It’s the week before E3 folks.  You know what that means?  Well in terms of game releases, absolutely nothing.  This week is chugging along at the usual pace, but that’s not to say that it’s completely devoid of anything noteworthy though.  Hell, one of them is on the PSP!  Interested?  Read on.

Remember.  Release dates are quite literally made at the whims of the publisher.  The following are subject to change without any warning.

Releases To Watch For This Week

Green Day: Rock Band (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)

Tuesday June 8, 2010

Rock Band fans are about to get a giant dose of Green Day this week. Following the footsteps of The Beatles, Green Day: Rock Band is a little bit like a discography of Green Day in video game form including 47 songs ranging from Dookie all the way to their latest album, 21st Century Breakdown.  As usual, releases like these tend to bring up the whole oversaturated music genre debate, and perhaps to alleviate that ever so slightly, the Xbox 360 and PS3 will be getting a Plus version as well.  The plus version comes with an export disc that basically dumps all the songs from this Green Day: Rock Band into the Rock Band DLC library.  It even exports the avatars of the band.  Whether that means you can make Billie Joe Armstrong sing Won’t Get Fooled Again remains to be seen.  Finally, it also comes with a coupon for 6 of Green Day songs from Rock Band’s store.  The Plus version is $10 more than the regular version, but it does make it pretty convenient for you who doesn’t want to play Green Day songs through out your entire play session without having to switch disk.

I’m guessing Peace Walker doesn’t refer to these guys.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP)

Tuesday June 8, 2010

Hideo Kojima’s swan song, take 3!  This supposedly Kojima’s final involvement with the Metal Gear franchise is in essence Metal Gear Portable Ops 2.  Taking place in the 70’s, Big Boss has created his own mercenary group meant to protect countries that can’t protect themselves.  For Metal Gear folklorist out there, the events of this game led to the creation of Outer Heaven.  Like Portable Ops, you complete various missions through the means of stealth and/or force.  The series is famous for giving players an ungodly amount of variety in how they go about the game, and that will undoubtedly be the big draw of this game.  That and the fact that there’s a co-op mode where you can tackle any single player mission with a friend.  Also making a return is the “recruitment” mechanic.  You basically kidnap enemy soldier, and they somehow end up cooperating with you.  Aside from having more people to choose from for your combat team, they can also be used to help research various upgrades like better rations or more powerful weapons.  The Metal Gear universe continues to grow ever convoluted by the passing day and has detracted many gamers including fans of the series.  Let’s see how much crazier it’s going to get with this iteration.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)

Tuesday June 8, 2010

The Madden of golf hits stores this week.  What’s new in this iteration of Tiger Woods PGA Tour?  Realism.  Well okay that’s not new, but that seems to be the theme of the new features.  TrueAim seeks to make the experience of hitting the golf ball from the perspective of the golfer.  First of all when you’re about to take a swing, you don’t have a line coming out of ball telling you where it’ll land.  Instead you have to know your club’s carry distance and eyeball how far you have to go.  Also, you have to find your ball after you hit it!  How’s that for realism?  The Wii version is called TrueView, which literally puts you behind the golfer’s eyes.  With a Wii MotionPlus attachment, you swing the golf club like you would a real golf club, and any minute movements made during the swing will register in how the ball travels.  These True features can be turned off completely though.  Also, a Focus meter has been added to limit the number of times you can use power moves.  A more game oriented new feature is that of experience points.  It works just like you think.  It can be used to augment your golfer’s myriad stats and can even change other things like the size of a ball’s a sweet spot.  Oddly enough, it’s also used to buy golf equipment for some reason.  This being a yearly game, the usual upgrades can be expected like a new roster and more courses.  I wonder what the Madden of golf game was before Tiger Woods?

Honorable Mention

Please tell me that’s just whipped cream and he’s just sleeping

Naughty Bear (Xbox 360, PS3)

Tuesday June 8, 2010

So Manhunt was a pretty gruesome game right?  You got a guy killing other guys in pretty graphic ways.  Blood squirting out everywhere.  Necks, legs, arms all bent in the wrong direction.  Now take that image and replace all the guys and blood with fuzzy teddy bears and teddy bear stuffing.  Congratulations!  You’ve just seen a screenshot from Naughty Bear.  This is that video game all the Jack Thomsons of the world have been warning us about.  It’s a murder simulator where all the players just happen to be cute, cuddly teddy bears except for Naughty Bear himself who sports scars on multiple areas of its body and a permanent frown.  Why is this demented bear going on a killing spree?  Because it didn’t get invited to a birthday party.  Why else does one go on murdering sprees?  If you too are sick of cute, cuddly teddy bears and wanders what it looks like if you shoot them with a shotgun, break their necks, or throw one into a giant cake mixer, than Naughty Bear is the game for you!  Also please stay away from me you sick, sick freak.

Coming This Week

Tuesday June 8, 2010

Samantha Swift and the Secret Scroll (Wii)

The Samantha Swift series has been available online for quite a while now.  This here is yet another port of these PC hidden object adventure games at a much higher price than you would’ve paid for the PC version online.  Of course, if you don’t have a PC or would rather play it on your TV, I guess this is a viable alternative.  Also, this is actually a compilation pack consisting of Samantha Swift and the Hidden Roses of Athena and Samantha Swift and the Golden Touch.

Vacation Isle: Beach Party (Wii)

This week’s edition of the Wii mini-game collection is Vacation Isle: Beach Party complete with 8 mini games for up to 4 players.  Games like surfing, skiing, wakeboarding, and... fire dancing will be all the rage at your parties!  Come and make a fool of yourself on the Wii Balance Board for fares like Hula Dancing and surfing.  Suntan lotion sold separately.

Mega Man Zero Collection (DS)

The mainline Mega Man games were tough, and the Mega Man Zero games were even tougher.  This compilation contains all 4 Mega Man Zero games from the Game Boy Advance.  I’d like to see you finish all 4 games without going bald from all the hair pulling you’ll be doing.

Samantha Swift and the Hidden Roses of Athena (DS)

Unlike the Wii Samantha Swift game which has two of Samantha Swift’s adventures, this one only has Samantha Swift and the Hidden Roses of Athena.  I hope you like your adventure games full of stuff you can’t find in a cluttered screen.

Disgaea Infinite (PSP)

I love prinnies.  Those hapless, evil, combustible penguins of the Disgaea universe are always a laugh riot whenever they show up.  This time a poor Prinny must go back in time and possess various people to solve a mystery, adventure game style.  That’s right!  Unlike the rest of the Disgaea game, this here is an adventure game where you can change people’s dialogue after possessing them.  Go Prinnies!

LTTP

• Let’s Play Garden (Wii, DS) 5/24/2010
• Let’s Play Ballerina (Wii, DS) 3/15/2010
• Satisfashion (Wii, DS) 1/18/2010

I barely noticed MGS: Peace Walker, but it sounds kind of interesting now that I think about it.  Oh what the hell!  Maybe there’s just enough patience left in me for another stroll through ridiculously long cutscenes in me.  How ‘bout you guys?  Is anybody dying to do the fire dance?

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