Games shipping this week

by Blake Snow { Sep 25th 2006 at 12:15PM }

'Tis the season for basketball games. A lot of basketball games (total of four). In addition to the hoop titles, other notables include Eidos' GTA killer Just Cause, Baten Kaitos Origins for the 'Cube, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2 on the DS, and Defcon for the PC. We haven't seen this many games since 1984, or at least since the start of last summer. Full list of games after the break:

Baten Kaitos Origins (GCN)
Battle B-Daman: Fire Spirits! (GBA)
Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, The (GCN, PS2)
Hidden Expedition: Titanic (PC)
Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (DS)
NBA 07 (PS2, PSP)
NBA 2K7 (Xbox, PS2, 360)
NBA Live 07 (PC, Xbox, PS2, PSP, 360)
Pacific Storm (PC)
Paparazzi (PC)
Backyard Basketball 2007 (GBA)
Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA (PS2)
Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball Max'd (PS2)
Harlem Globetrotters World Tour (DS)
Import Tuner Challenge (360)
Just Cause (PC, Xbox, PS2, 360)
Mage Knight: Apocalypse (PC)
Mage Knight: Destiny's Soldier (DS)
MotoGP (PSP)
Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 (GCN)
DEFCON (PC)
Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria (PS2)

Alex Rider: Stormbreaker (GBA, DS)
Unfabulous (GBA)
Bubble Bobble Revolution (DS)
Rainbow Islands Revolution (DS)
Disney's Little Mermaid: Magic In Two Kingdoms (GBA)
Disney's The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure (DS)
Spectral Souls (PSP)
Dora the Explorer: Dora's World Adventure (PC)
Family Feud (PC)
Hollywood Posh Pets (PC)
Pony LUV (PC)
ShopMania (PC)
Barbie: Diary Mysteries (PC)
Backyard Football 2007 (GBA)
Cabela's Big Game Hunter 2007: 10th Anniversary Edition (PC)
Caesar IV (PC)
ParaWorld (PC)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Dario @ Sep 25th 2006 12:25PM

the only game im really lookin forward is Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria.

White Rose Duelist @ Sep 25th 2006 12:42PM

Definitely curious about SuperNOVA. DDR hasn't done so well recently, but there hasn't been much to pick from elsewhere either.

moofree @ Sep 25th 2006 12:44PM

I hope Baten Kaitos Origins' english voice acting is better than the first one's.

OtakuCODE @ Sep 25th 2006 12:44PM

Wow, that's a lot of crap titles avalanching in this week.

What is that Pony LUV game? Isn't that kind of thing illegal?

Looks like Valkyrie Profile 2 is the only decent thing on there.

Raynre @ Sep 25th 2006 12:47PM

Holy crap! A Gamecube game!

Sam @ Sep 25th 2006 12:50PM

DEFCON is the latest game from Introversion, the studio that made Darwinia. It's a Wargames-inspired strategy title. I'll be picking it up off of Steam this week.

KilgoreTrout XL @ Sep 25th 2006 12:51PM

As a paintball fan, I'm kinda bummed that I can't even try Hastings as a rental.

Looks like this is the month to take advantage of MS's offer to fix my buggy- but not entirely broken- 360.

Lorben @ Sep 25th 2006 12:55PM

I was excited about supernova until I saw the songlist was nothing like the arcade version of supernova. Adding songs like Video Killed The Radio Star - By The Buggles, Do You Want To - By Franz Ferdinand, and Let's Dance - By David Bowie kind of ruins the whole j-pop and techno theme you expect from a DDR game. At least death hasn’t stopped Captain Jack from getting a new song on supernova.

If you’re worried about not liking it, I would rent/borrow it before you buy.

Judd @ Sep 25th 2006 12:56PM

Somehow I feel like Just Cause will not be a GTA killer. Ok so no game has touched GTA in sales yet, but I don't even feel like JC will be that successful. I played the demo, it's not bad, and certain aspects such as parachuting are fun, and it's gotten OK reviews.http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/itemsearch.asp But with the amount of money gamers are saving up for in the coming months decent games just aren't gonna do it. I'm gonna get Mario vs. Donkey 2 because I won $50 store credit, and I enjoyed the first one for the GBA. Also, while I'm here, why wasn't there a "The Joystiq Weekend" post?

Jojo @ Sep 25th 2006 1:03PM

I think they were being funny when they said 'gta killer'. Although its no 'GTA Killer', I can't wait for this game. Its rough around the edges, but I love the open-world concepts and then stunts are a lot of fun once you get used to doing them. AND!! its only $46 at amazon for the 360.

