Shippin' Out June 25-29: Transformers, Harry Potter, Ratatouille

With the summer movie season in full swing, publishers are trying to turn big-screen thrills into small-screen experiences. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Spider-Man 3, and Shrek the Third games have commanded a good chunk of new release shelf space in recent months, and they'll be joined by more film-to-game adaptations this week.

While none of their associated movies are out yet, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Transformers, and Ratatouille will all arrive in game retailers this week for a plethora of platforms. THQ is even bringing games for Pixar's Ratatouille to some legacy consoles, as it will be an infrequent new release for the original Xbox, the GameCube, and the Game Boy Advance.

Movies aren't the only fertile gaming ground this week, as Nintendo is releasing its first online-enabled Wii game with Pokemon Battle Revolution, 2K Games brings The Darkness to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and 2K Sports exercises its Major League Baseball license for the multiplatform arcade-style action of The BIGS. A few older games are getting another shot, as Rainbow Six Vegas makes its belated PS3 appearance, while Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition brings the oft-revisited role-playing game to the PlayStation Portable.

On the downloadable front, the Wii boasts Nintendo 64 racer F-Zero X, Super Nintendo brawler Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting, and TurboGrafx-16 side-scroller China Warrior. Meanwhile, Microsoft is touting the German board game Carcassonne on the Xbox 360 as its Xbox Live Arcade release of the week.

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

JUNE 25, 2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, PS2, DS, PC)
The BIGS (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP)
Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii)
The Darkness (PS3, Xbox 360)
Hour of Victory (Xbox 360)
Ratatouille (Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox, DS, PS2, PSP, GC, GBA)
F-Zero X (Wii)
China Warrior (Wii)
Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (Wii)
The Adventures of Darwin (PS2)
Touchmaster DS (DS)
Deer Drive (PC)
Defender of the Crown: Heroes Live Forever (PC)
Call for Heroes: Pompolic Wars (PC)