Shippin' Out Feb. 27-Mar. 5: Fight Night Champion, Black Ops PS3 DLC
New release slate highlighted by first M-rated franchise entry and First Strike add-on content for Sony's console; Beyond Good & Evil HD, Rift, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II - Retribution also out.
The splendid shooter Killzone 3 and the foul-mouthed Bulletstorm led all releases last week, but this week's focus shifts to hand-to-hand fighting, Call of Duty multiplayer, and a revival of Beyond Good & Evil.
Leading the pack this week is EA Sports' Fight Night Champion for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Champion is the first Fight Night game to be rated M for Mature. The game is being billed as one that is "gritty" and "dark," with animations and player damage that "truly conveys the brutality of the sport of boxing."
EA is promising a refined physics-based animation system and a new "Full Spectrum Punch Control" scheme. The title will focus on a single-player mode intended to re-create the dramatic and emotional aspects of the sport.
PlayStation 3 gamers looking to add to their copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops can pick up the $15 First Strike downloadable content this week via the PlayStation Network. As for the content, the map pack includes four new multiplayer environments ranging in locale from the Berlin Wall in Germany to a North American hockey rink. The add-on also bundles one environment for the game's zombie mode dubbed Ascension.
While Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still far off, fans of the series can pick up an updated version of the well-received original this week on Xbox Live. Beyond Good & Evil HD will feature 1080p graphics, including enhanced character models and upgraded textures, and Ubisoft has also remastered the game's musical score.
Also out this week is Trion Worlds' massively multiplayer online game Rift for the PC. As its title might suggest, the game's premise is of "rifts" in space time that are playing havoc with the land of Telara and threatening to tear the fabric of the universe. The world will be highly malleable, as these rifts can be triggered by players or the development team, and they can also occur spontaneously. Their arrival will apparently alter the landscape, as well as open up new areas for exploration.
Those who would rather add to an existing game than pick up a new one can grab Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution for the PC. Retribution follows on from the events that transpired in Dawn of War II's first expansion, Chaos Rising. Set 10 years later, the game sees the Imperium reeling after an apparent betrayal by Gabriel Angelos' Space Marines. Gamers will be able to assume command of their chosen faction to experience the events of the game as they play out.
Gamers looking for something a little lighter this week can pick up Rango The Video Game. It will be released the Tuesday before the Johnny Depp-voiced animated Western is released in theaters on Friday, March 4. Like its film inspiration, the action adventure game will follow the travails of its titular out-of-his-element lizard. The game will be set in the Wild West town of Dirt, and gamers will find themselves meeting quirky characters, as well as engaging in shoot-outs and other old-timey activities.
For further details on the week's games, visit GameSpot's New Releases page. The full list of downloadable games on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, and Wii Shop Channel will be revealed later this week. Release dates are based on retailer listings and are subject to change.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28
Fate of the World--PC--Red Redemption
Martial Empires: The Catastrophe of Babylon--PC--gamigo
TUESDAY, MARCH 1
Chuck E. Cheese's Sports Games--Wii--UFO Interactive
Fight Night Champion--PS3, X360--EA Sports
Rango: The Video Game--PS3, X360, Wii, DS--Paramount Digital Entertainment
Rift--PC--Trion Worlds
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution--PC--THQ
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2
Beyond Good & Evil HD--X360--Ubisoft
Perfect World International: Genesis--PC--Perfect World Entertainment
THURSDAY, MARCH 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops: First Strike--PS3--Activision
87 comments
I have never played any of this boxing or sports in general games so am yet to try them out and Fight Night Champion sound like a good start more so that I love me some Iron Mike, but the problem with this reasoning is because the last game I bought because liked the guy on the cover was Tiger Woods 08 or 09 (I don?t know) and I still ant play it, not even a single shoot.
@cjf187x Also I would like to inform you the Fight Night is identical for both systems which means fun for everyone. I'm sure you will find some web page with some clown "CLAIMING" that the PS3 version "FLAWED"..Did I mention I was the Prince of Persia. True story :)
@cjf187x I went to the link and would like to point out this paragraph, "The petition references Digital Foundry's recent analysis of the game's visuals, in which it was claimed that Black Ops is "clearly superior-looking" on Xbox 360." Key word here is "CLAIMED". The strange thing about this article is that I have the game for both systems hooked up on the same TV and I see no difference for either online or offline. I guess you are one of those people who will believe anything they read on the internet.... Good luck with that
I really enjoyed FNR3, skipped 4, but having played the demo (to death) i gotta say, looks like EA have hit the nail on the head with Champions, slick, fluid and engrossing. Definate purchase for me.
