Nintendo's and THQ's brawlers light up the ring, joined by Bionic Commando, EA Sports Active, Boom Blox Bash Party, Terminator, more.
Spring 2009 hasn't been a particularly eventful one at retail for the gaming industry, a fact prominently supported by two consecutive months of 17 percent sales declines. However, mid-May has a number of high-profile console titles that may lure gamers back to their retailer of choice.
The Wii, in particular, is in for a big week, thanks to a one-two combo from Nintendo and Electronic Arts. Opening up the combination, Nintendo will release Punch-Out, a new installment in its venerable boxing franchise featuring unlikely pugilist sensation Little Mac. Along with his formidable trainer, Doc Louis, Little Mac makes his latest Cinderella run against 13 opponents twice his size.
As for Electronic Arts' follow-through, the publisher has on tap EA Sports Active and Boom Blox Bash Party. EA's take on the growing fitness genre, Active comes bundled with a neoprene sleeve and rubber resistance band and features more than 20 different workouts. Boom Blox Bash Party is the sequel to EA and Steven Spielberg's original 2008 collaboration, and it expands on the physics-based puzzle game with 400 new levels, underwater and zero-gravity arenas, and additional block types and shapes.
Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers have a number of action-oriented titles to look forward to this week. With the Octagon suitably bloodied following THQ's well-received demo, the full edition of UFC 2009 Undisputed arrives for the Xbox 360 and PS3 this week. Alternatively, gamers can swing with Capcom and GRIN's reinterpretation of the classic Bionic Commando franchise. With Warner Bros. Pictures' Christian Bale-led Terminator Salvation doing the robot into theaters this week, Warner Bros. Interactive's game of the same name arrives on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
For further details on the week's games, visit GameSpot's New Releases page. The full list of downloadable games on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, and the Wii Shop Channel will be revealed later this week. Release dates are based on retailer listings and are subject to change.
New Releases: May 17-23
May 18
Bionic Commando - X360, PS3 - Adventure - Capcom
Punch-Out!! - WII - Sports - Nintendo
May 19
Boom Blox Bash Party - WII - Puzzle - Electronic Arts
EA Sports Active - WII - Sports - EA Sports
Hannah Montana: The Movie - PC - Action - Disney Interactive
I Love Beauty: Hollywood Makeover - DS - Puzzle - City Interactive
Jagged Alliance - DS - Strategy - Atari
Party Pigs: FarmYard Games - WII - Sports - Destineer
Puchi Puchi Virus - DS - Action - NIS America
Rock Band Classic Rock Track Pack - X360, PS3, PS2, WII - Rhythm - MTV Games
Space Camp - WII, DS - Action - Activision
Steal Princess - DS - Strategy - Atlus Co.
Terminator Salvation - X360, PS3, PC - Action - Warner Bros. Interactive
Tournament Pool - WII - Puzzle - Destineer
UFC 2009 Undisputed - X360, PS3 - Action - THQ
Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Stardust Accelerator: World Championship 2009 - WII, DS - Puzzle - Konami
May 20
Imagine: Makeup Artist - DS - Puzzle - Ubisoft
Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.
Gonna have to try out the UFC demo based on popular opinion here. Boom Blox, and maybe Bionic Commando (does it have multi-player?) are also looking good. Yugioh and Punch Out for the kids maybe if the grades hold up. Rockband will get my DLC money later this week (Alice Cooper!!!).
stupidly I went to a game store and searched for Little King Story .... Its will out in end of June .... aggghh, I can't wait .... 150 hours with Rune Factory Frontier made me desperately need new hardcore games .... Puch out? hmmmm .....
@godzillavskong Hey brother, its always great to see another die hard mma fan in here. I completely understand. I am married, mortgage, and kids to lol. Thats why I paid for my copy of UFC months ago lol. LOVE UFC BABY!!
Gotta get UFC! I'm a big MMA fan and this game looks and plays sick! I downloaded the demo and was blown away,plus the roster of characters is really amazing.It would be nice if they had some of the WEC guys in their like Urijah Faber or Jens Pulver, being that UFC owns that co. also.Maybe they'll have them as DLC later on down the road.Bionic commando looks promising also. I'd like to buy both, but mortgage,3 kids,bills,etc. just seem to keep getting in the way. So I'll take baby steps and get 1 a week.
UFC retail is even better then the demo. It really is a game you have to play. I'll also be trying out Bionic Commando and Terminator Salvation.
@JUSTBLAZE_928, I think Microsoft has a way of checking to see if you are playing the game early, regardless of getting an official copy early. Just keep in mind that your xbox is always online. And if it isn't, its logging the use of it to upload later. I saw a handful of people saying how they got banned from playing a game early when they did nothing wrong. I wouldn't dare insert it into the console until midnight. :) Careful.
UFC is hotter than summertime just got an early copy from my boy at Gamestop game is nuts i wont dare take it online yet though
Its all about that UFC baby. Absolutely amazing game. Strongly recommend it to those that dont own it yet.
@viewtiful jay HDTV LAG fix: http://gear.ign.com/articles/712/712352p2.html I ordered my punch-out from amazon since it's only $40 there. I can't wait!
@ metalkid9: Don't get too excited about the Terminator game. The graphics suck and they didn't even get the film's actors. The controls are terrible, the graphics are PS2 quality and the game is over in an hour. Don't waste your money.
My only hope for Punch-Out Wii is that it doesn't suffer from HDTV lag too bad, or there's a way to adjust for it. The World Circuit on the original Punch-Out is damn near unplayable on my TV due to the timing being off so much.
There's hardly anything good this week. UFC, Terminator, and Punch Out are the only ones that look playable. And Bionic Commando.
sales are down because theres not a whole lot of good games worth purchasing right now... ill be buying UFC and getting punchout from gamefly
And... Nintendo is releasing a boxing gloves perepheral. Now there's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Great to finally have Punch Out back. I still remember the SNES one, and trying to master all the counterpunch timing to get those absurd 20-second knockouts. Ditto Bionic Commando, although it's basically impossible to replicate the genius of the original, where you make Hitler's head explode with a well-aimed rocket launcher.
I've been playing tons of fights with my friends via demo. UFC Undisputed is amazing. Can't wait to finally play as some other fighters.
Buying both Bionic Commando and UFC. Multiplayer on BC is great and I'm pretty sure just by playing the demo on UFC that it is going to be a success. Overall, great week!
@lucidmike78 you aren't the only one spending insane amounts of time on the demo. I've done at least 300 bouts, both solo and with friends. Can't wait for the full version.
30 hours is nothing compared to the uncountable number of hours spent playing the Xenogears PS1 demo. My friend and a few of his friends spent over 100+ hours on that Demo. They played the demo more than the actual game. Now that's a great demo. On topic, Punch Out and Steal Princess for me.
Punch Out is now $39.97 at Amazon, folks! Just a heads up for those looking to save $10!
@westsiderz28 Trust me, I've probably spent more than 30 hours on the original skate demo. It kept me from buying the actual game, it was so fun. But on topic, other than Bionic Commando and possibly EA Sports Active, I really see nothing here that is going to drive sales up. This week doesn't really look that great.
wow, that's kind of creepy lucidmike lol, either you're mega exaggerating...or wow lol, i spent about 5minutes on it the decided the AI were idiots and deleted it.
something for everybody. mostly rentals IMO except UFC. i'd keep that from gamefly, save $20.
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