Shippin' Out May 26-30: Console Quake Wars, PC Mass Effect
Cross-platform ports loom large in retailer lists for holiday-shortened week; Lost Planet Colonies and Death Jr. Wii also hit stores.
June is primed to be the biggest gaming month since...April. But before gamers can get to Ninja Gaiden II, Metal Gear Solid 4, GRID, The Bourne Conspiracy, Lego Indiana Jones, The Incredible Hulk, Secret Agent Clank, Battlefield: Bad Company, Alone in the Dark, and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, there's still one more week of May to get through.
For the last week of the month, a pair of last year's big-name releases are heading up an informal format-exchange program. Activision's PC first-person shooter Enemy Territory: Quake Wars makes the trek to consoles with ports for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this week, whereas BioWare's Xbox 360 role-playing game Mass Effect heads in the opposite direction, with a PC edition set to arrive on store shelves Wednesday.
Capcom's Xbox 360 game Lost Planet has already made its porting rounds, first to the PC and then to the PlayStation 3. However, this week sees the arctic action game get an expanded edition as Lost Planet: Colonies arrives on the Xbox 360 and PC.
Though there's no Lost Planet to be found on the Wii, owners of Nintendo's consoles won't exactly be left out in the cold. The system will see a full slate of retail releases this week, including Death Jr.: Root of Evil, Emergency Heroes, and Monkey King. Over on the DS, gamers can try out Super Dodgeball Brawlers, pick up USA Today Crosswords (exclusive to GameStop), or the online-exclusive, mandatorily multiplayer LOL (available from Agetec's official Web site).
On top of that, Nintendo's new WiiWare downloadable service has already welcomed Dr. Mario Online RX for 1,000 Wii points ($10), and Family Table Tennis for 500 Wii points ($5). Both games feature multiplayer modes, but as the title suggests, Dr. Mario lets gamers take the action online. The Virtual Console also sees a pair of new offerings in City Connection from the NES (500 Wii points, or $5) and the side-scrolling NeoGeo action game Metal Slug (900 Wii points, or $9).
Microsoft's downloadable slate includes a pair of new Xbox Live Arcade games set for a Wednesday launch. First up is Buku Sudoku, the system's first crack at the popular number-driven logic puzzler. Buku Sudoku tweaks the vanilla version of the game with changing grid sizes as well as cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes, and will cost 800 Microsoft points ($10).
The second Live Arcade release for the week is Warlords, the latest in Atari's line of revamped arcade games. Designed for play by up to four players, Warlords takes the ball-and-paddle gameplay of Pong and spices it up by giving each player a castle to protect in a corner of the screen. As with previous Atari arcade releases on Xbox Live, the game will include an original arcade-accurate mode and a remixed Xbox 360-exclusive edition. Warlords will sell for 400 Microsoft points ($5).
This week's new releases are listed below (list taken from retailer information--actual dates may vary).
MAY 26, 2008
Dr. Mario Online RX (WiiWare)
Family Table Tennis (WiiWare)
MAY 27, 2008
Mass Effect (PC)
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Colonies Edition (PC, Xbox 360)
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PS3, Xbox 360)
Super Dodgeball Brawlers (DS)
Kawasaki Snowmobiles (Wii)
Emergency Heroes (Wii)
The Monkey King (Wii)
Death Jr.: Root of Evil (Wii)
Dracula: Origin (PC)
World Championship Cards (PSP)
MAY 28, 2008
Stronghold Crusader Extreme (PC)
USA Today Crossword Challenge (DS, GameStop exclusive)
Buku Sudoku (Xbox Live Arcade)
Warlords (Xbox Live Arcade)
MAY 29, 2008
Sony had not revealed its weekly PlayStation Store update as of press time.
MAY 30, 2008
Chaos Wars (PS2)
Bus Driver (PC)
LOL (DS, available online only)
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
Join the conversation