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Shippin' Out May 29-June 2: Half-Life 2: Episode One, Hitman: Blood Money

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted May 30, 2006 6:17 pm PT

Valve brings its famous franchise into episodic territory, and Agent 47 looks to add to his greatest hits in a holiday-shortened week of releases.

The summer movie season kicked off in a big way with the Memorial Day weekend opening of X-Men III: The Last Stand (which racked up almost $123 million over the four-day stretch). While the holiday may have shortened this week's release calendar a bit, there's still a small slate of new titles scheduled to hit shelves and hold gamers' collective attention span heading into the summer season of blockbuster movies.

The biggest release of the week has to be the long-anticipated Half-Life 2: Episode One, one of the first experiments in episodic content using a top-tier franchise. As the title suggests, Episode One is the first in a series of add-on packs for Valve's first-person shooter. It expands the series' focus beyond Gordon Freeman and features a more prominent role for the character of Alyx. The game will be available both in a boxed retail version and in a digitally distributed form over Valve Software's Steam service.

The next noteworthy title on offer this week is Eidos' Hitman: Blood Money. Developed by Io Interactive (Hitman, Freedom Fighters), Blood Money puts a new series of contract killings in front of the merciless Agent 47. For those interested but unsure about dropping the money to secure Agent 47's services, demos of the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game are readily available. Xbox 360 owners take note: Blood Money is the last 360 game set for retail release before it enters a GameCube-like state of hibernation for the month, with THQ's MotoGP 2006 being the only new release planned for June.

It's also a big week for Orbital Media, developer of the critically acclaimed Game Boy Advance title Racing Gears Advance. The company is continuing its support of the GBA with Juka and the Monophonic Menace, but it's also supporting the DS, with versions of Scurge: Hive releasing this week for both of Nintendo's portable formats.

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

May 30, 2006
Hitman: Blood Money (PC, Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2)
Stacked (PC)
Soldier Elite (PC)
Miss Spider Harvest Time Flop and Fly (DS)

May 31, 2006
Puzzle Challenge: Crosswords & More (PS2, PSP)
Stacked (PS2, Xbox)
Backyard Baseball 2007 (GBA)

June 1, 2006
Half-Life 2: Episode One (PC)
Surrender? Nuts! (PC)
IHRA Sportsmen Edition (PC)
Scurge: Hive (DS, GBA)
Juka and the Monophonic Menace (GBA)

June 2, 2006
City Life (PC)

56 Comments

  • megaunit

    Posted Jun 1, 2006 1:58 pm PT

    I dont know if im the only one but I saw some videos of Bloodmoney for 360, im not sure if they are using the xbox version of the game to show as the 360 version but the graphics dont look anything near as the other past games that have come out for xbox360.

  • linegrinds

    Posted May 31, 2006 5:38 pm PT

    not an impressive list

  • NeoJedi

    Posted May 31, 2006 5:13 pm PT

    Half-Life 2 baby! Yeah!

  • tuff_gong92

    Posted May 31, 2006 1:11 pm PT

    Both great games!

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted May 31, 2006 12:42 pm PT

    Nothing of interest for me this week.

  • pwnr

    Posted May 31, 2006 12:34 pm PT

    Wow. I never really thought things got released that often.

    Too bad that I have to wait until I get a new computer to get Half-Life 2: Episode 1.

  • billigloo

    Posted May 31, 2006 12:23 pm PT

    still no okami

  • rusty_ghia

    Posted May 31, 2006 11:40 am PT

    Okay, new info about Scurge: Hive, and Juka: the game is done, but they are having some trouble with the distribution side. The game will not be released in June or even July. One of the Orbital Media folks posted on their message board that they will have a press announcement about the release date in a few weeks.

  • rusty_ghia

    Posted May 31, 2006 11:08 am PT

    I've been waiting for Scurge: Hive for too long. I'm hoping that it does get released, but I doubt that it will be released Thursday. There has been no new information concerning the game since February when Orbital Media announced that it would be released sometime in May or June. Even their employees have stopped visiting their own message board.

  • Oilers99

    Posted May 31, 2006 11:01 am PT

    Boo. Orbital isn't shipping their games this week after all.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted May 31, 2006 10:01 am PT

    its the bloooood money

  • billysea

    Posted May 31, 2006 9:51 am PT

    Miss Spider Harvest Time Flop and Fly (DS)

    "Flop" and Fly?

  • SilvanNL

    Posted May 31, 2006 9:26 am PT

    Cant wait for the next halflife

  • revil2

    Posted May 31, 2006 9:15 am PT

    I'm gonna rent Hitman and stick to watching movies on my 360 this summer. I can't wait till August... Dead Rising.

  • alishareef

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:56 am PT

    What ?!! Nothing for the Gamecube ??

    Why has the Gamecube gone into hibernation ??

  • alberto2045

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:46 am PT

    yeah man finally

  • eljono

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:31 am PT

    cmon 360 wtf i havce a system and no games wow moto gp.... hitman wow....15 hours of gameplay worthy of a rent..too bad i dont rent games...i need a gamefly account

  • kambion313

    Posted May 31, 2006 8:11 am PT

    pass on hitman hooray on halflife

  • ZeroGravX

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:37 am PT

    HL2:E1 tomorrow! Can't wait! Can't wait!!!

  • paradyme777

    Posted May 31, 2006 7:33 am PT

    Still not sure but might pick up Hitman in a coming week or two.

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