Shippin' Out May 5-9: Boom Blox
Nintendo puzzlers loom large as Spielberg-supervised Wii game arrives alongside Crosswords DS and Virtual Console Pokemon Puzzle League.
It's been feast or famine on the new release shelves of game stores of late. Last month saw weeks headlined by the first current-gen retail releases in the Grand Theft Auto, Mario Kart, and Gran Turismo series, but it also had weeks where the biggest games coming out included Pokemon Mystery Dungeon and the Nippon Ichi PlayStation 2 turn-based RPG Mana Khemia.
This week is a little of both. On the feast side, Steven Spielberg makes his long-awaited entry into games proper with Boom Blox for the Wii. Over the course of hundreds of single- and multiplayer levels, players must fulfill a number of objectives amid Jengalike towers of blocks. Some levels see players trying to level the towers by throwing balls at them, others require moving blocks around or protecting towers from the advances of the game's distinctly cubed fauna.
Puzzle games on Nintendo systems are something of a theme this week, as the Nintendo DS welcomes the release of Crosswords DS and Brain Voyage, while the Wii's Virtual Console gets the Nintendo 64 game Pokemon Puzzle League (a revamped version of the Tetris Attacks gameplay). Pokemon Puzzle League sells for 1,000 Wii points ($10), while the week's other Virtual Console release, the NES game Renegade, commands a price of 500 Wii points ($5).
Xbox 360 owners will also get a downloadable game this week, as Wits & Wagers arrives Wednesday on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Based on the board game of the same name, Wits & Wagers combines trivia tests with social gaming and betting. Playable by up to six players online the game supports the Xbox 360 Big Button controllers packed in with Scene-It, and will sell for 800 Microsoft points ($10).
Rounding out the week's new releases are Wii and DS adaptations of the new Speed Racer feature film, a Gold edition of Atari's PC role-playing game Neverwinter Nights 2, and the PlayStation Portable strategy game R-Type Command.
This week's new releases are listed below (list compiled from publisher and retailer information--actual dates may vary).
MAY 5, 2008
Pokemon Puzzle League (Wii Virtual Console)
Renegade (Wii Virtual Console)
Crosswords DS (DS)
MAY 6, 2008
Boom Blox (Wii)
Brain Voyage (DS)
Speed Racer (Wii, DS)
The Dog Island (Wii, PS2)
Neverwinter Nights 2 Gold (PC)
R-Type Command (PSP)
Iron Man (PC)
MAY 7, 2008
Wits & Wagers (Xbox Live Arcade)
MAY 8, 2008
Sony had not revealed its PlayStation Network update as of press time.
sega making good games...
Just wait for that Boom Blox review. Everyone who has played it absolutley loves it and it's sure to be one of the best, more inventive games of the year.
Awesome another week to play GTA IV.
Now this is one game that 3rd party games aren't crap on the Wii. This game along with others really make me want a Wii.
Boom Blox baby!!!
This week is major weak sauce. *Goes back to playing GTA IV* OH WAIT I CAN'T BECAUSE MY ****ING 360 BROKE. Thanks a ****ing lot Microsoft. 30% failure rate FTL.
Nothing on this list will pry me away from Liberty City... **oh look, a hooker...**
@ klugenbeel Lol, guess you missed the release of Mario Kart just last week, not all consoles can have hit after hit coming out like.... well no one has hit after hit. I'd rather see something other than nothing. Nintendo doesn't push out just "kiddie crap" as you so elegantly put it, Nintendo themselves try to put out great games and typically they do, its been awhile since I've been disappointed with a Nintendo title and they have no control over third party companies who buy a developer kit and put out a bad game. Every console has its list of bad games and Nintendo's list stand out right now simply because the console is still rather young where as the PS2 has 100 times more bad game but it goes unnoticed because it has so many other great games to cover it up. So to say Nintendo puts out nothing but kiddie crap and doesn't focus in on true gaming any more is a joke. Nintendo still does many great things for the gaming industry and I can handle bad games coming out because I just don't buy them. Would you prefer Nintendo went Sony's route and have sub par games or a $40 demo of a game over a year away? Each console brings you something different and just because a company is throwing out bad games left and right doesn't mean you have to buy them. And if you have nothing else to play, then put the controller down go outside and enjoy the world, or at least pick up a book and work on your grammar.
