Last year's smaller and considerably more inconvenient E3 marked quite a dramatic change from the glitz and glare we had grown accustomed to. Gone was the inescapable nexus of pulsating lights and the deafening roar of booths competing to be the loudest, instead replaced by warmly lit hotel rooms and, of course, tastefully dressed women. No wonder Tecmo didn't bother to show up.

Jokes aside, the publisher has confirmed to Joystiq that it will be attending the E3 Media & Business Summit in Los Angeles this July, though it's unclear which games will be shown off. With Microsoft-published Ninja Gaiden II out of the way in June, we'll likely see more of Tecmo Bowl Kickoff, Rygar: The Battle of Argus and possibly some game about ninja babes slapping each other on the beach.

Maybe Tecmo didn't receive Nintendo's marketing materials. Rygar on the Wii ignores the elderly, girls and casual gamers. This is meant squarely for the adrenaline-loving Spike TV-watching crowd. At the helm of this project is Keisuke Kikuchi -- a man who wants to bring a darker edge to the franchise and give Wii owners something that might, in fact, make players build their muscles. So much so that the game is being subtitled Muscle Impact in Japan. Seriously. Read on.

Why is it called Muscle Impact in Japan?
The Japanese title is going to be Rygar: The Battle of Argus. But after that will be "Muscle Impact." He wants to know what you think about it.

It's interesting, to say the least. Maybe, it's strange?
Well, do you think its Japanese?

It's very Japanese.
To elaborate on why we decided to include "Muscle Impact" in the Japanese title, was because we want players to feel strong and tough in this installment of Rygar. There's a bold statement behind it. With the foreign title, simply adding "The" to "The Battle of Argus" will probably translate what we're trying to do without adding more words to it. But, in Japanese, we wanted to make it more strong and add a really "tough" word to it. We want you to really feel the toughness.

Maybe players will feel stronger?
Well, take a look at my muscles! (Laughs.) Although, because we don't have a playable ROM here yet, you can't see how big they are yet!

New Hero. New Enemies. Swing Action. That's Tecmo's motto for the newly announced Project Rygar, a Wii resurrection of the "Legendary Warrior" (not a port of the PS2 game). Revealed during Tecmo's 'Nite Out 07' event in Tokyo, Japan, the Wii-exclusive will apparently share little in common with its series' predecessors, with the exception of the trademark "Diskarmor" weapon. Tecmo shared little else about the game, teasing attendees with a few glimpses of concept art, but no gameplay images.

So how 'bout it Tecmo? You gonna warm us up with a Rygar Virtual Console release? If ya do, just make sure that virtual save feature's workin'...