Shippin' Out June 26-30: Over G, Titan Quest, Pirates of the Caribbean

As the summer movie season heats up, game adaptations begin to hit the slightly slower release calendar.

Look, up on the big screen! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's the latest summer blockbuster comic book movie hitting theaters with no game tie-in to be seen! Superman Returns may be hitting theaters nationwide this Wednesday, but the big, blue boy scout's return to gaming has been delayed a few months by Electronic Arts.

Film aficionados looking to play out their most anticipated movies aren't entirely out of luck this week, however. The latest Pirates of the Caribbean games are scheduled to hit shelves this week, slightly ahead of the July 7 opening of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. PC and PlayStation 2 gamers can relive The Legend of Jack Sparrow, playing through some of the pirate captain's most infamous adventures, including a few only alluded to in the films. Portable gamers will get a more faithful adaptation of the new film, as Dead Man's Chest arrives for the PSP, DS, and Game Boy Advance.

Those aren't the only movie adaptations hitting shelves this week, as Nival Interactive's tactical role-playing take on the Russian horror film Night Watch hits shelves for the PC. Nonconsole gamers have a few new options this week, as THQ's Titan Quest will see release, along with the platinum edition of Empire Earth II, and Hard Truck: Apocalypse. Or for the less combative PC gamer, there's always Kitty LUV, which allows players to train, feed, raise, and dress their own kittens. Because if there's one thing history has shown time and again, it's that cats just love wearing things for humans' amusement.

The Xbox 360 welcomes a new addition to its catalog this week with Over G Fighters, developed by Taito and published by Ubisoft. The French publisher has already released one combat flight sim for the system in Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII, but Over G Fighters brings the action into the era of jet fighters with more than 30 planes to choose from.

The rest of the console scene is fairly quiet this week. The PS2 is getting a new Naruto game courtesy of Namco Bandai and the next installment of Micro Machines, which is also set to race onto the PSP. Joining it on Sony's portable are World Tour Soccer '06 (just in time to capitalize on any remaining World Cup soccer fever that wasn't stamped out by Team USA's hasty departure), street-racing game Juiced: Eliminator, and Activision's MTX: Mototrax. Rounding out the notable releases are Climax's twisted take on extreme sports, Crusty Demons for the Xbox, and a pair of Sudoku games for the Nintendo DS, one of which (Sudoku Gridmaster) is actually published by Nintendo. Curiously enough, it doesn't use the existing handwriting recognition interface of the Sudoku game in Nintendo's other recent Touch Generations title, Brain Age.

Monday, June 26
Empire Earth II: Platinum (PC)
Sudoku Gridmaster (DS)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja (PS2)
Night Watch (PC)
Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: The Genie & the Amp (DS)
Hard Truck: Apocalypse (PC)
Kitty LUV (PC)

Tuesday, June 27
Over G Fighters (Xbox 360)
Titan Quest (PC)
Micro Machines V4 (PS2, PSP)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow (PS2, PC)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (PSP, DS, GBA)
Ruff Trigger: Vanocore Conspiracy (PS2)
MTX Mototrax (PSP)
World Tour Soccer '06 (PSP)
Crusty Demons (Xbox)

Wednesday, June 28
Juiced: Eliminator (PSP)
AMF Xtreme Bowling (Xbox)
IHRA Drag Racing: Sportsman Edition (Xbox)

Friday, June 30
Sudoku Mania (DS)

39 Comments

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i_love_my_ds

boring

Posted Jun 30, 2006 6:30 pm PT
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crills

same old games i need some thing new cant wait to get my hands on a wii
yesi just said that

Posted Jun 27, 2006 6:06 pm PT
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Shingo

AMF Xtreme Bowling!!! Kitty LUV!!! Crusty Demons!!! 2(!?!?!) sudoku games for the same system!!!

A great week for games

Posted Jun 27, 2006 1:20 pm PT
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snackdaddy

Hopefully we get some good games out of that stuff. -Snack

Posted Jun 27, 2006 1:08 pm PT
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rokkuman09

ultimat ninja is good ymcop i played the japanese version before it came out in us its pretty sweeeeeet

Posted Jun 27, 2006 9:41 am PT
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ymcop

Nothing fun, I just like the name: Naruto: Ultimate Ninja (PS2), & Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow (PC). Not going to buy, just only the name!

Posted Jun 27, 2006 7:03 am PT
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SavoyPrime

I'm not interested in any of those.

Posted Jun 27, 2006 6:53 am PT
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cyprus646

WARNING PEOPLE WARNING! If you have a xbox 360 plzzzzzzzzzz dont purchase over fighter G this game is probably the worst game i have seen since The outfit the screen shots make the game look better then it really does please dont purchase it.

