Geometry Wars: Galaxies Jump to Nintendo Platforms is Now Official

It is finally official, folks: the next Geometry Wars title really is jumping ship to Nintendo.

Vivendi Games, whose Sierra Entertainment division is doing the title's publishing digs, has confirmed the existance of the follow-up to the Xbox Live series hit Retro Evolved - entitled Geometry Wars: Galaxies - as an exclusive to both the sleeper-hit Wii console and the DS handheld. This follows an exclusive first report put out by U.S. official Ninty-related publication Nintendo Power on the title.

IGN.com reports that Galaxies will contain plenty of exclusive new features, including "a campaign mode which sees you travelling between solar systems to take out the enemy ships", along with new gameplay modes to conquer (including a series-first multiplayer mode), new weapons to dish out the pain and new enemy types to deal with. The new multiplayer mode, a series first, packs everything from "co-op mode, hot-seat battles and a traditional versus mode - which is all extremely exciting. Plus, if you buy both versions of the game you can use a Wi-Fi link between your DS and Wii to unlock new content." Also confirmed are online leaderboards in the pipeline for the Wii version of the title, which has no date but is coming, as purported by Nintendo Power, sometime this fall.

"The Geometry Wars: Galaxies videogame is an entertaining title blending old-school arcade fun with next-gen gameplay and action," said Al Simone, SVP of Global Marketing for Sierra Entertainment. "We are excited to bring the Geometry Wars brand to the Nintendo platform as both the Wii and DS enable a fun and frenetic experience for gamers."

IGN also reports that "although development is being handled by UK-based Kuju Entertainment, Geometry Wars's original creator Stephen 'Cakey' Cakebread came up with the prototype Wii controls before handing the project over," in order to get an idea on the best way to adapt the finished product to the console. What they found out, according to original publisher Bizzare Creations' Ben Ward, is that "we found at least 2 different methods which worked really well. We've prototyped on the DS too with similar success, so we're confident that the games will play superbly on the new platforms and will avoid the trap of adding a new control method just for the sake of it."

What decisions remain unanswered concern the delivery mechanisms for both versions of the game. The DS release will probably ship on a cartridge device for that platform much like other games for the hardware due to design limits. The Wii, version, however, is completely diferent matter in itself, thanks to rumors of a possible extention of the console's software download service - and perhaps an improved storage mechanism to go with it, if the Big N eventually decides it's necessary compared to its current, stricter mechanisms already in place. Yet there are already hints at a forthcoming announcement in this area due en route soon, which means this may change not to far away from now.

For reference purposes, the source material list for this article follows below:
http://ds.ign.com/articles/791/791921p1.html
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5767&Itemid=2
http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/13586/Geometry-Wars-Coming-to-the-Wii-and-DS
http://wii.vggen.com/news/news.php?id=5188

For screenshots of the game in action, please refer to the following link:
http://wii.vggen.com/gallery.php?game=2806