section by: Justin
Clark and SCOTT!
NO MAJOR RETAIL RELEASES THIS WEEK.
Like you fucking care, Starcraft II players.
OOOHHHHH: ON THE DLC TIP
CASTLEVANIA: HARMONY OF DESPAIR
Konami
XBox Live Arcade
8/4
1,200 MS points
I have such mixed feelings about Konami in this day and age, but when a 2-D Contra or Castlevania happens, my loyalty is unquestionable. They own that shit. No one seems to know exactly where to take Silent Hill in the wake of the film, and the less said about DDR‘s continued existence, the better, but 2-D is Konami’s A-game. On the surface, this seems like it would be the one to break the streak, considering it’s essentially just a bunch of the maps from the previous portable titles slapped together, and the series is going to arcadey multiplayer for the first time, but previews have all mentioned the myriad tricks this thing has up its sleeve, like one of the bosses from Dawn of Sorrow being able to launch an attack from clear across the castle that cuts through the entire map. It’s so bizarre how this series has never found its niche as a 3-D actioner after all these years (though I remain a minor flag waver for Lament of Innocence, and Lord of Shadows has promise) but in 2D, it has never failed to take what should be disgustingly stale bread and keep churning out delicious french toast every single time.
ROCK BAND TUESDAY
Blondie – Rapture
dc Talk – Jesus Freak
The Decemberists – The Perfect Crime # 2
Eagles of Death Metal – I Only Want You +
Eels – Saturday Morning +
Family Force 5 – Love Addict
KMFDM – Sturm & Drang
La Roux – Bulletproof +
+=Available for Lego Rock Band
$1.99/160 MS pts each
Someone stop me if I’m wrong but I think this is the first time Harmonix has just done a week of singles like this, and if that’s the case, I think they need to do it more often. Just about everyone gets something they want out of this, regardless of tastes. If anything, I question the La Roux drop unless they’re planning on retrofitting it to Rock Band 3’s keyboard, but they’ve worked around this before, and I am academically serious when I ask who the audience for Christian crunk-metal would be, exactly, but really, everybody’s a winner this week. Enjoy.