It’s the most smashing time of the year! European fans have so far been enjoying the portable play of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, and are eagerly awaiting the high-definition brawling of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U next week. These games make the perfect tag team, and Nintendo can now detail the two special rewards up for grabs in the European Super Smash Bros. Club Nintendo Promotion, giving even more reasons to pick up both fighting fiestas!

In Europe, if you register both Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U with Club Nintendo before 23:59 CET on 20^th January 2015 (22:59 GMT in the UK), you can claim two special rewards: the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U: Premium Sound Selection exclusive double CD set, and the additional fighter Mewtwo as a free download!

• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U: Premium Sound Selection: This double CD set, packed with a whopping 72 songs taken from the handheld and home console versions, is only available through this promotion to participants who register both games before 23:59 CET on 20^th January 2015 (22:59 GMT in the UK). Eligible participants will need to claim their reward on the Club Nintendo website starting from 10:00 CET on 28^th November 2014 (09:00 GMT in the UK) and latest by 23:59 CET on 27^th January 2015 (22:59 GMT in the UK). The CDs will start to be dispatched in the first quarter of 2015.
• Additional Mewtwo character: Promotion participants who register both games before 23:59 CET on 31^st March 2015 (22:59 GMT in the UK) can expand the games’ roster of playable fighters with a free download of the powerful Mewtwo, by claiming two free download codes – one for Wii U, one for Nintendo 3DS. Eligible participants will need to claim their reward on the Club Nintendo website starting from 10:00 CET on 28^th November 2014 (09:00 GMT in the UK) and latest by 23:59 CET on 7^th April 2015 (22:59 GMT in the UK). The free download codes for Mewtwo will be distributed in spring 2015. The character will be made available to purchase as add-on content in the future. The download codes must be redeemed within one month of receipt.

For full terms and conditions, please visit the Super Smash Bros. Club Nintendo Promotion website.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS is available now at retail or digitally on Nintendo eShop, where a free demo is also available. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U launches across Europe on 28^th November at retail and digitally on Nintendo eShop. It is possible to pre-purchase this title on Nintendo eShop, where most of the game’s data will be transferred to the purchaser’s Wii U system, and as soon as the game launches at midnight on 28^th November the full game will be available immediately.

For further details:
Super Smash Bros. Club Nintendo Promotionwww.nintendo.co.uk/SmashBrosCDPromotion
Super Smash Bros. website http://www.smashbros.com/
Super Smash Bros. on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/smashbros

Wii U website http://www.nintendo.co.uk/Wii-U/Wii-U-344102.html
Nintendo 3DS Guided Tour http://guidedtour.nintendo.co.uk
Nintendo 2DS Website http://www.nintendo.co.uk/nintendo2ds

Wii U (UK) on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/WiiU.co.uk
Nintendo 3DS (UK) on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/Nintendo3DSUK
Nintendo UK on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/NintendoUK
Nintendo of Europe on Twitter https://twitter.com/nintendoeurope
Nintendo UK on Twitter https://twitter.com/nintendouk
Nintendo Official UK Store http://store.nintendo.co.uk/   
Nintendo UK Media Assets Library (registered users only)http://assetslibrary.nintendo.co.uk/

Did somebody say games? No? Well, I’m gonna, so whatever. The weekly latecast of me bringing you fine people the latest games late continues unabated, with a full two day lateness this week! I swear, one day, I’ll get my schedule sorted out so that I have time on Sundays but until then, enjoy the guessing game.

Of note, I actually followed up on my comment last week about The Testament of Sherlock Holmes and…yeah, that game isn’t great. Probably coulda called that, but hey, you never know until you try it, right?

Anyway, that’s old news. Onto this week!

Coming out this week:

Carrier Command: Gaea Mission – October 2nd for PC & X360
This remake of the original 1988 Carrier Command is curiously being developed by the same developer, Bohemia Interactive, that created the first, leading me to wonder whether or not this is a real remake, or more of a reboot. But, hey, who am I to argue with Bohemia after the revitalised success that Arma II had had since DayZ‘s release, not to mention the impending DayZ retail release?

