September 24 - September 28

Section: 

Say what you want about how good a game World of Warcraft actually is, or what its impact has been on gaming at large, positive or negative, but its durability and ability to sustain a player base that most of its competitors would kill for is astonishing. Though it has been shaken over recent months, and finally seen its numbers begin to wane, it still has five or six times the player base of most its closest domestic competitors. And now, coming up on its fourth expansion, the scope and breadth of its world are astonishing.

Mists of Pandaria, the latest expansion launching this week, has taken some possibly deserved potshots from all corners, and admittedly it does seem a somewhat less focused expansion than previous ones that had a concrete villain and theme. Pandaria instead wraps in a new race that has always seemed better aligned to April Fools jokes than actual implementation. That said, when you pull back the layers, there are a lot of new content and changes densely packed into this latest package — though, honestly, it's going to be long-time WoW players who will be most impacted.

A new class (Monk), a new race (Pandaran), new zones, new dungeons, new PvP areas, a new skill system, level and profession cap increases, new scenarios, updated legacy dungeons, and a pet battle system make out the key features list, and that's a decent enough batch of upgrades to justify an expansion. The question is whether there will be a cohesive thread that ends up pulling it all together in the way that Burning Crusade did with the adventure through the Dark Portal and the fight against Illidan, or the way Wrath of the Lich King did in the long battle to face Arthas and Frostmourne, or the way Cataclysm did with the Sundering and Deathwing. When you just look at MoP, it's easy to just see, well, pandas.

Also this week, FIFA Soccer 13 hits, marking the release of what is becoming one of EA's most powerful franchises, and perhaps second in the sports market only to Madden. Meanwhile, Little Big Planet comes to Vita owners eager for some kind of new game.

PC
- Carrier Command: Gaea Mission (download)
- Castle Crashers
- Colour Bind (download)
- Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure
- FIFA Soccer 13
- Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy (download)
- The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
- World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

Xbox 360
- Angry Birds Trilogy
- Dead or Alive 5
- FIFA Soccer 13
- Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit! (XBLA)
- Marvel vs. Capcom Origins (XBLA)
- The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
- Wipeout 3

PS3
- Angry Birds Trilogy
- Dead or Alive 5
- FIFA Soccer 13
- Final Fantasy III (PSN)
- Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit! (PSN)
- Marvel vs. Capcom Origins (PSN)
- One Piece: Pirate Warriors (PSN)
- R.A.W. - Realms of Ancient War (PSN)
- The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
- Tokyo Jungle

Wii
- Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure
- FIFA Soccer 13
- Wipeout 3

Vita
- FIFA Soccer 13
- LittleBigPlanet

3DS
- Angry Birds Trilogy
- Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure
- FIFA Soccer 13
- Hitori by Nikoli (eShop)
- The Denpa Men: They Came By Wave (eShop)
- Wipeout 3

PSP
- FIFA Soccer 13

DS
- Kart Krashers (DSiWare)

Comments

After watching the Tokyo Jungle quicklook over at Giant Bomb, I don't know that I CAN'T buy it.

I'm still a bit baffled by the $30/$40 list price for Angry Birds Trilogy. Will it sell at 30x-40x its usual price?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm still a bit baffled by the $30/$40 list price for Angry Birds Trilogy. Will it sell at 30x-40x its usual price?

Isn't it more like 10 times its usual price? That's still staggering, especially considering that Angry Birds has been released on the PS3 as a Mini for $2 or $3.

Hell, the Trilogy is missing the best release since the original: Space.

Trachalio wrote:

After watching the Tokyo Jungle quicklook over at Giant Bomb, I don't know that I CAN'T buy it. :|

For $15 on PSN it seems like a natural, doesn't it?

Pandas on my birthday! Wooooooooooo!

- Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy (download)

That sounds incredibly ridiculous

Michael Zenke wrote:

Pomeranians on my birthday! Wooooooooooo!

Fixed that for you.

FIFA Soccer 13....does this have the womens' teams yet? After seeing our ladies take gold in London for the second consecutive time, I'd really like to play some FIFA but the US team is a joke, so I have no reason to buy.

Bzzzzt, sorry. Game of the Week is XCOM demo on Steam.

Slacker1913 wrote:
Certis wrote:

Also this week, FIFA Soccer 13 hits, marking the release of what is becoming one of EA's most powerful franchises, and perhaps second in the sports market only to Madden.

Speaking as a European person, what do you mean "becoming"? :)

Hey, that was Sean "Elysium" Sands on there, not me. He does LOVE it when people attribute his articles to me though. Loves it.

Slacker1913 wrote:
Certis wrote:

Also this week, FIFA Soccer 13 hits, marking the release of what is becoming one of EA's most powerful franchises, and perhaps second in the sports market only to Madden.

