CAG's shipwreck & mrs. shipwreck preview the new releases for the week of June 11th, 2008. This week we have a handful of good releases that bridge the age gap from onesie-wearing infants to mustachioed, mulleted geezers.
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 [email protected] or [email protected].
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.
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Multi-Platform
Backyard Baseball '09 Dev. Humongous Entertainment Pub. Atari Systems: PS2, PC, Wii MSRP: $19.99, $39.99
Ship and I have long favored the Backyard franchise as being the best kids sports games available. Of course, we don't actually have kids, but with the arcade style gameplay and fun power-ups, this title reminds me of a Hot Shots type title. There's now a player from every major-league team, and this year's cover features David Ortiz. While these titles haven't always been decent (even for younger audiences), this title is getting okay reviews. The main downfalls are the presentation and the sound. The DS version was supposed to come out in March and seems much more marketable for this age group than the other titles. I'd probably pick that up if you have a tween gamer. - mrs. ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Backyard Baseball '09.
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Deep Discount $38.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25)
Purchase At Family Video $19.99 (99 cent shipping)
Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25)
Purchase At Deep Discount $18.99 (Free shipping)
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit Dev. Dimps Pub. Atari Systems: 360, PS3 MSRP: $59.99
Well, you're either going to be just as excited or just as disinterested as you usually are for the latest Dragon Ball Z fighting game. From my limited experience with the series, this seems like a very good update for the current gen systems and all the standard, easy to perform combos and supermoves are intact. There's even an interesting mid-battle cutscene mechanic that activates when you meet certain objectives during the fight, which actually makes the game seem more like the Anime. It's a feature that would annoy me greatly in any other fighting game, but for this source material, it really seems to work and adds a lot of replay value to the single player story. And of course there is multiplayer both online and off and it even supports co-op play. All-in-all, this is great fan-service. Too bad I'm not a fan. - ship
Best Deal:
Circuit City is offering a free $10 gift card with the purchase of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit. EB/GameStop is offering a free t-shirt and a DVD with seven Dragon Ball Z episodes with your purchase of the game.
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $56.48 (99 cent shipping)
Purchase At EB Games $59.99 (Free T-Shirt and DVD with the first 7 episodes of the anime)
Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free $10 gift card)
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $56.48 (99 cent shipping)
Purchase At EB Games $59.99 (Free T-Shirt and DVD with the first 7 episodes of the anime)
Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free $10 gift card)
NASCAR 09 Dev. EA Tiburon Pub. Electronic Arts Systems: PS2, 360, PS3 MSRP: $39.99, $59.99
Live the Cole Trickle lifestyle as you work your way through an improved career mode that takes you from the Craftsman Truck Series all the way up to the series that NASCAR fans care about. You know, that one with Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt's kid, and that girl that played Dawn on Buffy as she searches for love and acceptance. Speaking of Jeff Gordon, he's the game's host so he'll be there to guide you through the game and sell you plenty of Frito's Scoops in hisretarded flame suit flame-retardant suit. In addition to driving around in circles, there is a quite extensive "Challenge Mode" where you must achieve preset times or avoid pile-ups. Completing these increases your reputation which allows you to obtain better sponsors which allows you to afford better car parts. But if you aren't satisfied with the product placement that EA was able to secure for the game, they've included a really nice "EA Locker" feature that allows you to edit paint jobs and decals on your computer and then import them back into the game. A perfect feature for those wanting the realism of alcholic beverage logos moving at 200 MPH... or a sweet #51 Mello Yello. Unlockable brain surgeon girlfriend has not been confirmed at this time. - ship
Best Deal:
Circuit City is offering a free $10 gift card with the purchase of NASCAR 09.
