Game Releases - Week of September 20th, 2004

This week, the U.S. degenerates into a feeding frenzy of releases, with over 40 SKUs and a variety of major titles. The European releases are slightly less substantial in number, but include one long-awaited GameCube title in particular, and Japan also sees a few notable games debut. -- Games released in the United States: PlayStation 2: Star Wars Battlefront, Def Jam: Fight For NY, X-Men Legends, Katamari Damashi, Second Sight, Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, Headhunter: The Redemption, Dance Dance Revolution Extreme, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Vietcong: Purple Haze, Monster Hunter, Blood Will Tell Xbox: Star Wars Battlefront, Def Jam: Fight For NY, X-Men Legends, Headhunter: The Redemption, Second Sight, Syberia II, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, NHL 2005 GameCube: Second Sight, X-Men Legends, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, Megaman X Command Mission, Bad Boys: Miami Takedown PC: Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War, Star Wars Battlefront, Full Spectrum Warrior, Hidden & Dangerous: Sabre Squad, Rome: Total War, Kohan II: Kings Of War, Crusader Kings, Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia, Saga Of Ryzom, Unreal Tournament 2K4: Editor's Choice Game Boy Advance: Advance Guardian Heroes, Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force, F-Zero: GP Legend, Fairly OddParents Another gigantic week for games in the States, with multi-format releases for Pandemic/LucasArts' BF1942-esque Star Wars Battlefront, Raven/Activision's multiplayer brawler X-Men Legends, as well as EA's very hiphop Def Jam: Fight For NY. Quirkier fare includes Namco's budget-priced, super-bizarre PS2 title Katamari Damashi, and elsewhere, Square Enix's Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia expansion gets a U.S. release. There are also a number of notable PC debuts, including Relic's RTS Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War, as well as the PC version of Full Spectrum Warrior and the much-awaited Rome: Total War and Kohan II: Kings Of War. -- Games released in Europe: PlayStation 2: Colin McRae Rally 2005, Demon Stone, Star Wars Battlefront, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, Terminator 3: Redemption Xbox: Colin McRae Rally 2005, NHL 2005, Star Wars Battlefront, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, Terminator 3: Redemption GameCube: Animal Crossing, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, Medabots Infinity, Neighbors From Hell, Terminator 3: Redemption PC: Colin McRae Rally 2005, NHL 2005, Star Wars Battlefront, Saga Of Ryzom, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War, Silent Hill 4: The Room, Kohan II: Kings Of War Game Boy Advance: Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force, Barbie: The Princess and the Pauper Although not quite as many as the U.S., Europe sees a large amount of releases this week, twinning up with the States on titles like Star Wars Battlefront and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005, but also including region-centric games like Codemasters' Colin McRae Rally 2005. Especially notable is Nintendo's insanely delayed GameCube title Animal Crossing, a game which debuted in the U.S. back in September 2002, and European gamers will be welcoming with irate but open arms. -- Games released in Japan PlayStation 2: Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Akaki Elixir no Akuma, Sakura Taisen V Episode 0, Tales of Symphonia, Rakugaki Kingdom 2, Metal Slug 4 Xbox: Phantom Dust Game Boy Advance: Advance Guardian Heroes This week in Japan, Sega's massively popular (at least outside the West) Sakura Taisen dating game series hits PlayStation 2, as does the PlayStation 2 conversion of Namco's RPG Tales Of Symphonia. Also debuting, the Microsoft Game Studios Japan-created action title Phantom Dust for Xbox, and SNK Playmore's PS2 conversion of the ever-lovable 2D Metal Slug 4. Sources: NCSX, Play Asia, GAME, EB Games