New games this week: The Darkness edition

I wonder if The Bigs will be any good. I normally don't like sports games, but The Bigs looks like a crazy "we'll get rid of the realistic crap just to make this game more fun" type of game similar to NBA Jam.

Grim Grimoire, Final Fantasy and Overlord for 360 got my bucks this week. Should keep me busy for a while.

not very impressive. I will wait and just play my Ninja Gaiden. Save some money for Christmas season when good games ACTUALLY come out.

Looks like it's a Playstation week for me.

The Darkness
Grim Grimoire
Final Fantasy

Definately picking up:

The Darkness
Overlord

Maybe:

Hour of Victory

Pretty interesting that Pokemon Battle Revolution isn't the game of the week since it is the first US online Wii game. No complaints, I mean it is a busy release week and all, but just interesting that the Darkness got game of the week.

I don't know about you Doug, but I'm a lot more interested in The Darkness than another Pokemon game.

@Doug Kaplan

Wait. What?

You mean Pokemon Battle Revolution can somehow be played online? As in, communicate with other people through the wonders of the Internet?

Wow. Stop the presses. Nintendo definitely deserves to have this techno-wonder of a game featured prominently on every website.

How will the other companies respond to this amazing new feature?

"Pretty interesting that Pokemon Battle Revolution isn't the game of the week since it is the first US online Wii game. No complaints, I mean it is a busy release week and all, but just interesting that the Darkness got game of the week."

I'd say it's a combination of the following reasons.

A. Nintendo catching up is not an applause worthy title. The Gamecube had a modem after all....

B. Aside from the graphical enhancement, Battle Revolutions does NOTHING the core game does not already. Except the core game is actually a game.

C. Reviews from the Japanese version bashed the hell out of this game. What makes you think a title where the localization is limited to renaming Arboc and Ekans is somehow going to magically tranform from "suck" to "GOTY?"

D. The Darkness is by the same people who brought us Chronicles of Riddick.

@ Travis

C'mon, be nice. This probably is a big event for Nintendo fanboys and kiddies.

I'm going to wait for a demo of The Darkness before I buy, but something tells me that I will still be buying it.

Console Pokemons have ALL sucked.. this one is no different and is crippled with the Friends Code system.

Pokemon = handheld, cause it makes no sense to play that type of game in front of a big tv. Just like brain training and wario ware.

PS3 Darkness DELAYED until July...

I really can't believe there's someone looking at this line up who doesn't think a single thing listed there is "good". What?

@13 - I'm pretty sure that's just Europe?

@Gott, only in Europe... unless Take2 would be so foolish as announce a delay after shipments have already shipped.

I couldn't imagine still buying last gen games for a last gen system. That must suck that Sony still puts a lot of resources into the PS2...well i guess the PS3 is overpriced now and has crappy games so they kinda have to right?

Who wants to bet Darkness gets a higher review on the 360 than on the PS3?

@Gott:

I believe that's only for Europe. Although it's still strange since the Europe 360 release hasn't been delayed. Must be an interesting story behind it.

@16

The PS2 has a gigantic install base and is still selling well. It would be stupid to not release games for it. It is easy money, and even SOME PS3 owners might be buying PS2 games since it can play them. I know I bought a bunch of GCN games for cheap since the Wii can play them.

I'm probably going to give a lot of these a rent (yes, even Pokemon, I'll give anything a try). I got some enjoyment from the PS2 Transformers game, so I'm hoping this movie tie-in one will at least be that good.

@Lieb (#16):

I still don't own a next-gen (excuse me.. "current" gen) system. I do pretty all my gaming right now on my PS2. I'm planning on purchasing a Wii very soon and an Xbox 360 sometime this fall (assuming the updated versions with the 65 nanometer chips come out then).

Why the snobiness about current gen? I still enjoy my PS2 just as much as ever.

the darkness just looks awesome , mike patton doing voice work in a video game = instant purchase, as for pokemon coming out, who the fuck cares

Overlord for me, I had a blast with the demo.

Guys guys guys, all of this bickering over Pokemon Stadium: Better Graphics Edition and The Darkness, we're forgetting about the real game of the week here.


I am of course talking about the dark, epic journey which reeks of maturity that is "Ratatouille".

