Welcome to This Week in Review (formerly This Week in DLC), where we round up all the hands-on impressions and game reviews (including Metareviews) from the Joystiq Network. This week's megaton title should come as no surprise whatsoever.

Nintendo Wii

• First impressions: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Metareview: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
  
• Wii Fanboy takes Super Smash Bros. Brawl Wi-Fi for a test drive
• VC Monday Madness: Super Turrican
  

After being reunited with our dear friends from Oceanic Flight 815 this past Thursday, we're suffering from a pretty severe reoccurance of Lost fever -- luckily, this new trailer came along just in time to satiate our hunger for tropical island adventures. The game looks gorgeous, and seems to be very faithful to the show, apart from a few characters who are not voiced by the actors who played them in the show -- the most jarring of these being John Locke, who sounds like a slightly bewildered Steven Seagal throughout this trailer.

Of course, every good Lost fan knows to look out for branded sharks and hidden messages -- which this one-and-a-half minute trailer has plenty of. We'll leave it to you to find these single-frame clues. What do you think -- is there some significance to these blips, or is this just another four-toed statue?

Just in case you – the loner, who refused to get "caught up" in Lost hysteria – feel left out while everyone (everyone who still cares that is) watches the season opener of the popular cliffhanger-fest, Microsoft has announced that their deal with ABC Television and MGM (first announced at CES) is finally coming to fruition. Part of that deal is ... wait for it ... high-def Lost episodes on Xbox Live Video Marketplace. You can nab the first three seasons now – at 160MS points for SD, 240 for HD ($2 and $3 respectively) – or get the first episode of season four tomorrow (or at abc.com for free if you prefer).

Other ABC shows like Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives are being added, along with Disney Channel programming like Hannah Montana (you know, for kids). Those MGM movies are being added beginning February 18th, including the complete Rocky series, some James Bond pics, and Mr. Brooks. Most notable, perhaps, is this month's addition of King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, the well received documentary about two arcade champs.

Anyone who has stared into the pitch-black eye of madness known as the Fox News Network's "coverage" of Mass Effect and its "Luke Skywalker meets 'Debbie Does Dallas'" gameplay, is probably now familiar with psychology specialist Cooper Lawrence, who laughingly admitted on the show that she had never played Mass Effect, but still assured the program's viewers of the game's vicious, child corrupting qualities.

We imagine the chuckles came to an abrupt end when Lawrence checked the Amazon ratings of her newest book, "The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace With Your Inner Overachiever," whose middling review had been torn asunder by incensed gamers -- many of whom took the time to mention that they had never actually read the book, but hated it anyways. Amazon recently took down these negative reviews -- a shame, as we're sure they'd provide more entertainment than the actual book ever could.

Lawrence has since apologized in a New York Times article, claiming she was misinformed about the game, and that she's "seen episodes of 'Lost' that are more sexually explicit." Nice work, Lawrence. You might have settled things with the gaming community, but now you've pissed off the DHARMA Initiative, who are capable of doing much more than just downvoting self-help literature.

Update: X-Play's Adam Sessler recently spoke his mind about the "Mass Stupidity" debacle -- his video comments can be viewed (and enjoyed) after the jump.

There's something eerily familiar about watching this gameplay footage for Lost: Via Domus. Maybe it's Charlie running past your character on the plane, the subsequent crash, the tail that almost crushes Hurley. From the good digitization of Ben to the bad digitization of bearded Mr Friendly, the video brings about a good sense of déjà vu.

It even shows all the essential gameplay needed for a game about Lost -- talking, running and typing numbers! Oh yeah, there's also photography and holding a gun menacingly, but really ... it's all about the numbers. Video, with requisite flashback (or is it flash-forward?), after the break.

It's been nearly eight months since the last new episode of "Lost" aired. Eight months to whip up conspiracy theories, play some alternate reality games, and go to "Lost" fan conventions in full Hurley cosplay regalia. Now that we're within two weeks of the season four premiere, MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo has the scoop on Ubisoft's Lost: Via Domus to slake the last bit of our eight month thirst for tropical island mysteries.

