Throughout the week, more videos and previews were released from Captivate '08 for all of Capcom's upcoming XBLA and PSN titles.

Wolf of the Battlefield will be the release this week for the XBLA as well, going for 800 Microsoft Points.

Continue reading for the media links.

Monday's North American store update is My Pokémon Ranch!

The Pokémon phenomenon debuts on WiiWare with My Pokémon Ranch, a game that lets you watch as Pokémon and Miis interact with each other for the first time. Enjoy the relaxing ranch life by viewing your ranch and its Pokémon, taking pictures and sending those pictures to your friends via the Wii Message Board. The more Pokémon and Miis you bring to your ranch, the more fun it becomes. My Pokémon Ranch can be linked with the Nintendo DS™ Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl Game Cards to deposit the Pokémon you’ve caught in these games in your ranch. You can deposit a maximum of 1,000 Pokémon from up to eight different game cards. Make your ranch livelier by playing with your friends and family.

Pokémon Ranch will cost you 1,000 Wii Points. Along with PR, the Virtual Console gets two Japanese games this week - the original Dig Dug for NES, which never came out in America, and Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa for NES, a bizarre pletformer where you play as a baby. Both these games will cost you 600 Wii Points, with that additional 100 points are your usual "import tax".

Continue reading for the full press release.

Soulcalibur was the other big game being promoted with tons of media last week, so GameVideos released lots of new videos, as well as a new preview over at GameSpot.

Movies

Gamespot - Soulcalibur Gameplay Movie 1
Gamespot - Soulcalibur Gameplay Movie 2
Gamevideos - Soul Calibur XBLA 'Nightmare Vs. Seigfried' HD
Gamevideos - Soul Calibur XBLA 'Mitsu vs Kilik' HD
Gamevideos - Soul Calibur XBLA 'Ivy vs Astaroth' HD
Gamevideos - Soul Calibur XBLA 'Lizardman vs Maxi' HD

Previews

GameSpot - Soulcalibur Hands-On XBLA Hands-on

Source: GameVideos, GameSpot.

Over the weekend, two different sources posted up their video review for Penny Arcade Adventures - Episode 1:

GameTrailers - Video Review - Penny Arcade Episode HD

GameVideos - The 1UP Show - Penny Arcade Adv.: Ep. 01 Review

Source: GameTrailers, GameVideos

This week in GameSpot's "On The Spot" streaming video show brought three different downloadable games to the table - Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for XBLA and PSN, The original Soulcalibur for XBLA, and Strongbad's Cool Game For Attractive People for Wiiware.

The Street Fighter II HD segment was entirely based on the Beta version that will be released with Wolf Of The Battlefield: Commando 3. However, despite the fact that Commando 3 will be getting released on June 11th - next week - the beta will not be available until the 25th of June - two weeks later.

The official Vigilante 8 Arcade website has updated once again, this time with the final level being shown - Hoover Dam!

An engineering marvel, it makes for one massive, multi-level arena. Play it to experience first-hand why water and electricity don’t mix!

In these shots we get a look at the very first 'in game' screen with a HUD, also showing off the split screen support!

They have also posted a new Dev Blog, revealing that they are now down to the final few bugs, and are now working on some additional DLC for the future, along with a promotional video. Hopefully we'll see that soon!

Check out all the images of Hoover Dam here!

Source: V8Arcade.com

While the North American PlayStation Store got its hands on Wolf Of The Battlefield: Commando 3 last week, the Xbox Live Arcade will be getting it this Wednesday! The European PSN Store's releases are still unknown at the moment.

One of the most popular arcade shooters is back! Wolf of the Battlefield™: Commando 3 revives the classic Commando franchise with an all-new adventure. Fight solo or recruit two other specialized commandos to defeat the evil tyrant General Ratiev. This frantic war-fest combines precise, old-school gameplay with hi-def 3-D graphics.

Play as Codename Wolf, Coyote, or Fox as you take on waves of soldiers, rescue POWs, and blow up armored vehicles through a variety of dangerous battlefields. With loads of weapons and power-ups at your disposal, gear up and blast your way to victory!

With the purchase of Commando 3, players will be automatically eligible to participate in the exclusive beta test to help improve the online version of “Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.” Participants in the beta will be able to submit bug reports and suggestions through beta.capcom.com and help make the final release version even better! The Beta version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix will be available to all Commando 3 purchasers on June 25.