@COPMAN221, sleepnsurf is semi right, the Black Ops COD for PS3 wasn't that great. PS3 owners were demanding that they get their money back due to the crappy gameplay, inferior graphics, less features than 360 and atrocious multiplayer. http://www.computerandvideogames.com/277520/news/ps3-owners-petition-activision-for-black-ops-refund/ http://www.co-optimus.com/article/5114/ps3-owners-upset-over-new-cod-black-ops-patch.html Those two articles prove that "Blops" sucked on PS3 and the 8800+ owners of the game that signed the petition to be reimbursed would disagree with you. Google it.
Vagrant Story for the PSN? Whoa! you guys are lucky! Its simply one of the greatest game ever made!
From what I hear the PS3 version of Blops flopped so I would not imagine many of the owners to shell out money for this delayed map pack for a flawed version of the game.
Been playing fight night since Friday and I'm happy to say that EA has FINALLY did something right. Awesome boxing game for both PS3 and 360. Enforcer 266 on 360 or ENFORCER266 on PSN for the non believers :) See you in the ring..
@Sablicious i don't see why do u have to compare FightNight and MK. They both are fighting games, agreed ;) but it ain't making any sense if u comparing 2D Fighting Genre with Boxing Genre.. its like comparing, NFS MostWanted with Shift just because they both are racing games. Cheers! from a Gamer to a Gamer...
Fight Night is hitting the right notes here, along with the Punches... The Sound is good, the music is fair enough, the Boxers and their corresponding attributes (d reactions, d way they throw the punches etc) are showing positive improvements... All in all, this would be right in your face if u are a big boxing fan or not...
Fight Night is looking terrific. Even if EA uses actual advertisements in game, they just make their games feel that much more realistic.
Meh. I'm not fan of sports games so nothing for me. Only thing good is Vagrant Story(never played before).
@dizzyrhino Wrong. I just neg repped this last comment of yours though, but not your previous one. I'm just shocked that you would give someone a smart@ss comment on not being bothered to Google it, on who's the heavyweight champion of boxing?!So you may like it, but I'm not as interested in it, therefore I commented on the main reasons why I wasn't as interested, or my opinion of why I think a lot of the sports community feels the same. It may not have passed the popularity of boxing outside the US, but it sure has here, and that's what I see. Every other week it seems like there is a pay per view UFC on. I do however agree that the Anderson Silva vs Damian Maia was extremely boring, but I can name several instances that the same has happened in boxing. Don't get me wrong, I used to love boxing, and I would enjoy watching young boxers fight on Friday Night Fights on ESPN, then later, go on to become stars, fighting in big events on HBO pay per view. I'm glad your hyped about this next installment, I'm just saying that it doesn't interest me that much, mainly due to slumping nature of the sport, and my own interest in MMA.
Ahhhhhh Cripes!!!! Game of the Year being released this week. Chuck E. Cheese's Sports Games!!!!!! I better go pick my place in line at Game Stop cause I know they are going to be sold out.
ill stick with round 3 even if EA shutdown the servers... the series seems to be taking leaps and bounds in the exactly wrong direction.... Also this message is brought to you by burger king -_- *sigh* i hate EA with a passion.
@godzillavskong why the hell do you care what game I like? It's none of your business. You neg repped my comment because I like the game?
@godzillavskong First of all MMA hasn't passed boxing yet. It's close in the US but outside it's not very big at all. There are a lot of countries that have boxing engraved as part of their culture too. Secondly, very few boxers rely on clinching, it's just a stereotype mostly being spread because of Wvladamir's (HW champ) tactics in the ring. If you're going to accuse boxers of hugging then accuse MMA fighters of lay and pray. Hands down MMA fights have the potential to be far more boring than boxing matches. The main reason UFC got a boom is because of Lesnar. Only Lesnar and GSP can sell 1 mill buys on their own these days. Now that all their bigger draws are set to retire they won't be able sell shows like they used to. Nobody really cares about the new guys being built up. They get hyped to extremes only to be smashsed by the old men who are still dominating. I stopped watching UFC after Maia got hyped to hell then shattered by Silva in the single most boring fight I have ever witnessed ... ever ... anywhere.
none of these games really scratch my itch lol. oh well back to trinity souls of zill o'll until yakuza 4 comes out.
@dizzyrhino Are you serious?As far as your comment about you haven't been looking forward to any other games all year? This is your most anticipated game?Maybe that explains why you comment against anyone up here who says anything remotely negative about this series.
@dizzyrhino I am just saying that MMA is a much more popular sport now, and boxing isn't what it used to be, not by far. I could Google who the heavyweight champ of boxing is, but I've lost interest. I think I lost interest about the second fight between Roy Jones and Antonio Tarver. So, boxing is much less entertaining than MMA, and at least you have all arts of fighting combined, versus boxing, when sometimes you have boxers who just want to clinch, and make it a hugging match. So, Google it.
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