NBA 2K13 — October 2nd for PC, PS3, PSP, X360 & Wii
You guys like Basketball, right? Well here comes the biggest Basketball release of the year to not come packaged with a free basketball! Hell, it’ll still probably be bigger than NBA Baller Beats, because really, who the hell bought NBA Baller Beats?

New Little King’s Story — October 2nd for PSVita
The sequel to the Wii’s Little King’s Story will, according to Japanese magazine Famitsu, have “love elements, along with new visual stylings for its characters.” Without delving into press material, that’s all I could find about NLKS (although, let’s face it, that quote is just about the press-iest thing anybody could ever say about a JRPG.)

NiGHTS into Dreams… — October 2nd for PSN, October 5th for XBLA
One of the top selling games from the Saturn era comes to your Hard-Drive on digital platforms! Includes levels from some weird expansion thing called Christmas Nights! Can you tell I have no interest in this game at all?!

Resident Evil 6 — October 2nd for PS3 & X360
Speaking of games I (and the rest of the OWNT staff) have no interest in, there’s Resident Evil 6. In the coming months, we’re planning to get reviews out for all the major releases, but honestly…I don’t think there’s any point to an RE6 review. From what I understand of the series, you need to have a longstanding relationship with Resident Evil to comment on this title, which I don’t think any of us have, and the reception it’s received so far has been polarizing enough that if you’re really on the fence (after what I understand was an utterly abysmal demo), you should probably read the review from somebody who actually knows what they’re talking about. Might sound like some sort of a cop-out, but hey, full disclosure is a thing, so there you go.

Sonic Adventure 2 — October 2nd for PSN, October 5th for XBLA
I’m gonna go out on a professional limb here and make what other people have led me to believe is a controversial opinion: Fuck Sonic. I hate Sonic. I’ve never liked Sonic and I don’t get the appeal. Maybe my reflexes just kinda suck and I’m looking to blame the game, but I’ve never had a great deal of difficulty with other games based on speed, like say Burnout. If you do like the little furry hedgehog, though, here, take some classic Dreamcast era Sonic, and enjoy! Wait, when did the Dreamcast become classic? Sheeesh.

Port Royale 3 — October 4th for PS3 & X360
Port Royale is apparently a business simulation game and I’m already bored. Except for maybe you can be a pirate! Which isn’t boring. But if you can’t, this is probably a game solely for the businessy sorts, like OWNT’s founder Coop, because I guarantee he’s the only one on staff who knows how to turn a profit. The only one.

Remington’s Super Slam Ultimate Sportsman Challenge — October 5th for PS3 & X360
Hey, you! Are you so sports?! Yeah, but are you ultimate sports?! Yeah, but are you SUPER SLAM ULTIMATE SPORTS?! Then go out and buy this goddamn light-gun game. Maybe lay off the adrenaline inducers as well, the veins in your neck are freaking me the hell out.

Pokémon Dream Radar – October 7th for 3DS
This downloadable Pokémon game barely seems to be an actual game, and more a sort of AR-enhanced DLC for the real Pokémon game that comes out this week. See below.

Pokémon: Black & White Version 2 — October 7th for NDS
Well, they made another Pokémon game. This one, believe it or not, is a Japanese Role Playing Game in which you collect pocket monsters and utilize their varied skills in pitting them through inhumane duels with their kin, before enslaving them within miniature balls that would fail to pass Geneva Convention standards for Prisoner of War containment! You know if you’re buying this or not already.

OH! Before I forget, I think The Walking Dead: Episode Four is coming out this week. Just watch me be wrong.

Well, that’s Your Week in Games. See you next week. Maybe on time this week.

I know, I know, I’m a day late. Cut me some slack, I broke 3 toes today. No punchline here, only pain, kinda like this weeks releases, amiright?! Yeah? No? Psch, whatever.

