On Shelves This Week: April 7 to April 13, 2008

Posted Apr 7, 2008 at 12:07AM by QJ Staff Listed in: How-To, News Tags: Destineer, ESRB, The Orange Box, Ubisoft, Valve Corporation

Compared to last week, gamers will have quite a diverse collection of newly released titles this time around with an old-school dungeon crawler in the form of Atlus' Baroque, and the obligatory summer sports-themed casual game that is Summer Sports: Paradise Island for the Wii. But the most exciting thing to hit the gaming streets could be the retail stand-alone re-release of The Orange Box Games: Team Fortress 2, Portal, and Half-Life 2. And yes, there's also the new PC version of...

Team Fortress 2 Valve Corporation - Image 1

Team Fortress 2 Valve Corporation - Image 1

Assassin's Creed. This bestselling Ubisoft title finally hits the PC platform, letting PC gamers get into the shoes of Altair as he strives to restore peace in the Holy Land. Considered as a director's cut of sorts, the PC version will sport some improvements over its console counterparts, such as the addition of new sidequests.

PC - April 8, 2008
US$ 49.99
ESRB Mature
Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft

Team Fortress 2. Part of The Orange Box, Valve Corporation finally releases Team Fortress 2 as a stand-alone retail title for the PC. Play as any member of the Team Fortress 2 motley crew divided into two groups: the demolition team (Reliable Excavation Demolition) or the construction team (Builders League United). Compete against the opposing team to meet certain objectives with the use of various over-the-top weapons, including Sasha.

PC - April 8, 2008
US$ 29.99
ESRB Mature
Valve Corporation

Baroque. Originally produced for the Sega Saturn in Japan, Baroque is an old-school dungeon crawler rendered in a dark, gothic palette. Atlus finally releases this gem for both the Sony PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo Wii, with the Wii version sporting motion controls. Lauded for its intricate storyline, Baroque is recommended for those who wouldn't mind delving into a dark, dank dungeon rife with secrets that are begging to be unravelled.

Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2 - April 8, 2008
US$ 39.99
ESRB Teen
Atlus and Sting Entertainment

Portal. Also part of Valve Corporation's The Orange Box, Portal is the award-winning, innovative game that makes people think of...yes, portals. Aided by the passive-aggressive AI GlaDOS, players solve puzzles and go through mazes with the use of the Aperture Science Handled Portal Device (just call it Portal Gun). If you haven't experienced The Orange Box yet (blasphemy!), we suggest that you start out with this great title.

PC - April 8, 2008
US$ 19.99
ESRB Teen
Valve Corporation

Summer Sports: Paradise Island. Yes, it's summer and it's about time that we hit the beaches for some good old fun in the outdoors. But if you choose to stay holed up inside your room with your Wii, then you can use Destineer's Summer Sports: Paradise Island to fulfill your summer sports activity quota. With sports events such as Badminton, Mini-Golf, Basketball, Croquet, and many others, you'll eventually forget that you aren't playing outside in the first place.

Nintendo Wii - April 11, 2008
US$ 39.99
ESRB Everyone
Destineer and Digital Embryo

Ikaruga. Finally, the much awaited vertical scrolling Treasure shooter hits the Western Xbox Live Arcade service around the same time as its Japanese counterpart. Going through Ikaruga unscathed requires only not shooting anything that moves, but also knowing how to properly utilize the game's polarity system.

Microsoft Xbox 360 - April 9, 2008
Treasure

Sam & Max Episode 205: What's New, Beelzebub? After helping a half-man, half-beast return to his normal self, the hilarious furry police duo Sam and Max now visits Hell, where they meet the demonic head honcho Beelzebub to retrieve Bosco's lost soul. As the fifth and final episode to the second season of Telltale Games' Sam & Max video game adaptation, we can expect to encounter the usual rollicking hijinks and the same brand of humor that made this series so popular.

PC - April 10, 2008
ESRB Teen
Telltale Games and GameTap

MiniCopter: Adventure Flight. It's the ultimate RC hobbyist's dream: flying a mini-helicopter through common day-to-day locations, such as the parks, clinics, classrooms, and even the school cafeteria. It's not only all about flying, MiniCopter: Adventure Flight will also let gamers fulfill certain missions using the RC helicopter by airlifting litter and dropping them off into the trash.

Nintendo Wii - April 8, 2008
US$ 29.99
ESRB Everyone
Aksys and Arc System Works

Half-Life 2: Episode Pack. Relive Gordon Freeman's adventures in Valve Corporation's retail release of Half-Life 2 episodes 1 and 2. Fight against the aliens and the seemingly insurmountable odds that they present, with the help of your allies.

PC - April 8, 2008
US$ 29.99
ESRB Mature
Valve Corporation, Electronic Arts

Plushees. Nintendo DS users fond of pet simulation games such as the Nintendogs series may take a liking to the saccharine-sweet Plushees by Destineer (yes, Destineer is proving itself to be a prolific game developer this week). Give these virtual stuffed toys some real TLC, because you know you can't resist the puppy-dog eyed stares that they flash your way.

Nintendo DS - April 8, 2008
US$ 19.99
ESRB Everyone
Destineer

Fab 5 Soccer. Destineer's portable soccer game will have gamers pit 5-on-5 teams against each other. Play as any of the real-life soccer icons rendered in big-head versions such as Luis Figo, Roberto Ayala, Dejan Stankovic, among others.

Nintendo DS - April 11, 2008
US$ 29.99
ESRB Everyone
Destineer

Buy: [Assassin's Creed (PC)]
Buy: [Team Fortress 2 (PC)]
Buy: [Baroque (Wii)]
Buy: [Portal (PC)]
Buy: [Summer Sports: Paradise Island (Wii)]
Buy: [MiniCopter: Adventure Flight (Wii)]
Buy: [Half-Life 2: Episode Pack (PC)]
Buy: [Plushees (DS)]
Buy: [Fab 5 Soccer (DS)]

140 Jumps Custom Firmware 5.50GEN-D3 and 5.03HEN-C dated

50 Jumps PlayStation celebrates 15th birthday

37 Jumps PSP homebrew - MHUSPEED v3

36 Jumps Traveller's Tales to Sony: make downloadable games cheaper or the PSP Go dies

35 Jumps MaGiXieN explains release margin for CFW 5.50GEN-D3/ 5.03HEN-C

28 Jumps MaGiXieN: 6.xxGEN is not worth the trouble, 5.50GEN-D3 to be announced in a few hours

28 Jumps More Estavillo subpoenas - Lady Sovereign and Krayzie Bone

27 Jumps EU PlayStation Store update - 12/03/09

26 Jumps PSP Minis to become playable on PS3 before Christmas?

22 Jumps PSP homebrew - MacroFire v3.0.12

Comments [refresh]

by CHUCKINGROCKSATSPACESHIPS - 2008-04-07 00:35

� Doh!

No PS3 goodness this week?

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by LordQuas431 - 2008-04-07 07:17

� .

Only 360 one is a XBLA title too...looking at release dates Rockstar chose a good time to release GTA IV. On either console between now and GTA the only thing that interests me is the GT5 prologue. Maybe the Warhawk thing too, but it's DLC so I don't 'count' it

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by Chris C - 2008-04-07 09:21

� Baroque and Sam and Max

They look pretty good.

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