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Shippin' Out June 28-July 4: Call of Juarez prequel, Harry Potter

By Matthew Peters, GameSpotPosted Jun 29, 2009 8:22 am PT

Ubisoft's Western shooter and J.K. Rowling's boy-wizard lead this week's retail charge along with Mega Man Star Force 3, Worms 2: Armageddon, The Punisher: No Mercy, Ice Age film game.

On July 15, Warner Bros.' film adaptation of the sixth Harry Potter book will premiere across North America. But before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hits the silver screen, EA's game tie-in will reach the public with its Tuesday release.

"Accio video game", say fans with a penchant for wizard incantations and the film-based games.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the eponymous wizard follows the single-player storyline of the book while participating in multiplayer wand duels, amateur alchemy, and quidditch. The game's release likely comes as a relief for EA, who had to delay Half-Blood Prince out of its holiday quarter last year following Warner Bros.' decision to bump the film to this summer. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will ship on the Nintendo DS, PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, and Xbox 360.

Those who enjoy guns over wands may alternatively be interested in Ubisoft's Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. As the prequel to 2007's Call of Juarez, Bound in Blood takes place toward the end of the Civil War, with brothers Ray and Billy deserting from the Confederate Army and heading to the Wild West. This first-person shooter features a multiplayer mode with all-new features, including five initial playable classes and eight unlockable ones like spy, duelist, and gunsmith. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood will be available for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

Mega Man Star Force 3 is the third installment in the action role-playing series and adds a new noise change mechanic that randomly affects Mega Man and his surroundings. Following previous installments of the Star Force series, Star Force 3 comes in two varieties: Black Ace and Red Joker. Similar to the strategy behind Nintendo's Pokemon series, the two versions have unique differences that can be shared using the Wi-Fi networking capabilities of the DS.

Preceding the release of the Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs film by a day, Activision's game of the same name features the film's animal characters participating in a number of minigame challenges. For those seeking a portable game of knock-'em-sock-'em robots, Atlus Co.'s Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament may be the answer. This PSP-exclusive features customizable battle mechs in arena-style combat. The game has an open-world mission structure and sports a four-player ad hoc multiplayer mode.

Zen Studios' The Punisher: No Mercy allows players to take the law into their own hands as Marvel's infamous super-vigilante, Frank Castle. Exclusively for the PlayStation Network, this first-person shooter features a single-player story mode along with arena-style multiplayer. As for Xbox Live, Team 17 has Worms 2: Armageddon prepped for release this Wednesday. The game features new weapons like the Buffalo of Lies and offers five new landscape scenarios built in the style of its PC inspiration, 1999's Worms Armageddon.

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.


JUNE 28, 2009
No new releases scheduled.

JUNE 29, 2009
No new releases scheduled.

JUNE 30, 2009
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood--PC, PS3, X360--Ubisoft
Grand Theft Auto PC Trilogy--PC--Take-Two Interactive
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince--DS, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Wii, X360--EA Games
Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming--DS--Natsume
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs --DS, PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, X360--Activision
Infernal: Hell's Vengeance--X360--Playlogic
Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace--DS--Capcom
Mega Man Star Force 3: Red Joker--DS--Capcom
My Dress-Up--DS--Oxygen Interactive
My Make-Up--DS--Oxygen Interactive
Roogoo: Twisted Towers--Wii--SouthPeak Games
Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament--PSP--Atlus Co.
Treasure World--DS--Aspyr

JULY 1, 2009
Worms 2: Armageddon--X360--Team 17

JULY 2, 2009
ARMA II--PC--505 Games
The Punisher: No Mercy--PS3--Zen Studios

JULY 3, 2009
No new releases scheduled.

JULY 4, 2009
No new releases scheduled.

67 Comments

  • Coolyfett

    Posted Jul 13, 2009 6:10 pm PT

    I was interested in the Punisher game, but it will not be on UMD, hopefully he will be in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Fingers crossed.

  • FinalDuo1886

    Posted Jul 1, 2009 2:21 pm PT

    BlazBlue where?

  • beynolds

    Posted Jul 1, 2009 10:37 am PT

    Fallout 3 DLC for PS3????

  • dragonsama

    Posted Jul 1, 2009 6:22 am PT

    Hey Gamespot you forgot that BlazBlue came out on Jun 30. I picked up my copy last night. it's Awesome!

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Jul 1, 2009 5:53 am PT

    HP looks fun!!

  • devilscry

    Posted Jun 30, 2009 4:12 pm PT

    Eh hem.....

    Since Gamespot has failed to fix its omission, i'll report on it.

    ALSO COMING OUT THIS WEEK JUNE 3OTH IS BLAZBLUE THE FIRST 2D FIGHTER TO BE RELEASED IN ALL ITS HD GLORY ON BOTH THE XBOX360 AND PS3. MANY FANS OF THE GAME GUILTY GEAR WILL RECOGNIZE THE ART STYLE BEING THAT BLAZBLUE IS SOMETHING OF A STEP BROTHER COMING OUT OF THE SAME PUBLIHER ARC SYSTEM WORKS. ANY AND ALL FIGHTER FANS SHOULD GIVE THIS BEAUTIFULY HAND DRAWN AND FAST PACED FIGHTER ATRY.

    You're Welcome

  • lowkey254

    Posted Jun 30, 2009 2:43 pm PT

    weak week.

  • anik786

    Posted Jun 30, 2009 9:34 am PT

    @kong_sevixnine

    same here lol!

  • kong_sevixnine

    Posted Jun 30, 2009 9:10 am PT

    Awww, I saw "call of..." and I thought this was for COD MW2. Still, this game looks good.

  • Excedra

    Posted Jun 30, 2009 3:02 am PT

    I agree with scar4ever

  • scar4ever

    Posted Jun 30, 2009 1:05 am PT

    Only looking forward for Call of Juarez.

  • firehawk998

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 11:55 pm PT

    I like a lot of people here have the same question why isnt Blazblue on the list the game had already got good review scores. Anyways the game I am most exicted about is the Call of Juarez. As for Harry Potter EA had enough time to polish the game and make it good but I seriously doubt it whether they will polish the game.

  • MegaXtreme

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 10:29 pm PT

    Also, those whining about no MVC2:

    Capcom's own Seth Killian stumped that release date out. It's NOT coming this week, but I think the tentative date is late July.

  • MegaXtreme

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 10:26 pm PT

    Where the **** is Blazblue? Seriously, that's probably the biggest and best release this week, to be honest. Got my call from GameStop today, so it's mine tomorrow.

    MegaMan also looks cool, and I've got the Black Ace version on pre-order, though no call yet. That may not be until Wednesday.

  • nurse_tsunami

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 9:50 pm PT

    I can't wait till they release Worms 2: Armageddon on the PC! I loved the original when it came out 10 years ago. Team 17 has announced it is coming to Steam, but hasn't given a date yet.

  • Flame_Blade88

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 8:48 pm PT

    No Blazblue? huh? Whatever, my preorder for that monster is ready to be picked up tomorrow.

  • munchlax99

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 8:27 pm PT

    no good games this week

  • Devil_Vergil

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 8:13 pm PT

    @devilscry: haha well regardless I got the call from Gamestop and I plan on picking up this bad boy tommorow so truth be told, its all good.

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