Now Playing: December 21-27, 2009

by James Ransom-Wiley on Dec 21st 2009 12:15PM

Go ahead, jump. Jump!

Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:

Last updated: Wednesday, 10:42 AM

Retail
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers	[USA]	$49.99	SAT
Guitar Hero: Van Halen	[USA]	$49.99	TUE
Playmobil: Circus	[USA]	$29.99	TUE
WiiWare
Eco Shooter: Plant 530	[USA]	$10.00	MON
Happy Holidays Christmas	[USA]	$5.00	MON
Pallurikio	[USA]	$10.00	MON
TV Show King 2	[USA]	$8.00	MON
Virtual Console
Ninja Gaiden (arcade)	[USA]	$6.00	MON
Super Smash Bros. (N64)	[USA]	$10.00	MON
DLC
Guitar Hero 5: Celebrity New Years Rock tracks [more info]	[USA]	$2.00 ea.	TUE
Rock Band: Weezer & individual tracks [more info]	[USA]	$2.00 ea.	TUE

Retail
Playmobil: Pirates	[USA]	$19.99	MON
DSiWare
Dragon's Lair	[USA]	$8.00	MON
High Stakes: Texas Hold'Em	[USA]	$5.00	MON
Hot and Cold: A 3D Hidden Object Adventure	[USA]	$8.00	MON
myNotebook: Green	[USA]	$2.00	MON
UNO	[USA]	$8.00	MON

PS3 / PS2

Retail (PS3/PS2)
Guitar Hero: Van Halen	[USA]	$59.99	TUE

Guitar Hero: Van Halen (PS2)	[USA]	$39.99	TUE
PSN Updates
North American PSN Update	[USA]	varies	TUE
European PSN Update	[PAL]	varies	TUE

Retail
[No new releases]
PSN Updates
North American PSN Update	[USA]	varies	TUE
European PSN Update	[PAL]	varies	TUE

Retail
Guitar Hero: Van Halen	[USA]	$59.99	TUE
XBLA
0 Day Attack on Earth	[USA]	$15	WED
Polar Panic	[USA]	$10	WED
Demos
Dante's Inferno	[USA]	free	THU
Divinity II	[USA]	free	MON
LEGO Indiana Jones 2	[USA]	free	TUE
DLC
Deal of the Week: Shadow Complex [Gold only]	[USA]	$10.00 ~~$15.00~~	MON – SUN
Guitar Hero 5: Celebrity New Years Rock Track Pack / individual tracks [more info]	[USA]	$5.49 / $1.99 ea.	TUE
Lips: Add-on Songs [more info]	[USA]	$2.00 ea.	FRI
Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising: Overwatch	[USA]	$5.00	MON
Rock Band: Weezer Pack 03 & individual tracks [more info]	[USA]	varies	TUE
Trials HD: Big Pack	[USA]	$5.00	WED
Games on Demand
Devil May Cry 4	[USA]	$19.99	TUE
Lost Planet: Colonies	[USA]	$19.99	TUE

PC / Mac

Retail
Devil May Cry 4 [downloadable version] (PC)	[USA]	$29.99	TUE

Eds.' note: The PC/Mac retail listing is not necessarily indicative of all releases for the week, but highlights games that have major or otherwise noteworthy distribution.

Tags: DS, Microsoft, newgames, Nintendo, now-playing, Wii, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (61)

Is Lost Planet worth picking up? The sequel looks pretty.

I'm playing it right now, it's surprisingly a very fun game, i'm on the last level with about 6 hours played, so keep that in mind too. It's probably worth $10-15, but i wouldn't pay the $30 that MS will probably charge.

Cool, good to know. But I bet THIS little package would be worth it:

http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=75810

Incidentally - I haven't played a single one of those games.

It's an alright single player game, but the real meat was the multiplayer mode. Community is both split between the original and colonies and vastly diminished, they aren't cross compatible unfortunately. It's definitely worth picking up at $20 or less, I certainly don't regret paying full price a few months after the game launched.

In my opinion Lost Planet is the only game in that collection worth playing and it was worth 60.00 by itself when it came out.

all 3 are worth $40, I'm still playing Dead rising 3 years later. Each comes in an individual box and disk so well worth it IMO

I played some Beatles Rock Band this weekend for about an hour or two, then I tried out the Van Halen demo.
That was the first time I tried ANY Guitar Hero game on my PS3. Wow...it really amazes me how people still buy this outdated crap. The interface is ugly, confusing, and horribly laid out. There's no solo section like in Rock Band, the timing is stricter, and the graphics are horrible. I also don't like how there's no clear indication when your star power is ready, in Rock Band it's right under the note chart. How could anyone choose GH over RB?

Guitar Hero 5 is the more appropriate comparison. Van Halen uses an old engine and gameplay.

I generally prefer the Guitar Hero games over Rock Band. I feel that Guitar Hero is more difficult, and I like that. I also play actual guitar, and I don't know, something about Guitar Hero calls out to me. Rock Band is a better party game overall, but the guitar tracks just don't do it for me.

Reuben, have you played Guitar Hero 5? That game has no hard songs. Kinda disappointing. Luckily I just borrowed it for a night. The new versuses matches are neat.

I love it when people try to pretend that Guitar Hero and Rock Band aren't the same damn thing.

People are afraid of new things. Simple as that.

Obviously, without trolling or putting anyone down I managed to strike a nerve.

I enjoy Guitar Hero more, but I respect Harmonix as a company much more than whoever (Activison?) is pumping out these numerous Guitar Hero sequels, which is why I do not currently own Guitar Hero 5.

I think the best part about the GH:VH demo is that 2 of the 4 songs weren't even Van Halen. WTF?! I'm guessing that if you are the .0002% of the population that still thinks Van Halen is a relevant enough band to necessitate their own video game, you are like 46 years old and have absolutely no idea who Yellowcard or Killswitch Engage are or what they're doing in this game.

