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CAG's shipwreck & mrs. shipwreck preview the new releases for the week of January 8th, 2008. This week we take a look at the games that just missed the holiday rush. You know these guys. These are the "Grandma gave me a gift card so I'm going to waste it and then really wish I had saved it for one of the releases that I really want in February" games.

You can now subscribe to Foreplay on iTunes by clicking this link: CAG Foreplay on iTunes

You can also contact us with any questions or comments at shipwrecks@cheapassgamer.com or foreplay@cheapassgamer.com.

CAG Foreplay Podcast show notes will be up later today. (Who am I kidding?)

Special thanks to www.GoDaddy.com for providing CAG Foreplay listeners with a code for domain names for just $6.95 a year. Just enter code "GAMER1" when you check out to get your savings.

http://media.libsyn.com/media/foreplay/cagforeplay28.mp3


Multi-Platform

Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law Dev. High Voltage Software Pub. Capcom Systems: PSP, PS2, Wii MSRP: $29.99, $39.99
Everybody's favorite ex-superhero lawyer voiced by everybody's favorite boss, Bill Lumbergh, gets his own Phoenix Wright-esque adventure game. Sure, it might not be as deep as Mr. Wright's cases and the whole thing can be beaten in a couple of hours, but fans of the cartoon will appreciate this as interactive episodes featuring the standard appearances of Hanna-Barbera characters along with quite a few cameos from Capcom's stable. Oh, and did you get that thing I sentcha? - ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.

Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $27.64 (99 cent shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $27.64 (99 cent shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $38.46 (99 cent shipping)


NFL Tour Dev. EA Tiburon Pub. Electronic Arts Systems: PS3, 360 MSRP: $39.99
Imagine NFL Street or Blitz. Now imagine if they weren't fun. Welcome to NFL Tour. Rip out the progressive combo systems from the past Street games and replace the over-the-top plays with a quick-time event tackle-breaker mechanic and what you're left with is a slightly more arcade version of Madden without all the features. And to really round out the mediocrity, the extremely bland character models and boring arenas really drive home that budget pricing scheme. But wait, we can't end this preview without talking about the audio. Of course we are treated to EA Trax, but the cherry on top is Trey Wingo, the announcer who repeatedly talks about how repetitive his own comments are while offering scarcely any commentary about the game itself. Wonderful, Trey, thanks for telling me that Istanbul used to be called Constantinople for no apparent reason. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me that Triangle Man hates Particle Man. Well one thing is for certain, this game has no soul, so there will be no building of birdhouses. - ship

Best Deal:
Circuit City is offering a $10 gift card with your purchase of NFL Tour for the Xbox 360.

Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Deep Discount $38.95 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Circuit City $39.99 (Free $10 gift card)
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Deep Discount $38.95 (Free shipping)


Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity Dev. Sonic Team Pub. SEGA Systems: PS2, Wii MSRP: $39.99, $49.99
The Sonic Riders series is back, and this time you get to manipulate gravity. The gameplay is still rail-driven, but by manipulating one of the 16 tracks available, anything is possible. Even seemingly plain walls become rails in this new title. The same great multiplayer modes are available, and there are 60 vehicles, and 16 characters to choose from. If you loved the previous Sonic Riders games, this one should be fun. If you weren't a fan, there's nothing about this game to make you like the series now. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
Family Video appears to have the Wii version of Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity for $29 shipped.

Purchase At Amazon $39.95 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $38.46 (99 cent shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $49.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $27.94 (99 cent shipping)


Wii

Kidz Sports: Ice Hockey Dev. Data Design Interactive Pub. Bold Games Systems: Wii MSRP: $19.99
A quote on Amazon proudly proclaims: "This isn't your parents' ice hockey game!". Nope, this is instead one-third of an old PC game bundle which sells for $5 on Amazon that has been updated with Wii motion controls. Aah, Wii development... a thing of beauty. This game features the same big-headed cartoon characters you've come to expect, but unlike the Backyard Sports series, there is no official NHL license attached, so take that into account if your young one actually knows any professional hockey players. I'd be lucky to name more than a handful, so I'd probably be fine with this game... if I was five... and had questionable tastes in video games. - ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Kidz Sports: Ice Hockey.

Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25)


Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge Dev. Mumbo Jumbo Pub. Mumbo Jumbo Systems: Wii MSRP: $39.99
(Deja Preview) This game plays very similar to Zuma, so get ready to shoot lots of marbles. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge.

Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Deep Discount $38.99 (Free shipping)


DS

Brain Challenge Dev. Gameloft Pub. Ubi Soft Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
Test yourself in one of four categories: math, memory, logic, and spatial thinking. There are only three available challenges for each category, and not all mini-games are available at the get-go. So, this game offers a lot of repetition early on. Which, I suppose, is the point of a brain challenge. Sure, these games are not anything new, but this title is getting great reviews. So, if you've been aching for a new title to train your brain, I'd suggest this one. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
Family Video is offering Brain Challenge for $21 shipped.

Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $19.99 (99 cent shipping)


Jackass: The Game Dev. Sensory Sweep Pub. Red Mile Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
(Deja Preview) Man-thongs are all the rage when hitting midgets with a baseball bat. Banana hammocks are a must when breakdancing in an electronics store. Jewel-slings are stylish and can only class up the joint when hitting your fellow man in the crotch with paintballs. All truths of life that you will learn over the course of 35 mini-games! - ship

Best Deal:
Family Video is offering Jackass: The Game for around $26 shipped.

Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $25.43 (99 cent shipping)


Xbox 360

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom Dev. Blueside Pub. Microsoft Systems: 360 MSRP: $59.99
Sit back and watch someone play this game, and you'll be pleasantly entertained. But take the controller into your own hands and you'll get bored really, really fast. Sure, this action RPG title looks like fun. The menu system is easy to control, and there are LOTS of weapons, armor, and various items to collect after battles. There are even cool spells and several character classes to choose from. But with all this great stuff, the gameplay is so linear that you'll be bored by the end of the demo (available on XBLA). It's in essence a button masher, and the multiplayer is online-only. The baddies are pretty similar in appearance, and didn't provide much in the way of fighting back. Overall, I'll spend my time hoping for another Champions of Norrath instead of playing this game. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
Family Video is offering Kingdom Under Fire: Circule of Doom for around $57 shipped.

Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $56.24 (99 cent shipping)


PlayStation 2

Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition Dev. Keen Games Pub. Konami Systems: PS2 MSRP: $29.99, $49.99
For some reason, the images of a dancing Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck popped into my head at the mention of this title. Boy, do I feel old. It turns out that the stars of this game are none other than Hannah Montana, High School Musical, the Cheetah Girls, and more. It's the game being billed as "cool and relevant with today's youth." Not sure what that means for the CAG community, but the game is available for $29.99 or $49.99 with the dance mat. - mrs. ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Dance Dance Revolution: Disney Channel Edition.

Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $27.64 (99 cent shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $49.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $46.87 (99 cent shipping)


World Championship Paintball Dev. THQ Pub. THQ Systems: PS2 MSRP: $19.99
For my money, "Gotcha!" on the NES is the first and last paintball game that I'll ever need. Perhaps you are one that enjoys these seemingly mandatory budget offerings though. If that's the case, there are plenty of hideously textured obstacles to hide behind in both indoor and outdoor environments, plus you can create your own eyesores with the included map editor and play online with your friends. No clue if there is any siting of Greg Hastings, but it's troubling to me that I can quickly name a professional paintball player and proceed to wonder if he is in this game. I'm hoping he is. - ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for World Championship Paintball.

Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25)
Purchase At Deep Discount $18.99 (Free shipping)


Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The Beginning of Destiny Dev. Konami Pub. Konami Systems: PS2 MSRP: $29.99
Duel some cards, over 2400 of them to be precise. If that obscene amount of cards isn't enough for you, you can link to your copy of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: Tag Force 2 for the PSP to unlock even more cards. If that still isn't enough cards for you, wait a month; I'm sure there will be another Yu-Gi-Oh! game out by then. - ship

Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: The Beginning of Destiny.

Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $27.64 (99 cent shipping)


On The DL with the Shipwrecks

The King of Fighters '94 Systems: Wii MSRP: $9
The first edition of the yearly fighting series comes in at pretty much the same price as the recently released "The King of Fighters XI" for the PS2. I'm sure there's plenty of 2D combo infused fighting no matter which way you go. - ship

StarTropics Systems: Wii MSRP: $5
I have no idea why I've never played StarTropics. Maybe it came too late into the NES' lifespan, I'm not sure, but I'm sure I'd like this contemporary adventure game which often draws comparisons to Zelda, so maybe now's the time to check it out. - ship

Omega Five Systems: 360 MSRP: $10
Omega Five is a completely new side-scrolling shooter from Natsume that looks awfully pretty for an XBLA game.
You and a buddy can team-up either locally or over Live to make sure everything on the screen gets killed appropriately. - ship

Tron Systems: 360 MSRP: $5
The classic arcade game comes to Live with the typical upgrades consisting of updated graphics, achievements, and online play. Online light bike duels might just cause me to spend $5 on this one. - ship


Feedback:
Did we miss a good sale on a game? Did we miss previewing a game completely? Well, the only way that everyone can know a better deal is out there is to let us know about it. Post deals you've found or games that we missed in the thread so that CAGs can make sure they are getting the absolute best prices on new releases.

I can't wait to listen! "DRM", eh? Does this happen to have anything to do with Xbox Live Arcade games and RRoD? My Xbox RRoD'ed days before Christmas, too, actually this is my second failed system and is now being shipped back, and I am not looking forward to sitting on the phone with Alvin from Xbox Support to work out how to get all of my XBL games working with all of my Xbox 360 profiles. I got the run around so much with the first system that it wasn't worth it for the few games I had at the time. Now that I've spent well over $100 on Xbox Live Arcade I want to make sure my wife and son and can play the full versions of all of our purchased Arcade games without me having to be logged in as well. Maybe you all have some insight... (I'll just have to wait and listen now, won't I?) or maybe somebody on the forums here knows what steps need to be taken to get points refunded for refurbished systems...

Thank you for not butchering my screen name.

