There’s a lot to say about this week’s downloadable games. You can check out the brain-training power of The Amazing Brain Train! or the cute puppies of Me And My Dogs: Friends Forever. Fans of more traditional games can protect their space fleet from waves of enemies in STARSHIP DEFENSE™ or explore the dual temporal world of Chronos Twins. Retro gamers will certainly like the ninja stylings of Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi™ on the Virtual Console™ service or the chance to try out the Nintendo DSiWare™ title Dark Void™ Zero, a mythical long-lost game from Capcom’s vaults.
And then there’s Muscle March.
A bunch of bodybuilders (and a polar bear) clad in bikini briefs chase after protein-powder thieves who can bash through walls at will. Strike your best bodybuilder poses to catch the thief and make the protein powder yours again. This surreal experience is best shared among friends, so start flexing!
Note from Austin: Many apologies for missing last week’s article, but hopefully a more in depth piece will be worth the wait! Since this week’s article is a little more obscure than previous ones, I encourage you to read it thoroughly and get a firm grasp on the idea for your responses. Additionally, be sure to read the question!
The idea of satire is that a piece of work, be it a game, a movie, or a book, takes a stance on a social subject, like racism or politics, and makes fun of it. This is something that is very prominent in movies and books, but games have barely dabbled into this realm of work. Traditionally, the works in which satirical material can be found, regardless of the specific type of outlet, are usually limited to pieces that are aimed at a more mature, adult-focused demographic. Compositions like Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 or Goichi Suda’s No More Heroes are prime examples of this general trend in satirical work, but every so often a piece will be written, developed or filmed that will break the mold and surprise its entire audience.
DSiWare
1 – Flipnote Studio
2 – Nintendo DSi Browser
3 – Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!
4 – Arcade Hoops Basketball
5 – Army Defender
6 – Arcade Bowling
7 – Touch Solitaire
8 – The Oregon Trail
9 – MySims Camera
10 – Paper Airplane Chase
11 – Bejeweled Twist
12 – UNO
13 – myNotebook: Green
14 – Asphalt 4: Elite Racing
15 – Trajectile
16 – Castle of Magic
17 – Crash-Course Domo
18 – Guitar Rock Tour
19 – Littlest Pet Shop
20 – myNotebook: Blue
WiiWare
1 – World of Goo Demo
2 – Pokemon Rumble Demo
3 – FFCC: My Life as a Darklord Demo
4 – Bit.Trip Beat Demo
5 – NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits Demo
6 – Pokemon Rumble
7 – Frogger Returns
8 – Pub Darts
9 – Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth
10 – Tetris Party
11 – World of Goo
12 – Dr. Mario Online Rx
13 – Excitebike: World Rally
14 – Reel Fishing Challenge
15 – Fast Draw Showdown
16 – Rabbids Lab
17 – Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
18 – My Zoo
19 – TV Show King 2
20 – My Pokemon Ranch
VC
1 – Super Mario Bros. 3
2 – Super Mario Bros.
3 – Super Mario World
4 – Super Mario Bros. 2
5 – The Legend of Zelda
6 – Super Smash Bros.
7 – Pac-Man
8 – Super Mario 64
9 – Donkey Kong
10 – Punch-Out!!
11 – Mario Kart 64
12 – Donkey Kong Country
13 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
14 – Sonic the Hedgehog
15 – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
16 – Galaga
17 – Super Mario Kart
18 – Tecmo Bowl
19 – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
20 – Sonic the Hedgehog 3
It isn’t shocking that Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers failed to make the NPD top 20 list for December video game sales. Unfortunately though, both titles have sold under 50,000 copies thus far.
Shattered Memories had almost a full month of sales, but The Crystal Bearers’ situation is a bit more complicated. Although the game was officially released on December 26 in North America, GameStop started selling it about a week early.
While there’s a glimmer of hope that FFCC: The Crystal Bearers will sell a bit better next month due to Square Enix’s commercials and other advertising for the title, the same cannot be said about Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Shattered Memories has received critical acclaim and comes from an established franchise, yet it sold even worse than The Crystal Bearers in the month of December. Sales aren’t looking too great for both games right now. But hopefully there will be better news to report next month.
ATV Quad Kings (DS) – E
Horrid Henry: Missions of Mischief (Wii) – E
Red Steel 2 (Wii) – T
Tac Heroes: Big Red One (DS) – E10+
Spellbound 2 (DS) – E
Transformers War for Cybertron – Autobots/Decepticons (DS) – E10+
World Poker Tour: Texas Hold ‘Em (DSi) – T
Mega Man 10 (Wii) – E
Fishie Fishie (Wii) – E
Fun on the Farm (DS) – E
My Little Helper – Spring Cleaning (DS) – E
My Pet Chimp (DS) – E
Learning to Spell (DS) – E
The Cages: Pro Style Batting Practice (Wii) – E
Disney Stitch Jam + DGamer (DS) – E
Infinite Space (DS) – T
Junior League Sports (Wii) – E
Dream Chronicles (Wii) – E
Tales of Monkey Island – Chapter 5 – Rise of the Pirate God (Wii) – E10+
The Very Hungry Caterpilar’s ABC (Wii) – EC
How to Train Your Dragon (Wii) – E10+
Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii) – T
Chocolatier (DS) – E
Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (Wii) – E
Muscle March (Wii) – E10+
Thanks to asso for the news tip!
**ROCK BAND MEDIA ALERT** SIX MORE TRACKS FROM TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS PLUS PHOENIX MAKE THEIR ROCK BAND DEBUT
Guildford, UK. – 15th Jan 2010 – Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that rock legends Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will add six more live tracks and that Phoenix will make their Rock Band debut next week in the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system and Wii™.These artists are among the more than 390 artists available through the Rock Band platform. With more than 1,000 songs available, Rock Band is, without question, the industry leader in providing the best selection of interactive musical content, songs and artists.
