VGB Week In Review from Sunday July 29th to Sunday August 5th

6 August 2007

1 Comment

Posted by:Josh

Welcome to another edition of the VGB Week In Review (see last week’s VGB Week In Review if you missed it). This article gives you easy access to all of last weeks posts, all contained in one place for quick and easy viewing!

Last week was quite a busy time as there were no less than three gaming expos taking place. We had BlizzCon, QuakeCon and then a Sony Online Entertainment show, the SOE Fan Faire. And there were some big announcements as well, including tons of delays . . . such as the shocking news that Grand Theft Auto IV had been DELAYED till 2008! I certainly never expected that!

So now onto last week’s posts.

SUNDAY – JULY 29TH

* Rockstar announces that they are hard at work on a PS3 exclusive, that will be an all-new IP.

* EA says they regret focusing so much on the PS3 & Xbox 360, and that the Wii’s success caught them off-guard.

* A totally loco trailer was revealed for the upcoming PS3 Loco Roco sequel: LocoRoco Cocoreccho (LocoRoco 2)

* Toys R Us and Wal-Mart jump on the Xbox 360 price-cut bandwagon. Rumors of an official cut persist.

MONDAY – JULY 30TH

Roger Ebert once again insists that video games are not art. Obviously, I disagree, and our readers weigh in with thoughts of their own in the comments section.

* Australia’s video games market grows by 30%! Australia’s top 20 games for the first half of 2007 revealed.

* The 3rd part in GameTrailer’s History of Final Fantasy Retrospective. In this installment they look at the two 16-bit installments, Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy V.

* Take a look at an obscure Mario PC game called “Mario’s Game Gallery“, where you can play five different parlor games with Mario. Thanks to James for sending this in.

* We preview the top-down dungeon-crawler Alien Syndrome for the Wii and PSP.

* Konami considers bringing the Metal Gear 20th Anniversary collector’s set to the U.S.! Please Konami!

* Star Soldier (NES), Dynamite Headdy (Gen.) and Drop Off (TG-16) hit the Wii Virtual Console.

* The Neilson Media Research company announces “Nielson GamePlay Metrics” which will focus and track video games. And on that note, the PS2 is the most used system out of 68.1 million gamers.

* Viva Pinata is confirmed to be coming to the Nintendo DS by Rare!

* “THEY” are huge – “THEY” are different – “THEY” are hostile! A mysterious new first-person shooter called They was announced for PC and next-gen consoles.

* Square Enix announces Dragon Quest IV, V and VI are coming to Nintendo DS! Only in Japan so far but thanks to the success of the FF remakes, I believe it is only a matter of time before they are brought to the U.S. as well.

* New U.S. video game releases.

TUESDAY – JULY 31ST

* A library in the U.S. uses Guitar Hero to attract teens!

* A brand new trailer for Resident Evil: Extinction gives you a look at the new zombie crows and an in-depth look at the newest installment in the Resident Evil movie series.

* Bleach: The Blade of Fate preview for Nintendo DS puts anime fighting in the palm of your hand.

* In-depth interviews on Metal Gear Online and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

* Offset is an upcoming third and first-person action game, give it a look in this early debut trailer.

* Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja 2 is announced for the Nintendo DS.

* Midway delays the PS3 version of John Woo Presents Stranglehold.

* First gameplay video shown for Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law for the PS2.

* First gameplay video for Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode One. Shows classic text-RPG adventure gameplay.

* A Dr. Who video game is announced for PC, PS2, DS and Mobile phones.

* The Tokyo Game Show 2007 will run from September 20-23, Nintendo notably absent from the list.

* A new e-mail virus targets nostalgic gamers.

* Bleach: Shattered Blade brings anime fighting to the GameCube.

* World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King demo to be shown at Blizzcon.

* Lord British, aka Richard Garriot, goes in-depth in this Q&A about his upcoming MMORPG Tabula Rasa.

* The Xbox 360 officially receives a price drop on all models in the U.S.!

WEDNESDAY – AUGUST 1ST

* Check out the first installment of the VGB Podcast! Contributed by two of our avid readers, Reteesh and SM2099.

* An all-new Super Smash Bros. Brawl character has been revealed!

* Bungie announces that Halo 3 will feature four-player co-op!

* Crysis could potentially come to the Xbox 360 and PS3.

* Interviews with the top dogs at Sony.

* The evolution of Heavenly Sword video, from Xbox to PS3!

* Marathon: Durandal and Spyglass Board Games hit the Xbox 360 Live Arcade.

* Arcanoid DS announced by Taito. Features a super unique Arcade paddle controller that ships with the game!

* Celebrate Mega Man’s 20th Anniversary in this video detailing the entire series! Even the upcoming DS titles.