OtakuCODE @ Sep 25th 2006 1:16PM

I haven't read much about Just Cause, but are the visual allusions to Che Guevera and his regimes propaganda just stupid marketing? Or does the game actually have something political to say? I imagine if its idolizing the torturer/murderer elitist Guevera, whatever it would have to say would be odious.

Justin @ Sep 25th 2006 1:19PM

STOP CALLING GAMES THAT COULD BE IN COMPETITION WITH OTHER POPULAR GAMES A "KILLER"!!! THAT IS SO ANNJOYING.

the breakfast ninja @ Sep 25th 2006 1:20PM

Um... I think I'll stick with Okami this week, thanks.

Derbeste @ Sep 25th 2006 1:39PM

@Justin

SO ARE PEOPLE THAT TYPE IN CAPS AND ACT LIKE THEY RUN THE PLACE!!!!!

Rim @ Sep 25th 2006 1:50PM

Just Cause is nothing like GTA.

It is a very short, linear, and horribly controlled action game. If you want a GTA game, you would be buying Saints Row instead, which by all account *is* actually better than the GTA games in many ways, and worse is others.

IslandLife @ Sep 25th 2006 1:58PM

@OtakuCODE

Why do you relate the cover art only to Che Guevera. Sure, the game takes place in a fictionalised part of South America. However, that visual style was created and popularised during the whole Russian Constructivism period, which took place long before Guevera was even born.

schtum @ Sep 25th 2006 1:59PM

I was wondering how long it would take before the Che Guevara flames started. The guy's been called everything from hero to murderer, but elitist? He was born into the upper class of Argentina and chose a life of hardship and struggle on behalf (whether you believe him or not) of the poor, and he chose again to die on the battlefield when he could have lived like a king in Cuba. Love him or hate him, the least you could say about the guy is that he was principled. How many other political figures of the past century could you say that about?

Daniel @ Sep 25th 2006 2:00PM

To all GameCube owners - Baiten Kaitos Origins is a phenomenal game (at least that I've played so far). I received a review copy from Nintendo last week and I'm so far I'm having a blast playing it. I was also one of those people who said the Cube was pretty much dead, but if you look carefully (and read posts such as this one:) you'll find some needles in the CubeStack.

p.s. to Moofree - I'm also diggin' the voice acting (a lot) in Baiten Kaitos Origins. Maybe that's just me, but yeah. It's good.

idioteraser @ Sep 25th 2006 2:06PM

Islandlife the only example of said visual style are t-shirts logos with Che Guevera on them. Lots of them are sold in the US to people who have no idea who he is. So there is a track record of that visual motif selling. I think it may increase sales of the game more then any other boxart they would stick on the game.

Even I would be interested in picking up the box and seeing what the back said about the game since the visual is something that would make the box stand out. I wouldn't buy it but I would look at the box more then any other game box alongside it.

dvdguy @ Sep 25th 2006 2:13PM

Import Tuner Challenge? WTF is that??

BPM? @ Sep 25th 2006 2:14PM

Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis
Bubble Bobble Revolution
Rainbow Islands Revolution

Those are my picks for this week. Though, I can't buy them, since I need to save money for a Wii and buying Christmas presents for the family. Oh, well.

Robotic House Plant @ Sep 25th 2006 2:41PM

I wonder if there'll be any XLBA releases this week. What happened to all that anyway? Scramble was delayed, then released. Then... nothing.

Supino @ Sep 25th 2006 2:52PM

Barbie: Diary Mysteries.

Thank god! finally a game worth playing. I'm dying to know what these mysteries of that diary are all about!!

OtakuCODE @ Sep 25th 2006 3:18PM

So, no one answered. Does the game make any political statements? Is the artwork simply a marketing ploy to capitalize on the popularity of an exploitive murderer opposed to freedom and property rights? Or do you get to actually run prison camps and kill innocent people so you can live a life of luxury with your comrades while the average people suffer and die for you?

brandon_r87 @ Sep 25th 2006 3:41PM

Ha, the demo of Just Cause is a joke to my friends and I. Honestly, jumping on the roof of a car while driving and then parachuting off it? I suppose that would be cool, yet laughably impossible. Not to say that all games should be realistic, but it's hilarious for some reason. And you can do the same thing on helicopters! He jumps THROUGH the blades of the hilcopter, grabs the tail and rides it until you either jump back through the blades into the cockpit or parachute. In addition, you can literally pull your parachute inches from the ground and not be damaged, but it's so much fun to watch his body smash into the jungle that you almost never do. Another really crappy aspect of the game is that you can land on cars while parachuting to take them over. But the thing is, you don't even have to be close! You can be 30 feet away and hit the takeover button and he magically soars in the right direction and lands on the car. And if you don't have a vehicle, one will always come right to you whether it's a boat in the water or helicopter as you freefall. Combine these "features" with the fact that he basically aims the guns for you and you've got a crappy game.