And this is under the PC game listing because....?
I guess I'll just go back to that game that came out last week...G..whatever it is. 1UP did give praise to Boom Blox.
WoW, a week of nothing but Weakness. Look at the Wii release more sub par kiddie crap, the Wii needs more Blockbuster games like SSBB, not all this kiddie crap. The kiddie crap is the 1 thing that really pisses me off about the Wii, i hate consoles that have no standards on what they let release and just put out more garbage titles than quality, when you see that, you know the console maker cares about money and not the games anymore, and Nintendo has been that way since the N64. Yeah I had an N64 and loved certain games on it (Star Fox64, Mario 64, Jetforce Gemini, ect), but even on the N64 they started releasing a lot of Kiddie crap and it turned me off and pushed me tot he PS1 at the time. After the PS1 and N64, it took the Xbox to get me back into Console gaming. Xbox and now the 360 at least release more good/decent/quality games compared to Nintendo, even the PS2 releases a lot of junk you don't even notice. Sure you can say the XBL market place has all the MS junk, but those are old to casual games...what comes on Disc is more geared to the hardcore gamers who been playing consoles since the Atari 300! :-P Sorry, seeing all that garbage dropping for the Wii makes me mad.
You can buy puzzle games for $10 - $20 each on a number of sites and there are a lot of budget puzzle games for any system. You can buy a whole collection of puzzle games for less than $50, so charging $50 for a puzzle game seems like it's kind of high.
I think Billysea it's because usually puzzle games, like Zack and Wiki are only really fun for one play through, since they're kind of easy when you know what to do in your second play through. The fun is solving the puzzles, not seeing how fast you can do them or whatever. However I do agree, Boom Blox has a massive level editor which has like unlimited possibilities, and if it got a massive internet community you'd be getting new puzzles everyday. Well worth it in my opinion.
I don't understand why people don't pay $50 for Boom Blox. Yes it's a puzzle game, but it has more developement cost to make than Mario Kart. Just because it is a puzzler doesn't mean it is a budget title or needs to be budget price. It has so much content. Plus it's much much better than 99% of the crap on the market.
Pokemon Puzzle League is a great N64 game. Check it out if you like Pokemon and Tetris Attack.
what's with all the blasted card/gambling games on arcade? i want my 1942 already.
boom blox looks pretty awesome, too bad i have to save up my money for wii fit. i still want to play gta though. otherwise, this week could be ok. puzzle league was ok back in the day
So begins the long days of summer with only a few big releases.
*looks up from GTA* Hmm, whole bunch of nothing. Good thing there's so much to do in GTAIV. Thanks Rockstar!
Boom Blox is EA.. wouldnt buy it for that fact alone
I like puzzle games but I will not spend 49.99 for Boom Blox.
sad no one here will take Boom Blox seriously. It looks like a great game. enjoy gta.......
Nothing this week
pretty bad this week
There's always something for me in there. R-Type Command it is for this week.
yes lame it is
Lame week
This week has nothing very good. Oh well... I still have a long ways to go in GTAIV.
they need some more VC console games. o well guess ill download more rock band songs.
Pokemon Puzzle League aka Tetris Attack is one of my all time favorite games. Looks like its another dull week for XBLA. guess ill spend more pts on the new Rock Band tracks.
Boom Blox FTW! I cannot wait to finally play this game. Wiimore + accurate physics + camera control = instant win.
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Related Game
Boom Blox
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- Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
- Developer(s): EA LA
- Genre: Puzzle
- Release: May 6, 2008 (US) »
- ESRB: E