P.S. Ship, Check out this song:
Mr. Brightside (Jacques Lucont's Thin White Duke Remix) by The Killers @ the 10:00 mark.
I can't find a link to it online. If you need an MP3 file of it contact me, I think it might make some good intro/outro music.

OMEGA 5 LOOKS INCREDIBLE. Anyways, only played WoW once wasn't for me- too much leveling.

Tron, that takes me back to "Arcade" days.

I think Mrs Ship was onto something with the 'just tie it to a card'.

Seems like that'd make more sense for video games or mostly anything DRM. I should be able to take my 'access card' out of my machine (whatever it is) and plug it into any other machine and things ought to just 'work'.

I never understood why they try to tie it altogether (satellite boxes, cableCard and Tivos/boxes, video games tying it to hard drives, etc.). Just seems like it makes it a huge pain in the ass for the regular (non-pirate) consumer.

Semi-related:
I remember being on the phone with Microsoft a few years back when I had some trouble installing the OS. I had installed it 3 times in the last week (same machine but after I got everything going I'd hit some weird glitch and couldn't get around it - I forget what it was). Anyway, they locked me out after number 2 and I had to call. So I called. While on the phone I mentioned to the guy, "Yeah, I bought it - I'm having trouble installing everything. I think this is just a pain in the ass to have to call you in order to use the software I've paid for." I then added, "If only I had been smart enough to steal it I'd be busy getting it working now instead of wasting my time and yours on the phone right now trying to get my legitimate copy working..."

I meant to ask and forgot last week, how are you enjoying Tsugunai Atonement?

I bought a 2 week trial of WoW a year ago but it never hooked me. I was actually gonna try it again over the semester break but I've been tearing into Mass Effect so It'll probably be forever until I get back to it, heh.

I'm pretty sure that you can't play Omega 5 on Live, and that the only online component is the Leaderboard.

Yup, Omega Five has co-op locally only. Yeah, that sucks. I'm still going to get it though. Also going to be buying Kingdom Under Fire. I actually finished the demo! And liked it!

They Might Be Giants reference FTW

Originally Posted by Rei no Otaku Yup, Omega Five has co-op locally only. Yeah, that sucks. I'm still going to get it though. Also going to be buying Kingdom Under Fire. I actually finished the demo! And liked it!

Yeah, I can imagine Kingdom Under Fire is right up your alley, as if I recall correctly, you enjoy games like Dynasty Warriors.

Originally Posted by fart_bubble They Might Be Giants reference FTW

You could say that preview was a veritable Flood of them.

When I got my 360 replaced, I just went into the marketplace and redownloaded the games. Since they where already downloaded it didn't really download, it just seemed to update the DRM. Since then I've had no problems with playing arcade games without Live or on other accounts.

Sorry to hear that hasn't worked though.

Great show as always.

Cant wait to listen to the show tomorrow. As much as I'd like to listen to it now, it just helps the time go by faster at work.

I played wow for a couple of months and did not want to pay to play a game. Put some bumper stickers on it to put the couches together.

What is the point of a paintball video game?

Whenever I go play paintball the entire point seems to be to emulate a video game in real life. I would think that any First/Third Person Shooter with questionable hit detection is better than a paintball game.

Although it appears that Fez "Cardshark" Macllory disagrees. So what do I know?

Originally Posted by shipwreck Yeah, I can imagine Kingdom Under Fire is right up your alley, as if I recall correctly, you enjoy games like Dynasty Warriors.

Yup! In fact DW6 is my most wanted game after Devil May Cry 4.

No love for Tsugunai Atonement, Shipwreck? :(

Good show. I like how you guys have shortened the amount of time you spend talking about each game and mainly elaborate on the games that have a distinguishing positive or negative impact.

Oh, and Mrs Shipwreck, you are totally justified in your disdain for the XBL DRM. My 360 is running on borrowed time and I know I will be quite upset when my time comes as well.

Ship if you think MS is being an ass with the HDD shpeal, this might be interesting (maybe not).

I listed and sold my Wii on eBay, claiming that it had 6 VC games on it (which it did).

Later I found out I couldn't remove my billing info. unless I unlinked my acocunt, which basically meant removing all downloaded VC games from the HDD. Worse yet, I don't think it's implicitly linked to my NoA account, so I can't redownload them later if/when I buy another Wii.

Idk, it's kinda a hassle imo. I paid for the games, why can't I pass ownage rights to new owner w/o giving him my personal info. =/

/endrant

P.S. I live and die by Atlus games, but Tsugunai was garbage. Also, the horrible reviews for KuF has turned me off to the game completely. I was really looking forward to it too.

Originally Posted by Nephlabobo No love for Tsugunai Atonement, Shipwreck? :(

I haven't really played it since last week, so there really wasn't anything else for me to say about it this week. I thought the battle system was pretty decent as I like the whole "time your block and counter-attack" mechanic. The graphics are obviously pretty bad, but I can get past those. I'd say the main reason I haven't played it again was that I looked at a FAQ to see what I was getting into and saw how ridiculously long of a game it is. I'm planning on playing it for another hour or two this week to see if it's going to be worth the time investment to play it all the way through.