Wolf Of The Battlefield: Commando 3 will be released worldwide - with the exception of Japan and Korea - for 800 Microsoft Points.

Click here for the official Xbox.com web page

Click here for the latest screenshots of Commando 3

Oh, and Frogger 2! Whoever said you had to officially announce a game before you release it? Not Konami, that's for sure! While the game has been reported on, due to to classification websites showing its existence and the achievements list showing up, none of it has officially been sanctioned by Konami until today!

Hop along with Frogger® 2 as you travel through more than fifteen challenging levels filled with new enemies and obstacles. Each of the five exotic environments provides a new set of challenges, but beware of the bosses that try to thwart your progress. Compete with up to four friends in two different online multiplayer modes, and hop your way to victory.

Frogger 2 will be released worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points

Click here for the official Xbox.com web page

Click here for the latest screenshots of Frogger 2

While Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty has been long rumored and has shown up on several PSN release lists - it's never been officially announced. Over the weekend some actual evidence showed up - in Spanish!

This logo, which translates to "Ratchet & Clank: In Search for Treasure", was apparently found on the Sony Computer Entertainment Spain website.

According to some extra info, it does appear to be a PlayStation Network game, and not downloadable content for R&C: Tools Of Destruction, as well as including some sort of online mode.

Source: NeoGAF - Ratchet & Clank: En Busca del Tesoro ? (PSN), Thanks to Endless!

Little Boy Games have had a big update to their website, with a ton of new information for their upcoming game, Go! Go! Break Steady!

They've done a complete revamp of the site, and quite frankly it's one of the best sites I've seen for an Xbox Live Arcade title. Included is the first official trailer for Go! Go! Break Steady, which you can watch above. It puts a lot of XBLA trailers to shame.

Also on their site is an animation viewer, showing off all the moves for Granny - one of the playable characters, a competition to win a GGBS T-Shirt, as well as a heartfelt video on the creation of the game.

Go check out their website at Littleboygames.com. The game is slated for a Summer release, and judging by the creation video, it's almost ready to go!

Welcome to GamerBytes, the newest addition to the Think Services Empire!

My name is Ryan Langley. Some of you may know me as 'Rlan', and also from my previous website XBLAH! - a blog dedicated to Xbox Live Arcade that is being folded into GamerBytes.

[Some of you may even know me from some very old websites I used to run - Sonic Fan Games HQ and Secrets of Sonic Team. Ah, those were the days...]

But we're in the now - and the now is GamerBytes! GamerBytes is a brand new weblog which will focus on downloadable console gaming news - not only on Xbox Live Arcade, but also on PlayStation Network and WiiWare.

Thanks to Think Services, the fellows behind such fancy websites as Gamasutra, GameSetWatch and IndieGames I've been given the opportunity to become part of their network.

We'll be largely - though not wholly - targeting original-developed downloadable games for XBLA, PSN and WiiWare - not that downloadable emulated catalog titles aren't also important, of course.

Thus, with a broader audience, not only will we be able to bring you news for all three major console formats, but it will allow us to have detailed interviews with developers and a more in-depth look at developing for a downloadable service.

Let the (downloadable) games begin!

Over at the Capcom Unity forums, Christian Svensson - Vice-President of Strategic Planning & Business Development at Capcom has given a heads up for what the company has in mind for the PlayStation Network Store in the future.

Sven states than "Sony has recently approached us about getting more of our legacy content up on the PSN store" - being their classic PSP and PSOne titles. The difficulty right now is getting the masters of the discs - it cannot simply be burned from your regular retail copy in the case their are small errors, or slight version variations as there were with some earlier titles. Sega's Sonic The Hedgehog for example, has 3 ROM variants fixing numerous bugs. Many Capcom masters are over in Japan, so it is not such a simple job.

Sven' goes on to say that "The first titles you see appearing from us will be some of our better PSP titles that are difficult to find at retail". Which is essentially everything outside of the Classic Collections or Monster Hunter franchise, titles like Mega Man Powered Up, Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, Street Fighter III Third Strike, Ultimate Ghosts 'N Goblins, Darkstalkers and a whole lot more.

If Mega Man Powered Up does come to the PSN as strictly the PSP version, this would dowse hope of a port of the game to the Xbox Live Arcade and as a PSN title, which I believe a lot more people would be hoping for.