I guess that's why it's being released to die on Xmas week...

Welcome to Joystiq, Rueben, where dissenting opinions are not tolerated.

Reuben do yourself a favor and buy GH5 new or used. Despite what a lot of people say around here on Stiq there have been a lot of improvements (party play may be one of the coolest features ever).

RB vs GH arguments aside, giving this game away with GH 5 probably killed this title before it launched. I got my copy three weeks after I sent in my recipt and got maybe two hours of fun out of it. I like playing Eddie's guitar tracks but compared to GH Metallica, this one was half-assed. Also I'm gonna put this out there: Eddie Van Halen is a guitar god, but Van Halen the band is just okay. Pure and simple. After a few dozen "brown sound" repitititions and some of the worst "other band" tracks pulled together, on top of being on the GHWT engine (WTF?) this one doesn't have good prospects IMO. I still get a kick out of trying to play Eruption though.

Shadow Complex is at the perfect price now. SOLD!

yeah i thinkt it was well worth the $15 i still havnt gotten all of the items cuz some of them are really hard to get, and the challenges add alot to, just wish it had some kind of multiplayer tho cuz me loves my multiplayer.

It was a good price at $15. But for cheap asses like myself, $10 is a way better deal. For some reason, $15 is the EXACT price point that makes me hesitate to buy almost any game/DLC. That's probably why I buy all kinds of shit on PSN vs Live; prices are just plain better.

Now you have no reason not to buy the excellent Shadow Complex. Truly a steal at that price. Great production values for an arcade game.

Oh, and even though Dante's Inferno is getting harshly bashed for being a God of War clone, it's both enjoyable and interesting. I pre-order the Divinie Edition for PS3 after playing the demo last week.

I was watching the SentUAMessage feature earlier which is people's questions answered by staff from the UK Xbox Team, they said that the Trials HD DLC was December 30th now and not the 23rd.

Disregard. Apparently it was an error on their part and it's still the 23rd.

There is something seriously wrong about charging $60 for GH Van Halen considering they were giving copies away for free with a superior version of the series a few months ago. I'm done with music games, I still have fun with RB2 and The Beatles was a work of art, but I think I'm going to sit 2010 out with DLC and the inevitable RB3.

LittleBigPlanet DLC for me this week, Trials HD DLC as well if it's still coming out. I'll wait and see if any other games hit PSN too, unless they've announced them all already (thought this was supposed to be two weeks worth of content?).

isn't that what rock band is anyway? get a game near the end of the year, and have fun while you get hundreds of DLC songs until the next release, rinse, repeat

Yes, of course it is. But I worded it poorly in my post. I meant to say that I won't even be partaking in DLC and most likely not Rock Band 3 next year, not that it would be my only outlet for music games. I've blown way too much money on Rock Band DLC as it is, had 352 paid DLC tracks (not including the 5 freebies, promotional freebies, RB1 export, and 20 songs you paid for when you bought RB2).

RB3's not coming out next year. They announced it'd be atleast 2-3 years before it comes out.

They are releasing a Green Day one, which is basically like the AC/DC Trackpack mixxed with the Beatles. Being a game about Green Day, but exportable, but it's not artistic like Beatles.

Finally ordered Rock Band 2 last week. I am very worried about how much cash I will sink into the online store.

Okay, the picture for this article reminded me of a debate I was having with a friend. What's the greatest TV show intro song of all time: Perfect Strangers or Rescue Rangers?

Power Rangers.

The Fall Guy!!

Wait a second, YOU buy games? I thought you were the scummy game-stealing guy...

I thought they fixed the save glitch in Shadow Complex right after release?
And Lost Planet is only $5 used at Gamestop right now.

Why hasn't anyone talked about SSB finally coming out on VC?

I love Van Halen but GH:VH is complete horse shit! That demo sucked!

Agreed. How can they possibly release a new game on an old engine?

That's probably why they were giving it away a few months ago.

I haven't heard a peep about FF Chrystal Chronicles. It looked pretty decent, but I wonder if it can break the Chrystal Chronicles curse. With the 26th release date, I'm guessing probably not though.

Here you go:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-final-fantasy/60121

Don't know what your stance on it was, but this made me take a jump off the fence.

maybe if the title wasnt so misleading it get more attention because I have yet to see one crystal bear

Good review thanks. Not too sure about the 10 hours and lack of RPG elements.

Me, too. That's why I jumped off the fence onto the 'not buying it' side.

Maybe when it's cheaper in a couple of months.

@Kdiggy: The early reviews for FFCC: The Crystal Bearers have not been too kind. I was hoping that Square would grace the Wii with more of an epic this time around, but I'm hearing it's a bland Action-RPG with great graphics.

I had higher hopes for it too.

And damn do I want to snatch up that Shadow Complex deal, but my internet service ready date from Verizon isn't until December 30th! :(

Why not queue it up on Xbox.com beforehand?

You can buy it from the xbox.com marketplace now/when it's on sale, you'll just have to wait until whenever you can hook your Xbox up to a broadband connection to download it... That is as long as you don't mind a one week "shipping" time on digital content.

Soggy Sackboy~!

Ok so nothing special this week time to catch up on my backlog till January hits than it will grow more

Am I the only one excited for Battle Fantasia? Sure, it's not an amazing fighting game... But it's a fighting game nonetheless..

Those have made up a majority of my purchases this year.

Battle Fantasia is great, I thought. I have it on the 360.
...it's just too bad there's never anyone online. Kinda pointless.

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Now Playing: December 21-27, 2009

Reader Comments (61)

Posted: Dec 21st 2009 12:18PM Jerk Face said

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