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Deep Discount $58.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free $10 gift card)
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Deep Discount $58.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free $10 gift card)
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Deep Discount $38.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Circuit City $39.99 (Free $10 gift card)
Wii
Blast Works: Build, Trade & Destroy Dev. Budcat Creations Pub. Majesco Games Systems: Wii MSRP: $39.99
Blast Works is a truly unique scrolling shooter that incorporates a Katamari-esque accumulation system with a Little Big Planet-esque user created content system. A spin-off of a Tumiki Fighters (a PC game), Blast Works excudes charm with its bright colors and appealing, yet simple geometry. The main game consists of 15 missions where you must master the "sticky shooter" (their naming convention, not mine), by colliding with parts of enemy ships you have destroyed. These parts then add to the shape and abilities of your ship and as your ship grows, so does the scale of the enemies you are battling. That alone is pretty neat, but the campaign is only the beginning in this game as the customization is really amazing. Using the game's built-in editor, you can create ships, enemies, levels, and items and then upload them to BlastWorksDepot.com for others to download onto their Wii. There's even three pre-built customizable levels to get you on the track. Once everyone gets past the genetalia shooting other genetalia set in the land of Genetalia, I'm really looking forward to what people are going to come up with. While we wait for the genetalia to subside, why not try your hand at one of the four unlockable games including the original Tumiki Fighters? - ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Blast Works: Build, Trade & Destroy.
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Deep Discount $38.99 (Free shipping)
DS
Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles Dev. Arc System Works Pub. Aksys Games Systems: DS MSRP: $19.99
This game is being hailed as an interactive digital novel. I call it a poor-man's point-and-click adventure. But hey, we're cheap-asses (mostly) because we're poor. Yes, there's interviewing and searching for clues and detective-type stuff, but there's that pesky 53/100 Metacritic score that makes me cautious. What seems to make most previewers hesitant about this title is that it's a budget release that looks like a budget release. The weirdest part is that some of the screen shots feature Jake (who is obviously an animated drawing) in front of real photos of locations. It just looks odd in an old-school Carmen Sandiego sort of way. But, if you're in the market for a budget detective game, then this one looks okay. Just don't expect a Phoenix Wright or Hotel Dusk caliber game for your $20. Unless you happened to find Hotel Dusk for $20, then just buy that. - mrs. ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles.
Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25)
Purchase At Deep Discount $18.99 (Free shipping)
Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor Dev. Amaze Entertainment Pub. Eidos Interactive Systems: DS MSRP: $19.99
My last Looney Tunes game was Duck Amuck, which was decent but got boring fairly quickly. Also known as Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto, this title is a rhythm-based game by Eidos that claims to offer "simple but addictive gameplay." The screenshots display some of our favorite Looney Tunes characters, but since there's only one actual preview available, I'd buy with caution. The gameplay is similar (but simplified) to that of Elite Beat Agents, but the songs are mostly classics (we're talking Bach and Beethoven) that sometimes don't translate well into the gaming world. - mrs. ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor.
Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25)
Purchase At Family Video $19.99 (99 cent shipping)
My Fashion Studio Dev. Pub. Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
I can tell I'm getting old because this game brought back memories of my Barbie Fashion Plates that required a black crayon and lots of imagination. Instead of making rubs with carbon paper, today's hip tween girl prefers to use her DS, or so I'm told. Although there's no Barbie sponsorship here, there's plenty of glitz and glamour. If you know a gamer who firmly believes that the right shade of lipstick can make or break you, this game might be a wise purchase. - mrs. ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for My Fashion Studio.
Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $28.84 (99 cent shipping)
PlayStation 3
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Dev. Kojima Productions Pub. Konami Systems: PS3 MSRP: $59.99, $84.99
Well, it's finally here - Snake is back and he's ready to do what he does best: sell some Sony hardware. Sure, he's good at grabbing the crotches of statues and rolling around in a barrel until he pukes, but those are merely secondary objectives along the way of getting that PlayStation 3 into your living room. There's probably some more thoroughly confusing underlying plot that accompanies the game along with giant, mechanical beast women, but that would be entirely to complicated to explain here (if I even understood it). In case you haven't heard by now, Snake is old and has a mustache and has plenty of new gadgets like a digital camouflage suit, a remote control scouting robot, and a Rascal scooter. I'd say more about the game, but I'm afraid that if I reveal anything else Kojima would strap me to a chair, prop my eyes open Clockwork Orange style, and force me to watch the game install so it can play romantic-comedy length cutscenes. So to avoid that, I'll just say something along the lines of "Metal Gear Solid 4 oozes with quality and is a fitting tribute both to Solid Snake himself and to his loyal fans". - ship
Best Deal:
Family Video is offering Metal Gear Solid 4 for $56 shipped. Circuit City is giving away the strategy guide with the purchase of the game. Or if you want to go all out, EB/GameStop has an exclusive Limited Edition version that includes exclusive artwork, a Blu-Ray disc with two documentaries and a soundtrack CD for $85.
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $54.99 (99 cent shipping)
Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free full-size strategy guide)
Purchase At EB Games $84.99
PlayStation 2
Jeep Thrills Dev. Gamesauce Pub. Destination Software Systems: PS2 MSRP: $12.99
Do I spy a titular pun for a cheap racing game based around Jeep vehicles? Choose from eighteen different and customizable Jeep vehicles and race over 35 tracks. (Wow, that's actually quite a few courses.) There's really not any other info available, but the screenshots show a lot of Jeeps racing along a wide variety of brown textures. There's giant-stone texture, there's dirt with lines in it texture, there's blurry dirt texture, and there's apparently a non-pictured frozen Alaskan tundra texture that I suspect... is not brown. With all these different textures, it might be easy to lose focus on your "one main main objective: conquering the terrain and the elements and owning the planet!" That's right, make that planet your bitch. - ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Jeep Thrills.
Purchase At Amazon $12.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25)
Xbox 360
Don King Presents Prize Fighter Dev. Venom Games Pub. 2K Sports Systems: 360 MSRP: $59.99
It's hard to believe that it's been nearly two and a half years since Fight Night Round 3 came out for the Xbox 360. It's also hard to believe that nearly two and a half years later, we finally get another boxing game in the form of Don King Presents Prize Fighter... and Fight Night Round 3 is still the prettiest boxing game on the market. That's not necessarily a knock on Prize Fighter, but a testiment to how advanced Fight Night's graphics were. So Prize Fighter doesn't quite match up visually, but it seems to be a winner in the content department by focusing on a very unique documentary style story mode that chronicles your pugilist's rise through the rankings. You not only have to worry about the fights themselves or training for the bouts (aspects of which factored heavily into Venom Games' previous "Rocky" titles from the last gen), but your life outside the ring is also vital as you deal with the business side of boxing and your personal dating life. Hey, you don't get Robin Givens by just bashing people's heads in, there's some wining and dining involved. Speaking of Mike Tyson... there is no Mike Tyson... but there are over twenty-two venues to fight in and over forty current and legendary boxers (Ken Norton and Joe Louis seem to be on the more famous side of the list, so no Muhammed Ali or George Foreman). But with five customizable boxers that you can fight online with, maybe you can create reasonable fascimiles of your ommitted favorites like Ali or even Big Boa. Oh, and of course expect plenty of Don King Don Kinging up the place. - ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Don King Presents Prize Fighter.
