Oh God! It’s coming. What am I talking about? The rush. I don’t mean the band either. I mean the rush of games that just comes out of nowhere come September. This week, we’re already starting to get a taste of it. Last year’s jump was bad enough with 52 games in August and 136 in September. Sleepless Sundays, here I come.

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

Mafia II (Xbox 360, PS3)

Tuesday August 24, 2010

People sure love the gangster story don’t they? Japan’s got their Yakuza video game series. We’ve got the Godfather series. I don’t know what Africa’s got, but I’m sure they’ve got something. This Tuesday, we get to add Mafia II onto our growing pile of gangster related media. The first game came out almost 8 years ago to the day, and it was generally well received. Why it took them 8 years to get a second one is a bit of a mystery to me. Unlike the first one, this one is set during the 40’s. Not exactly a giant leap given how the first one was set in the 30’s but whatever. You’re Vito Corleone Scaletta. He just got home after serving in the army during WWII because the Call of Duty series no longer covers WWII, or he’s just on leave from WWII (My money’s on the former). As it turns out, his family is in a bit of debt, and Vito feels the need to help out. Thanks to Vito’s friend, Vito got jobs helping out the local mafia, and the rest is history. Mafia II puts the players in an open world 1940’s city inspired by the likes of New York, Chicago, you know, the usual mafia hangouts. From the look of the trailers, it’s pretty impressive complete with city dwellers and snow and whatnot. The combat looks like just about every third person shooter with cover, but that’s a good sign given how maligned Grand Theft Auto’s shooting has always been. It looks to be a very pretty game set with a lot of shooting and hiding behind cover and stuff. This game will be aiming for the little gangster in all of us waiting for their chance to gun down a bunch of people with old timey accents. Let them have their chance with this game.

Honorable Mention

Ivy the Kiwi? (Wii, DS)

Tuesday August 24, 2010

Who? What? Yeah, I’ve never heard of this Ivy fella either who might or might not be a kiwi, but I dare you to watch this trailer an not go “Huh?”!

[embed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8dJ3XPDljk&feature=search ]

So a little background is in order. Prope developed this game. If that doesn’t impress you, that’s because you didn’t know that Prope is the development studio headed by Yuji Naka, as in the guy who made the first Sonic the Hedgehog and had very little to do with Sonic’s downfall. Even if Kirby’s Canvas Curse and Yoshi’s Touch and Go already had the whole draw-lines-on-the-screen-to make-platforms mechanic, Ivy takes it one step further by letting you pull on the platform like a rubber band and releasing it propels Ivy into a spinning drill of destruction, which can break through some blocks and kill enemies. From the looks of the levels, you could play the game straight up and just get Ivy to the end of the stage, or as you can see from the trailer, you could do all these insane things with the vine and get Ivy to go places that I didn’t think was possible. If that isn’t hardcore enough, there’s 100 levels! All this just to help poor little Ivy who just wants to find its mom. Awww! How can you possibly say no to that cute little face? Do I have to stick a fedora on its head and glue a mini Tommy gun to its side just so you’ll pay attention to this game?

 

Coming This Week

Tuesday August 24, 2010

Grease (Wii, DS)

Okay, raise your hand if you knew that they’re re-releasing Grease into movie theaters complete with lyrics along the bottom of the screen so you could sing along. Unfortunately for you who didn’t know before this, you do now. That would kinda explain why we’re getting the video game based off that movie. As for why we’d want one, that’s a different story. Yes, you get to sing to “Greased Lightnin’,” but last I checked nobody needed a video game to do so.

Gunblade NY & LA Machineguns Arcade Hits Pack (Wii)

I loved these two arcade games! You play as some kind of cop that rides around on a hoverbike with a machine gun while shooting down terrorist robots wreaking havoc on a city. Basically it’s an on-rails shooter. The only thing missing are the giant rumbling machine guns. Those things really made the game that much more fun. I suppose I could use the Wii Zapper and just attach a vibrator to get the same experience. Did I just say that out loud?

NHL 2K11 (Wii)

So, the Wii MotionPlus is pretty cool right? You get games like NHL 2K11 where you get one to one motion with the hockey stick. This year, it’s really, really one-to-one especially on defense.  Does this mean I get to play out my Jedi fantasies on ice? I hope so.

Dreamworks Party Pack (DS)

So this double pack includes Madagascar Kartz and Shrek’s Carnival Craze. Like any game with the word carnival in the title, this game’s a mini-game collection with a Shrek and carnival theme. With 28 different mini-games inside Shrek’s Carnival Craze, a good PR person could spin it and say this party pack comes with 29 games! I suddenly feel the urge to work for PR.

 

LTTP

• The Bachelor: The Video Game (Wii, DS) 7/13/2010
• Martian Panic (Wii) 9/14/2009

 

 

That Ivy the Kiwi? game seriously hit me out of nowhere! Why is nobody talking about this game? It looks absolutely awesome! But, that’s just me. I guess the rest of you will be shooting thugs in an alley or some shopkeeper because they haven’t paid their “protection” fee. You go ahead and have fun with that.

 

 

 

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