The moral of this week’s batch of releases is that you have to give a little something in order to get something in return. Obviously, I am referring to the release of Inafune and Marvelous AQL’s masterpiece Soul Sacrifice. I can’t really such much more about the game until the review goes live tomorrow morning, but that should give you some idea of my thoughts on the project.

Two titles are getting our spotlight this week:

Deadly Premonition- The Director’s Cut: ToyBox Inc.’s update to the cult classic Deadly Premonition exclusively on the PlayStation 3.  This is a non-linear, open-world experience set in the town of Greenvale where you are charged with investigating the murder of a young woman. As you delve deeper into your investigation, more women will turn up dead, proving that this is more than just a random incident. The Director’s Cut version of the psychological survival horror video game will feature updated controls, Stereoscopic 3D support, updated HD visuals, full PlayStation Move support, and a variety of new downloadable content. Matt was very happy with what he saw during his preview of the game back in January and has nothing but high hopes for the final, retail release.

Soul Sacrifice: The Vita owns this week’s marquee title with Marvelous AQL’s Soul Sacrifice. Think Monster Hunter meets Devil May Cry but presented in a very unique manner, as I explained in my preview last week. The game is narrated by a book which tells you the tale of a sorcerer from an ancient guild charged with ridding the world of monsters. As you read through his tales, learning of the life that eventually drove him mad, you will get to live out his various experiences and quests in flashback form. As you dive deeper into the world within this devilish book, you will set out on a series of missions, ridding the world of devilish creatures both alone and with friends but the action is non-stop and fast paced. The core mechanic of the game is that you have to give something to get something, hence the use of the word “sacrifice” in the title. Players can sacrifice items and parts of their character’s body in exchange for power; the only thing is, these sacrifices are permanent therefor they aren’t a resource that you can endlessly tap into. This is a very deep and dark game, definitely not one for the kiddies.

This week’s full lineup consists of the following:

• Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut for PlayStation 3
• Eador: Masters of the Broken World for PC
• Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (DLC) for PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3
• Soul Sacrifice for PlayStation Vita
• Telltale Games: Poker Night 2 for PlayStation Network
• Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge for PlayStation 3 and Vita (via PSN)

Remember that Rainbow Six game that got a lot of buzz? Rainbow Six: Patriots had a pretty interesting demo shown a few years ago, but the last we heard the team had some turnover and not much else has come out since.

Well, browsing through Neogaf, a few images seemed to have popped up to remind us, yes the game's still being developed. With E3 being a a month and some change away, it would be a great time to show off what they have done since the changing of the guard. 

I've reached out to Ubisoft to see if they have any comments on the new images.
 

John is throwing Kickstarter money at gaming treadmills, SimCity’s 2.0 patch fixed some bugs and introduced some more bugs, and PA Report says Skyrim is utterly unplayable on the Oculus Rift VR headset because menus.

What are you playing this weekend?

Russell Archey | staff writer | Twitter @neoscyther
Thinking of going a little 8-bit new school this weekend by trying to finish Battle Kid 2: Mountain of Torment on the NES. I did a couple live streams back around Christmas and should be towards the end of the game. I'm hoping this Saturday I can sit down and finish it up, or at least come close.

Sean Cahill | staff writer | Twitter @seancahill2
A mixture of BioShock Infinite and playing Sacred Citadel with Jeremy.

Nathan Carter | staff writer | Twitter @natedoggcata
This weekend I will be getting some more practice in with Injustice: Gods Among Us. I have a respectable record online using Green Arrow and Harley Quinn, and even though I’ve beaten the story mode I have only scratched the surface in terms of learning new characters, the STAR Labs, and beating the various battle modes in the game. I also got Dead Island: Riptide from Gamefly so I’ll be working my way through that. Finally I’ll be spending hours with Fire Pro Wrestling Returns which was added as a PS2 Classic on PSN this week. This is, in my opinion, the greatest wrestling game ever made, and it is so much fun. 

Nathaniel Cohen | staff writer | Twitter @seven_hells
Now that I've destroyed Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (so awesome, BTW, that simply writing the review made my PC beg for mercy), I have an incredible urge to go back to vanilla Far Cry 3.  Also, Dishonored: Knife of Dunwall, and hopefully I'll have some time to play Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch that's not going to be used up by PS3 firmware updates.

Sean Colleli | staff writer
It's official: I'm completely addicted to Far Cry 3. I'm kicking myself for not getting it last year when it came out, but then again this might work out in the end. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon comes out in less than a week, it looks hilarious and amazing and I can't wait to play it, so beating its parent game so close to its release is a good primer.

