This week may be a little bit low release number wise, but most of it is actually fairly notable stuff. Maybe not triple-A, notable stuff, but interesting and varied nonetheless. Take a look.

Remember. Release dates are quite literally made at the whims of the publisher. The following are subject to change without any warning.

Releases To Watch For This Week

DC Universe Online (PS3)

Tuesday January 11, 2011

Yes, Cataclysm has ~~what few~~ millions people in its iron grip, but maybe the lure of being Joker’s bitch might entice them long enough to be hooked by this MMO. In DC Universe Online, humanity is screwed. Brainiac -- after eliminating Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman -- has taken over the world. Thankfully, it’s Lex Luthor to the rescue! Luthor travels into the past with nanites stolen from Brainiac. These nanites contain the various powers of superheroes and villains and will bestow these powers upon anyone it touches. Luthor spreads the nanites worldwide in hopes it would alter the course of history.

Now that you’re all caught up on the lore, here’s how it works. The lore is the perfect excuse for your own superhero/villain creation to hang out with known DC characters. You start by picking a mentor -- Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Joker, Lex Luthor, or Circe. The kinds of mission you have access to will differ depending on who you pick as your mentor. Despite this being categorized as an MMO, DCUO is much, much more action oriented. Combat is more about pushing the attack button and making sure your attacks land than worrying if your Dex or Str is high enough. It will also supposedly be much less time intensive than your average MMO with a level cap of 30 and very friendly to solo players.

Those looking for a more traditional MMO can look forward to hitting the level cap when Raids become available, but DCUO is sounding more and more like an average hack and slash possibly made awesome by the combination of the license along with a massively co-op mode. Only time will tell.

Honorable Mention

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS)

Tuesday January 11, 2011

Undefinable games have a certain bit of awesomeness about them. You try to tell people what it’s about but you usually end up sounding like a raving lunatic. Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective has a little bit of that going for it here. You play as the soul of a recently murdered man and who must solve the mystery behind his own murder, which would be much, much easier if he can remember who did it and why. As a soul, you’re able to interact with the world by possessing various objects and can jump from one object to another if the objects are close enough. Each scene you encounter is basically a puzzle. One example is that you come across an assassin whose about to kill a woman. You have to use the environment to help her escape. Maybe dropping that wrecking ball on his head will do the trick, if you can reach the controls that is. Ghost Trick isn’t out to get your adrenaline pumping, but the unique take on what is basically a Point and Click adventure along with a pretty neat looking graphic style may just make Ghost Trick this week’s sleeper hit.

My haircut can't be that bad...Right?

Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded (DS)

Tuesday January 11, 2011

Sick of Kingdom Hearts yet? Square Enix hopes you’re not quite just yet. Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded is actually a port of a cell phone game from Japan. Despite how that sounds, Japanese cell phone games are leaps and bounds over the kind of games we have on our cell phones here. The story goes a little bit like this. Set after Kingdom Hearts 1 Jiminy Cricket, who tagged along with Sora and recorded his journey in his journal, found a strange message in his journal that he didn’t write. Mickey Mouse decides to “digitize” the journal into virtual world to investigate. In other words, it’s kind of an alternate take on the Kingdom Hearts storyline. You get to revisit the various Disney worlds, but it won’t be the exact same storyline as before. Each world has a twist to the story that was different from before. That twist extends to the gameplay as well. On top of the usual hack and slash with a layer of RPG leveling and abilities, the game also has 2D platforming sections, an on-rails shooter style section, and even an old school, honest to god, turn-based battle section as well. All this is interesting to say the least, but whether or not Kingdom Hearts fans will bite or not is a different story.

Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood! (PSP)

Tuesday January 11, 2011

I could’ve sworn Prinnies were little demonic, combustible penguins. Not a bunch of fratboys who go on panty raids on the girls’ dorm rooms. Whatever their excuses maybe, Prinny 2 appears to be the same 2D platforming hell the original lovingly dished out to these poor, adorable, apparently perverted penguins. These guys are quite fragile being able to only take 3 hits before exploding, but then again, that’s why they give you, like before, 1000 chances. One new, and probably welcomed, feature is the addition of easier modes so anybody can finish the game, as long as they’re willing to be humble about it. From the looks of the screenshots, the art style hasn’t change one iota, which is a good thing given how charming the Disgaea universe’s aesthetics has always been. Fans of the original will undoubtedly be picking this up. As for the rest of you, the sheer challenge of this game will probably turn off most you, but if you stick with it, you might just find a new sense of accomplishment you rarely feel with today’s casual focused games. Or you could just switch to a lower difficulty. Wuss.

Coming This Week

Tuesday January 11, 2011

101-in-1 Sports Party Megamix (Wii)

Is there even 101 sports to turn into a minigame? If this little mini-game collection of sports is any indication, apparently there is. Besides the usual suspects like Baseball, Football, Basketball, Tennis, and Bowling, how much do you want to bet there’s also extreme ironing or tuna tossing somewhere in there?