surgery-sim
Latest
Cutting open Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 videos
Want to see the gameplay that Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 has in store for you? IGN came up with some videos, which we've put here for your viewing convenience. The one up top shows an instance of performing surgery on an African plague victim, which looks difficult -- but seeing as this is Trauma Center, we'd expect no less. Fortunately for those of us in North America (and for the rest of you who don't mind importing), we have less than a month to wait before we can try it out for ourselves. The videos after the break include some of your ordinary surgery fodder, as well as Dr. Styles trying to save a land mine victim. Gallery: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
Cure exotic animals on the Wii
If you thought that Trauma Center's return to the DS would mean the end of medical games on the Wii, you were wrong.Zoo Hospital isn't just about normal doctoring, though -- as you can probably figure out from the game's title, you'll be a veterinarian (or, straight out of vet school, at least) that works on curing exotic animals from sicknesses.Surgeries won't be the only tasks you'll be performing in Zoo Hospital. You'll also do X-Ray and dentistry related tasks to soothe the forty-eight ailing animals. But even if you find the premise interesting, you might not want to get your hopes too high, as the DS version off the game (also developed by Torus) was apparently not that good.Zoo Hospital is planned to launch in European and PAL territories during Q4, 2008.%Gallery-22333%[Via press release]
Latest Simple DS shots show off firefighting, surgery
The latest two offerings in D3 Publisher's Simple DS line-up manage to look both gross (Simple DS Series Vol. 40: THE Gekai) and dramatic (Simple DS Series Vol. 39: THE Shouboutai) in these new screens.More ER than Scrubs, THE Gekai (The Surgeon) takes a far more serious approach to surgery than Trauma Center. It might be worth a closer look come June, but for now we're far more interested in THE Shouboutai (The Firefighting Crew), partially because there's nothing quite like it on the DS (there should be more games about firefighting anyway, given that it oozes with the potential for drama and heroism), and also because our addled memories still fondly recall Burning Rangers on the Saturn. Actually, Burning Rangers is the main reason we're interested in this. Okay, the only reason. We wouldn't count on D3's firefighters carrying jet-packs, mind.Head to our new galleries for the fresh screenage, though don't be expecting either of these to make the journey west.%Gallery-22325%%Gallery-22327%
Bargain Explorer: Sale Unit
If Shiren the Wanderer's turn-based system was too slow-paced to satisfy your dungeon crawling needs, you might want to look into Dungeon Explorer: Warriors of Ancient Arts, Hudson's Diablo-esque hack-and-slash follow-up to the original TurboGrafx-16 game. Amazon has Dungeon Explorer discounted to $19.49, a generous price considering the game includes online support for up to four players and even a bit of voice chat.And if you're neither a fan of dungeon crawling or dungeon exploring -- perhaps you just want to steer clear of dungeons altogether -- Amazon also has LifeSigns: Surgical Unit marked down to $19.49. While the LifeSigns series isn't as popular as that other surgery sim, Trauma Center, apparently a few of our readers are big fans of the game!%Gallery-10382%[Via CAG]Read - Dungeon Explorer: Warrior of Ancient ArtsRead - Lifesigns Surgical Unit
Perform simple surgery, fight simple fires
In June, Japan will have two more additions to D3's Simple DS series. One will be a Trauma Center type of game, but with more realistic looking organs. Also, you'll be operating to cure actual conditions, like appendicitis, rather than mysterious, made-up outbreaks. We'll squeamishly take our cartoon organs, thanks, but should you have a stomach for that sort of thing, Simple DS Series Vol. 40: The Gekai might be the game for you.The other simple software, Vol. 39: The Shouboutai, deals with the heroic task of firefighting. Since poking at fires with your stylus is less dangerous than dashing into burning buildings, D3's game probably sounds more appealing than the real-life task.
Trauma Center: New sale
Is it us, or has Amazon been a great place for Nintendo shoppers lately?In any case, today's "Deal of the Day" is Trauma Center: New Blood, the most recent (until July 1st!) Trauma Center game on the market. If Atlus decides to bring the series back to the DS for good, this may be the last time you get to operate with your Wiimote.The deal also provides pretty decent savings, as the game is marked down by $17 (meaning it will cost you $32.99). Is anyone planning on getting this today? If so, just make sure you order it before 3am EDT.%Gallery-4686%
LifeSigns: Surgical Unit has a nicely timed sale
If you're itching to unleash your inner surgeon onto your DS after all this Trauma Center brouhaha, you might want to consider picking up LifeSigns: Surgical Unit in the meantime. Since we haven't played it, we can't recommend it ourselves (although some of our readers seem to be fond of this title), but it happens to be on sale this week at GameQuest Direct. The sale will last until April 8th, giving you plenty of time to consider whether or not you need another surgery-sim-meets-soap-opera in your life, but an $11 markdown is a pretty nice deal. Also, thanks to CAG, you can use the code CAG1SHIP in the bottom left corner for free shipping.Yet, the game did end up on some worst lists of 2007, so caveat emptor.[Via CAG]
Trauma Center Tuesday, brought to you on Wednesday (cause we're rebels like that)
Yesterday marked the last Trauma Center Tuesday before New Blood's release next week, and that means Atlus had more surgical goodies for us. The most notable treat this week was the video of the game's introduction, which we posted above for your viewing pleasure. Aren't we just the best?Normally we wouldn't go all ga-ga over a game's opening (okay, well sometimes we do), but this is one of the best we've seen. The art, the effects, the music, and everything about this introduction makes us weak in the knees. It was like watching the opening to a TV show ... er, if TV show openings were actually good and made us want to cut people open.Atlus, you sly dogs, now you have us looking deeper into our wallets during this video game glut, hoping that we can stretch them enough to pick up your game next week. Does anyone else feel our pain?On a side note, you should check out the ridiculous poem Atlus sent us that's posted after the break. Atlus, stick to making video games and not poetry, okay?
Trauma Center Tuesday: new faces, hopefully belonging to people with steady hands
It's Tuesday, and Trauma Center: New Blood isn't out yet, so you know what that means: another Trauma Tuesday update at the game's homepage! Atlus has released a new trailer for the game, highlighting some of the new characters to be found, including ... some surgeon! Another surgeon! And a nurse! Maybe the addition of full voice acting will make us follow the plot more closely, but we doubt it. We just want to perform surgeries on people infected with bizarro alien viruses!This week's update also brings news about preorder bonuses: if you preorder the game from Atlus's online store, you'll get one of the swanky Trauma Center syringe pens, which even people like us who can make ourselves pass out by thinking of syringes can enjoy. You'll also get (in the words of the press release) "a certificate to (virtually) operate on people!" Finally, a nice diploma to class up your wall.
Trauma Center ad is bloody brilliant
If, like us, you've been wondering where Atlus' creativity went with its terribly plain Trauma Center: New Blood boxart, you'll be happy to hear that we managed to find some of it in the latest issue of Nintendo Power. While not as hilarious or ridiculous as the Geometry Wars: Galaxies piece we featured late last week, this blood transfusion ad we spotted certainly is creative. Jump past the post break for the full page.
