games on the Xbox 360 that I’ve seen. Admittedly, I was drawn in by the cover art, which is somewhat rare for community games. What makes it intriguing is the premise behind this platform adventure — you play a woman, more accurately a woman’s dream of herself who, in reality, has slipped into a coma. The introductory level has almost lyrical prose to set the game in this dream world.

The game’s challenge is that the world darkens, which you can only relieve by killing the monsters that inhabit the dreamscape, illuminating it again though only briefly. I love this mechanic for bringing tension to a game. The graphics are simple but have a very identifiable style. [For some reason, I thought of Kandinsky, which, although his art really looks nothing like this game, would be an interesting style to adapt into a game.]

The downside is that I thought the controls and the level designs were somewhat awkward. Still, it’s one I wanted to buy and play to see the rest of the story.

If you’re like me and only have a slot 1 cart for playing homebrew, you’ve been missing out on some good GBA homebrew games. But one of them is not available to play on slot 1 carts. Anguna is a nicely done Zelda-clone adventure/RPG.

You can download the DS port from Nathan Tolbert’s website, as well as read tips and guides. Be sure to look at the readme for the game controls.

This is a well done game, one definitely that you should download and play. The graphics are well done, and the gameplay is solid. If anything, the game might leave you wanting more when you are done. Still, there are lots of hidden items to find, if you think the game is too easy. Anguna definitely is on my ‘keeper’ list. I need to update my zipped file of the best DS homebrew games, and I’ll be adding this one.