This is the kind of week I think most gamers would like to see all the time. Anytime a large amount of rated titles comes across, and it includes quite a few from the next-gen platforms, that is bonus time. While the PC and DS have the usual suspects, the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 each had nine titles, including some heavy hitters that people have been waiting on. I also tweaked the article a bit and have semi-officially retired the “Weekly Title of Shame” in favor of the more politically correct “Intriguing Title of the Week”. This allows me to analyze, ridicule, bash or just simply talk about a title(s) that I find to be intriguing. It was becoming increasingly difficult to pick only one title each week that met the stupid crazy dumb stringent requirements that I set to qualify. Therefore, it has been retired and the initial Intriguing Title of the Week is revealed below.

The PC and DS dominated the ratings as usual, and hidden in the mass of the usual money grabs, franchise whoring and sequels were a couple of potentially decent titles. One is the Princess Bride Game (PC, MAC), which is about 21 year’s too late (The film was released in 1987). Despite that fact, it is still a refreshing break from the Bratz Ponyz, Hannah Montana’s, tweenie games like My Dress up and My Make-Up and Word and Puzzle gamers that dominate these two platforms. Another potential winner is Bleach: Dark Souls (DS), the North American remake of the Japanese release Bleach DS 2nd Kokui Hirameku Requiem. With the addition of 17 new characters (44 total) and strong lineup of game modes (Story, Vs., Arcade, Time Attack, Survival and Training) that support both single and multiplayer, this could be a breakout hit.

What a week for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. There were several highly anticipated titles finally rated that were shared. These included Brothers In Arms: Hell`s Highway (and the Limited Edition), Rock Band 2, Fracture and Legendary. In addition, the Playstation 3 had Linger in Shadows, JEOPARDY!, Ferrari Challenge and Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty rated. The Xbox 360 also saw Interpol, Infinite Undiscovery, Zuma and Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?: Make the Grade get a rating. A great week with a couple of surprise titles, as Rock Band 2 could possibly be the first game that utilized the delayed announcement feature as we just found out about it last week.

The inaugural Intriguing Title of the Week belongs to a classic that old-school gamers should recognize immediately. While scanning the list of PC and DS titles, one in particular that caught my eye was the classic Coin-op (ported to C-64 and Atari 2600) Wizard of WOR that was listed under the PC games and published by Midway. I find it interesting that the title was listed strictly for the PC, as it seems there isn’t much of a demand for this type of retro title outside of a collection of games or some sort of download service. The other possibility could be a release for XBLA or PSN in the future, with those versions haven’t been rated as of yet. More than likely, Wizard of Wor is just one of many ratings trickling out for the PC version of Midway Arcade Treasures II that is available for download directly from Midway’s site. There are many possibilities and theories as to why, but in the end the logical answer makes the most sense…





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