I'm considered by many to be a big nintendo fanboy around here, and even I dont give half an ass about pokemon battle revolution

I am however interested in the bigs for wii. damn nintendo, making me want sports games.

The Darkness PS3 for me this week.

Maybe Vegas when I finish that, never got it for 360.

The Darkness looks decent. Hopefully I can gamefly it.

Overlord was a fun demo, but I don't see myself buying it. Maybe a rental, but it seems it could get old fast.

Ratatouille...Damn. That game is going to be sick. I've had it preordered for like a year. I've been waiting my whole life for a game like this.

The best game coming out this week for sure is R6V. PS3 ftw! ;)

Heads up: Fry's in North America has The Darkness for $10 off this week.

Although I have all the systems but the PS3, it's all about Grim Grimoire this week :)

Yes Travis, Nintendo is late to the game with their online plan and in theory it shouldn't be a big deal since other companies have been doing it for a while but since all over this blog and many other places on the internet, the hot topic was Nintendo's online strategy with the Wii, shouldn't this game be a major release considering this will be the first signs of how the online strategy for the Wii will be?

If this game just flat out doesn't work well with WiFi, whether it be the friend codes or server issues, it will be a huge sign of things to come and could speak volumes for the future of the online plans of one of the biggest hardware developers in the industry.

I guess I am the only one who thought with all of these risks and unknowns invovled that it would be game of the week and not a Xbox 360 game no matter how good the Darkness appears to be.

But Travis, I appreciate you jumping down my throat and being nice and sarcastic especially considering my original post was filled with such anger, hostility, and rampant Nintendo fanboy-ness. Gotta love the anonymity of the internet.

@Mike, so does Circuit City.

Just The Darkness for me thanks. I'll probably rent a few others, I guess.

just preordered the darkness from circuitcity.com , 49.99 , not bad

"I guess I am the only one who thought with all of these risks and unknowns invovled that it would be game of the week and not a Xbox 360 game no matter how good the Darkness appears to be."

Yes Doug your the only one cause most gamers rate game of the week based on the gameplay. Not based on how well Nintendo's strategy in the market place is progressing. And certainly not on how well your fanboy agenda is progressing.

What the crap... I thought FlatOut was supposed to be out this week? I'd been looking forward to that. :(

I think it's great that Joystiq supplies this list, but I wish they would put up another post in a few days that allows people to put their first gameplay impressions if they picked these up. I feel like there are few sites on the Net that allow this type of communication. And with Gamespot and IGN taking forever to post reviews, you are stuck goin on to boards filled with fanboys giving distorted perceptions. Would anyone else want to see something like this? (I would because I want to know if Transformers is worth it at all.)

I'm Gamefly'ing Pokemon Battle Revolution... Why? Well, me and my friends (6 of us, all 22+ in age, men and women) do a good chunk of battling every few weeks for a mini-party with booze and goodies. It'll be nice to be able to shout at the TV over a friends battle instead of constantly asking "who's winning?"

Aside from that, I'm totally all about the GrimGrimoire this week. I have an X360 and Wii, but PS2 is still rocking out the games IMO, especially the RPGs. Rogue Galaxy, Dawn of Mana, GrimGrimoire, God of War 2, Final Fantasy XII. C'mon, PS2 is still kicking some awesome fucking gameplay out. Get off your cool factor if you think the better graphics of next-gen is reason enough to move off the PS2. That's like saying the PSP has better games than the DS cuz the graphics are better.

#11- try GameTrailers.com for a trailer-wicked!

@Brian:

Yeah, I actually think that's a fantastic idea. I'll second it.

Well, so far, PS3 version has a higher rating on The Darkness. But this is because the PS3 benefits from a blanketed review from 1Up and a UK gamer review. Meanwhile, 360 gets dragged down due to a larger variety of reviews including Yahoo who gave it a 3 of 5... youch. I'm sure as more reviews roll in, we'll see a more even playing field though.

Personally, I.m excited about The Darkness. I just hope it translates well as a video game...I started reading the comic back in like, 97 I believe, and along with Witchblade and Gen13, it was one of the few series I continued checking up on over the years.

I can.t wait to see the personalities of the Darklings :)