July 11th to 17th

Section: 

My tenure as Week Ahead steward begins with a fumbling pass of the baton from Elysium's sweaty, extended hand to mine. It's not really his fault though, what with his heart and all. I heard that a lot on my visit this past weekend. "Oh, I'd love to help with that but ... you know ... my heart."

At least this won't be a tough gig. It's been a while since we've seen a such a long drought of game releases. Lots of downloadables coming down the pipe and judging by the Steam sale thread, plenty of new ones to justify buying in a fit of consumerist lust. Our Game of The Week is Ms. Splosion Man on XBLA for $10. Why? Because she's hot and pink. Also interesting to note that Oblivion has a 5th anniversary special edition hitting shelves for all platforms. Capitalizing on all that Skyrim hype seems like a smart play. The game comes with a map, a metal case and a $10 mail-in rebate for Skyrim.

Read on for the full release list!

PC
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
- Panzer Corps
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition

Xbox 360
- Boulder Dash-XL (XBLA)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
- Ms. Splosion Man (XBLA)
- NCAA Football 12
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition

PlayStation 3
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
- NCAA Football 12
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition

Wii
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
- UFC Personal Trainer: The Ultimate Fitness System

Nintendo 3DS
- Maybe play some more Zelda?

Ninendo DS
- Ben 10 Triple Pack
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

Comments

5th Anniversary? Damn, man. That's crazy.

The Elderscrolls: This is How Old You Are

Never heard of this game....

Nintendo 3DS
Maybe play some more Zelda?

Seriously, with two NCAA 11 leagues running on GWJ up until last week, I think NCAA 12 should have gotten the pick. It's a flawed game, to be sure. But it is also just a blast to play, especially with other Goodjers.

So, judging by the videos, Harry Potter is a cover-based shooter now? Let me guess - Kinect lets you do an on-rails mode with gesture based attacks?

Are you ready for some foot... splosion? WTF?

Cartoon butt is the best kind of butt.

I confess that I don't see the hotness. I mean, pink, sure, but hot? I'm really not that into cartoon butt.

It's crazy to me that Oblivion basically kicked off this entire generation, and yet in a lot of ways the open-world genre is STILL playing catch-up to it.

hbi2k wrote:

It's crazy to me that Oblivion basically kicked off this entire generation, and yet in a lot of ways the open-world genre is STILL playing catch-up to it.

And Morrowind before that. I don't think it's because no one wants to, more that no one really needs to to sell a game, and making an RPG let along a vast open world of such a size is a complex undertaking.

The $10 dollar off coupon apparently is a huge hassle and not really worth it. Check out
http://www.ripten.com/2011/07/11/thi...

hbi2k:

It's not too crazy if you think of it as a side-grade rather than a defining ideal. Oblivion was the absolute cup of tea for some, but it's not exactly a mainstream, super-popular game for very good reasons. I don't claim to know much about open world games since as a rule I do not like them Sam-I-Am, but I like some elements that comprise open world design to be in other games that are built on a different core concept.

quamper wrote:

The $10 dollar off coupon apparently is a huge hassle and not really worth it. Check out
http://www.ripten.com/2011/07/11/thi...

Skyrim and the strategy guide? Meh.

Scratched wrote:
hbi2k wrote:

It's crazy to me that Oblivion basically kicked off this entire generation, and yet in a lot of ways the open-world genre is STILL playing catch-up to it.

And Morrowind before that. I don't think it's because no one wants to, more that no one really needs to to sell a game, and making an RPG let along a vast open world of such a size is a complex undertaking.

And the bugs. Bethasda stretched expectations and covered a lot of ground with Oblivion, but only by stretching themselves very thin and leaving no small number of holes.

Well, that's the real trick, isn't it? To innovate, you sacrifice polish, the assumption being that after that, you can iterate and get the polish back. But most post-Oblivion open-world games haven't captured the same scope and freedom, AND haven't been much more polished either.

Mrs Splosion Man gotw when Warhammer 40k Kill Team came out this week?

and it's not even mentionned in the week's releases?

Well, I am sold in advance to any videogame branded Games Workshop (for better or for worse) but I can vouch for this one's quality. I've had fun so far. The kind of fun you hope to get with 10$. It's a nice dual stick shooter with melee thrown in.

I've watched the GB quick look for both Ms. Splosion Man and WH40K Kill Team, and while they both seem like good games in their own right, I believe Jayhawker still has the most valid argument for GotW.

Jayhawker wrote:

Seriously, with two NCAA 11 leagues running on GWJ up until last week, I think NCAA 12 should have gotten the pick. It's a flawed game, to be sure. But it is also just a blast to play, especially with other Goodjers.