Just days before the real life trauma of E3 takes hold, Atlus announced that it will localize the recently revealed Trauma Center successor, Hospital, as Trauma Team for the Wii in North America. As previously noted, the game will feature gameplay across six different medical fields, as players play as a general surgeon, diagnostician, E.M.T., orthopedic surgeon, endoscope technician, and medical examiner.

Atlus hasn't yet sewn up all of the details, However, the game is expected to be among the publisher's titles on display during next week's show and we look forward to finding out more before Trauma Team scrubs in next Spring.

In this week's Famitsu, Atlus has revealed a "spiritual successor" to the Trauma Center series that expands the game's scope beyond surgery. Hospital, created by the same development team as the hit surgery games, stars six different medical practitioners, each with a different specialization. Only one of the six is a Trauma Center-style surgeon -- Prisoner CR-SO1, a convict whose sentence was reduced in exchange for his surgical expertise.

The rest of the group include a diagnostician, a paramedic, a cosmetic surgeon (who performs non-life-or-death procedures like hip replacements), an endoscopic surgeon, and a forensic examiner. Each character features a different style of play.

According to 1up's translation of the article, producer Daisuke Kanada told Famitsu that the game "completes one of the goals for a medical series that we've been striving for before, and it's also a wholly new title, not a sequel to Trauma Center. It's not just a surgery game, but an entire hospital in game form.

For people longing to play new demos via the Nintendo Channel, the frustration continues. All we saw on the channel today was the return of two demos that we never really missed in the first place (we're looking at you, Carnival Games and Crosswords DS Wordsearch).

Nintendo also extended the availability dates on three of the existing demos, probably because offering three new ones would have been too satisfying (/bitter). The good news is, you have another week to try out Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 and Contra 4 if you haven't done so already.

Click past the break to see yet another underwhelming list of demos.

Sure, it may be the most neglected continent in the history of video games, but those crazy Australians are going positively mental for Nintendo all the same. According to industry tracker Gfk, the Wii has just passed the 500,000 mark down under, making it the fastest-selling console in history. Well, Australia's history. Does that still count as cool?

The Wii achieved this monumental feat (remember, there's only 20 million people in Australia) in just 84 weeks since launch in December 2006. On top of the "hey, we're awesome!" announcement, a few new release dates for some hot Wii games have been revealed. Wario Land: The Shake Dimension will be hitting consoles on September 25th, and Trauma Center: Second Opinion (yes, that neglected) is coming out August 28th.

For those of you looking to play something brand new this week, you're out of luck. Instead, Nintendo offers us a chance to catch up with some demos me might have missed in the past, allowing folks to download these up until next week. So, if you missed out last time, get on it!

With Trauma Center 2 and Contra 4 on the Nintendo Channel's demos list, you may wonder why exactly we're unimpressed. Perhaps it's because there's nothing new offered this week, unless you count the reappearance of certain demos on the list as "new." We don't.

To see why we're thoroughly uninspired, check past the break for the full list of "been there, done that" demos.

As DS fans, we play lots of games. There's just no getting around it, because the system is up to its eyeballs in great titles, always. So, we're often busy with this or that.

We imagine you game quite a bit on the handheld, too. So, we have to ask: what is your recent favorite game? What game have you played lately that has blown you away? A little game called Space Invaders Extreme? Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2? Well, what game have you played lately that has been just plain great?

It's Monday again, which means it's time to check out what the Nintendo Channel has in store for DS demos. Like last week, we don't get much in the way of new stuff to play on our DS, but it's not about quantity here, it's about quality. And, this week's lone demo has that in spades:

• Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

There's one thing you need to know right up front: Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 is one of the best DS games to date, even without the benefit of some of the things that were added to the Wii entries in the medical franchise. The gameplay is much improved over the already-excellent first title, and the biggest complaint made by the original's detractors -- the difficulty -- is mitigated here by the inclusion of a range of difficulty settings. The result is pretty close to spectacular.

