TWiG 2008-05-05: Like Jenga, But With More Explosions

As much as we enjoy going off the beaten path here at Moving Pixels, it’s difficult to go off the beaten path when the beaten path is just about the only path available to travel.  Case in point: After a couple of weeks with surprising depth in the release list, we’re back to the vast desert wasteland of game releases.  As is the case in most vast desert wastelands, however, there are a few oases to be found.

Of note this week:  Boom Blox is upon us!  Steven Spielberg’s first foray into the gaming arena is so Spielbergian that it’s got his name splashed across the top!  Actually, the only thing identifiably Spielbergian about Boom Blox is the explosions.  There are lots of explosions, though.  I have to admit, I know very little about what this game is going to be like and how it is going to be played save the Wikipedia article on it and the various major game site previews that are out there, but I do know that you can’t really go wrong when you have lots of explosions, blocks, and rectangularly-shaped animals populating your game. 

Did anyone else know that Speed Racer was a Nintendo exclusive?  When did that happen?

Regardless, the only other game on this particular list that might have had a shot of challenging Boom Blox as the week’s most highly-anticipated game has to be R-Type Command, another North American release of a somewhat obscure Japanese game (R-Type Tactics) by the mighty and venerable Atlus.  Granted, it’s a game with long-running and storied franchise behind it, but the boost provided by history is almost entirely negated by the fact that the entire history of R-Type is as a space shooter, while R-Type Command is a turn-based strategy game.  Still, the chance to fight Giger-isms in turn-based combat is just too much win to pass up.

The rest of this week’s releases (you know, the three or four I didn’t mention) are after the break…
  
PSP:

SNK Arcade Classics, Volume 1 (5 May)
R-Type Command (6 May)

Wii:

Boom Blox (6 May)
Speed Racer (6 May)
The Dog Island (6 May)

PS3:

Call of Duty 4: Game of the Year Edition (6 May)

DS:

Brain Voyage (5 May)
Crosswords DS (5 May)
Toy Shop (5 May)
Speed Racer (6 May)

PS2:

SNK Arcade Classics Volume 1 (5 May)

PC:

Baseball Mogul 2009 (5 May)
Great War Nations: The Spartans (5 May)
Iron Man (6 May)
Neverwinter Nights 2 Gold (6 May)

Xbox 360:

NOTHING! (Not this week!)