Empire Interactive announced yesterday (February 11, 2009) that is has signed an exclusive deal to publish console, handheld and PC (including Mac) games based on the “Mensa license.” The deal has been drafted with both the American Mensa and British Mensa organizations.

Since the deal is still fresh, no specific titles have been announced but you can bet the games will be packed with puzzles and prove decent practice for the actual Mensa test.

Mensa is an organization of members who…

If there’s one genre that seems tailor made for the Wii, it has to be the shooting gallery game. Something about the Wii remote and the various gun attachment peripherals call to mind the light gun arcade games. It seems Empire Interactive intends to capitalize on this with its alien and UFO shooting game called Martian Panic, which will be out in 2009.

Martian Panic stars aliens which look like they came straight from the pages 1950s comic book to invade the Earth. The goal of the players is to take out the Martian Invasion Force, one martian and UFO at a time. It sounds like there’s some potential for frantic, reckless shooting, as four players can defend Earth at once.

What I’m most excited about is the two wiimote action…

We all know Hello Kitty’s a star, but who ever thought that her Animal Crossing-esque DS adventure would find such success. Empire Interactive and Atari have just announced that Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams, coming to the DS on November 11, 2008, has gone gold. A lot of Sanrio fans must be very happy.

Previous Hello Kitty games released in the US have had a strong focus on mini-games. While Hello Kitty: Big City Dreams also has quite a wide variety of mini-games, it also is a little life simulation, where you help Hello Kitty make a life for herself in the city. You play mini-games to earn money, which lets you travel around the city, buy new furniture for her apartment and pay for new clothing. You also have to make friends with other Sanrio characters, like My Melody, Chococat, Keroppi and TuxedoSam…

You know how some months, you walk into a GameStop and all you see are games you have to have? Well, it looks like September, 2008 is going to be that kind of month for DS owners. Add another title to the “Wanted” list, because Empire Interactive has just announced that it’s releasing Unsolved Crimes for the DS on September 23, 2008.

Unsolved Crimes has players solving crime cases as a detective in 1970′s New York. While there are eight cases to solve, it features an encompassing storyline that ties them all the cases together with the disappearance of a model named Betsy Blake. Players have to participate in action portions, crime scene investigations and quizzes on things seen throughout the game in order to solve each case…

The DS is a system that seems perfectly suited for point-and-click style adventures and RPGs, and Empire Interactive knows it. It has just announced that it is working with Strategy First Inc. and Cypron Studios to create an entry in the Jagged Alliance series for the DS. The game is going to be a turned based, action RPG and will be out sometime in 2009.

The official press release sets the stage for a DS remake of the original Jagged Alliance game, which originally came out in 1994 and only ran in DOS. In it, the player would gather a mercenary team to defeat Santino, a villainous man who is attempting to keep Metavira Island. Metavira Island is home to trees which can be made into extremely valuable medicine. The goal is to completely liberate each section of Metavira by eliminating Santino’s forces…

The DS’s detective/lawyer/crime game section is going to have another title added by Empire Interactive. Unsolved Crimes, due out before the end of Fall 2008, is going to allow players to investigate 3D crime scenes. It also looks like it may have a hint of brain training, as players may be asked to remember or pick out crucial details.

Unsolved Crimes is set in New York in 1970, and is going to have eight cases to play through and solve, but will also be looking at the kidnapping of the model Betsy Blake. Apparently every case will have some sort of connection, and the game will be full stylus support (you can take memos on the touch screen, use it to investigate and use it to make decisions).

Title: MystPrice: $29.99System(s): Nintendo DSRelease Date: May, 13, 2008Publisher (Developer): Empire Interactive (Hoplite Research)ESRB Rating: “Everyone”Pros: It is a portable version of a beloved, classic PC game.Cons: The graphics are horrible. The touch screen controls are atrocious. Sometimes the save function doesn’t work right. There are numerous, game ending, glitches.Overall Score: Two thumbs down, 20/100, F, No stars

Do not waste your money, or your time, on the DS port of the PC classic Myst. It is an abomination, practically unplayable and the very existance of this version of Myst tarnishes the memory of the original. Go pick up a copy of Real Myst or Myst 10th Anniversary DVD Edition.

Click through for the full review…

Readers may recall yesterday (May 21, 2008) Gamertell reported on a curious DS pet game mystery. Hana Deka Club: Animal Paradise was scheduled to be released in North America, but two companies both were listing the localization as one of their projects. O3 Entertainment was supposedly releasing the game as Pocket Pets and Empire Interactive was supposedly releasing it as Animal Paradise.

After talking with a representative from Empire Interactive, the truth was revealed. Originally O3 Entertainment was supposed to localize and release Hana Deka Club. Pocket Pets was supposed to be out in December, 2007. Since it was never released, Empire Interactive was given the opportunity to release the game in North America because it had published the European release as Animal Paradise. So expect to see Animal Paradise in stores this summer.

I think we’re at something like 35 DS pet games now, but who’s counting. A press release from Empire Interactive reveals that it will be bringing Animal Paradise to North American Nintendo DS owners. I guess representatives from the company walked into a GameStop, looked at the DS game wall and decided that there’d be plenty of room for one more pet title.

There’s an interesting twist here, for those who care enough to look. Empire Interactive says that the game will feature Yoneo Morita’s HanaDeka pictures and 18 different pets. There was a Japanese DS game with these features called Hana Deka Club: Animal Paradise. You’re probably thinking it is no big deal – so another Japanese game is being translated and localized. Except O3 Entertainment is already reportedly localizing and releasing this game in North America according to Gamefaqs – as Pocket Pets. Pocket Pets was supposed to be out December 4, 2007, but retail sites like Amazon and Wal-Mart are listing it as a pre-order item that should be available in June.