Jeremy Duff | senior staff writer | Twitter @duff3c
After spending a solid week under mask and cape in the world of Injustice, I need to expand my horizons a bit this week and head into the worlds of Sacred Citadel and Soul Sacrifice. Then again, I know that the duties of superhero-dom will likely call me back to the world of Injustice at some point.

Randy Kalista | staff writer | Twitter @randykalista
The wife and kid are out of the house this weekend, which means I'm ordering #BoneIn buffalo wings from my Xbox's Pizza Hut app, setting a timer for four hours, then ordering some more. Then setting a timer for four hours. Meanwhile, John is pointing and laughing at me for downloading EVE Online again. EVE wasn't my first MMO romance, but she is definitely my one true love. Spreadsheets in spaaaace!

Ride to Hell: Route 666 is the downloadable game with a "sports game-like" approach to combat that I told you about earlier this month when the news that Ride to Hell was still a thing and getting three separate games in the coming months.  Deep Silver has released what they're calling an "announcement" trailer despite the fact that Ride to Hell: Route 666 has already been announced.  But whatever, I don't know how or why things are called what they're called.  I do know that this trailer, showing off Ride to Hell: Route 666's vaguely cell-shaded visual style, looks a spot more interesting than the trailer for the other Ride to Hell game.  No judgment.

Ride to Hell: Route 666 is set for release this summer and will be available on Xbox Live, the PSN, and Steam.  To learn more, follow the jump.  
  [READ MORE]

You know that XCOM FPS that pretty much no one liked except for a few here and there? It's been a long time since we heard anything about that game and XCOM: Enemy Unknown has been such a great success that I think many folks forgot about it, Well, it's going to finally be released this August 20th as The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and it's not an FPS anymore.

2K Marin is taking it and making it a third person squad based game set in the 60s. As a member of the Bureau, you're going to be trying to defend Earth against these alien invasions while keeping the American public in the dark about their existence. Yes, like past XCOM games, you'll have squad mates that can permanently die, so I wouldn't get too attached to them.

The Bureau is going to launch on the PC, 360, and PS3, but no word yet on next generation consoles as they said they are concentrating on the current generation for now. Let's hope this long wait is worth it.
 

If there's anything that most (if not all) fantasy or RPG games have, it's orcs.  Since the days of Dungeons & Dragons and all throughout the years, orcs seem to be everywhere...okay, not really, but I'm pretty sure we're all familiar with what an orc is by now.  However, you're typically the one fighting against the orcs as opposed to being the orcs (with a few exceptions here and there).

In Orc Attack though, you play as the orcs in a battle against the humans.  Orcs have become victims of a brutal human expansion as they (the humans that is) have poisoned the environment.  In either single-player or up to four-player co-op, you must take the fight to the humans in a...shall we say, unique gaseous ability.  The orcs take the fight to the humans later this year on PC, PSN, and XBLA.

The votes have finally been tallied, and last night on Sportsnation, it was revealed that Hall of Fame running back, Barry Sanders, has won the cover vote and will grace the cover of the upcoming release of Madden 25.  The vote came down to Sanders and current Minnesota Vikings running back, Adrian Peterson.  The entire voting process covered over 40 million votes and Sanders eventually stood triumphant, garnering 58% of the final vote over Peterson.  Madden 25 playbooks are scheduled to be released leading up to the launch of the title, but for now, enjoy the cover and information about the latest title in the long running sports franchise. [READ MORE]

The best way to describe Kalypso's Dark is that it's a Splinter Cell game where Sam Fisher is a vampire.  A real vampire and not one of those sparkly vampires from the Twilight movies or one of the angsty and overly dramatic vampires from True Blood.  No this is one of the old school vampires like out of Blade.  

Back to the point, there are five new screenshots from the game which you can see below that show off Eric Bane, the protagonist of the story and a few other characters from the game.  Be sure to check out my interview with the producer of the game or Sean's hands on preview if you want more information on the game.

I practically grew up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so recent events in the TMNT world have been particularly depressing for me. Michael Bay seems determined to ruin another iconic 80s property with his ill-begotten movie reboot, and the new TMNT animated series looks to be catering to five year olds and nobody else. Hey, at least the game looks pretty sweet!

This first character spotlight for TMNT: Out of the Shadows focuses on Michaelangelo. Mikey may be the party dude of the team but he can still crack some skulls with his nunchaku, and in style too. Apparently he's the fastest of the turtles but has the lowest overall damage per hit. Hmm, sounds like another nunchuk-wielding fighter.