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping)
Purchase At Family Video $57.68 (99 cent shipping)
On The DL with the Shipwrecks
My Pokemon Ranch Systems: WiiWare MSRP: $10
If your ideal social gathering involves seeing how your Pokemon and your Miis interact, then put down the controller immediately and seek help. - mrs. ship
Bio Miracle Bokutte UPA Systems: Wii VC (NES) MSRP: $6
Familiar to some as the bootleg "Baby Mario", this former Japanese exclusive instead makes its official North American debut with its absolutely horrendous name intact. Really, how is that title supposed to convince people that this is actually a very good platformer starring an infant who inflates evil pigs with the shake of his rattle? Taking heavy influence from the original Super Mario Bros. and Dig Dug, this game is a worthy addition to any virtual shelf due to the variety in gameplay and responsive controls. And speaking of Dig Dug... - ship
Dig Dug Systems: Wii VC (NES) MSRP: $6
Dig Dug is a blast, yes. Better with Achievements if you so happen to have a 360 and be an Achievement whore, yes, but a blast none the less on whatever your console of choice may be. So whip out the 600Rupees Wii points, and fork 'em over. And if you're reading this preview thinking you wished I would have discussed more about the actual gameplay so you would know if you really wanted to buy this title, shut up and buy it already. Trust me. - mrs. ship
Frogger 2 Systems: XBLA MSRP: $10
The all-new and third original "Frogger 2" hops onto the freeway that is XBLA and promptly gets flattened by its $10 pricetag. Hey, I'm as big of a Frogger fan as they come (all 200 Achievement points, thank you very much), but no Frogger sequel has ever matched the beautiful simplicity of the original and that one's available for $5. I don't need 15 different levels or boss battles or collectable jewels in my Frogger. What the Hell is Frogger going to due with a jewel anyway? I mean, this isn't even the animorphic Frogger monstrosity that could possibly have use for such a luxury item - this is just plain ol' frog Frogger. That said, for $5 I probably would have still taken the plunge. For $10, Frogger 2 can enjoy being laid out on the freeway, drying in the sun. (Then again I'll probably buy it and show that I'm a sucker for Frogger... and don't know when to turn around and run.) - ship
Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 Systems: XBLA MSRP: $10
(Deja Preview) Well, how about that, another top-down twin-stick shooter as a downloadable game. Never saw it coming. This one is the follow-up to the classic arcade games and features three-player co-op both locally and online. Much like Assault Heroes, you have the ability to fight on foot or in vehicles as you work through jungle environments that also remind me of Assault Heroes. Just from watching the videos, though, Commando 3 just isn't doing much for me. Maybe once I get some hands-on time with the co-op, I'll change my mind. - ship
Also included with the XBLA version of Commando 3 is a beta for Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, so I'm guessing this will be a big seller. - 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.
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 [email protected] or [email protected].
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.
[media]http://media.libsyn.com/media/foreplay/cagforeplay45.mp3[/media]
[digg]http://digg.com/podcasts/CAG_Foreplay[/digg]Multi-Platform
Backyard Baseball '09 Dev. Humongous Entertainment Pub. Atari Systems: PS2, PC, Wii MSRP: $19.99, $39.99
Ship and I have long favored the Backyard franchise as being the best kids sports games available. Of course, we don't actually have kids, but with the arcade style gameplay and fun power-ups, this title reminds me of a Hot Shots type title. There's now a player from every major-league team, and this year's cover features David Ortiz. While these titles haven't always been decent (even for younger audiences), this title is getting okay reviews. The main downfalls are the presentation and the sound. The DS version was supposed to come out in March and seems much more marketable for this age group than the other titles. I'd probably pick that up if you have a tween gamer. - mrs. ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Backyard Baseball '09.
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Deep Discount $38.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25) Purchase At Family Video $19.99 (99 cent shipping) Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25) Purchase At Deep Discount $18.99 (Free shipping)Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit Dev. Dimps Pub. Atari Systems: 360, PS3 MSRP: $59.99
Well, you're either going to be just as excited or just as disinterested as you usually are for the latest Dragon Ball Z fighting game. From my limited experience with the series, this seems like a very good update for the current gen systems and all the standard, easy to perform combos and supermoves are intact. There's even an interesting mid-battle cutscene mechanic that activates when you meet certain objectives during the fight, which actually makes the game seem more like the Anime. It's a feature that would annoy me greatly in any other fighting game, but for this source material, it really seems to work and adds a lot of replay value to the single player story. And of course there is multiplayer both online and off and it even supports co-op play. All-in-all, this is great fan-service. Too bad I'm not a fan. - ship
Best Deal:
Circuit City is offering a free $10 gift card with the purchase of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit. EB/GameStop is offering a free t-shirt and a DVD with seven Dragon Ball Z episodes with your purchase of the game.
