Out This Week – 25/03/2011
Nintendo 3DS! iPad 2! Crysis 2!
Now we're getting serious. This Friday the Nintendo 3DS and the Apple iPad 2 launch in the UK. Brace yourselves.
The launch of one platform would be big news. But two? This is the video game equivalent of crossing the streams. Money will be made. Gamers will game. And nothing will ever be the same again.
Games, as a result, almost seem like an afterthought. But of course games there are, and they're ready for launch. The Nintendo 3DS list of launch titles includes nintendogs + cats, PES 2011 3D, Pilotwings Resort, Rayman 3D, Ridge Racer 3D and Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition.
If home console gaming is more your thang, then Crytek's science fiction first-person shooter Crysis 2 may float your gaming boat. Much has been made of the game's visuals, but will you be turned on?
This Week in Shops!
Crysis 2
- Developer: Crytek
- Publisher: EA
- Formats: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
What is it? Sci-fi FPS that goes big on graphics and special suits. What does Eurogamer think? Our review goes live at 4pm UK time tomorrow, Tuesday 22nd March.
Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition
- Developer: Capcom
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Formats: Nintendo 3DS
What is it? Tokyo gangster action game with 3DS enabled version of superb fighting game Super Street Fighter IV. What does Eurogamer think? Johnny Minkley awarded the game 8/10 in Eurogamer's review. "A great start for Capcom on 3DS, then," he wrote, "and further proof there's life in the old quarter-circle yet."
What Else?
- Tomb Raider Trilogy (PS3)
- PlayStation Move Heroes (PS3)
- Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy (PSP)
- Alien Breed Trilogy (Xbox 360)
- Serious Sam HD: 1st & 2nd Encounters (Xbox 360)
- The Sims Medieval (PC)
- Naruto Shippuden Kizuna Drive (PSP)
- LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars (DS, PSP, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
- Pilotwings Resort (3DS)
- Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus (PSP, Wii)
- PES 2011 3D (3DS)
- Asphalt 3D (3DS)
- Ridge Racer 3D (3DS)
- Rayman 3D (3DS)
- Ghost Recon Shadow Wars 3D (3DS)
- The Sims 3D (3DS)
- Madden 3D (3DS)
- Super Monkey Ball 3D (3DS)
- Samurai Warriors 3D (3DS)
- Splinter Cell 3D (3DS)
- LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (3DS)
- Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime (PSN, XBLA)
- Swarm (XBLA)
- Battle: Los Angeles (PSN)
Chart Predictions!
Each week one of the team will step up to predict the UK all-formats chart. The following predicts the outcome for the week beginning Friday 25th March (to be reported on Monday 28th March).
Rob Purchese, Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net
"You know what the arrival of 3DS means, don't you? Jamie Redknapp. Just saying. Nintendo reckons this will be the biggest console launch ever. It might be, might not be, but it'll be big - and of the launch line-up, Nintendogs + Cats has the most wide appeal. But with rumours of only 120,000 3DS units hitting the UK, even if the majority splash out on Pretendogs (and there are three versions), sales still won't match those of EA mega-budget shooter-galore, Crysis 2. Review scores are rumoured to be high and the marketing budget meaty, and Homefront showed just how decisive a factor the latter can be. So, 3DS and newcomers like LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars will impact the chart further down (and continue to do so for weeks and weeks and weeks), but in the top flight: small change."
- Crysis 2
- Nintendogs + Cats (Golden Retriever)
- Homefront
- Dragon Age II
- Pro Evolution Soccer 3D
Eurogamer US News Fred Dutton peered into his crystal ball last week. We've made a fancy table to show how he did.
| Position | The Truth | The Prediction | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Homefront | Pokémon White | NO! |
| 2 | Dragon Age II | Pokémon Black | NO! |
| 3 | Pokémon White | Homefront | NO! |
| 4 | Total War: Shogun 2 | Dragon Age II | NO! |
| 5 | Pokémon Black | Just Dance 2 | NO! |