New releases for the week of 2008-06-23...
Wow.
You know, I've seen a lot of summers at this point, and if there's one thing I know, it's that video game publishers generally don't like to release things in the summer. It's probably a matter of something like, oh, too many kids playing outside, or perhaps not enough gift-giving holidays in the season's general proximity. Whatever it is, I'm used to the summer being a slow time, a time when I can catch up on games that I didn't give a fair shake the first time around, on games for which my Gamerscore is a highly mockable, measly 5/1000 (Hello, GTA4).
Not this year.
This year, summer is a season of life, of flowers, of party games and shooters and the requisite movie tie-ins that usually make up the majority of the summer schedule, now relegated to the background in favor of triple-A releases given a chance to shine in the sparse desert of releases. Except that this year (or, at least, this week), it's not even close to sparse.
How about a little love for Tom Hamilton, am I right?
Of course, there's nothing I could possibly be more psyched about this week than the upcoming release of Atari's reimagination of the Alone in the Dark series. This is a series I've been playing since it originally appeared on the PC in...jeez, 1992, and none of the games have really approached the wonder of the first. Perhaps it's because the original was the progenitor of the cinematic style that is the series' trademark (using polygons instead of hand-drawnsprites was a pretty big idea at that point), and the rest couldn't help but live in the shadow of the first's definitive style and innovation, but it hasn't quite been the same since the original adventure of Edward Carnby.
The new Carnby wields a mean sword.
What would be interesting to see is just how many people play for a while starting at the beginning, eventually get frustrated, and skip to the end. Not that I ever would. No sir.
The full release list, and a trailer for Alone in the Dark, is after the break.
Wii:
Alone in the Dark (23 June)
Top Spin 3 (23 June)
Big Beach Sports (24 June)
Cocoto Kart Racer (24 June)
WALL-E (24 June)
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (29 June)
Xbox 360:
Alone in the Dark (23 June)
Battlefield: Bad Company (23 June)
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
Supreme Commander (23 June)
Top Spin 3 (23 June)
Hail to the Chimp (24 June)
Hellboy: Science of Evil (24 June)
Operation Darkness (24 June)
WALL-E (24 June)
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (29 June)
PS3:
Battlefield: Bad Company (23 June)
Top Spin 3 (23 June)
Hellboy: Science of Evil (24 June)
Overlord: Raising Hell (24 June)
WALL-E (24 June)
Hail to the Chimp (26 June)
DS:
Top Spin 3 (23 June)
Cake Mania 2 (24 June)
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (24 June)
Gourmet Chef (24 June)
Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker x Saurian (24 June)
Mega Man Star Force 2: Zerker x Ninja (24 June)
My Weight Loss Coach (24 June)
WALL-E (24 June)
PSP:
Hellboy: Science of Evil (24 June)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 (24 June)
WALL-E (24 June)
PS2:
Alone in the Dark (23 June)
WALL-E (24 June)
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (29 June)
PC:
Alone in the Dark (23 June)
American Girl: Kit Mystery Challenge (23 June)
SimCity Societies: Destinations (23 June)
The Sims 2: Ikea Home Stuff (23 June)
Elements (24 June)
Roogoo (24 June)
WALL-E (24 June)
Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm (26 June)
Samurai Warriors 2 (27 June)