Shippin' Out: July 3-7

By Staff, GameSpot
Posted Jul 5, 2006 4:59 pm PT

Short holiday week even shorter on new releases; 360 Lord of the Rings RTS tops thin list as the pickings are slim.

When America wrote out its birthday wish list, it apparently had things other than games on its mind. While the country celebrated its 230th birthday, gamers browsed bare shelves as this week's game release list wasn't nearly as meaty as the millions of BBQ grills lit up on Tuesday.

Leading the pack is the Xbox 360's first real-time strategy game, Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II. Based on both the films and books of Tolkien's fantasy world, the game lets players command armies of elves, dwarves, orcs, and other beasties. LOTR: Middle-earth II was previously released on the PC and was published by Electronic Arts.

The PC added several games to its gigantic library, with strategy games For Liberty! and Glory of the Roman Battalion giving gamers with a penchant for historical action something to choose from. More war is available in DreamCatcher's WWII action game First Battalion and Tri Synergy's Terrawars: New York Invasion.

For those with a few extra bucks to spend, a second pressing of the collector's edition of Guild Wars Factions has also reached stores, according to GuildWars.com.

Current-gen consoles were dissed with only one game, the PlayStation 2's Ultimate Board Game Collection, and handhelds were completely shut out of new games. Next week's list is looking a bit anemic as well, but at least has two bigger next-gen titles in Chromehounds for the Xbox 360 and Prey for the 360 and PC.

This week's new releases are listed below (list taken from retailer information--actual dates may vary).

JULY 2, 2006
Kitty LUV (PC)

JULY 3, 2006
Glory of the Roman Empire (PC)

JULY 4, 2006
For Liberty! (PC)

JULY 5, 2006
The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II (X360)
Ultimate Board Game Collection (PS2)
First Battalion (PC)

JULY 6, 2006
Outlaw Chopper (PC)
Terrawars: New York Invasion (PC)
Big Oil: Build an Oil Empire (PC)

44 Comments

Refresh comments

ewjim
Posted Jul 8, 2006 1:12 pm PT

This is all?! Nine games?! Is there a war or something? WHERE NEW-COOL-GAMES??? There's no even "not bad" game, i'am not even talikng about good...
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Sandman100
Posted Jul 7, 2006 10:59 am PT

LOR:BME-2 maybe ok

But NCAA 07 in two weeks. That going to be great for the 360.
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Sandman100
Posted Jul 7, 2006 10:56 am PT

Gears of War coming out the same day has the PS3.
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Lupus64
Posted Jul 6, 2006 11:32 pm PT

Gotta LUV that Kitty... *yawns*
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comthitnuong
Posted Jul 6, 2006 5:27 pm PT

nothing really stands out except lotr
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flingkatu
Posted Jul 6, 2006 12:07 pm PT

I heard of horrible frame rates...under 30 fps at some parts during the training mission...and during the last two levels parts there are tremendous amounts of slow down that even keep you from using your controller for a few seconds...ea really has been missing the mark lately...
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CraigBezzle
Posted Jul 6, 2006 11:04 am PT

Ugh, nothing good out until...NCAA 07 for 360 ? Sad.
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HyruleanLink
Posted Jul 6, 2006 9:56 am PT

NEXT!
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sasuke55
Posted Jul 6, 2006 7:45 am PT

Cant' wait to get my copy I will have to wait until the 10th that's pay day for me.
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GoreObsessed
Posted Jul 6, 2006 7:14 am PT

Cant wait to pick up my copy of BFME II .
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sephiroth_4
Posted Jul 6, 2006 7:00 am PT

..."come on Gears of War"....
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skitzocyko
Posted Jul 6, 2006 6:30 am PT

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]
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SavoyPrime
Posted Jul 6, 2006 6:00 am PT

Pretty bare selection.
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roadrunner1178
Posted Jul 6, 2006 5:41 am PT

Wow, only one console game.
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Fallout_red
Posted Jul 6, 2006 4:37 am PT

Prey is enough for the whole Summer!!!! Kant wait!
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soulknight63133
Posted Jul 6, 2006 3:15 am PT

I'll be getting the X360 version too.
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chris_lorden
Posted Jul 6, 2006 1:50 am PT

possibly good
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faizali86
Posted Jul 6, 2006 1:48 am PT

besides lotr i dont think any of those games are good
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langrisser2005
Posted Jul 6, 2006 12:58 am PT

tsk... yet another game already made going to 360, they just can't get many on their own can they? Majority have been games already released simply ported the 360 and boosting the price.... it's weak.
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CorruptGamerGX
Posted Jul 6, 2006 12:44 am PT

Garbage
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Striker_Zero
Posted Jul 5, 2006 11:46 pm PT

BFME2 is going to be awesome....RTS are the best....and personally i thought warcraft for the PS 1 was great too
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_Sam_
Posted Jul 5, 2006 10:48 pm PT

nothing very good this week
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grave_rob
Posted Jul 5, 2006 10:41 pm PT

there's a battle for middle earth going on right now...in my pants.

worst...
release week....
ever.
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Chemosh013
Posted Jul 5, 2006 10:15 pm PT

it's going to be a very important game for console RTSes... i think a lot of people are viewing at as an experiment for next gen consoles and if it does well more RTSes could be heading the console way!
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Tranceplant
Posted Jul 5, 2006 9:26 pm PT

Nothing worth it.
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SolInvictus-HGG
Posted Jul 5, 2006 8:53 pm PT

Well, at least Titan Quest is finally out. I'll be spending my entire summer playing that game.
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i_love_my_ds
Posted Jul 5, 2006 8:42 pm PT

damn this week seriously sucked
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Guidochua
Posted Jul 5, 2006 8:18 pm PT

only 1 ps2 game? sheesh
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paradyme777
Posted Jul 5, 2006 8:07 pm PT

Next week is the Golden Week. Well for me it is, PREY!
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troakun
Posted Jul 5, 2006 7:57 pm PT

Hooray! Ultimate Board Game Collection!
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rynmls
Posted Jul 5, 2006 7:12 pm PT

nothing good for the ps2...
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VampOrdinator
Posted Jul 5, 2006 6:35 pm PT

dont scare me like that lol i thought they had delayed bfme 2 or somthing!
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Kayrod29
Posted Jul 5, 2006 6:34 pm PT

Only game there worth purchasing is LOTR.
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pohlkat
Posted Jul 5, 2006 6:14 pm PT

Sigh, I get so depressed, looking at the same games of 2 or 3 years ago in stores. Why wont someone GIVE ME A HUG!!!!!??????
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samuraibambi
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:53 pm PT

LOTR
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blackIceJoe
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:47 pm PT

I pick up The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II tomorrow at EB games can't wait to play that game.I can't wait until the July 18 can pick up Blade Dancer and Valkyrie Profile for my PSP.
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samekila
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:44 pm PT

I might get LOTR I love strategy but only on PC I will give it a try though
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Chubbums
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:38 pm PT

The summer drought continues......
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ryokinshin
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:33 pm PT

could open up rts gaming for consoles if it pulls through
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gamer_10001
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:22 pm PT

Not much.
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_sean_05
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:19 pm PT

weak
Japan pwnz us at videogames
happy 4th
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joeshoe1121
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:15 pm PT

typo

"...Glory of the Roman Battalion ..."

Glory of the Roman Empire?
might want to fix that Gamespot
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bob1717171717
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:07 pm PT

[This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]
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nigel
Posted Jul 5, 2006 5:03 pm PT

LOTR shold be sweet n the 360. I'll get it ASAP
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