Coming out this week:

Dead or Alive 5 — September 25th for PS3 & X360
If you like women in bikini’s kicking the living shit out of each other, you’ll probably like this! If you’re more into ‘the art’ of fighting games, though, you might wanna skip this and keep to Tekken Tag Tournament 2, which I hear is pretty good.

Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure — September 25th for PC, Wii & 3DS
What with the growing general interest in broniism and whatnot, I imagine any degrading comments I could make about these sorts of kid-friendly games will sooner or later result in management calling down to me from their cloud of dollars and telling me to cool down a little. That day hasn’t arrived yet, though, so if you’re expecting any real information about this game…what is wrong with you?! Ah, I kid, I kid. I actually watched a couple of episodes of My Little Pony with my niece a few months ago and you know what? That show is entertaining enough that I get why some people would be attracted to it. Apart from obscene animated crushes, though, I don’t know what people’s deal is with Disney Princesses…

DragonBall Z for Kinect — September 25th for X360
Namco Bandai refused to respond to my query as to whether DBZ for Kinect would cost “OVER NINE-THOUSAND (DOLLARS)”.  I probably wouldn’t have responded to such a question either, to be fair.

FIFA Soccer 13 – September 25th for PC, PS3, PSP, X360, 3DS
Over here in Britain, this game is just referred to as FIFA because ‘soccer’ is not a word. You crazy Americans.

Final Fantasy III —  September 25th for PSP
In Square Enix’s eternal quest to bring every FF game to the PSP, no matter how out-dated the hardware may seem to the rest of us, FFIII follows suit.

Grand Theft Auto III — September 25th for PSN
A part of me is still trying to comprehend how GTAIII wasn’t already on PSN. Does this mean that Vice City and San Andreas aren’t on there either? WHAT SORT OF WORLD ARE WE LIVING IN?!

LittleBigPlanet PS Vita — September 25th for PSVita
New rule: I’m not going to comment on any title that includes the name of the system it is being featured on within its title because you probably already know what to expect. Starting…Now.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors — September 25th for PS3
Apparently One Piece is a manga, rather than a swimsuit, as I first assumed. However, because that manga is not Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Battle Royale or something, you know, recognisable, I can’t say I care about this game. Probably doesn’t matter because word on the vine is that it’s not very good.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 — September 25th for PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, X360, Wii & 3DS
That’s right…they’re still making games for the PS2. Inorite?! I was surprised too.

Realms of Ancient War — September 25th for PS3
RAW (okay, that’s kinda cool) sounds pretty blase, so let’s take a look at one of Wizarbox’s previous titles, So Blonde.

Sunny Blonde is a 17-year-old teenager who has been spoiled by her rich parents. On a cruise with her parents who are celebrating their wedding anniversary, the ship is struck by lightning, and she is knocked overboard. She finds herself stranded on a beach of a remote “Forgotten Island” in the Caribbean Sea.

Holy crap, did they create the upcoming Tomb Raider 6 years before Crystal Dynamics?!

She is totally alone and worrying about her nails and messy make-up

…maybe not…

 The Testament of Sherlock Holmes — September 25th for PC, PSC, X360
Alright, that’s it. After seeing the Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper game cover all over the place for years, I’m officially hella curious as to what these games are. I’ll probably take a look at some point later this month/week/year/sometime in the future. I promise.

 Tokyo Jungle — September 25th for PSN
From what I understand Tokyo Jungle is set after humans have left planet Earth and follows the plight of the animals left to fend for themselves against each other in the streets of Tokyo. This sounds half bizarre, half awesome, all Japanese.

Warrior’s Lair — September 25th for PS3
If you didn’t already get your isometric RPG fix from Torchlight 2 last week, Sony got your back with…well, another isometric RPG…

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria – September 25th for PC, Mac
I do not care for WoW but the CG trauker they released for MoP really had me curious as to how Blizzard would handle the opportunity to make their own WoW movie, because hey, I think it’d be pretty awesome.