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Family Video $56.48 (99 cent shipping) Purchase At EB Games $59.99 (Free T-Shirt and DVD with the first 7 episodes of the anime) Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free $10 gift card) Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Family Video $56.48 (99 cent shipping) Purchase At EB Games $59.99 (Free T-Shirt and DVD with the first 7 episodes of the anime) Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free $10 gift card)NASCAR 09 Dev. EA Tiburon Pub. Electronic Arts Systems: PS2, 360, PS3 MSRP: $39.99, $59.99
Live the Cole Trickle lifestyle as you work your way through an improved career mode that takes you from the Craftsman Truck Series all the way up to the series that NASCAR fans care about. You know, that one with Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt's kid, and that girl that played Dawn on Buffy as she searches for love and acceptance. Speaking of Jeff Gordon, he's the game's host so he'll be there to guide you through the game and sell you plenty of Frito's Scoops in his
Best Deal:
Circuit City is offering a free $10 gift card with the purchase of NASCAR 09.
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Deep Discount $58.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free $10 gift card) Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Deep Discount $58.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free $10 gift card) Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Deep Discount $38.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Circuit City $39.99 (Free $10 gift card)Wii
Blast Works: Build, Trade & Destroy Dev. Budcat Creations Pub. Majesco Games Systems: Wii MSRP: $39.99
Blast Works is a truly unique scrolling shooter that incorporates a Katamari-esque accumulation system with a Little Big Planet-esque user created content system. A spin-off of a Tumiki Fighters (a PC game), Blast Works excudes charm with its bright colors and appealing, yet simple geometry. The main game consists of 15 missions where you must master the "sticky shooter" (their naming convention, not mine), by colliding with parts of enemy ships you have destroyed. These parts then add to the shape and abilities of your ship and as your ship grows, so does the scale of the enemies you are battling. That alone is pretty neat, but the campaign is only the beginning in this game as the customization is really amazing. Using the game's built-in editor, you can create ships, enemies, levels, and items and then upload them to BlastWorksDepot.com for others to download onto their Wii. There's even three pre-built customizable levels to get you on the track. Once everyone gets past the genetalia shooting other genetalia set in the land of Genetalia, I'm really looking forward to what people are going to come up with. While we wait for the genetalia to subside, why not try your hand at one of the four unlockable games including the original Tumiki Fighters? - ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Blast Works: Build, Trade & Destroy.
Purchase At Amazon $39.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Deep Discount $38.99 (Free shipping)DS
Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles Dev. Arc System Works Pub. Aksys Games Systems: DS MSRP: $19.99
This game is being hailed as an interactive digital novel. I call it a poor-man's point-and-click adventure. But hey, we're cheap-asses (mostly) because we're poor. Yes, there's interviewing and searching for clues and detective-type stuff, but there's that pesky 53/100 Metacritic score that makes me cautious. What seems to make most previewers hesitant about this title is that it's a budget release that looks like a budget release. The weirdest part is that some of the screen shots feature Jake (who is obviously an animated drawing) in front of real photos of locations. It just looks odd in an old-school Carmen Sandiego sort of way. But, if you're in the market for a budget detective game, then this one looks okay. Just don't expect a Phoenix Wright or Hotel Dusk caliber game for your $20. Unless you happened to find Hotel Dusk for $20, then just buy that. - mrs. ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles.
Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25) Purchase At Deep Discount $18.99 (Free shipping)Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor Dev. Amaze Entertainment Pub. Eidos Interactive Systems: DS MSRP: $19.99
My last Looney Tunes game was Duck Amuck, which was decent but got boring fairly quickly. Also known as Looney Tunes: Cartoon Concerto, this title is a rhythm-based game by Eidos that claims to offer "simple but addictive gameplay." The screenshots display some of our favorite Looney Tunes characters, but since there's only one actual preview available, I'd buy with caution. The gameplay is similar (but simplified) to that of Elite Beat Agents, but the songs are mostly classics (we're talking Bach and Beethoven) that sometimes don't translate well into the gaming world. - mrs. ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor.
