Gamasutra's regular round-up of worldwide video game releases, "Release This!", takes a look at every game title we know to be shipping to stores this week, and released as digitally distributed console games, in a custom compiled list.
This week brings
Gears of War 3 and
Kirby Mass Attack to North America, while Japan gets
Dark Souls and HD remakes for
ICO and
Shadow of the Colossus.
The following list covers all of the game software we know to be available -- across all platforms and regions -- for the week ending September 24th, 2011.
Games Released in the United States:
Epic Games launches its third-person shooter sequel
Gears of War 3 worldwide this week, marking the return of the studio's blockbuster franchise, comfortably between the summer game release doldrums and the holiday shopping rush.
Often described by designer Cliff Bleszinski as a marrying of
Resident Evil 4 and the lesser-known cover-shooter
Kill.Switch, the series originally debuted in North America in 2006, and quickly became one of the Xbox 360's premier franchises. The series also became a technological showcase for the much-licensed Epic Unreal Engine 3.
Gears of War 2 arrived on Xbox 360 in 2008 in North America, building on the success of the original.
Speaking of
Gears of War's influences, a downloadable HD remake of Capcom's
Resident Evil 4 is heading to consoles. Also arriving this week is Electronic Arts' downloadable
Burnout spinoff
Burnout Crash!.
Nintendo's
Kirby Mass Attack and
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 headline this week's portable console lineup, while PSP owners will soon see a remake of Atlus' PSOne-era RPG
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin.
Nintendo Wii:
- Aya and the Cubes of Light (online)
- Barbie: Jet, Set & Style!
Xbox 360:
- Burnout Crash! (online)
- F1 2011
- Gears of War 3
- Resident Evil 4 HD (online)
- Supremacy MMA
PlayStation 3:
- Burnout Crash! (online)
- Cubixx HD (online)
- F1 2011
- Supremacy MMA
Nintendo 3DS:
- Brunswick Pro Bowling
- Frogger 3D
- Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection
Nintendo DS:
- Barbie: Jet, Set & Style!
- Break Tactics (DSi online)
- Challenge Me: Word Puzzles
- Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2
- Escape Trick: Ninja Castle (DSi online)
- Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns
- Jewel Time Deluxe
- Kirby Mass Attack
- ZhuZhu Pets: Quest for Zhu
PlayStation Portable:
- Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 - Innocent Sin
PC:
- Bunch of Heroes (online)
- Casino Chaos with Las Vegas Players Collection
- Drakensang: Complete Saga
- Hector: Badge of Carnage - Episode 3: Beyond Reasonable Doom (online)
- Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (online)
- Outdoors Unlimited
- Railworks 3: Train Simulator 2012
- Time of Fury
- Worms Ultimate Mayhem
Games Released in Europe:
In the UK,
Gears of War 3 joins anticipated releases like 505 Games' one-on-one brawler
Supremacy MMA, Codemasters' racing franchise update
F1 2011, and a PC adaptation of
A Game of Thrones.
Nintendo Wii:
- Barbie: Jet, Set & Style!
- Penguins of Madagascar
Xbox 360:
- F1 2011
- Gears of War 3
- Supremacy MMA
PlayStation 3:
- F1 2011
- Supremacy MMA
Nintendo DS:
- Barbie: Jet, Set & Style!
- Just Sing! Vol. 2
PC:
- Dawn of Fantasy
- A Game of Thrones: Genesis
- Men of War: Vietnam
Games Released in Japan:
From Software's
Demon's Souls follow-up
Dark Souls hits retail in Japan this week, arriving alongside Grasshopper Manufacture's
Shadows of the Damned and HD remakes for
ICO and
Shadow of the Colossus.
The 3DS will soon host Marvelous Entertainment's
Senran Kagura: Shoujotachi no Shinei, while the PSP gets a
Battle Masters sequel and a new
Yu-Gi-Oh! title from Konami.
Nintendo Wii:
- Champion Jockey: G1 Jockey & Gallop Racer
Xbox 360:
- Champion Jockey: G1 Jockey & Gallop Racer
- Gears of War 3
- Shadows of the Damned
PlayStation 3:
- Champion Jockey: G1 Jockey & Gallop Racer
- Dark Souls
- ICO
- Shadows of the Damned
- To Heart 2 DX Plus
- Wanda to Kyozou
Nintendo 3DS:
- Frogger 3D
- Senran Kagura: Shoujotachi no Shinei
PlayStation Portable:
- Busou Shinki: Battle Masters Mk. 2
- Okashi na Shima no Peter Pan: Sweet Never Land
- Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 6
