I hope you’re still enjoying your time with Starfield because this week’s releases sure aren’t going to pull you away from it anytime soon.

I’d say I’m being unfair, but come on, are you really going to stop exploring planets to play Super Bomberman R 2? No, you aren’t, and that’s okay. I’m sure the developers of The Crew: Motorfest, The Isle Tide Hotel, Gunbrella, Ad Infinitum and NASCAR Arcade Rush are all too busy themselves with Bethesda’s latest open world extravaganza to even notice that their own games have come out.

If anything was to pull people away from Starfield then I guess Pokémon is as good a candidate as any, and with the new expansion The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero – Part 1: The Teal Mask, it has a decent shot of grabbing your attention. With exciting Pokémon to catch, both new and old, and a new area to explore, you’ll wonder why you even started playing Starfield in the first place. Fuck you, Todd Howard.

Finally, the GameCube titles Baten Kaitos 1&2 have been remastered for the Switch, the one console without Starfield, so I think Nintendo knew what it was doing by putting out this AND Pokémon DLC, you know what I’m saying? Come on, COME ON, you know what I’m saying.

Top Releases:

Super Bomberman R 2 (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 13^th

Developed by: Konami
Published by: Konami

Pokémon Scarlet/Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero – Part 1: The Teal Mask (Switch) – Releases Sep. 13^th

Developed by: Game Freak
Published by: Nintendo

The Crew Motorfest (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 14^th

Developed by: Ivory Tower
Published by: Ubisoft

The Isle Tide Hotel (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 12^th

Developed by: Interflix Media/Wales Interactive
Published by: Wales Interactive

Gunbrella (PC/Switch) – Releases Sep. 13^th

Developed by: doinksoft
Published by: Devlover Digital

Ad Infinitum (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 14^th

Developed by: Hekate
Published by: Nacon

Baten Kaitos 1&2 HD Remaster (Switch) – Releases Sep. 14^th

Developed by: Bandai Namco
Published by: Bandai Namco

NASCAR Arcade Rush (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 15^th

Developed by: Team6 Game Studios
Published by: GameMill Entertainment

Everything else:

• Eternights (PC/PS4/PS5) – Releases Sep. 12^th
• MythForce (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 12^th
• Nour: Play with Your Food (PC/PS4/PS5) – Releases Sep. 12^th
• Gravity Oddity (PC/PS4/Switch/Xbox One) – Releases Sep. 13^th
• Inspector Gadget MAD Time Party (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch) – Releases Sep. 14^th

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 years ago:

Titles don’t get more notable than our game from ten years ago, one of the greatest games of all-time, the masterpiece, Grand Theft Auto V. Set not too long after the events of Grand Theft Auto IV and its two expansions, GTA V tells the story of three very different, yet very similar criminals in the city of Los Santos, a surrogate for the real life city of Los Angeles. In a first for the series, the game has three playable protagonists; master bank robber Michael De Santa (Townley), gang banger Franklin Clinton, and bloodthirsty psychopath Trevor Philips. Of course, these are just their surface stereotypes.

Each of these men are dealing with some kind of crisis in their personal lives. Michael, living in witness protection, is becoming increasingly bored with his life, fueling both a midlife crisis and a disinterest in his wife which leads to her having an extramarital affair. Franklin is getting tired of the gang banging life, he aspires to become a higher class of criminal, but this means not just turning his back on the street level crime life, but the neighborhood and people that raised him. Then we have Trevor, seemingly confident in his psychosis, but an underlying sadness permeates in him, like a child who lashes out because they desire attention and love from those around them, but can’t seem to get it.

However, despite the surprisingly deep (and clichéd) themes, this is still the same old GTA that you’re used to; screwing prostitutes, killing cops, doing drugs, stealing cars, mass murdering, living out the wildest frat boy fantasies possible. I get it, GTA rubs a lot of people the wrong way, on both sides of the political aisle, and it is probably regarded by some players as falling into the same category as Madden and Call of Duty, a game made for bros so they can bro out and act like goons. WHY AREN’T THEY PLAYING INDIE TITLES?!!

While the development time between GTA games wasn’t terribly long, with a new entry coming out every 2 or 3 years since it’s 2001 debut, we have not seen a new GTA game since the release of part V and that is all thanks to a little cash cow named Grand Theft Auto Online. Releasing a few weeks after GTA V, the online version of the game was a huge success for developer Rockstar and publisher 2K, bringing in millions of dollars and highly engaged players. Rumors of a sixth entry have been swirling around of the last couple of years, but with multiple re-releases of the last ten years, GTA V is showing no signs of slowing down.

Speaking of Grand Theft Auto, our notable title from 2003 is The Simpsons: Hit & Run, a spoof of the GTA series, and sequel to The Simpsons: Road Rage, which was a spoof of Crazy Taxi. After annual, and often times semi-annual, releases since 1991, Hit & Run was the last Simpsons game to come out on this schedule, with the next release, The Simpsons Game, arrive four years later (and essentially putting a nail in the coffin).

Our 30 year old title is Yoshi’s Safari, a light gun game for the SNES. Using the Super Scope 6, players, as Mario, would shoot at blocks and enemies on screen, the one and only time a gun was ever featured in a Mario game (I think), while riding on Yoshi’s back. The game was almost universally ignored, both due to the poor install base of the Super Scope 6, and also because Nintendo, and video game industry at large, was feeling the effects of the console release of Mortal Kombat.

With the release of Mortal Kombat, parents groups continued to clutch their pearls as little Billy and Susie were able to rip each others heads off, digitally, at home, in the living room! Nintendo was adamant about keeping the game as family friendly as possible, replacing blood with sweat, and toning down the fatalities explicit gore/violence. This backfired, with the Sega Genesis version doing much better than the SNES version commercially. By the time Mortal Kombat II would release on the SNES, it came with all of the blood & violence intact.

I don’t really have a lot to say about 2013’s notable film Insidious: Chapter 2, it’s okay, nothing special. 2003’s Lost in Translation is one of my all-time favorite movie. In case this week’s video didn’t clue you in, I’m a sucker for existential crisis films and stories about people who are lost, lonely, and seeking real connections. The movie would catapult writer/director Sofia Coppola into another level of fame, allowing her to do just about any project she wanted. Lost in Translation was also a boon for Bill Murray’s career, getting him an Oscar nomination and setting him up as a kind of indie darling for the next decade. Scarlett Johansson would similarly experience a career boost, appearing in indie-ish films, before finally breaking into the big times as Black Widow in Iron Man 2.

1993’s notable film is the Tony Scott directed True Romance. Written by the relatively unknown Quentin Tarantino, who had an indie hit with Reservoir Dogs a year earlier, True Romance thrust him into the eyes of Hollywood, making him the “it” boy for a moment, and led to his mainstream breakthrough, Pulp Fiction.

As for our notable albums…UGH, no thank you to all three. While each contained a song you’ve heard a million times, and probably like, they’re like poison to my ears. If I had to rank them, Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” would be number one, waaaaaay down at the bottom in second place would be Counting Crows “Mr. Jones”, and burning in the deepest pits of hell would be the truly awful “Wake Me Up” by Avicii in third place. Oh, but you like them, that’s cool (rolls eyes and makes the “jerking off” motion).

Grand Theft Auto V (PS3/Xbox 360) – Released Sep. 17^th, 2013: Wiki Link

The Simpsons Hit & Run (PS2/GameCube/Xbox) – Released Sep. 16^th, 2003: Wiki Link

Yoshi’s Safari (SNES) – Released Sep. 17^th, 1993: Wiki Link

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