Release This: Room 215: Sid Meier's Inuyasha!

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, in an exclusively compiled list. Though the United States and Europe continue to suffer through a drought of new software, Japan has no less than thirty-three new titles debuting in the coming week, including high-profile releases like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, The Idol [email protected], and multiple Konami-published classics compilations. Anticipated releases like Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Inuyasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel should satisfy gamers in the United States for the time being, however, while Europe is slated to receive Star Fox Command, Actionloop, Rocky Balboa, and not much else. The following list covers all of the game software we know to be available -- across all platforms and regions -- for the week ending January 27, 2007. Games Released in the United States: GamerMetrics shows that the coming week's most anticipated release in the United States is Hotel Dusk: Room 215, a film noir-esque adventure title that has been getting high marks in the gaming press. It seems as though the Nintendo DS is becoming a sort of haven for text-based adventure games as of late, with Hotel Dusk and the recent Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All both meeting with a high amount of anticipation from gamers and enthusiastic recommendations from critics. Rounding out this week's Mindshare leaders are the anime-licensed Inuyasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel, RPG trilogy wrapup The Legend of Heroes III: Song of the Ocean, and an upgraded PSP port of the classic PC strategy title Sid Meier's Pirates! Games Released in Europe: Few choices await European gamers hungry for new releases this week, though Nintendo DS owners can look forward to the debut of both Actionloop (known as Magnetica in the West) and Star Fox Command. PSP fans in the UK will also have Rocky Balboa to call their own for the next few weeks, as the title will remain a European-exclusive release until its planned U.S. release in February. Games Released in Japan: Japan is set to see its biggest week in new releases in quite some time, with a lineup containing everything from localizations of popular American-made releases to a broad selection of text-based adventure games. Currently leading preorders this week are Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Wish Room: Tenshi no Kioku (also seeing release in the U.S. this week as Hotel Dusk: Room 215), and Picross DS. The PSP will soon receive a number of anticipated releases as well, including a trio of Konami-developed classic shooter compilations. Parodius Portable, Salamander Portable, and Twinbee Portable are already generating a lot of interest among shooter fans worldwide, and will likely pull in big sales numbers from both gamers in Japan and from importers in other regions. [About IGN GamerMetrics: IGN GamerMetrics is a tool designed to report the real-time behavior and interests of visitors to IGN Entertainment's network of gaming enthusiast web sites, showing the levels of consumer awareness, engagement, and purchase intent in every video game title released in the U.S. market.]