Mercury Games and Ertain BV have announced a strategic alliance that brings over 10 Japanese titles to Europe and US. The deal promotes Ertain’s Zen series of DS games, consisting of painting, puzzle and relaxing fish simulation titles, all for release later this year.

The agreement signals the Japanese publisher’s intent on taking the Western market seriously and developing a long term strategy of expansion. This alliance also bolsters Mercury Games’ position as a growing publisher with a great pipeline of innovative DS games.

More information on the Zen series will be announced soon.

Marking the first numbered title in the franchise in a decade, Konami announced Contra 4 for the DS. The game marks the series’ 20th anniversary, and takes place two years after the events of Contra III, having players confronted by the Black Viper.

Expectedly, the game will make use of the portable’s dual-screen, having action spanning both screens of the DS. The screens will be used to allow for massive boss battles as players try to seek and destroy the weak points of sky-high enemies. Additionally, the game introduces a grappling hook accessory, letting players grab onto elements directly above them.

Contra 4 is being developed by WayForward Technologies and is planned for release sometime later this year.

D3Publisher has announced Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire, a third-person action-adventure game where players unleash the power of a dragon, as well as use swords and other weapons. Exclusive to the Wii, the game will make use of the console’s unique controllers to let players play with both arms simultaneously to emulate the dragon’s arms, wings, tail, fire and more. It will feature 20 unique environments in 6 worlds.

“Dragon Blade is one the few hack ‘n slash games that will be available on the Wii this fall and the development team, Land Ho, has done a great job to fully utilize the Wii controls so players will experience parallel movement between themselves and the game avatar like never before,” said Yoji Takenaka, executive vice president and chief operations officer, D3PA. “With its arcade style pick-up and play gameplay, we expect Dragon Blade to appeal to gamers of all ages.”

Dragon Blade features an original story by Richard A. Knaak, known for his work on DragonLance, as well as Warcraft, Diablo and the Age of Conan. The game is set for release this Fall.

The world premiere second trailer for Grand Theft Auto IV will be released exclusively on Yahoo. To be released on June 28, the trailer will offer a peek at the highly anticipated game.

Yahoo will additionally offer exclusive GTA 4 content all week till the trailer.

Jackass: The Game site is up, offering details, media and video from the upcoming stunt-action game. The Darkest of Days website is up, too, offering a noisy home to the upcoming time-travelling shooter.

The Steam website announces that this Summer users will see the largest update to the service since its launch over three years ago. New features include setting up own personal Steam pages and profiles, create and join groups, schedule games with friends, review who you’ve played with, chat via voice, see how everyone played, and more.

These features will be accessible via the Steam desktop client and also via the web.

Residents in the United States can signup for the Resistance: Fall of Man official online tournament. The winners of the tournament will compete in a televised final competition in New York City.

Registration is open from June 18 to July 4. Players need to be of 18 years of age and older.

GameTap is set to bring their service to the Macintosh, according to Macworld. Gamers on the Mac platform will now be able to enjoy the service’s classic console and arcade games thanks to the Cider transition layer for emulation, meaning that it will be exclusive only to Intel-based Macs.

The World of Warcraft Community site carries word that several thousand accounts have been banned for using bot programs. This comes hot on the heels of a new update, bringing the MMORPG up to v2.1.2.

On Steam is a Windows XP version of Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Previously it was exclusive to Windows Vista, but is now available to far more PC owners for a very, very low price.

Activision sent out the following ten lovely high-resolution screenshots from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. These are from the PC version:

And the following are from the console version:

It’s now official: The Sims is a brand of its own. EA has announced that it will organize its business into four labels: EA Sports, EA Games, EA Casual Entertainment and The Sims. Each label will operate with dedicated studios and publishing teams focused on consumer-driven priorities. Apparently, the new structure will streamline “decision-making, improve global focus and speed new ideas to the market.”

• The Sims – Led by Label President Nancy Smith. This team created the model on which the new organization is built. Upcoming releases include: MySims(TM) for the Wii(TM) and Nintendo DS(TM), SimCity(TM) Societies, and The Sims Castaway Stories and many more.

• EA Games – Led by Label President Frank Gibeau. This label includes Need for Speed(TM), Medal of Honor(TM), SPORE(TM), Battlefield, Burnout(TM), Command & Conquer(TM), The Simpsons(TM) and more. EA Games will also be home to the EA Partners publishing business.

• EA Casual Entertainment – Led by Label President Kathy Vrabeck. This team will focus on lighter, more accessible games for families and new consumers. The portfolio will include EA franchises and games such as Harry Potter(TM), Boogie(TM) and others. This group will also be home to EA Mobile(TM) and EA’s casual suite of online games, Pogo.com(TM).

• EA SPORTS – Without question, the strongest brand in interactive entertainment. This team is responsible for many of the company’s flagship franchises including Madden NFL, NBA Live, FIFA Soccer, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR(R), NHL(R) Hockey and NASCAR(R). EA Executive Vice President Joel Linzner will oversee this group until a president of EA Sports is announced.

Thanks to Microsoft, Take Two is raking in the money. Wired reports that the publisher will receive a stupendous $50 million in exchange for exclusive downloadable episodes for the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto IV.

The money is for two episodes, apparently, each costing Microsoft a cool $25 million. The first episode is set to launch in March 2008, with the second update following later that year.

GTA IV will also be released on the PS3, though it will receive no such exclusive treatment. The game is slated to be released this October.

This 3D Realms post announced Earth No More, an upcoming action game from Recoil Games, a new game company founded by ex-Remedy employee Samuli Syvahuoko. Making its premiere through the July 2007 issue of Game Informer, the game is in development for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, and is set for release sometime in 2009. The magazine article features screenshots, interviews with developers, as well as details on the game. Here are a few choice quotes:

“‘We’re going to design almost every weapon in the game to where it’s going to have a sort of collaborative mode to it,’ says Miller. One gun called the Linker works like a reverse proton pack from Ghostbusters.”

“The team is intricately analyzing how group dynamics work in movies like the Alien, The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and 28 Days Later, hoping to emulate that kind of tension in game form.”

The post also mentions that the magazine has a small sidebar article about Duke Nukem Forever, including a new screenshot from the game.

EA wants everyone to be kids again. The publisher has announced EA Playground, an all new IP in development at EA Canada, for the Wii and DS. The game aims to capture the “exuberance and nostalgia” of your neighborhood playground. It is scheduled for release this Autumn.

“Young, old, male or female — EA Playground has something for everyone,” said Executive producer Dave McCarthy. “EA Playground transports you to your fantasy playground, packed with interesting characters, over-the top gameplay, and a ton of collectables. Kids can bring the excitement of the playground home, and parents or even grandparents can re-experience their childhood thrills.”

The game will feature easy to pick-up-and-play games by making use of the unique controllers on both the WIi and DS. “Swing the Wii remote to excel in tetherball, blow into the Nintendo DS mic to fire spitballs or battle your friends and family in dodgeball,” reads the press release.

EA Playground will feature different locations, “wacky” in-game friends, rewards and stickers, upgraded abilities, activities and more. Below are two high-resolution shots from it: