Another week, another 7 days of new game releases!
Welcome to the 29th edition of G&T's newly traditional "Weekly Games Release Thread!" - Week 8/31 - 9/6!
Where we discuss what we're looking forward to, what we're going to buy, and what we're just now realizing is being released this week that we had forgotten about!
8/31 - 9/6
NDS
PictoImage
Whether you draw stick figures or virtual masterpieces, jump into 8-player battles where the first team to guess the image being drawn wins. Pick from a huge word list, even add in some of your own words, and show off your favorite drawings in the gallery. Battle it Out in a Match of Wits: Fun multiplayer modes pit you against your friends in an intense battle. Eight different modes ensure the party never stops. Challenge Your Friends with the Ad Hoc Download Feature: Party it up with PictoImage – you only need one copy of the game for eight friends to join in the fun. Enhance Your Skills with Practice Mode: Featuring tips and tricks to help improve your game. Over ninety different practice examples to choose from guarantees you'll be the quickest on the draw. Show Off Your Masterpieces with the Picture Gallery: Become a regular Picasso using the gallery feature. Save your drawings to show off to your friends. It’s like having a digital sketch book in your pocket. [
PC
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is an explosive open-world action game set in a massive, highly reactive, war-torn world. A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone. But for you, international crisis is all upside: You are a mercenary, and you profit from chaos. Mercenaries 2 features a slew of potential clients, all willing to pay you to do their dirty work. Dirty deeds, done for exorbitant fees. These are world powers with deep pockets, deep grudges, and enough arms and ammo to start World War III. This is your kind of environment. Mercenaries 2 features the latest and most dangerous in civilian and military tech, everything from shiny new sports cars, to the future-tech satellite-guided bunker-busting mini-nuke. Tanks, APCs, boats, luxury automobiles – you name it, you can have it delivered to you in real time. And if you run out of cash you can always 'acquire' the gear you need in the field. If you see it, you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it. Play your own way, or play with the help of a friend in the new cooperative multiplayer mode. You are not a soldier. You don't have to play by anyone's rules. You have your own code: you will fulfill the terms of the contract, no matter what. Not everyone in the world of Mercenaries is as honorable. Everyone will try and screw you, given the chance. They think they can get away with it, because they don't know rule #1: EVERYBODY PAYS. [Pandemic Stud
Combat Missions: Shock Force - Marines
This, the first Module, adds a significant number of new formations, units, weapons, equipment and vehicles for both the US and Syrian sides, as well as brand new missions, maps and a campaign. General game engine improvements (such as tactical Artificial Intelligence improvements, tweaking cover values and so on) are included as well, although they are also available to all Shock Force customers. This ensures that everybody plays by the same rules and experiences the same basic gameplay.
PS2
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is an explosive open-world action game set in a massive, highly reactive, war-torn world. A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone. But for you, international crisis is all upside: You are a mercenary, and you profit from chaos. Mercenaries 2 features a slew of potential clients, all willing to pay you to do their dirty work. Dirty deeds, done for exorbitant fees. These are world powers with deep pockets, deep grudges, and enough arms and ammo to start World War III. This is your kind of environment. Mercenaries 2 features the latest and most dangerous in civilian and military tech, everything from shiny new sports cars, to the future-tech satellite-guided bunker-busting mini-nuke. Tanks, APCs, boats, luxury automobiles – you name it, you can have it delivered to you in real time. And if you run out of cash you can always 'acquire' the gear you need in the field. If you see it, you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it. Play your own way, or play with the help of a friend in the new cooperative multiplayer mode. You are not a soldier. You don't have to play by anyone's rules. You have your own code: you will fulfill the terms of the contract, no matter what. Not everyone in the world of Mercenaries is as honorable. Everyone will try and screw you, given the chance. They think they can get away with it, because they don't know rule #1: EVERYBODY PAYS
PS3