But when the gameplay is so good that there are few complaints, it's a lot easier to nitpick other aspects of the title, and we've got nitpicks in spades. That's all they are, though: tiny complaints that hardly matter. Under the Knife 2 should be remembered as one of the most satisfying experiences on the DS. Unfortunately, that's not likely to happen.

Anyone need a kidney? It's fresh! We need the money so we can keep up with all these vitally important DS games, and after this week, we'll know how to remove it cleanly. Trauma Center is just like real surgery, right? It's important that we learn, so we can get 1 vs. 100 (omg!) the moment it's released.

Surgery may not be our thing, but we've got a handle on sarcasm.

• 1 vs. 100
• AMF Bowling Pinbusters!
• Ducati Moto
• Journey to the Center of the Earth
• Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

Stagger past the break to see what's out in the rest of the world.

Of the many things we look forward to when unwrapping a new game, box art ranks just above the new game smell and that little card that falls on the floor when the box is opened, quietly pleading for feedback. This is not the case, however, for Atlus creative designer Jeremy Cail, who makes it his job to judge books -- make that games -- by their cover, and in a recent blog post breaks down all of the effort that went into designing the cover for next month's Trauma Center sequel for the DS.

Besides the differences between North American and Japanese boxes, the designer expounds on the virtues of title placement (can't have it be covered by the shelf, can we?) and the importance of Derek's glowing hand (Uh oh, it's magic). He also discusses the title itself, noting that Under the Knife 2 was not the team's first choice, with subtitles such as "Surgeon's Oath" or "Under the Gun" also in the pot for consideration. And what of Nurse Angie's new maid cafe-inspired attire? Cail writes that "I hope that gives you cosplayers out there some extra inspiration this year at anime conventions." Man, it's like you read our minds. Creepy.

It's not that often that we hear about the creative process behind designing a game's box -- our own interview with Konami's contracted illustrator and packaging designer Julie Giles is a rare piece. Most people would rather read about the people who designed the actual games.

Seeing an opportunity to share his experiences with packshots, Atlus creative designer has posted an update on the publisher's informative series of Production Diaries, detailing the adjustments that were needed to adapt Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2's Japanese cover for the U.S. audience. Join us past the post break for comparison shots and a scan of the surgery sim's new print ad!

Good news for Trauma Center fans -- if you liked the first game, it stands to reason that you'll enjoy Under the Knife 2. All the slicing, stitching, and ass-kicking potential of the first is here, and with more options lifted from the Wii version. But if you didn't like Trauma Center the first time around, the Easy mode may not be enough to tempt you into this one.

Of course, if you didn't like Trauma Center, you're probably more interested in spending your time kicking puppies, or otherwise engaged in some horrific habit. Honestly, the pain of (repeated, egregious) failure aside, it remains one of the best and most intense experiences on the handheld. Can a sequel hope to measure up? We spent a little time with the upcoming title in an effort to find out.

The Wii-eager Australian customers were all happily discussing which games they would purchase when Nintendo's hot new console hit the shelves on December 7th, 2006. Plenty of gamers were looking forward to Trauma Center: Second Opinion, which was shaping up to be a quality title.

After a miniscule eighteen months, TC:SO has now been rated by the OFLC for release! Yes, it apparently takes that long to bring a completed game to the shores of ridiculous retail prices. Aussies are used to delays for other big name games like Super Paper Mario and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (which still isn't out), but this one really takes the cake. It's worth noting that there still isn't an actual release date -- it's merely been rated. So, is there potential for a two year Australian delay for a US launch title? You bet!

Forget the emergency room, this one is long dead.

Want to see the gameplay that Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 has in store for you? IGN came up with some videos, which we've put here for your viewing convenience. The one up top shows an instance of performing surgery on an African plague victim, which looks difficult -- but seeing as this is Trauma Center, we'd expect no less. Fortunately for those of us in North America (and for the rest of you who don't mind importing), we have less than a month to wait before we can try it out for ourselves.

The videos after the break include some of your ordinary surgery fodder, as well as Dr. Styles trying to save a land mine victim.