Purchase At Amazon $19.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25) Purchase At Family Video $19.99 (99 cent shipping)My Fashion Studio Dev. Pub. Systems: DS MSRP: $29.99
I can tell I'm getting old because this game brought back memories of my Barbie Fashion Plates that required a black crayon and lots of imagination. Instead of making rubs with carbon paper, today's hip tween girl prefers to use her DS, or so I'm told. Although there's no Barbie sponsorship here, there's plenty of glitz and glamour. If you know a gamer who firmly believes that the right shade of lipstick can make or break you, this game might be a wise purchase. - mrs. ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for My Fashion Studio.
Purchase At Amazon $29.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Family Video $28.84 (99 cent shipping)PlayStation 3
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Dev. Kojima Productions Pub. Konami Systems: PS3 MSRP: $59.99, $84.99
Well, it's finally here - Snake is back and he's ready to do what he does best: sell some Sony hardware. Sure, he's good at grabbing the crotches of statues and rolling around in a barrel until he pukes, but those are merely secondary objectives along the way of getting that PlayStation 3 into your living room. There's probably some more thoroughly confusing underlying plot that accompanies the game along with giant, mechanical beast women, but that would be entirely to complicated to explain here (if I even understood it). In case you haven't heard by now, Snake is old and has a mustache and has plenty of new gadgets like a digital camouflage suit, a remote control scouting robot, and a Rascal scooter. I'd say more about the game, but I'm afraid that if I reveal anything else Kojima would strap me to a chair, prop my eyes open Clockwork Orange style, and force me to watch the game install so it can play romantic-comedy length cutscenes. So to avoid that, I'll just say something along the lines of "Metal Gear Solid 4 oozes with quality and is a fitting tribute both to Solid Snake himself and to his loyal fans". - ship
Best Deal:
Family Video is offering Metal Gear Solid 4 for $56 shipped. Circuit City is giving away the strategy guide with the purchase of the game. Or if you want to go all out, EB/GameStop has an exclusive Limited Edition version that includes exclusive artwork, a Blu-Ray disc with two documentaries and a soundtrack CD for $85.
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Family Video $54.99 (99 cent shipping) Purchase At Circuit City $59.99 (Free full-size strategy guide) Purchase At EB Games $84.99 PlayStation 2
Jeep Thrills Dev. Gamesauce Pub. Destination Software Systems: PS2 MSRP: $12.99
Do I spy a titular pun for a cheap racing game based around Jeep vehicles? Choose from eighteen different and customizable Jeep vehicles and race over 35 tracks. (Wow, that's actually quite a few courses.) There's really not any other info available, but the screenshots show a lot of Jeeps racing along a wide variety of brown textures. There's giant-stone texture, there's dirt with lines in it texture, there's blurry dirt texture, and there's apparently a non-pictured frozen Alaskan tundra texture that I suspect... is not brown. With all these different textures, it might be easy to lose focus on your "one main main objective: conquering the terrain and the elements and owning the planet!" That's right, make that planet your bitch. - ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Jeep Thrills.
