Release This!: Week Ending June 17, 2006

Gamasutra's round-up of worldwide video game releases, "Release This!", takes a look at every game title we know to be shipping to stores this week, in an exclusively compiled list.

This week sees a relatively large number of new releases for all regions, and the inclusion of several region-exclusive titles should prove to be the subject of mutual worldwide envy. The United States is set to receive anticipated titles like Point Blank DS, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology, and Urban Chaos: Riot Response. Meanwhile, Europe will enjoy an exclusive new version of Nintendogs, and Japan will see a new entry in the popular Doko Demo Issho series.

The following list covers all of the game software we know to be available -- across all platforms and regions -- for the week ending June 17, 2006.

Games Released in the United States:

Game Boy Advance: - Backyard Baseball 2007 - Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Falzar - Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar GameCube: - Major League Baseball 2K6 Nintendo DS: - Point Blank DS PlayStation 2: - AMF Xtreme Bowling 2006 - Armored Core: Last Raven - IHRA Sportsman Edition - Street Fighter Alpha Anthology - Urban Chaos: Riot Response

PlayStation Portable: - Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel Xbox: - Urban Chaos: Riot Response Xbox 360: - MotoGP 06 PC: - Deep Sea Tycoon: Diver's Paradise - IHRA Sportsman Edition - Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege - Rise & Fall: Civilizations At War - Rush for Berlin

The United States is set for an exciting week of new releases, with the Nintendo DS Lite hitting store shelves along with an assortment of titles from a number of genres. Street Fighter Alpha Anthology (which includes the entire Alpha series as well as Pocket Fighter) is sure to please fighter fans, while those who enjoy both the Internet and Mega Man will find a lot to love with Mega Man Battle Network 6, the purported final installment of the 'net-centric Mega Man Battle Network series.

This week's release list also has people who really, really like the Battle of Berlin covered in full, as Rush for Berlin and Moscow to Berlin: Red Siege both feature RTS gameplay based around the Soviet army's march on Berlin. Catering to even more specific interests, a rare English entry in the usually Japan-specific "visual novel" genre can be found in Metal Gear Solid Digital Graphic Novel, a condensation of the licensed comic book series published by IDW.

Point Blank DS, a title announced just recently in March, sees a speedy release to stores this week. Featuring a combination of arcade-style "shoot these things" action and Brain Age-inspired "shoot these things and we'll see how smart you are" evaluation, the game includes a number of minigames from the popular arcade shooters Point Blank, Point Blank 2, and Point Blank 3. While earlier rumors suggested that the brain measuring portions of the title would be removed for the American release, recent reports confirm that these features have remained intact.

Urban Chaos: Riot Response (related in name only to the Urban Chaos that was released a scant six years ago for the Sega Dreamcast, PSOne, and PC) innovates by being a rare first-person shooter that is neither set during World War II, nor during a science fiction-tinged future. You play Nick Mason, a loose cannon SWAT team member who gets results. Your enemies are the Burners, an arsonist cell bent on setting an entire city on fire. While the "killing the terrorists" aspect of the game is par for the course, Urban Chaos: Riot Response steps back to the old school by exhuming concepts like escort missions and cheesy live-action FMV cutscenes -- a formula that could prove alluring for long-time fans of the genre.

Games Released in Europe:

Game Boy Advance: - Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Falzar - Mega Man Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar - Winnie the Pooh's Rumbly Tumbly Adventure / Rayman 3 Double Pack Nintendo DS: - ATV: Quad Frenzy - Monopoly, Boggle, Yahtzee, Battleship - Monster Trucks DS - Nintendogs: Dalmatian and Friends - Tamagotchi Connexion: Corner Shop PlayStation 2: - Operation Winback 2: Project Poseidon

PlayStation Portable: - PoPoLoCrois - Talkman PC: - Battlefield 2: Deluxe Edition - Glory of the Roman Empire - International Cricket Captain 2006 - The Movies: Stunts & Effects Expansion Pack - Rise & Fall: Civilizations At War

Europe experiences a mild increase in its number of releases this week, with the region set to see a nice mix of games previously released elsewhere in the world along with several exclusive titles. Developed by Parappa the Rapper creators NanaOn-Sha, Tamagotchi Connexion: Corner Shop differs from the usual make-sure-your-blotch-of-pixels-stays-alive gameplay found in other Tamagotchi titles in that it centers around maintaining a business through minigames that utilize the DS's touch screen. For those looking for a more traditional virtual pet simulation, Nintendogs: Dalmation and Friends offers a new, Europe-exclusive mix of several breeds found in earlier releases in the series. Other new titles exclusive to the region include the tremendously European International Cricket Captain 2006 and Winnie the Pooh's Rumbly Tumbly Adventure / Rayman 3 Double Pack, an inexplicable combination of fat bears and armless mascots.

Talkman is a portable foreign phrasebook starring a friendly, gigantic-mouthed bird named Max. After choosing your language in the initialization screen, Max guides you through a world of useful phrases in a multitude of languages, ranging from "Can I buy you a drink?" to "I dropped the fork." The game also utilizes a USB microphone for voice-recognition purposes, allowing you to desperately scream "Help me! I'm being attacked!" into your PSP and then receive a helpful translation into the language of your choice. The title should prove useful for travelers, as well as clueless guys looking to impress the opposite sex with PSP-translated French.

Games Released in Japan:

Nintendo DS: - Digimon Story - Kaitou Rousseau - Metal Saga: Hagane no Kisetsu - Zoids Dash PlayStation 2: - Prince of Persia: Futatsu no Tamashii - Shoubi no Ki ni Shoubi no Hanasaku: Das Versprechen

PlayStation Portable: - Boku wa Koukuu Kanseikan: Airport Hero Narita - Doko Demo Issho: Let's Gakkou! - Myst Xbox 360: - Call of Duty 2

As with Europe, Japan also sees a few more releases compared to last week, with Doko Demo Issho: Let's Gakkou, Kaitou Rousseau, and Myst being among the most notable. Aimed at younger players, Doko Demo Issho: Let's Gakkou takes Sony's popular Japanese mascot character, Toro, and shoves him into school along with his fellow animal friends, while you play the role of teacher. Daily events range from tests to soccer games against the monkeys from Ape Escape. Kaitou Rosseau stars a thief named Rosseau, who has the unique ability to completely change the appearance of his face. Using the DS's touch screen, you can draw on Rosseau's face and change it to resemble a window pane, a frightening gangster, or a beautiful girl, depending on the situation. Finally, a port of the ever-popular and unkillable Myst is set to be released by Sega in Japan this week, though strangely, it is currently not slated for release in any other region.

SOURCE: www.gamasutra.com