411mania gives a rundown on this week's game releases. Highlights include Legacy of Ys: Books I & II, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, Stoked, The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.

Legacy of Ys: Books I & II (DS)
Ys I and II have seen many ports and remakes since the first one came out in 1987; they've seen the light of day on such systems as the PC-8801, Famicom, Master System, DOS, Apple II, Saturn, and PS2 to name a few. The most widely-known versions are contained in the TurboGrafx-CD compilation, and for years that release was considered the best. It's place at the top was eventually challenged by Ys Eternal as it sported upgraded graphics, effects, and artwork as well as extras like new characters and scenarios. Unfortunately, Eternal didn't include voiceovers and some say that the remixed music was not as good. Apparently, enough people weren't satisfied so another update known as Ys Complete, which is said to have better graphics but an inferior soundtrack, was unleashed. Despite my best efforts, I could not find any agreement amongst Ys fans as to which official release is the definitive version since each of the three does at least one thing better than the others.

Preferences aside, there is one thing that fans of the first two Ys games can agree on no matter which version they've played - Ys I and II have some of the best music you will find in a video game. Every place I visited for info makes note of how awesome the soundtrack is. Knowing this, I questioned whether or not it was a good idea to play the games on the DS for the first time when I could just as easily track down the PC version and patch it or download the Wii VC one. Granted, Legacy of Ys comes with a free soundtrack if you preorder and it is portable. Maybe it would be easier to just flip a coin...

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Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop (Wii) ...
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A Sudanese hip-hop musician who escaped a life as a child soldier takes rapper 50 Cent to task over his video games in an upcoming album in a song titled "50 Cent".
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50 Cent is set to star in his second videogame, it has emerged via US mag Electronic Gaming Monthly. The millions of people that bought Bulletproof have given Vivendi/Activision Blizzard reason enough to churn out the rapper's second title which, as a cover scan reveals, is set to appear in the next issue of EGM. Simply known as 50 Cent II at the moment, no gameplay details have been revealed, but we're willing to bet that it won't be a pet ... » Read More

50 Cent believes parents should buy their children his new gun-happy game Bulletproof, regardless of the child's age. 50 Cent Bulletproof has been rated 'Mature' in the US (17+) and 18 in the UK for its graphic violence, bad language and sexual themes. The rapper told Reuters that he believes parents should sit down and play Bulletproof with their children, explaining what was happening as they did so. Such a conversation would probably go like this: "Now I'm shooting this man in the ... » Read More

The soundtrack to the game 50 Cent Bulletproof will feature 13 never before released tracks by the multi-million selling rap star. Also on the soundtrack will be hits from 50 Cent albums Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Massacre, contributions from G-Unit members Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo and Young Buck, as well as 90 minutes of original music score by Emmy Award winning producer Sha Money XL. This takes the total number of track in the game to over 150. The full list of exclusive tracks can be ... » Read More

Following on from last week's that hip-hopper 50 Cent was set to appear in his own game, we now have the very first footage of the OG in action. Under the title 50 Cent Bulletproof, this gritty game will follow the shot-up superstar as he fights crime in the New York underworld with help from his chum Dr Dre and his pals from G-Unit. And while the man christened Curtis Jackson has claimed that he turned down the chance to appear in San Andreas, the designers of his game have obviously been ... » Read More

Interweb whispers currently suggest that work is underway on a PS2 and Xbox game starring 50 Cent (or around 26p at today's exchange rate). It's not clear at present who's publishing or even developing the game, although we have heard that the never-knowingly-unshot Cent is writing an original soundtrack for the title. As for the gameplay, it's said to be extremely adult in tone, with no shortage of violence and, as you'd imagine, lots of guns. In addition to Curtis himself, there is also ... » Read More