Purchase At Amazon $12.99 (Free shipping on orders over $25)Xbox 360
Don King Presents Prize Fighter Dev. Venom Games Pub. 2K Sports Systems: 360 MSRP: $59.99
It's hard to believe that it's been nearly two and a half years since Fight Night Round 3 came out for the Xbox 360. It's also hard to believe that nearly two and a half years later, we finally get another boxing game in the form of Don King Presents Prize Fighter... and Fight Night Round 3 is still the prettiest boxing game on the market. That's not necessarily a knock on Prize Fighter, but a testiment to how advanced Fight Night's graphics were. So Prize Fighter doesn't quite match up visually, but it seems to be a winner in the content department by focusing on a very unique documentary style story mode that chronicles your pugilist's rise through the rankings. You not only have to worry about the fights themselves or training for the bouts (aspects of which factored heavily into Venom Games' previous "Rocky" titles from the last gen), but your life outside the ring is also vital as you deal with the business side of boxing and your personal dating life. Hey, you don't get Robin Givens by just bashing people's heads in, there's some wining and dining involved. Speaking of Mike Tyson... there is no Mike Tyson... but there are over twenty-two venues to fight in and over forty current and legendary boxers (Ken Norton and Joe Louis seem to be on the more famous side of the list, so no Muhammed Ali or George Foreman). But with five customizable boxers that you can fight online with, maybe you can create reasonable fascimiles of your ommitted favorites like Ali or even Big Boa. Oh, and of course expect plenty of Don King Don Kinging up the place. - ship
Best Deal:
There don't seem to be any specific deals for Don King Presents Prize Fighter.
Purchase At Amazon $59.99 (Free shipping) Purchase At Family Video $57.68 (99 cent shipping)On The DL with the Shipwrecks
My Pokemon Ranch Systems: WiiWare MSRP: $10
If your ideal social gathering involves seeing how your Pokemon and your Miis interact, then put down the controller immediately and seek help. - mrs. ship
Bio Miracle Bokutte UPA Systems: Wii VC (NES) MSRP: $6
Familiar to some as the bootleg "Baby Mario", this former Japanese exclusive instead makes its official North American debut with its absolutely horrendous name intact. Really, how is that title supposed to convince people that this is actually a very good platformer starring an infant who inflates evil pigs with the shake of his rattle? Taking heavy influence from the original Super Mario Bros. and Dig Dug, this game is a worthy addition to any virtual shelf due to the variety in gameplay and responsive controls. And speaking of Dig Dug... - ship
Dig Dug Systems: Wii VC (NES) MSRP: $6
Dig Dug is a blast, yes. Better with Achievements if you so happen to have a 360 and be an Achievement whore, yes, but a blast none the less on whatever your console of choice may be. So whip out the 600
Frogger 2 Systems: XBLA MSRP: $10
The all-new and third original "Frogger 2" hops onto the freeway that is XBLA and promptly gets flattened by its $10 pricetag. Hey, I'm as big of a Frogger fan as they come (all 200 Achievement points, thank you very much), but no Frogger sequel has ever matched the beautiful simplicity of the original and that one's available for $5. I don't need 15 different levels or boss battles or collectable jewels in my Frogger. What the Hell is Frogger going to due with a jewel anyway? I mean, this isn't even the animorphic Frogger monstrosity that could possibly have use for such a luxury item - this is just plain ol' frog Frogger. That said, for $5 I probably would have still taken the plunge. For $10, Frogger 2 can enjoy being laid out on the freeway, drying in the sun. (Then again I'll probably buy it and show that I'm a sucker for Frogger... and don't know when to turn around and run.) - ship
Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 Systems: XBLA MSRP: $10
(Deja Preview) Well, how about that, another top-down twin-stick shooter as a downloadable game. Never saw it coming. This one is the follow-up to the classic arcade games and features three-player co-op both locally and online. Much like Assault Heroes, you have the ability to fight on foot or in vehicles as you work through jungle environments that also remind me of Assault Heroes. Just from watching the videos, though, Commando 3 just isn't doing much for me. Maybe once I get some hands-on time with the co-op, I'll change my mind. - ship
Also included with the XBLA version of Commando 3 is a beta for Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, so I'm guessing this will be a big seller. - 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.
Tom Crusie, you should have used Dick Trickle for the NASCAR preview
. I had so many pictures on there. SOB, I had some good beach pics. I also had some pics of the game and the pond where some frat kids took a Koi fish from and ate it in MTV's Frat Life reality show and then got. Here's a link for those that don't know the story behind it. 