Bad Piggies — September 27th for iOS, Mac, PC
Anybody here ever play Angry Birds? A couple of you, yeah? Here…have a sequel. Then tell me how you play this on a PC?

The DENPA Men: They Came By Wave — September 27th for 3DS
Uhhh… this is a role playing game in which you play as the DENPA men and is that supposed to mean anything to anybody? Oh, Japan…sometimes I just don’t know what to do with you!

Everyone Sing — September 27th for PS3, X360 and Wii
Until a karaoke game includes the following, I don’t care about karaoke games:

Catch you guys next week.

Level-5 has announced the sixth entry in the Layton series. The title will conclude the prequel trilogy, and according to CEO Akihiro Hino, will be the last installment to feature the good Professor as its main character. The game is called Layton Kyoujyu to Cho Bunmei A no Isan (which roughly translates to “Professor Layton and the Legacy of Super Civilization A” or “the Advanced Civilization” as it will more likely be renamed for America).

Layton’s final adventure looks to be his most magical yet: with his assistants, Luke and Emmy, Layton discovers a wondrous and fantastic civilization lost to history. This sort of Atlantis-kingdom, covered in snow, leads him on journey to solve more puzzles and help a mysterious young girl who was trapped within the ice.

Recently, Level-5 and Capcom finished development on their crossover game, Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney, which is scheduled for release on November 29 in Japan for the Nintendo 3DS. Europe and North America are still waiting on the second game in the prequel trilogy, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, but you can look for Layton’s final adventure next year on the 3DS.

Borderlands 2 comes out this week! And all you Americans get it, like, half a week before I do. Which makes me angry. But not too angry because I am just stoked to get the chance to play a game I’ve actually been looking forward to. Mike is gonna be playing it as soon as and will get a review up sooner than later and we might start trying to figure out how ‘Second Opinions’ work with this game, but no promises. We should certainly have those up and running in the coming months, no matter what, because there is a whole mess of games on the way.

Speaking of games (and Borderlands!) lets see what else is on the horizon for the coming week.

Coming out this week:

Harley Pasternak’s Hollywood Workout — September 16th for X360, September 20th for Wii
If you want a workout guided by the Canadian *SENSATION* responsible for the figures of Hilary Duff, Katy Perry and…uh, Lady Gaga then look no further. I spent enough time with an old room-mates Nike training game for the Kinect to know, goddamn, I neither need nor want to spend any time with any more exercise games.

Borderlands 2 — September 18th for PC, PS3 and X360
Do I even need to explain why you should play Borderlands 2? I could point you to what I want out of the game, but otherwise things are looking good. Just look at this screenshot.

F1 2012 — September 18th for PC, PS3 and X360
I don’t know whether it’s got something to do with being in Britain, a place with less fondness for NASCAR than Formula One, but I still see an abundance of F1 2011 copies all over shelves, whenever I stop by anywhere that sells games at all. So, yeah. Now I get to look forward to seeing F1 2012 all over everywhere instead.

Hotel Transylvania  – September 18th for 3DS
Apparently Hotel Transylvania is a movie, starring Adam Sandler. Now I’m pretty into movies and whatnot and I have never even heard about this feature. Adam Sandler as Dracula sounds about as appealing as any of Sandlers recent roles recently, though, so not very.

Jet Set Radio — September 18th for PC, PSN and XBLA
Jet Set Radio is an action platformer that originally debuted on Dreamcast. You’ll probably remember it better by the name Jet Grind Radio, although I don’t think I ever even heard of it. So this is a HD remake. Apparently the original was pretty good, so take that for what it’s worth.

 Kinect Nat Geo TV – September 18th for X360
I’m sure this already came out, but looking back, I don’t seem to have written anything about it. So hey, if you dig on elephants and shit, National Geographic got your back with the most appropriate game for you since…well, Afrika for the PS3.

