Backed by some totally overdone, bombastic orchestral music, the new Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood trailer gives you handy combat advice such as, “Make them feel your POW moves.” Huh? The cutesy graphics don’t go with the more serious soundtrack at all, so the whole thing comes off as a bit of a marketing misfire.

What’s useful in this trailer is the glimpse at the combat mechanics, which thank god, aren’t the same old menu-saturated affairs that we’ve all seen before (unless they’re hiding that part from us). Instead there is an at least sem-realtime engine where you carry out special attacks by completing Ouendan-like minigames with the stylus, tapping and dragging.

Because of the Bioware pedigree, this is one Sonic game I haven’t completely lost hope for yet. We’ll see the finished product soon enough though, as it’s slated for release some time in September for the DS.

[Gamekyo]

While it isn’t confirmed at this time that the DS will actually get some sort of Mass Effect game, Bioware does have “a lot of big plans for Mass Effect,” and thinks that making a DS version would be “awesome,” maintaining interest in the series, especially as a prelude to the sequel.

Lead designer of Sonic Chronicles, Miles Holmes, said that his game is just the beginning of Bioware’s handheld division, so it seems as though the developer has grand ambitions for upcoming titles and will possibly port other franchises (KOTOR DS, anyone?). They’re also looking into PSP and Wii development. Seems logical enough to me, and I’m actually looking forward to Sonic Chronicles, coming out September 26th.

[Eurogamer]

Bioware appears to be following in the footsteps of Blizzard in teasing the revelation of new game details via a simple and inscrutable website splash page.  Unfortunately, rather than some fancy photoshop work, all we get from this one are the words, “More July 9, 2008.”

All we know about the game up to this point is that it’s a fantasy-themed RPG that’s been in development for five years. As of now it looks like the game is going to get a 2009 release.

[Rock, Paper Shotgun]