In Inversion, your primary weapon is the Grappler – which is like a Gravity Gun on steroids. Wielding the Grappler, you can move massive environmental objects, changing the landscape of the gameplay arena with a pull of the trigger. And while you can manipulate objects with your Grappler, you’ll also encounter zero gravity and other gravitational anomalies in the environment, which should make for some unique combat situations. You’ll also need to use your gravity manipulation skills to solve a variety of puzzles that keep you from reaching your objectives.

Think your opponent is crouching behind that bus? Just pick it up and move it out of the way. Or better yet, drop the bus on his head. Or just toss him aside like yesterday’s garbage.

Inversion is also one of the first games to feature Havok’s new Destruction physics engine, which provides incredible destructible environments – woo hoo! The game is being developed by Saber Interactive – best known for the time-manipulation shooter TimeShift.

Expect Inversion to land on Xbox 360s and PS3s some time in 2010. Keep an eye out for this one. Just don’t try and hide behind anything. I’ll find you and drop a bus (or two) on your ass.

The developers revealed, before the game’s release in Japan, that a great deal of effort and money went into polishing Fragile, so it isn’t altogether surprising the title is being given a chance to recoup more of that expense. But whatever the reason, gamers outside of Japan are the ones who’ll benefit here.

There are even rumors of a Japanese language track in addition to full English voice acting, a much-desired yet rare option for many games. But even without the original voice acting, Fragile will be a game to watch (and, uh, play).

[via ThatVideoGameBlog]

Now, however, we’ve finally heard a whisper of localization. Listings have suddenly turned up with several Australian retailers, so this is a rumor with legs. Will new publisher Atari bring the game to the United States? With the film releasing this month in the U.S. on DVD, it would be a good time to do so… and it would also be a major stealth release, considering there hasn’t been a whisper until now.

Seems like a waste of a beautiful game, if so. If you’re into flight games, it’s worth keeping an ear to the ground on this one. An English-language release would be well worth checking out.

[Aussie-Nintendo via GoNintendo]

In the forthcoming PS3-exclusive Katamari Forever, the stars have all been destroyed and need to be remade (again, sigh), but this time, things are a little different–in several key ways. Katamari Forever is a mix of old and new levels, and the old levels take place in the King of All Cosmos’s faulty memory, and they are devoid of color. As you roll your katamari, color leaches back into the stage.

In some of the new stages, your katamari has the power to alter the world; in one desert stage, you terraform the landscape with a water-soaked katamari, absorbing the sand and producing verdant forest. Katamari Forever will also have neat effects like graphics filters you can purchase with points earned, so you can see your rollable world in wood grain, for instance, and a comic effect mode. But with all this gain comes sacrifice: the only multi-player feature we saw with Beautiful Katamari will be absent. Not a huge price to pay, however.

[via Siliconera]

The bright colors and art design are certainly reminiscent of Keita Takahashi’s aforementioned games, and that’s not too surprising, considering The Munchables is also coming from Namco Bandai. They know what works. In this game, players are tasked with eating… and eating… and eating, until your guy gets bigger and can then–guess what?–eat more.

Check out The Munchable’s little pink fellow in the game’s trailer below. Be careful, though–it might make you hungry. Okay, actually, probably not.

I hope not, at least.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[Famitsu via Joystiq Nintendo]

Nintendo didn’t mess around with any of this fancy advance warning business, either; bam! The arcade additions were announced, and bam! You can already download a few via the Virtual Console. Here’s the list of games that have been announced:

• Gaplus (Namco Bandai): 600 Wii Points (available now)
• Mappy (Namco Bandai): 500 Wii Points (available now)
• The Tower Of Druaga (Namco Bandai): 500 Wii Points (available now)
• Starforce (Tecmo): 500 Wii Points (available now)
• Space Harrier (Sega) (coming soon)
• Solvalou (Namco Bandai) (coming soon)

[via The Tanooki]

Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy is in fact a part of the Katamari franchise, and it is for the Nintendo DSi, but it’s a puzzle game and it’s part of the forthcoming DSiWare download service… at least, in Japan, where the game will be available next week. The gameplay is similar to Pac-Attack, a classic puzzler based on Pac-Man.

While it’s a little disappointing that we don’t have a “real” Katamari game for the DS(i), there’s a silver lining or two on this particular cloud. The game is a steal at 500 Nintendo points (equivalent to $5 U.S.), and it features the King of All Cosmos, and he’s the best part of any Katamari game anyway.

Well. The rolling is pretty awesome, too. Sigh.

[Siliconera via Tiny Cartridge]

Actually, I’m not sure what the motivation was behind the Katamari Cousins Project, but in my imagination, it’s frustration–but the good kind. The kind that results in forty paintings, one cousin per painting. And, of course, a classic central scene to anchor the project. No cows, though.

Of course, I can’t help but wonder what the forty-one paintings might look like if they were rolled into a giant canvas Katamari….

[Katamari Project via Sprite Stitch]

To what end do you roll and stretch? There’s no telling, but it looks like good destructive fun from this clip, so perhaps rolling and stretching is a purpose unto itself.

Oh, to live such a simple life.

Noby Noby Boy is currently set for release via the PlayStation Network early next year, and while it has not yet been priced for North America, the European download will drop at the ridiculously-low rate of 3.99€.

[via Game|Life]