We already knew you were going to be playing as a new character to the series, an amnesiatic photojournalist named Frank West Elliott. However, we weren't quite sure of the level of interactivity you would have with the show's plotline and characters (many of whom are voiced by the actors who play them on the show). After Totilo's brief time with the game, he assures his readers that there will be many opportunities to view actual events from the show from a different angle, like the initial plane crash, or the untimely detonation of Arzt (we hope).

If being chased around an island by sentient clouds of smoke is your idea of a good time, Lost: Via Domus drops on Feb. 26 for the PC, PS3, and 360. If not, be patient. We're sure they'll make a video game adaptation of "Sex and the City" soon enough.

At CES today, Microsoft announced an expansion of its Xbox Live video offerings. ABC Television and MGM will both offer HD videos on the Marketplace. Coincidentally, these studios are exclusively aligned to Blu-ray. This agreement gives Xbox owners a chance to experience this content in HD as well.

ABC Television Network, ABC Family, ABC News, Disney Channel and Toon Disney are all part of this new offering. More than 500 hours of content, in both standard definition and high definition, will be offered including ABC Television shows Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives. Past and current shows will be offered, as will archived ABC News broadcasts.

MGM will offer a wide variety of movies, from the Rocky series to Dances with Wolves. Movies across all demographics will be available, including Terminator, Silence of the Lambs, Legally Blonde, Barbershop and Agent Cody Banks. Platoon, Rain Man and The Usual Suspects will also be available.

Price and an exact launch date of this newly announced content have yet to be revealed. HD DVD may have gotten a serious death blow this week, but it appears Microsoft's on-demand offerings should more than satiate the HD film appetite of the Xbox fan.

Crashing down any hopes that G4 might turn itself around and work at producing quality video game and tech television, the network spent big money for the rights to air reruns of LOST. The series will begin airing in the fall of 2008, joining other nails in the former tech and video game station's coffin like COPS and Star Trek.

Sci-Fi also picked up the rights to LOST, but at least that makes sense, because we all know the castaways are actually encapsulated in a glass bubble floating through space. G4 plans to redo LOST like they did Star Trek by creating "LOST 2.0," which will offer interactive elements and display factoids during the broadcast. G4 and Sci-Fi allegedly paid $200,000 per episode for the series -- although Sci-Fi footed most of the bill. Although it's sad to see G4 continue down this path toward becoming the poor man's Spike TV, at least we've got GameTrailers making good video game retrospectives. It could also be worse, G4 could still be doing that whole The Whip Set thing. Don't remember what that was? Check out the trailer after the break.

Ubisoft announced today that their video game adaptation of ABC's island mystery Lost will be coming out in the first quarter 2008 to PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A trailer is expected to be shown today at Comic-Con between 5pm and 6pm PT (8pm to 9pm ET).

While not divulging much about the trailer, Ubisoft gave a hint to the story of the game. You play as one of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. According to the description provided by IGN, "you'll have to try and unravel the mysteries of the island while dealing with unsettled business in your past." Ubisoft said that you will also interact with familiar characters and battle Ol' Smokey.

If we're playing an unknown character from the original crash, we're kind of worried about how the game will progress in relation to the show -- will we be limited to what we can do so as to not upset the current storyline, or will this serve as an alternate timeline separate from the show? One only needs to mention "Nikki and Paulo" to a Lost fan to know that adding survivors post-crash is a recipe for ire.

Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have reportedly worked with Ubisoft to devise the game's storyline. Said the two, "Ubisoft has done a fantastic job and come up with a game that is visually amazing and imaginative both on its own and as an extension of the world of the show." Hopefully we'll have a better idea after the trailer tonight.

[Update - The trailer has been embedded behind the break. Enjoy!]

Mobile game developer Gameloft is bringing its cell phone title based on ABC's Lost to the iPod for $4.99 / £3.99. Gameloft joins just five other developers -- Electronic Arts, Namco, Astraware, PopCap, Fresh Games -- who sell games on the iTunes music store, as Apple has kept the device a closed platform for development.