Kinect Sesame Street TV — September 18th for X360
It seems to me that this game is utterly moot, what with Double Fine having released what will likely prove to be an exceptional Sesame Street-Kinect based experience with Once Upon A Monster. Apparently, though, Sesame Street has a big Kinect initiative which means this is probably the second of a whole myriad of SS games coming along in the future.

Street Fighter: 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set — September 18th for PS3 and X360
I’m just gonna give you the hard info because that’s probably the most informative thing I can do, rather than crack some lame old joke about Street Fighter.

The Street Fighter: 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set includes Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition, Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition and Street Fighter X Tekken. All costume DLC is included for Street Fighter IV along with all character and Swap Costume DLC for Street Fighter X Tekken. The set will also include an eleven disc soundtrack filled with Street Fighter music spanning the last twenty-five years. In addition, a two disc Blu-Ray set will feature a documentary covering the franchise, Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV anime films, all episodes of the Street Fighter animated series and Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. A 64-page art book, eight inch light-up Ryu statue, full-size Ryu martial arts belt and certificate of authenticity are also included.

I legitimately kinda love the Jean Claude Van Damme Street Fighter movie. Legitimately.

La-Mulana — September 20th for Wii

La-Mulana is an Action Archaeological Ruins Exploration game.

What in the holy fuck does that mean? As Dr. Lemeza Kosugi you will fight monsters to get to the mystical city of La-Mulana and you know what? This just sounds bad. I don’t even want to know anything else, it just sounds bad.

Rayman: Jungle Run — September 20th for Android
Who loves Rayman? You love Rayman! Who loves Android? Fucking no-one, that’s who. Alright, I kid, I kid. But seriously, I couldn’t care less about an Android version of a great game, because I simply don’t have an Android.

Torchlight II — September 20th for PC
Torchlight II isn’t coming out. I know they say it’s coming out, but it isn’t. It can’t be. My universe implodes the moment this game finally comes out. So no, it’s not coming out. It’s especially not coming out the day Borderlands 2 comes out where I live, because, hell, that means I’m probably not gonna play it.

Anna — September 21st for Mac
So, this is a first person horror adventure that debuted on PC earlier this year and has very little profile as far as I can tell. But I’ve been looking into getting into horror games, so the PC version may end up making its way onto my personal wishlist. We’ll see.

So, to surmise: Borderlands, Borderlands, Borderlands. Any thoughts? Hit the comments, below.

In a move that may surprise many, at Nintendo’s press event today – during which they revealed the official launch date and price of their upcoming console – the House of Mario also made a shocking announcement: Bayonetta 2, the sequel to Platinum Games’ 2010 hyper action beat-em-up, will be exclusive to the Wii U. The original starred the game’s titular hero, the long-legged femme fatale, and featured a blend of highly stylized combat and aggressive enemy AI.

While this play by Nintendo may seem quite startling at first, it makes a lot of sense. Firstly, Nintendo needs to capitalize on the hardcore market, a network of gamers they’ve tended to neglect for the last few generations. Secondly, Nintendo and Platinum have a bit of history together: the Japanese developer created MadWorld for the Wii, one of the console’s first truly “mature” games. They also co-developed the strategy RPG Infinite Space for the Nintendo DS and are the sole developers of the now officially titled The Wonderful 101 (formerly Project P-100) for the Wii U. The move may upset fans of the original who had no intent on purchasing the Wii U, but if Nintendo wants to starts distinguishing themselves from the competition and pose a real threat to Microsoft and Sony, this is exactly the kind of stuff they need to focus on.

Also announced at today’s event is Capcom’s Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Edition for the Wii U and 3DS. As stated in the press release:

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate utilizes the functionalities of Wii U and Nintendo 3DS to provide players with a truly intuitive hunting experience. The touch screen feature of both platforms allows players to quickly access in-game books, weapons, field maps and mini games while the high quality graphics of the Wii U and 3D visuals of the Nintendo 3DS powered by the latest iteration of Capcom’s MT Framework delivers a unique and stunning world for players to explore.