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is an explosive open-world action game set in a massive, highly reactive, war-torn world. A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone. But for you, international crisis is all upside: You are a mercenary, and you profit from chaos. Mercenaries 2 features a slew of potential clients, all willing to pay you to do their dirty work. Dirty deeds, done for exorbitant fees. These are world powers with deep pockets, deep grudges, and enough arms and ammo to start World War III. This is your kind of environment. Mercenaries 2 features the latest and most dangerous in civilian and military tech, everything from shiny new sports cars, to the future-tech satellite-guided bunker-busting mini-nuke. Tanks, APCs, boats, luxury automobiles – you name it, you can have it delivered to you in real time. And if you run out of cash you can always 'acquire' the gear you need in the field. If you see it, you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it. Play your own way, or play with the help of a friend in the new cooperative multiplayer mode. You are not a soldier. You don't have to play by anyone's rules. You have your own code: you will fulfill the terms of the contract, no matter what. Not everyone in the world of Mercenaries is as honorable. Everyone will try and screw you, given the chance. They think they can get away with it, because they don't know rule #1: EVERYBODY PAYS
Vampire Rain: Altered Species
Vampire Rain: Altered Species is an intense game of stealth, survival and all out skill that takes place during a cold, wet night in a suburban, west coast city in the US. For some time now, mankind has been battling the ferocious and terrifying Nightwalkers, a race of superhuman vampires who crave human blood. People have been disappearing at night; the lucky ones are found dead, but those less fortunate are reborn as Nightwalkers, and are bound by instinct to forcefully recruit unwitting victims into the Nightwalker army. Gamers take the role of John Lloyd, a member of a US special government unit created to defeat the Nightwalkers, and the only human to ever survive a physical encounter with them
NFL Head Coach 09
NFL Head Coach 09 provides a complete NFL experience, offering a variety of different ways to control an NFL franchise, on and off the field, in-season and off-season. With strategic game planning features, NFL Head Coach 09 places gamers in the coach's seat by allowing gamers to comprehensively scout the opponent, build playbooks, and develop a team that will adapt to the philosophy and system of an NFL franchise. The sideline is your playing field in NFL Head Coach 09 - gamers can make adjustments to plays and game strategies in an instant. The outcome of every game depends on game-time decisions made on the sideline. Success depends on proper preparation and knowledge of the opposing teams’ strategies, as well as expert and timely play calling
FaceBreaker
Created by the same team that developed Fight Night Round 3, FaceBreaker offers irreverent fun, immersive gameplay and eye-popping stylized graphics. In this in-your-face, arcade world full of ego-wielding characters, each boxer comes to life with unique attributes and distinct personal style, including Romeo, a Latin lover known for his pelvic thrusts, and Molotov, an oversized Russian demolitions expert with a penchant for fighting dirty. Add a little personal motivation to your fight by uploading a photo of your face to create a realistic likeness using Photo Game Face, and go toe-to-toe with a real-life friend or foe. Laugh out loud as you pummel your opponent with a barrage of blows to the face and watch in satisfaction as your progress is illustrated by real-time facial deformation. With haymakers, face shots and body blows, wait for the right moment to drop a super punch to make your presence known. Taunt your adversaries and flaunt your talent, by tying one hand behind your back to add ultimate humiliation to your bout. In FaceBreaker, it just feels good to rearrange your opponent's face. [Elec
Xbox 360 * - side note; Infinite Undiscovery shipped last week but may not be on shelves until Tuesday of this week.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is an explosive open-world action game set in a massive, highly reactive, war-torn world. A power-hungry tyrant messes with Venezuela's oil supply, sparking an invasion that turns the country into a warzone. But for you, international crisis is all upside: You are a mercenary, and you profit from chaos. Mercenaries 2 features a slew of potential clients, all willing to pay you to do their dirty work. Dirty deeds, done for exorbitant fees. These are world powers with deep pockets, deep grudges, and enough arms and ammo to start World War III. This is your kind of environment. Mercenaries 2 features the latest and most dangerous in civilian and military tech, everything from shiny new sports cars, to the future-tech satellite-guided bunker-busting mini-nuke. Tanks, APCs, boats, luxury automobiles – you name it, you can have it delivered to you in real time. And if you run out of cash you can always 'acquire' the gear you need in the field. If you see it, you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it. Play your own way, or play with the help of a friend in the new cooperative multiplayer mode. You are not a soldier. You don't have to play by anyone's rules. You have your own code: you will fulfill the terms of the contract, no matter what. Not everyone in the world of Mercenaries is as honorable. Everyone will try and screw you, given the chance. They think they can get away with it, because they don't know rule #1: EVERYBODY PAYS
