May 23 - May 27

Section: 

When gamers think of racing games, they usually think of Polyphony Digital with the Gran Turismo series or Turn 10 with Forza, but as far as quality driving and racing simulations go Codemasters should be counted as equal among giants. DiRT 3's legacy actually stretches back more than 15 years, known before through 5 iterations as Colin McRae Rally before undergoing some rebranding. For those keeping track, that means the series is almost exactly as old the venerable Gran Turismo franchise.

Codemasters has been responsible for some of the most consistently solid racing simulations to hit the market, and early buzz on DiRT 3 seems to suggest that the 3rd time out (or 8th time out depending on how you're counting) is no different. So, Codemasters gets my nod for putting together our Game of the Week.

Also of note this week, there is some evidence that Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale gets its debut this week on the PC. A nice callback to the old Dark Alliance games, this appears to be a relatively low budget/low cost hack & slash, loot fest for those with an itchy trigger finger. I wouldn't expect anything exceptional from this push-button-get-loot style of gameplay, but for a nice, casual romp through the Forgotten Realms there may be something of merit here.

Finally, Dead or Alive goes 3D on the 3DS, to my reckoning making fighting games one of the most heavily featured genres yet on that platform. Also a Duke Nukem game is released; just not the one you're thinking of.

PC
- DiRT 3
- Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale
- LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game

Xbox 360
- DiRT 3
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Naughty Bear Gold Edition

PS 3
- DiRT 3
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Naughty Bear Gold Edition

Wii
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- NASCAR The Game 2011

Nintendo 3DS
- Dead or Alive Dimensions

Nintendo DS
- Duke Nukem: Critical Mass
- Kung Fu Panda 2
- Paws & Claws: Pampered Pets 2

Coming Soon:

Red Faction: Armageddon -- May 31 -- 360, PS3, PC
Duke Nukem Forever -- June 14 -- 360, PS3, PC
Dungeon Siege III -- June 21 -- PC, 360, PS3

Comments

I think Dungeons & Dragons Daggerdale is coming out on consoles also.

And how sad is the 3DS release schedule? Man, it's a wasteland.

Garion, for whatever reason I couldn't confirm D&D's release on the consoles this week.

I wouldn't expect anything exceptional from this push-button-get-loot style of gameplay,

Yet you're excited about Diablo 3? :p

dirt 3 prepurchased and preloaded. flippin' love those games - especially if it's true that they've upped the actual rally component this time around.

Elysium wrote:

Garion, for whatever reason I couldn't confirm D&D's release on the consoles this week.

Ah, I didn't realize it was getting a proper boxed release for the pc, which is probably why you got a firm date for that. Anyway, $15 and a boxed copy ... what a strange thing.

And who knows what's up with PSN releases anyway.

MrDeVil909 wrote:
I wouldn't expect anything exceptional from this push-button-get-loot style of gameplay,

Yet you're excited about Diablo 3? :p

Blizzard. He can't help his addictions. Be kind to him.

I'n guessing that Elysium's keyboard is incapable of typing three consecutive I's. Ever since the Week Ahead on April 18, he has claimed that Dungeon Siege II (not III) is releasing on June 21.

Another theory is that he refuses to acknowledge Dungeon Siege II's existence, and considers the upcoming third game to be the second in the series.

Spoiler:

Non-snarky theory: copy-pasting the same (erroneous) info from the Coming Soon section week after week.

@majornelson
Larry Hryb
Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday http://mjr.mn/kWs59J

Patch Notes v1.2.2.3

Hotfixed missing I in Dungeon Siege III
Increased backend performance (that's what she said)
Reduced iPhone Rage Cooldown Timer from .5 seconds to .3 seconds.

MeatMan wrote:

I'n guessing that Elysium's keyboard is incapable of typing three consecutive I's. Ever since the Week Ahead on April 18, he has claimed that Dungeon Siege II (not III) is releasing on June 21.

Another theory is that he refuses to acknowledge Dungeon Siege II's existence, and considers the upcoming third game to be the second in the series.

Spoiler:

Non-snarky theory: copy-pasting the same (erroneous) info from the Coming Soon section week after week.

My mind refuses to recognise the supposed DS II for the same reason that Episodes 1-3 of Star Wars no longer appear in my memory banks.

Hunted: The Demon's Forge comes out next week I believe. I'm actually interested to see how that turns out. If the reviews read well I'll probably pick it up. Not much else beyond that for a few months though.....honestly I can't think of anything else until July when Earth Defense Force comes out.

The Amazon Page says this about Duke Nukem: Critical Mass

Amazon wrote:

This item will be released on December 31, 2011.
Pre-order now!

It also has a video up there that makes DN:CM look like utter garbage, the type which makes most Wii shovelware look like masterpieces.

AUs_TBirD wrote:

The Amazon Page says this about Duke Nukem: Critical Mass

Amazon wrote:

This item will be released on December 31, 2011.
Pre-order now!

It also has a video up there that makes DN:CM look like utter garbage, the type which makes most Wii shovelware look like masterpieces.

Oh wow, that trailer is comically bad. Watching it reminded me of Technocop on the Genesis.

I grabbed myself a copy of Dead or Alive: Dimensions and gave it a bit of a whirl.

It controls well enough for a casual fighting game fan, and it seems like it's the perfect sort of "I got five spare minutes" title. The lower screen is pretty handy for learning combos sort-of (I still don't pay attention to it and just mash stuff).

The game features a Chronicle mode, which seems to be a sort of summary of the previous games. If this is the case, then I'm actually a bit disappointed no one tried to make a genuinely good Kung-Fu sort of movie with it. The potential is definitely there.

Daggerdale? How did I miss hearing about that up until now? Good pull, Sean.