In Japan, Nintendo has released the Metroid Prime games on Wii as part of the "New Play Control" series of enhanced GameCube titles. In the U.S., the strategy for these first-person shooters is different: They'll be packaged together with the 2007 Wii sequel on a single disc called Metroid Prime Trilogy.

Although we'll have to wait longer than Japanese consumers for the game, which will be available on August 24, the price tag of only $50 for all three critically-acclaimed sci-fi adventures is a much better deal.

I played the Japanese version of*Metroid Prime *when it shipped earlier this year, and played Metroid Prime 2 later at Nintendo's offices. The games have been fully upgraded with all of the bells and whistles that the Wii brings – full motion control and 16:9 widescreen display being the most obvious enhancements.

But there are also some smaller upgrades. The "ball hop" – the ability to make Samus Aran's Morph Ball form jump in the air with a quick flick of the Wiimote – has been retrofitted into both of the earlier games.

Nintendo said the games also have shorter loading times, and some mildly updated graphical effects like bloom lighting.

Badges – achievements for completing certain game objectives – have also been added in to the GameCube titles. The badges for all three games are combined in one overarching bonus menu, instead of being split up per title. This means that you can unlock the same set of bonus materials (artwork galleries, etc.) no matter which game you play.

The Metroid Prime 3 control scheme is fully replicated in each of the classic games – you can adjust the sensitivity of the cursor and turn on "Lock-On Free Aim" if you want more control over your aiming.

The only downside that I can see is that the multiplayer mode in Metroid Prime 2 hasn't been taken online. I played a few rounds with Nintendo employees at a recent visit to their office, and it's still far from Halo-caliber multiplayer, although it does work a lot better with pointer-style controls versus the GameCube controller.

Nintendo of America has taken its lumps from hard-core gamers as of late, and rightly so, for refusing to release many games that the Japanese and European branches do. It's nice to see their growing autonomy used for good instead of evil, in crafting a much better deal for American gamers.

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