In a move that may surprise many, at Nintendo’s press event today – during which they revealed the official launch date and price of their upcoming console – the House of Mario also made a shocking announcement: Bayonetta 2, the sequel to Platinum Games’ 2010 hyper action beat-em-up, will be exclusive to the Wii U. The original starred the game’s titular hero, the long-legged femme fatale, and featured a blend of highly stylized combat and aggressive enemy AI.

While this play by Nintendo may seem quite startling at first, it makes a lot of sense. Firstly, Nintendo needs to capitalize on the hardcore market, a network of gamers they’ve tended to neglect for the last few generations. Secondly, Nintendo and Platinum have a bit of history together: the Japanese developer created MadWorld for the Wii, one of the console’s first truly “mature” games. They also co-developed the strategy RPG Infinite Space for the Nintendo DS and are the sole developers of the now officially titled The Wonderful 101 (formerly Project P-100) for the Wii U. The move may upset fans of the original who had no intent on purchasing the Wii U, but if Nintendo wants to starts distinguishing themselves from the competition and pose a real threat to Microsoft and Sony, this is exactly the kind of stuff they need to focus on.

Also announced at today’s event is Capcom’s Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Edition for the Wii U and 3DS. As stated in the press release:

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate utilizes the functionalities of Wii U and Nintendo 3DS to provide players with a truly intuitive hunting experience. The touch screen feature of both platforms allows players to quickly access in-game books, weapons, field maps and mini games while the high quality graphics of the Wii U and 3D visuals of the Nintendo 3DS powered by the latest iteration of Capcom’s MT Framework delivers a unique and stunning world for players to explore.

Yesterday, Nintendo made the announcement that everyone has been waiting for: the price and release date of the Wii U. Along with that, they made the shocking reveal that Bayonetta 2 will be a Wii U exclusive. Among the handful of other games discussed during their live press event in New York City, Nintendo and Capcom announced Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the 3DS and Wii U. The details right now are sparse, but here’s what we know.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is going to be a graphically enhanced port of the original Monster Hunter Tri which was released exclusively for the Wii in 2010. In addition to the updated visuals and a reconfiguration of controls to support the gamepad, the game will include all of the content updates found in Monster Hunter 3G, which was the handheld version of Tri released exclusively in Japan for the 3Ds in 2011, as well as several features from Tri that were cut from 3G (including underwater battles and Free Hunt mode). In other words, Ultimate is going to be the complete package for Monster Hunter fans.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate will also be the first game in the series to feature dynamic shadows and implement a new “Target Camera” setting that centers the camera on the monster rather than the direction the character is facing. The latter is an experiment Capcom is hoping to fine tune and adapt for the next iteration of the series. Perhaps the biggest news about the game is the cross-play between the Wii U and 3DS versions. Players will be able to cooperate and team up with friends and go out on a hunt together. Save games can also be shared between versions.

The game is set to launch early next year, with a tentative March release date for Europe and North America.

Jesus, this week is quiet and I can’t say I mind, as I’m having an extremely busy day. So let’s just get straight into it.

Coming out this week:

Critter Crunch — September 11th for PC
Critter Crunch is an iOS game that has been ported to PC and will later be available on PS3. According the the iOS reviews, it’s pretty good. GREAT!

Double Dragon: Neon — September 11th for PSN, September 12th for XBLA
Another game in the utterly ‘meh’ beat ‘em up franchise that is still alive after 25 years. GREAT!…ish.

Finding Nemo: Escape to the Big Blue — September 11th for 3DS
C’mon, everybody loves Finding Nemo. I don’t even need to do any research for this one. GREAT!

NBA Baller Beats — September 11th for X360
It’s a rhythm/basketball game. So it’s a second tier mash up of a dead genre and a mass market Kinect game that…
Nobody cares. GREAT!

NHL 13 — September 11th for PS3 & X360
Hockey. GREAT!