Don't get me wrong, it has fun in it. But the devs just wanted the include all these insane, badass things that are completely ridiculous. Laughing at it as you play MAKES this game fun.

brandon_r87 @ Sep 25th 2006 3:47PM

Oh, as far as political statements, I'm guessing, only having played the demo, that there is none. It seems there was very little intelligent thought put in as much as there was "OH S*@! IT WOULD BE AWESOME FOR HIM TO JUMP ON F&$*IN CARS AND HELICOPTERS! AND FREEFALL THEN PARACHUTE AND KICK SOME GUY IN THE F*%&IN THROAT!"

virtuadept @ Sep 25th 2006 3:50PM

OtakuCODE - there is this invention, called the internet, maybe you've heard of it. On this invention they have a thing called Google, maybe you've heard of that too. Try using it before spouting off a bunch of other crap about a game you know nothing about.

Judd @ Sep 25th 2006 4:03PM

OtakuCode- "Just Cause is set on a fictional South American tropical island called "San Esperito", where the player works as CIA black ops agent Rico Rodriguez in a guerrilla war to overthrow San Esperito's dictator, who may be in possesion of weapons of mass destruction.[2] The game draws its premise (and name) from the real-life United States invasion of Panama, code-named "Operation Just Cause", which involved United States military action to overthrow military leader Manuel Noriega."-Wikipedia

This implies that the game is NOT about Guevara, since the protagonist is an American from the CIA. However, later on the article states...

"The box art for Just Cause emulates the famous photograph of Che Guevara taken by the Cuban photographer Alberto Korda. Che was also a Latin American revolutionary who was instrumental in the overthrow of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista."

So maybe they are trying to play off of the popularity of Guevara(or of the t-shirt), by saying this is a game where the player tries to overthrow a South American dictator. But in reality it's just another James Bond type game, or any action game, where you go in and try to take out the leader.

Oh and another thing about my #9 post. Sorry about the bad link I didn't realize you need to type in the name of the game after the link. And like I said already, why wasn't there a Joystiq Weekend post?

Mike Daniels @ Sep 25th 2006 4:31PM

I had my doubts about Just Cause while playing the demo and the less than glowing reviews seem to validate that feeling.

Who cares about 200 side missions (racing missions in a game about regime change?) when the game is as broken as it appears to be. Of course, since it appears that the main story can be beat in 5 to 6 hours I guess the developers felt they had to pad the content to justify the price.

MojoFilter @ Sep 25th 2006 5:18PM

Is ther no news on an XBLA game for this week now? That makes me a sad little schoolgirl.

FSK405K @ Sep 25th 2006 5:31PM

DEFCON DEFCON DEFCON DEFCON DEFCON Woot! You all know it is basically a multiplayer version of Matthew Broderick's movie Wargames, right? I can't wait, and preoredered awhile back. Apparently I get some box & CD love for preordering.

FSK405K @ Sep 25th 2006 5:33PM

oh ya, and it's only $17.50! Beat that, PS2 classics! http://www.everybody-dies.com/

/plug over, sorry. Just excited.

FSK405K @ Sep 25th 2006 5:44PM

Does it seema bit weird to everyone else that they're still releasing GBA games? Not that every game needs you to slice and dice with a stylus, but look at the console sales!

FSK405K @ Sep 25th 2006 5:53PM

Baten Kaitos Origins is for NDS, not GCN as the post says, at least according to Gamespot.

FSK405K @ Sep 25th 2006 5:54PM

ah, nevermind. I must have mispelled it or something. Here's the gamespot: http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/batenkaitosii/index.html

diskoboy @ Sep 25th 2006 9:09PM

So do us Xbox Live Vision owners get TotemBall this week, or what? And what the hell happened to Lumines Live?

The only 2 games on that list I want are DEFCON and Mario vs DK 2. Possibly Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Island Revolutions if the price is right...