Posted Jun 27, 2006 5:52 am PT
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demon75

This release list stinks! Where are the 360 games?! I realize it's summer but geez! We have to wait till 07 for decent games?

Posted Jun 27, 2006 3:50 am PT
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soulknight63133

I agree PschoLord13- The Chronicles of Riddick was one of the best titles on Xbox I ever played.

Posted Jun 27, 2006 3:09 am PT
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ewjim

You call this ^ "slightly slower release calendar"?! It's looked like they do nothing!

Posted Jun 27, 2006 2:31 am PT
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chickenslave

Some okay games in there, but Im not to thrilled with this week >.>

Posted Jun 27, 2006 1:47 am PT
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PsychoLord13

g-master999: "Too bad to Pirates of the Carribean game is bound to suck from the curse of Movie-Based games."

I got four words to that: The Chronicles of Riddick

The game isn't bound to suck, it is just most likely that it will.

On a similar note, Superman Returns may not be total crap. How do I know this? Well because the movie is being released now, but the game has been pushed back a few months. In most cases, the dev team would have to rush the game out the door cause the publisher wants the game out at the same time as the movie. The fact that they are willing to delay it to polish it more can only mean good things.

Posted Jun 27, 2006 12:42 am PT
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tahis

YEAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OVER-G TODAY YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANT STOP IT YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!O!!!!!!V!!!!!!!E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!R!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!-G!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Posted Jun 26, 2006 10:14 pm PT
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youngbloodzz89

The psp has been getting a lot of games and software lately. A lot of new games , and new updates , and there going to have a GPS AND VIDEO CHAT. YES!!!!!!!!! SONY IS ON FIRE!!

Posted Jun 26, 2006 8:48 pm PT
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NinjaFoot

I have a feeling most people posting here dont even know what Titan Quest is. If you like Diablo style games, then you should be looking forward to it. One of the main developers of Age of Empires is behind it as well. The demo was a blast. Cant wait for the full game.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 8:40 pm PT
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Bring on the Titan Quest!

Posted Jun 26, 2006 8:36 pm PT
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samekila

yeah hope Over G Fighters is good I kind of like flight sims so it might be worth playing

Posted Jun 26, 2006 8:18 pm PT
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gamer_10001

Sadly, about the only thing that intrests me this summer is Prey.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 8:15 pm PT
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AlexJ-

As expected, I have little to no interest in one game listed. Over G may be nice-haven't played a flight-sim or anything close to one in a while.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 8:09 pm PT
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paradyme777

Over G Fighters...I'm still waiting for Prey & possibly Chromehounds.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 8:05 pm PT
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rynmls

lousy games, may be capt. jack made it big maybe...

Posted Jun 26, 2006 7:44 pm PT
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g-master999

Too bad to Pirates of the Carribean game is bound to suck from the curse of Movie-Based games.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 7:03 pm PT
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agent401

Prey and Chromehounds are the only 2 games that really interest me this summer, but I might rent Over G Fighters (I still think it's a stupid name) if it gets good reviews.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 6:41 pm PT
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CheetahL

I'll be getting Titan Quest

Posted Jun 26, 2006 6:27 pm PT
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deathmasterk

another week of worthless crap to flood the market. the summer drought should be just that a DROUGHT!!!! id rather have nothing at all than this.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 6:18 pm PT
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nintendofreak_2

Wow the DS got a whole 4 games. And they are all going to be terrible or average. Just gotta hold out until August...

Posted Jun 26, 2006 6:12 pm PT
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xbox_gamer1

Nothing really that intrests me on this list.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 6:01 pm PT
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rp10803

Over G Fighters! Definatley getting it.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 5:53 pm PT
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NeoJedi

Well, not much to sink your teeth into this week... the summer drougt continues.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 5:35 pm PT
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snowbrdr1119

I can't wait to pick up over g tomorrow, it's going to be awesome

Posted Jun 26, 2006 5:30 pm PT
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trancejeremy

How is 5 PSP releases in one week "quiet"?

Posted Jun 26, 2006 5:29 pm PT
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VicaBizkit

super duper.

Posted Jun 26, 2006 5:27 pm PT
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blackIceJoe

I want Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest for my PSP looks cool.Plus Juiced for the PSP will be cool and Micro Machines.I am going to be short on cash come next month for some more PSP games like Valkyrie Profile and Blade Dancer also but I will find a way to buy them.This just shows there really is good games out there for the PSP.