THIS WEEK’S RELEASES: SEPTEMBER 17TH – SEPTEMBER 23RD

Wow, retail comes alive with a vengeance this week as plenty of decent titles – and a fair amount of fodder – find their way to retail. If I had to pick one title to be this week’s king of the hill, I guess I would aim at Namco Bandai’s Eternal Sonata. The game is not only highly anticipated, but received excellent scores when it debuted in Japan earlier this year under the name Trusty Bell: Chopin’s Dream.

Here are the week’s retail highlights;

• Eternal Sonata (360)
  • Namco Bandai’s highly anticipated role playing game makes it’s debut on the Xbox 360 this week. Players enter the imaginary world of dying composer Frederic Chopin and adventure ensues. While it will only be out this week on the 360, a PlayStation 3 port is planned for Spring 2008.
• Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (360, DS & PS2)
  • A street racing game with the title of an adult movie. Juiced 2 should provide fans of the genre with some thrills.
• My Sims (DS & WII)
  • Electronic Arts opens a new chapter in the Sims franchise with this cutesy version of the venerable series.
• Namco Museum DS (DS)
  • Namco once again brings a compilation of their classic arcade hits to a Nintendo handheld.
• Stranglehold (PC)
  • Take control of Inspector Tequilla and bring some crime lords to their knees in this spiritual successor to Woo’s film Hard Boiled.
• Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror (PS2)
  • There was a time when Gabe Logan and company were big names on the gaming scene. Those days have passed. Still, it should be interesting to see if this one can revive even some interest in the Syphon Filter franchise.
• World in Conflict (PC)
  • The premise of this Real Time Strategy title from Sierra is that the Soviet Union did not collapse in 1991, but rather attempted to stave off it’s end by blackmailing the world with a demand that the United Nations financially support it’s economy or face an invasion of Western Europe. Since this is a war game, you can guess what the United Nations answer was. Expect battles in both Europe and North America.

Be sure to check out the below list for all the titles you can expect to find at retail this week.

• 30,000 Games – PC – 9/18/2007
• 7 Wonders – DS – 9/18/2007
• AniMates – DS – 9/18/2007
• Big Buck Hunter – PC – 9/18/2007
• Eternal Sonata – 360 – 9/18/2007
• Experiment 112 – PC – 9/18/2007
• History Channel: Battle of Rome – PC – 9/18/2007
• I Love Kittens – PC – 9/18/2007
• I Love Puppies – PC – 9/18/2007
• Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights – 360 – 9/18/2007
• Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights – DS – 9/18/2007
• Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights – PS2 – 9/18/2007
• Pirate’s Revenge – PC – 9/18/2007
• Stuntman: Ignition – PS3 – 9/18/2007
• Anubis II – WII – 9/19/2007
• Backyard Basketball – DS – 9/19/2007
• Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of World War II – 360 – 9/19/2007
• Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of World War II – PC – 9/19/2007
• Coded Arms: Contagion – PSP – 9/19/2007
• Cosmic Family – WII – 9/19/2007
• Dewy’s Adventure – WII – 9/19/2007
• Digimon World: Data Squad – PS2 – 9/19/2007
• Digimon World: Dawn – DS – 9/19/2007
• Digimon World: Dusk – DS – 9/19/2007
• Fishing Master – WII – 9/19/2007
• Growlanser: Heritage of War Special Edition – PS2 – 9/19/2007
• Honda: SBk-07 Superbike – PS2 – 9/19/2007
• Master Jin Jin’s IQ Challenge – DS – 9/19/2007
• Mercury Meltdown: Revolution – WII – 9/19/2007
• My Sims – DS – 9/19/2007
• My Sims – WII – 9/19/2007
• Namco Museum DS – DS – 9/19/2007
• Nancy Drew – DS – 9/19/2007
• Pokemon Pocket Pokedex Vol. 2 – WII – 9/19/2007
• SingStar 80’s – PS2 – 9/19/2007
• SingStar 80’s (with 2 Microphones) – PS2 – 9/19/2007
• SingStar Amped – PS2 – 9/19/2007
• SingStar Amped (with 2 Microphones) – PS2 – 9/19/2007
• Sonic Rush Adventure – DS – 9/19/2007
• Stranglehold – PC – 9/19/2007
• Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror – PS2 – 9/19/2007
• Warriors Orochi – 360 – 9/19/2007
• Warriors Orochi – PS2 – 9/19/2007
• World in Conflict – PC – 9/19/2007
• World in Conflict Collector’s Edition – PC – 9/19/2007
• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 – PSP – 9/19/2007

Please keep in mind these are only estimated release dates and could change at any time.