Speaking as a European person, what do you mean "becoming"? :)

"...EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer franchise surpassed 100 million units lifetime during the launch of FIFA Soccer 11. The best-selling sports videogame franchise in the world..." (Nov 2010)
"Since its debut in 1989, Madden NFL has over sold-in over 90 million copies to date." (Aug 2011)

I suddenly realised earlier that I had absolutely no idea that Mists was out this week :O

...I think I might actually be done with WoW, finally.

On the other hand, mighty interested to see what they've done with Carrier Command. And Castle Crashers on Steam is a no brainer...might actually get around to finishing it this time.

Kinda intrigued about coming back to WoW, but yea, there has been no hype around this game for me as well. Just been thinking about it in the back of my mind. Now to convince the wife to spend the money.

As for this "Football" concept, I know nothing other than that game where they hit people and people scream a lot. I think they are both the same sport now that I think about it...

Gravey wrote:
Slacker1913 wrote:
Certis wrote:

Also this week, FIFA Soccer 13 hits, marking the release of what is becoming one of EA's most powerful franchises, and perhaps second in the sports market only to Madden.

Speaking as a European person, what do you mean "becoming"? :)

"...EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer franchise surpassed 100 million units lifetime during the launch of FIFA Soccer 11. The best-selling sports videogame franchise in the world..." (Nov 2010)
"Since its debut in 1989, Madden NFL has over sold-in over 90 million copies to date." (Aug 2011)

Mr. Sands has an intrinsic inability to appreciate futbol. It says a lot that he's willing to recognize FIFA as being a potential equal to Madden.

I don't play WoW but the name "Pandaria" just seems like a serious lack of creativity on the designers' part. Is the next expansion going to be Koalaopolis?

Trachalio wrote:

After watching the Tokyo Jungle quicklook over at Giant Bomb, I don't know that I CAN'T buy it. :|

The make or break for me is whether you can equip your giraffe with a top hat.

The Flaming Cliffs 3 addon for DCS World is also due out this week I believe.

www.digitalcombatsimulator.com

lostlobster wrote:

I don't play WoW but the name "Pandaria" just seems like a serious lack of creativity on the designers' part. Is the next expansion going to be Koalaopolis?

To be fair, it did originate as an April Fool's Joke, gone horribly awry.

Tanglebones wrote:

To be fair, it did originate as an April Fool's Joke, gone horribly awry.

Source

And that was nearly a decade ago.

shoptroll wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

To be fair, it did originate as an April Fool's Joke, gone horribly awry.

Source

And that was nearly a decade ago.

Okay, then. That's awesome that they've taken an old joke and made it an actual part of the game. I am satisfied.

(And they can use Koalaopolis if they want, for free.)

lostlobster wrote:

Okay, then. That's awesome that they've taken an old joke and made it an actual part of the game. I am satisfied.

It's probably worth noting too that they put a Pandaren Brewmaster in the Warcraft III expansion (released a few months after that 4/1 gag) as a neutral hero you could recruit.

garion333 wrote:

Woa....jealous of you PS3 types! Reminds me a bit of EVO: The Search for Eden.

Michael Zenke wrote:

Pandas on my birthday! Wooooooooooo!

Happy Birthday Zenke! Here's a nice fat piece of GRIND!

Don't feel bad. I'm going back for seconds too!

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I'm still a bit baffled by the $30/$40 list price for Angry Birds Trilogy. Will it sell at 30x-40x its usual price?

I actually had to look that up, because I was sure you had to be joking. $40 for the 360 version. Cannot. Comprehend.

[obligatory]
Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure was robbed!
[/obligatory]

Elysium wrote:

Also this week, FIFA Soccer 13 hits, marking the release of what is becoming one of EA's most powerful franchises, and perhaps second in the sports market only to Madden.

Speaking as a European person, what do you mean "becoming"?

Edit: I need to pay more attention to names under articles.

Certis wrote:
Slacker1913 wrote:
Certis wrote:

Also this week, FIFA Soccer 13 hits, marking the release of what is becoming one of EA's most powerful franchises, and perhaps second in the sports market only to Madden.

Speaking as a European person, what do you mean "becoming"? :)

Hey, that was Sean "Elysium" Sands on there, not me. He does LOVE it when people attribute his articles to me though. Loves it.

Whoops!
Fixed.

Mists of Pandaria is the first WoW expansion that is not purchased on release at the Aristophan household. The only thing that temps me is that I have the collector's editions for all the rest of the WoW content. Mighty, mighty tempting.

lostlobster wrote:

I don't play WoW but the name "Pandaria" just seems like a serious lack of creativity on the designers' part. Is the next expansion going to be Koalaopolis?

Greco-koalas with skirts and spears sounds awesome.