After a few PSP titles, they would then plan on releasing some classic PSOne titles on the service, so Strider 2, Mega Man Legends, Tron Bonne and the Resident Evil titles might get a breath of fresh air once again.

Right now this is only planned for the North American store - and if that is considered a viable platform would then move to the European store - however, PAL masters might be that little more difficult to track down than their US counterparts. Japan has already released some PSOne games in the Resident Evil and Dino Crisis franchises, and in terms of PSP games, only games published by SCE have been released online, so this is a step forward for them.

Source: Kombo: Capcom Bringing PSP Games to PSN via Capcom Unity BBS

Dream-Build-Play '08 has begun! This yearly competition, run by the XNA Development Team is reaching out once again to young developers to create the best XNA game they can between now and September.

The winners can get up to $40,000 in prize money and one of the top ten finalists will have a chance at an Xbox LIVE publishing contract.

Last year Microsoft extended the Xbox LIVE contract to the top four spots - allowing four independent games - The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, Yo Ho Kablammo, Blazing Birds and Gravitron Ultra to be published on the Xbox Live Arcade. If the turnout is as good as last year, we're in for a hell of a competition.

Creators can sign up for the contest at the official website. Go and make yourself a team of between one and seven people, and get cracking!

Source: XNA Development Blog

According to the Japanese Hudson website, the previously titled "Wii Tetris" for Wii Ware will now be called Tetris Party. It also appears to have been pushed back to a "Summer" release date - perhaps to add the Balance Board support idea they were throwing around.

On the other hand, Blue Oasis - the self proclaimed "Relaxation" title in which you decorate an aquarium and feed fish, will be coming out at the end of June in Japan, on the 24th.

Oddly enough... the bizarre Tetris Splash on Xbox Live Arcade attempted to mix both of these genres together. Go figure.

A new preview video of Blue Oasis has also been released - continue reading to view it.

Source: Siliconera - Party with Tetris later, raise fish with WiiWare soon

This week the Angry-Gamer podcast tries something a little different - they focus test the classic XBLA title Poker Smash, and the recently released Penny Arcade - Episode 1.

Every week we pick three games that are sort of connected by a topic and play them while making snide comments. This week's topic is "What George Downloaded from Xbox LIVE" and the games are Poker Smash, Penny Arcade Episode 1 and Ninja Gaiden 2 Demo. This episode is brought to you by Angry-Gamer.net and a big bag of tits.

Download the Podcast here or join the RSS feed.

Clint has been a bit of an XBLA detractor, it's nice to see George and Cameron tie him down and making him play some Poker Smash!

I was wondering around Google, as you do, and I spotted this list over at the Singapore Xbox.com website!

The upcoming list doesn't appear to be on any other equivalent Xbox.com list - but from the 'upcoming' games it seems to have Aces Of The Galaxy, RooGoo, Commando 3 and Frogger 2 on the top of the list - ie; the games that have just come out!

The other games - Elements of Destruction by THQ, Sea Life Safari by Sierra, Happy Tree Friends from SEGA, and Ticket To Ride by Microsoft, all seem to fit within what has been released about them.

Sea Life and Elements of Destruction have both had their achievements released, we know that Happy Tree Friends: False Alarm is coming out on June 25th. The only things that seem off are that Ticket To Ride hasn't had any mention of a release, and if Sea Life was released next week or the week after it would go against Sierra's current schedule of "One game per month" that they've been working on.

Still, it appears we should be getting a fairly good lineup for the rest of the month, though we haven't had much of a peep about any of these titles in a while. Keep a look out for new previews of media on these in the coming weeks.

Source: Xbox.com Upcoming Page - Singapore Version

Wolf of the Battlefield™: Commando 3
Developer: Backbone Entertainment
Publisher: Capcom, Entertainment Inc.
Genre: Action
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: Everywhere except Japan and Korea

Click here for the Official Xbox web page

Click here for screen shots of Commando 3

Click here for the official NeoGAF forum topic

Frogger® 2
Developer: Voltex, Inc.
Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
Genre: Action
Price: 800 Microsoft Points
Availability: Everywhere

Click here for the Official Xbox web page

Click here for screen shots of Frogger 2

Click here for the official NeoGAF forum topic

Hudson released their WiiWare title Star Soldier R last month - but that hasn't stopped them from releasing a new trailer! Previous trailers were usually based on the Japanese version, so it's good to see the trailer in English.