With so many unsolved mysteries, you'd think playing a game based on Lost would involve asking lots of questions while never getting around to the answer portion. (We kid 'cause we love.)

Gameloft is currently working on a cell phone title based on NBC's Heroes; a Lost game for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is in development by Ubisoft.

At the time of this publication, the season finale for Lost is currently underway for Americans on the East coast. West coast readers should be advised that commenters might leave spoilers below.

In their most recent official podcast, ABC's LOST producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse confirmed that the upcoming game adaptation will be arriving on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

Typically, adaptations cater to as many consoles as possible so as to guarantee they hit the same market as those who watch the TV show. Is this an indication that the PlayStation 2's time is coming to an end, or is developer Ubisoft Montreal focusing more time and effort on delivering a title whose graphics are on par with our expectations for the newest generation of console?

Said Cuse approximately 25 minutes into the podcast, "[Developer Ubisoft Montreal] came down here the other day and did a demo on some of the stuff," while Lindelof remarked, "very impressive," in response to what they were shown. We don't want to imply that television producers know what makes great games, but as fans of the show, we are comforted that progress is being made on the title. No release date has been mentioned.

A mobile game based on LOST is currently available, which you can demo here.

[Via Lost Spoilers; Update: fixed typo in name.]

Josh Holloway (Lost), Billy Dee Williams (The Empire Strikes Back), Grace Park and Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) have been announced as part of the cast for Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. The two Cylons, Sawyer, and Lando Calrissian will be joining Joseph D. Kucan, who has played Kane in every Command and Conquer game since its inception, and the voice of Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher, Michael Ironside.

Tiberium Wars is slated for release sometime in 2007 for PC. Traditionally, the series has used real actors for its in-game clips and cutscenes. Here's to hoping each actor will have their own in-game unit, chock full of colorful phrases.

Continue reading for the full cast list.

Over two gigs worth of screenshots, videos, and concept art was apparently accidentally posted by Ubisoft on their public ftp server. Whoops. While some of these games have already been announced, some haven't, although there aren't any real surprises here: Assassins Creed, Farcry 2, Farcry PSP, Farcry Wii, Lost, Naruto, Open Season, Prince of Persia, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Rocky PSP, Splinter Cell Double Agent, Splinter Cell Conviction, Surf's Up, Star Wars PSP, Shaun White, TMNT, and TMNT GBA.

Ubisoft isn't too pleased about the leak either, stating,"The publication of this type of information can only be harmful to the game development process and we will take all steps necessary to prevent this from happening in the future."

While we can understand why Ubisoft wouldn't want employees or summer interns posting confidential information on the internet, how does it harm the game development process? We can understand if the raw code for Splinter Cell: Conviction got out, or if a disgruntled programmer posted a disk image of Far Cry 2, but screenshots and videos? And while TGS is unfolding?

Color us suspicious.

Wired's Clive Thompson does the "episodic games are cool" thing and rounds all the usual bases: 24 and Lost are the television paradigms; episodic games are great for busy adults; Alyx is worthy of your adoration of geek lust. He writes, "There's an intimacy to episodic stories, and it's all the more intensified in a game because you literally go through hell with these folks. After Half-Life 2 and Episode One, I was pretty much in love with Alyx, one of the spunkiest and best-acted virtual characters I've ever seen."

Hear hear! While Alyx played a pivotal role in HL2, she's playing alongside you in Episode One. Valve calls it "single-player co-op" and, like the paradigm of co-op multiplayer, Alyx feels like a buddy you're running through the game with. Like the lives of your favorite soap stars (or Jack Bauer, whatever) Alyx will be as important as the serialized story or the additional gameplay in convincing gamers to return for each consecutive HL2 episode. Now if they could only start getting these things out the door monthly ... weekly ... daily ...

[Via collision detection]

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel managed to get his hands on an advance copy of the Lost video game. "One of the guys at the office played it all day today", and as you'll see, he certainly seemed to enjoy it.