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Now with full cooperative and online gameplay modes, the Viva Pinata franchise opens its doors even wider with a new game that provides hours of fun for gamers of all ages, fans of the animated series and animal lovers alike. Family members and friend now can share in the joy of creating a garden by simply plugging in an extra controller. The second player has access to all tools, actions and activities, but he or she also can collect magic by helping. Player two can spend magic by tinkering items, healing a sick pinata or filling a pinata candiosity meter. It's a new way to play. Trouble in Paradise also offers a vast level of customization within your main garden. Now, along with planting grass, trees and flowers, and digging ponds and lakes, players can place sand and snow in their garden to make exotic species of piñata feel more at home. Players also can choose to enhance their garden with themed object packs - make your garden into a space center, a pirate cove or a haunted graveyard. Buy objects to change the weather, or new toys for your piñata to play with. You have total freedom to create any kind of paradise you want! Thirty-two new species of pinata can run, crawl, fly and swim into your garden. Large, small, fierce and cute, the new pinatas will join all your favorites for thriving activity throughout your garden. Among these new species are sour piñatas that will infiltrate and wreak havoc in the garden. [
Warhammer: Battle March
On the Xbox 360, Warhammer: Battle March includes the original content from Warhammer: Mark of Chaos as well as all-new features, intuitive control schemes and support for online play via the Xbox LIVE. Thrusting players into Games Workshop's renowned fantasy world, players control six unique armies – the Empire, Chaos, Skaven, High Elves as well as the all-new Dark Elf and Orcs & Goblins forces – as they battle for supremacy in a world torn apart by constant warfare. The individual units of each army can be customized in great detail, allowing players to put their own mark on their fighting force and strike fear into their opponents with terrifying combinations of weaponry and armor. Players can also control Heroes and Champions for each army, high-powered units that gain new abilities as they tear through the opposition. Placing the focus of gameplay on combat and tactics rather than tedious resource management, Warhammer: Battle March on the Xbox 360 features two control schemes for both master battlefield tacticians and novice warriors that offer full control over all aspects of the player’s army. On Xbox LIVE, up to four players can engage in massive multi-army clashes in head-to-head and team-based modes of play. [
NFL Head Coach 09
NFL Head Coach 09 provides a complete NFL experience, offering a variety of different ways to control an NFL franchise, on and off the field, in-season and off-season. With strategic game planning features, NFL Head Coach 09 places gamers in the coach's seat by allowing gamers to comprehensively scout the opponent, build playbooks, and develop a team that will adapt to the philosophy and system of an NFL franchise. The sideline is your playing field in NFL Head Coach 09 - gamers can make adjustments to plays and game strategies in an instant. The outcome of every game depends on game-time decisions made on the sideline. Success depends on proper preparation and knowledge of the opposing teams’ strategies, as well as expert and timely play calling
FaceBreaker
Created by the same team that developed Fight Night Round 3, FaceBreaker offers irreverent fun, immersive gameplay and eye-popping stylized graphics. In this in-your-face, arcade world full of ego-wielding characters, each boxer comes to life with unique attributes and distinct personal style, including Romeo, a Latin lover known for his pelvic thrusts, and Molotov, an oversized Russian demolitions expert with a penchant for fighting dirty. Add a little personal motivation to your fight by uploading a photo of your face to create a realistic likeness using Photo Game Face, and go toe-to-toe with a real-life friend or foe. Laugh out loud as you pummel your opponent with a barrage of blows to the face and watch in satisfaction as your progress is illustrated by real-time facial deformation. With haymakers, face shots and body blows, wait for the right moment to drop a super punch to make your presence known. Taunt your adversaries and flaunt your talent, by tying one hand behind your back to add ultimate humiliation to your bout. In FaceBreaker, it just feels good to rearrange your opponent's face. [Elec
XBLA
Pirates v. Ninjas Dodgeball
Shred Nebula
WiiWare/ VC
dunno yet
PSN
dunno yet
So, it's an OK week.
A lot of people have been anticipating the newest
Mercenaries game. So that's out.
FaceBreaker, the new boxing game in the vein of Punchout and Read2Rumble, finally arrives.
Rare finally comes out with a new
Viva Pinata 360 game.
Otherwise, I'm not sure what people are looking forward to - what about you?
Posts
All in all, a decent week, but I don't think I'll be picking up any of the retail titles. Maybe an XBLA game if I like the demo of either of the releases or a VC game if anything big like SMRPG shows up.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
It's ship date was friday of last week, but it wouldn't be on shelves until this week after the weekend, and after Labor Day or whatever. So tuesday, hopefully.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
People should stop trying to make cartoony boxing games. Ready 2 Rumble, Black and Bruised, and apparently now Facebreaker are all awful.
Just let Punch-Out!! and Super Punch-Out!! enjoy their reign, unchallenged.