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 — September 11th for PS3 & X360
I almost care about Tekken, in some alternate reality when I never stopped being 13 and Tekken 3 was still the greatest game of all time. Almost. GREAT!

Empire: Total War (Gold Edition) — September 13th for Mac
Something, something, Total War, something, Gold, something. GREAT!

Prince of Persia Classic — September 13th for Android
I’m sorry, I just don’t see the appeal of PoP classic for anybody to young to have played it ‘back in the day’. And for Android? Just…urgh.
But still, GREAT!

Kirby’s Dream Collection: Special Edition — September 16th for Wii
I’ve admitted before that I’ve never played a Zelda game. Is it reputation suicide to admit that I’ve never played a Kirby game either? You know what, just imagine a world where I’ve never heard of Nintendo. Because, honestly, that’s not far from the truth.

Super speedy, like I said. This should counteract the fan-gasm I have next week when Borderlands 2 is released. So, look forward to that.

Comments, below, all that jazz. Lates!

It seems as if that dreaded summer drought is finally coming to a close. Between GDC Europe and Gamescom taking place down in Cologne, Germany over the next few days, there should be plenty of news hitting the information super-highway straight into your mind. But if following every last piece of information isn’t your thing (but really, why wouldn’t it be?) then don’t worry, I’ve got the biggest scoop of the year right here for you. Are you ready? Seriously, you should sit down or something…

There are games coming out this week.

Yes! Actual honest to goodness games, and not just one AAA title with a couple of other examples of mid-ware from developers you’ve never heard of, parsing out the iOS market. There’s at least two pieces of big budget genuine interactive entertainment for you to sink your teeth into. No need to pinch yourself; this really is happening.

Coming out this week:

Iron Brigade – August 13th for PC
From what I understand, this is the same old Iron Brigade but now you can play it with a mouse and keyboard, which is probably the optimal way to play.

Darksiders II – August 14th for PC, PS3, X360
As someone who never played the original Darksiders, I’m less interested in playing as Death than I am curious about how they’ll tackle Famine (or maybe even Jesus!) in future sequels, should this franchise continue.

The Last Story — August 14th for Wii
I’ve heard this Japanese RPG is really, really good, but not recently. No, I heard this 6 months ago when The Last Story came out in Europe. I get that Persona 4 Arena might take a month to bring to Europe, but what’s Nintendo’s excuse here?

Mama’s Combo Pack Vol. 1 and Vol.2 – August 14th for NDS
Honestly didn’t know that the Mama series was still a thing. Shows how much I know. If you’re still into it, however: Why? No, seriously, if you’re still into it, here’s two Mama collections. You’re welcome. Now go over there, away from me.

Papo & Yo – August 14th for PSN
I’ve heard the odd mention of Papo & Yo every so often for a while now, but never actually, ya’know,  listened. So when I noticed a release trailer I figured I’d check it out, integrate myself, so-on and so-forth.

What. The. Hell.

Sleeping Dogs – August 14th for PC, PS3, X360
For that one guy out there who really loves the True Crime series, here is True Crime 3, reskinned! It’s weird that there’s two games coming out in one week that both received a lot of attention for their titles changing, huh?  (Hint: The other one used to be called Trenched)

Dust: An Elysian Tail — August 15th for XBLA
Here we have a high quality independent title, created in it’s entirety by practically one guy, coming to consoles about 9 months after it’s original release date and all I can think about is that it’s subtitle reminds me of An American Tail.  I bet if I watched that film today, I’d pick up on all manner of subtext.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 – August 19th for 3DS
Oh, hey. Mario. Still Mario.

I also find myself with the distinct suspicion that The Walking Dead: Episode 3 will be showing up on PC, PS3 & X360 this week, but Telltale are being as cagey as ever. Don’t take my word for that, though. It’s just a guess.

That’s all for now, but keep checking back throughout the week for the latest in high quality video-game  news, reviews and general musings. Like I said up-top, this week should be fairly busy.