Luc Bernard's long time coming WiiWare / PC title Eternity's Child has been making the run across a few blogs - and Kotaku have the a nice little preview of the PC version of the game.

So far the gameplay is relatively simple. You control your character as he navigates platforms while pointing and shooting at enemies with the mouse cursor. The mechanic works alright on the PC though the real fun here will be in the WiiWare version, where two players can take up one of the controls to navigate the levels cooperatively.

The graphics have gotten a bit of an upgrade recently - it seems for the better. The Multiplayer aspect is also of controlling two characters sounds great as well - perhaps a little like Lost Winds. Hopefully we'll hear more soon.

Source: Kotaku - Hands On With Eternity's Child

The MTV Multiplayer blog is reporting that the PSN title Fatal Inertia EX has finally been given a North American release date.

Fatal Inertia EX, a reworking of Koei Canada's Xbox 360 retail title, will be released next week, on June 19th, at a US$29.99 price point.

The game features over 50 tracks spread over 6 different environments, online multiplayer and a whole load of other features. Apparently the game has been tweaked significantly since it's original release, and will probably be more at home on a downloadable medium than at retail.

The game was released on the Japanese PSN store two weeks ago, and also came with a demo, which should reach the NA marketplace as well. No current date has been set for a European release.

Source: MTV Multiplayer Blog - ‘Fatal Inertia EX’s New PS3 Release Date Confirmed

Twisted Pixel Games, who have previously worked on NBA Ballers for PS3 and Xbox 360, have announced their first Xbox Live Arcade title - The Maw! and it looks like it will be one of the best looking titles for the platform!

In this full featured 3D action adventure, players take control of Frank, a simple alien that must partner up with The Maw, a cute little blob with an insatiable hunger that makes him the most dangerous creature in the galaxy. Players will need to harness The Maw’s unstoppable growth and the incredible powers he earns, in order to help Frank find his way home.

The Maw features a lengthy, full scope, single-player experience filled with hundreds of 3D character animations, intense cinemas, cutting edge graphics technology, a professionally composed soundtrack, and much more.

The Maw is looking like one of the most ambitious games on XBLA - to be a full 3D action game takes some guts. Hopefully it will have more 'oomph' than RoboBlitz, the only other 'equivelant' title on XBLA. It reminds me a bit of two classic 80's titles - Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure for DOS and A Boy and His Blob for NES, which is a good thing.

Continue reading for the all the screenshots and the press release.

IGN got to sit down with Xbox Live Arcade developer Isopod Labs and chat about their upcoming title, Vigilante 8 Arcade, a remake of the original Nintendo 64 and PlayStation title.

In the interview, new information about the multiplayer game, the single player campaign, the games unlockables and the upcoming downloadable content!

IGN: What's the single-player mode like in Vigilante 8: Arcade? Any exclusive content to the Xbox Live Arcade release?

Peter Morawiec: Single-player comes with four options: Quest, Quick Battle, Custom Battle, and Free Wheelin'. The Quest is a progression of a few progressively harder battles for each character, interspersed with fun narrative, culminating in a Boss fight. We are excited to reveal in this interview that the unlockables in this mode are… the *original* V8 vehicles, in all their low-poly, pixelated glory! Once unlocked, these cars can be used in any other mode, including online. We think the hardcore V8 fans will especially appreciate this, even if just to compare how far the game has come in terms visuals. Quick Battle lets players jump straight into battle with just a few button clicks.

In Custom Battle, players can customize all aspects of the match – the arena, wreck count, the bots. Free Wheelin' is a new mode, where you can experience the arenas without any bots present, just having fun destroying things and finding 'alien artifacts' for a secret unlockable (wink-wink).

Source: Xbox 360 @ IGN - Vigilante 8: Arcade Exposed

Sierra have released a new trailer for their Xbox Live Arcade title Sea Life Safari, which you can view above.

On top of that, the Xbox.com webpage has appeared - usually meaning that it's coming very soon, probably in the next two weeks, if our previous story has anything to go by.

Telltale Games released this new video of Strongbad's Cool Game For Attractive People - Homestar Runner. Though this is from the PC version, this WiiWare game should be pretty much exactly the same across platforms.

Source: Telltale Games

Since we launched GamerBytes a couple of days ago, we've had a couple of requests for the ability to read via RSS within specific formats - since some platform-ravenous readers only want the RSS feed to show the Xbox Live Arcade posts, or the PlayStation Network posts.