I just want another Fight Night. The one on the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 is so fucking awesome I haven't even traded it in. I still get a few friends together and we break that game out for a few rounds.
Sadly, Super Punch-Out is the last boxing game I've played that approaches playable for me.
Fight Night is not friendly to newcomers at all. I hated the controls so much.
My Backloggery
Could? There's no way it won't.
You're in luck, or at least you will be next year.
Wait what, Warhammer on the xbox? Hadn't heard about this.
Mercenaries 2
Viva Pinata: TIP
Pirates vs Ninjas Dodgeball
Fuck you Christmas.
That's not even the half.
That's not even the tenth.
VP2 yeah, in like 2009 sometime on the cheap.
Spore is next week right?
Fight Night isn't that unfriendly. It's way easier to get into than, say, the entirety of the fighting game genre, expecially 3d fighting games. The only part that I found really tricky to get at once was the parry, which I still can't do reliably as a reflex.
yeah, I'm strangely curious about it too. I mean, the first Mercs was a PS2 game, too, right? I wonder if the sequel is along the same lines..
Yep. Sunday or Monday iirc.
Honestly, there's almost always at least 1 worthwhile game released every week, usually two and often 3 (across all platforms).
So yeah, I imagine that like Fall of every year, this fall will also be crazy for games.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
It really was. I wanted it to be good, but it sucked ass.
Viva Pinata is one I want to get, but I need to see reviews and will probably wait a bit before buying (that'll be my catchphrase over the next few months).
Also PS3 owners get Vampire Rain. You lucky people.
Gravitar and Thrust are two of my favourite games ever.
Are we lucky people? I'm not sure what to think of Vampire Rain, I need to hunt around for some reviews. I don't know why - I should just try the demo (check out the Hong Kong Playstation Store for it) - but I'd like to hear IGN or Eurogamer's view.
As for Facebreaker? Yeah, it sucks. Like really, really sucks. If they got rid of the box, got rid of the price tag and put it up on XBLA/PSN for free, it would still be a bad purchase. I have no idea how that game even got made for the current-gen systems. High-def shovelware.
Talk about high-def shovelware. I gotta' go delete that demo before ... well... maybe I'll give it a spin tomorrow. IGN gave God Hand a 3/10.
It'd suck to hate somethin' just 'cause IGN told me to. I'll give it a trepidatious toe-dip... (peeks on another site) ...or I would have, if metacritic hadn't averaged all the scores out to 4/10. That's not mixed reviews. That's a shitty game. Bye demo - I sure hope having you on my HDD didn't infect it with your crappiness.
Seriously though, watch the video review. It is so bad!
Also Eurogamer reviewed the DS Viva Pinata and it sounds pretty good (as I was expecting). Is that out now, or soon? Or in Europe?
If there weren't VP2 coming out on the 360, I'd probably jump for the DS version. As it is, I'm a graphics whore at heart and think the 360 version will serve me better (although it may be better suited to the DS, and tap into the Animal Crossing part of my brain).
I still expect it to sell like crazy on the DS.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
I really hope it sells a ton on the DS, and considerably better on the 360 this time around (which it should, thankfully). It's an amazing, beautiful game. The level of detail on everything, even something as simple as patterns in the patches of grass is amazing (or just look at the designs on each of the different types of trees, for another example, they all have a purpose). Someone needs to resurrect my VP2 thread, because we need to get some (probably chaotic) co-op gardens going.
Why not just jump for both versions? Then you can take VP on the go :P
Also, the control scheme is supposedly put to really good use on the NDS game. And the graphics are some kind of slick combination of 2D and 3D graphics, so they actually look pretty good.
It comes out next week I believe.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
THIS. Fight night for the 360 + big screen HD + surround sound = better then any fight HBO has put out in the last 10 years. Its the only game I've played where other people really enjoy watching.
Hah, how right you are, the amount of good games to be released by christmas (obviously varrying for people) for me is so ridiculous I dont know what Im gunna do.
Someone should list them and make an awesome holiday wallet-fuck-fest thread.
Well damnit, I know I will, that's the thing. The only game I regularly go to on my DS is Animal Crossing. Everything else I quickly lose interest in, it just doesn't seem to suit how I treat the thing. AC though, I can just leave for months on end, then drop back in to see how things are, earn a few more bells, utter silent curses at Nook and so on. I can quite imagine VP fitting into the same area, just something I don't always need to play, but can stick in the DS and just do some gardening while I'm away on holiday or something.