* NCAA Football ’08 will feature real-time in-game weather in conjunction with the Weather Channel!

* Part 2 of GameTrailer’s History of Metroid Retrospective. In this installment, they take a look at what some consider to be the greatest game of all time, Super Metroid, and Samus Aran’s foray into the last-gen Nintendo handheld with Metroid Fusion on the Game Boy Advance.

* The Game Critics Association announces the winner of their E3 2007 Awards.

* Ryu Hayabusa slashes his way to the Nintendo DS in Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. Check out an all new video showing awesome gameplay footage.

* Wham-O announces they are getting into the video games business. Wham-O is the company responsible for creating the timeless youth toys the Frisbee, Hacky Sack and Hula Hoop.

THURSDAY – AUGUST 2ND

* Check out this really funny Wii Fit parody video.

* Shigeru Miyamoto reveals in an interview that he’ll never retire! He also discusses the DS 2, Wii in HD and the death of the Game Boy Advance (GBA).

* In an interview with Team Ninja’s Tomonobu Itagaki, the creator of Ninja Gaiden, he discusses Dead or Alive: Code Chronus, the possibilities of a Wii Team Ninja game and states that “Tekken sucks”.

* Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland release date is September 14th 2007 in Europe! Earlier than expected.

* Lair delayed till September 4th in the U.S. To make up for this news, watch an awesome new behind-the-scenes video for the game.

* Red Faction 3 announced!

* The Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare beta on Xbox 360 starts in August for Americans only, but an international release is still possible.

* Crysis receives a release date of November 16th on the PC. Pre-order Crysis now and you’ll also receive the exclusive unlockable ‘NK Amphibious APC’.

* Grand Theft Auto IV delayed till April 2008!

* Blacksite: Area 51 release date delayed till November 5th in the U.S. (26th Oct. in Europe), The Wheelman delayed till 2008.

* Digimon World: Data Squad preview for the PS2, release date is September 28th, list of Digimon in the game included.

* Theisis delayed till 2008. We preview the upcoming third-person adventure game by a game developer in Greece.

FRIDAY – AUGUST 13TH

* Super Smash Bros. Brawl Princess Peach confirmed as a playable character! Super Smash Bros. Brawl also gets an all-new Adventure Mode called The Subspace Emissary.

* S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky prequel debut trailer.

* An all new video of Left 4 Dead, an upcoming horror action game shown at QuakeCon 2007.

* Shinobi III (Gen.), Dynamite Headdy (TG-16) and more hit the PAL Wii Virtual Console.

* The Playstation Network gets demos for GRAW 2 and The Darkness.

* Starting in September, many past EA sports games that have online support will be turned offline.

* First gameplay video of Dynasty Warriors 6 for PS3 and Xbox 360!

* Enemy Territory: Quake Wars beta II has started.

* We post our Elite Beat Agents review! Dance to save the world in this quirky Nintendo DS rhythm game!

* World of Warcraft: Warth of the Lich King trailer shown! Read for more in-depth details on the game, including the new level cap and all new Death Knight class!

* Details on the newly announced Legends of Norrath: Oathbound in-game CCG for EverQuest 1 and Everquest 2 revealed!

SATURDAY – AUGUST 4TH

* A Return to Castle Wolfenstein movie has been announced, created by the guys who did the Silent Hill movie.

* Id’s entire catalog hits Valve’s Steam service!

* Wipeout-clone Rapid Raccoon hovers to the DS.

* Jeanne d’Arc video interview with voice actress Kari Wahlgren.

* SKATE challenges the Tony Hawk series with a release date of September 25th on Xbox 360 and PS3. Demo hits Xbox Live on August 15th.

* Id reveals their all new IP . . . called Rage!

* Over 30 songs from Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock revealed! Final tracklist will include over 70 songs!

* First info on the single player StarCraft II mode revealed.

* New Quake games coming! They include Quake Zero, a free web-game, an HD Quake III: Arena is coming to Xbox 360 Live Arcade! Also discussed is a possible Quake III: Arena-themed DS game (John Carmack said he’s a big fan of the Metroid Prime Hunters control-scheme) and the next iteration of Quake Arena using the “id Tech 5 engine”.

* Top 5 game sales worldwide per system.

* New details on the World of Warcraft movie! The epic $100 million project is due for release in 2009.

SUNDAY – AUGUST 5TH

* Okami Wii port and Okami 2 are wanted by it’s designer! PLEASE BRING OKAMI TO WII!

* Metroid Prime 3: Corruption preview, end the trilogy by becoming Samus Aran once again in this Wii sequel.

* Tomb Raider 8 said to be revealed at the upcoming Leipzig Games Convention 2007 in Germany.