Release This: Spider-Man 3 Snares U.S., Europe

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. As Japan enjoys a week-long national holiday free of new video game releases with Golden Week, the United States and Europe are set to receive the highly anticipated Spider-Man 3 across all major platforms. The UK will see a number of other noteworthy titles hit its shores this week as well, including Final Fantasy III, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, and Eledees. The following list covers all of the game software we know to be available -- across all platforms and regions -- for the week ending May 5, 2007. Games Released in the United States: Two different PlayStation 3 versions of Spider-Man 3 lead as the upcoming week's most anticipated titles in the United States, with the more expensive Collector's Edition pulling in 15.60% of this week's Mindshare data, while the regular PS3 edition trails close behind at 12.53%. The Xbox 360 version is also generating a large amount of interest in the days leading up to its release, while the Wii port fares only slightly better than ports across other consoles and portables. Games Released in Europe: Europe boasts a robust lineup of new releases for the upcoming week, with the multiplatform Spider-Man 3 hitting consoles and portables alongside a host of alternatives that span multiple genres. Among the most prominent of these new releases are a pair of Konami-published titles: Eledees (a UK-localized version of Elebits), and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, which is said to sport several enhancements and extras in comparison to versions previously released in the United States and Japan. The Nintendo DS remake of Final Fantasy III should also attract a fair amount of attention this week, as should Sierra's multiple PC adventure game compilations. [About IGN GamerMetrics: IGN GamerMetrics is an interactive tool designed to report the real-time behavior and interests of visitors to IGN Entertainment's network of gaming enthusiast web sites. Using data collected from IGN's readers, GamerMetrics shows the levels of consumer awareness, engagement, and purchase intent in every video game title released in the U.S. market.]