Fair enough, we said - and it was so. So we have the main GamerBytes RSS feed:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/gamerbytes

...but we also now have the following platform-specific RSS feeds, which should be quite self-explanatory:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/gamerbytespsn
http://feeds.feedburner.com/gamerbytesxbla
http://feeds.feedburner.com/gamerbyteswiiware

If you good readers have any other questions, requests, or issues, feel free to comment.

With the release of Metal Gear Solid 4 out today on the PlayStation 3.. well, I don't think anyone would be willing to release anything this week on the PSN Store!

For the European store - nothing for PSN games except a new PixelJunk Monsters Theme and Wallpaper. For the Japanese store, 6 new PSOne titles ranging from Crash Team Racing to Yamasa Digi Guide: Hyper Rush... whatever that is!

Continue reading for the full lists for these stores - thanks to Goldrusher on NeoGAF for listing them this week.

Load Inc, developers of Mad Tracks and the upcoming TOW: Things On Wheels, has released a... well, bizarre press release, stating that they'll be announcing their next game at the Leipzig Game Convention in Germany, in August 2008.

Though no information has been released on the game just yet, one thing they've announced is that this game will be available for both the Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network!

With two racing titles under their belt it will be interesting to see if they continue on that path once again, or go for something completely new. With Vigilante 8 Arcade and Kart Attack on XBLA, and Toy Home, Wipeout HD and Fatal Inertia EX on PSN, it might get a little swamped.

Though unrelated to this project, Load Inc are also now official Wii developers. Whether they'll attempt a retail game or WiiWare is unknown, but good luck to them either way. Hopefully we'll see some in game video and screenshots of TOW sometime soon.

Continue reading for the press release.

Much like the European stores, not a whole lot going up this week. There is one new PSOne game - Syphon Filter 3 with both PS3 and PSP support and Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror for the PSP.

They've released the 'Phoenix' Trailer for next weeks Fatal Inertia EX game, and a new PixelJunk Monsters 'Relax' Wallpaper.

SF: Dark Mirror will only cost you $15.99, which is a damn good price for what is considered one of the best early PSP titles. For the full release list, continue reading.

Source: Blog.Playstation.com

The bizarre 'Major League Eating' game for WiiWare had some new videos pop up today. The first, viewable above, has MLE contestants "Crazy Legs" Conti and Tim "Eater X" Janus. fight it out on the Wii Major League Eating game. The second video has both of them fight it out for the actual Watermelon eating world record.

Continue reading for the second video.

Team Xbox Review by Tom Price - 8.0 / 10

1UP.com Review by Gord Goble B-

Xbox 360 @ IGN.com Review by Ryan Geddes - 8.4 / 10

Xbox 360 @ IGN.com Video Review

Gamespot Review by Carolyn Petit

Xbox 360 Fanboy - XBLA In Brief - Roogoo / Aces Of The Galaxy

Eurogamer.net Review by Dan Whitehead - 6.0 / 10

The overall consensus for Sierra's Aces of the Galaxy seems to be that it's a beautiful Xbox Live Arcade title, filled with frantic fights, loads of enemies and weapons on screen, and plays really well - stringing those old Starfox chords that even Nintendo themselves seem to have forgotten about, yet everyone is dying for.

The main complaints are just an overall lack of story, or 'care' for it at least, which was always a fun addition to the Starfox and Starfox 64 games, as well as a lack of boss characters.

Did you pick up Aces of the Galaxy? What were your thoughts? Leave a comment here!

Looks like we were right on the money. Another twofer week? Could this possibly be the fourth week in a row we get two Xbox Live Arcade games? For something that's been discussed many times before (usually at the top of a fanboy's voice) could we see a continuation of this practice from now on?

Is it a good thing? Could these twofer weeks actually be bad for a game's sales, or are the games differentiated enough to not conflict with what each kind of person wants? What are your thoughts?

Source: Xbox.com - Elements of Destruction page

On this weeks On The Spot, the guys at GameSpot have a look at Capcom's upcoming releases Plunder and 1942: Joint Strike for the PSN and Xbox Live Arcade.

On top of that, a more indepth look at Metal Gear Solid 4, and Samba De Amigo for the Wii. Watch it above, or download it here.

Source: GameSpot