Out This Week - 24/06/11
Fear 3! SotD! Street Fighter! Trenched!
Eastern and western horror goes head to head this week, each supported by some big names. In the US corner, Fear 3 (or F.E.A.R. 3, or even worse, F.3.A.R.), supported by Halloween director John Carpenter and comic book writer Steve Niles.
In the Japanese corner, tongue firmly in cheek, Shadows of the Damned. It's a collaboration between Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda.
Also out this week? Capcom wants you to beat more people up in another version of Super Street Fighter IV. The Arcade Edition adds four more characters and re-balances the existing roster. Newcomers can nab the update as a retail release, while existing fight fans can opt to download it as DLC.
Quirky Brütal Legend developer Double Fine launches its third downloadable release Trenched on XBLA. It's a tower defence title with lots of big moustaches - more detail below.
There's even room for a pair of new motion controlled party games. PlayStation Move Ape Escape (just Ape Escape here in Europe) provides on-rails shooting starring Sony's wide-mouthed simians.
Meanwhile Nintendo, pioneer of this generation's waggle controls, offers Wii Play: Motion. Remember the original Wii Play? This is a further collection of mini-games, but this time around utilising Motion Plus controls. It comes bundled with a free Wii Remote Plus, which has the Motion Plus attachment built in.
This Week in Shops!
Fear 3
- Developer: Day One/Monolith
- Publisher: Warner Bros.
- Formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
What is it? Horror threequel with creepy brothers Point Man and Paxton Fettel. They're off to meet their mum, Alma Wade, who you'll remember from previous instalments. It all sounds lovely, except she's very insane, and her tortured psychological trauma is manifesting itself in reality. Sucks when that happens. What does Eurogamer think? Look for the Eurogamer verdict this Thursday. UPDATE: Fear 3 review now live.
Shadows of the Damned
- Developer: Grasshopper
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Formats: PS3, Xbox 360
What is it? A mash-up of Mikami's Resident Evil 4 shooting controls (no running at the same time, Leon's original laser sight for lining up head shots) and atmosphere, with Suda 51's love of phallic symbols and macho motorbike riding. What does Eurogamer think? Eurogamer's Shadows of the Damned review goes live 5pm Tuesday. UPDATE: Shadows of the Damned review now live.
Trenched
- Developer: Double Fine
- Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
- Formats: Xbox 360
What is it? Double Fine follows up cute candy collecting adventure Costume Quest and arty Russian Doll puzzler Stacking with lots of big guns and even bigger moustaches. Trenched is set in an alternate reality shortly after World War I. Robotic monsters have invaded, but thankfully humans have some meaty looking mechs of their own to deal with the problem. What does Eurogamer think? Eurogamer has a review scheduled for later this week. UPDATE: Trenched's European release is delayed.
What Else?
- Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
- Wii Play: Motion (Wii)
- Ape Escape (PS3)
- Let's Dance with Mel B (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- Major League Baseball 2k11 (PS3)
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon (3DS, DS, Wii)
- Williams Pinball Classics (PSP, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- The Tiny Bang Story (PC)
- Gods & Heroes (PC)
- Murder in Venice (DS)
- Squinkies (DS)
- Lucha Fury (XBLA)
- Double Dragon (3DS - GB Virtual Console)
- Radar Mission (3DS - GB Virtual Console)
Chart Predictions!
Each week one of the team steps up to predict the UK all-formats chart. The following predicts the outcome for the week beginning Friday 24th June (to be reported on Monday 27th June).
Rob Purchese, Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net
"Professor Trelawney is a distant relative of mine. Next week you'll prophecy what I mean. This is how it will go down. Zumba top. It's unstoppable. Duke Nukem Forever at two, L.A. Noire at three. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time at four and Lego Pirates at five. Newcomer Fear 3 will struggle to make the top ten, as will Shadows of the Damned. Wii Play: Motion will start slow but build steady momentum. And so it will be."
- Zumba Fitness
- Duke Nukem Forever
- L.A. Noire
- Ocarina of Time 3D
- Lego Pirates
Eurogamer News Editor Wesley Yin-Poole attempted to predict the future last week. We've set our fancy table below to show how well he did.
| Position | The Truth | The Prediction | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zumba Fitness | L.A. Noire | NO! |
| 2 | Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D | Duke Nukem Forever | NO! |
| 3 | Duke Nukem Forever | Zumba Fitness | NO! |
| 4 | L.A. Noire | Lego Pirates | NO! |
| 5 | Brink | Child of Eden | FIRED! |
Your Chart Predictions!
Think you can do better? Choose the one game from the list below you think will be top of the charts next week. Tell us what you're buying and which game deserves the top spot in the comments below.