Games

New Game Releases 09/10/24 – 09/16/24

It’s been very hot this past week in Southern California, where I live and pay 3x the rent for a tiny apartment with no air conditioning. To put it bluntly, this last week has fucking sucked. Thankfully, we have some great stuff to look forward to this upcoming week (including lower temperatures) like the fighting game Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, which includes Marvel vs. Capcom, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men: Children of the Atom, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, and The Punisher. Wow!

Aside from that, the biggest release is Funko Fusion, a new beat ’em up from some people who made a bunch of the Traveler’s Tales LEGO games. There’s also the side scroller Rugrats: Adventure in Gameland, a new Jackbox entry called The Naughty Pack, a new entry in the dormant Test Drive series called Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown, a sequel to the FPS game Void Bastards called Wild Bastards, and, finally, a remake of the game Lollipop Chainsaw, without Suda51 or James Gunn’s involvement, called Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP will be hitting your favorite digital platform.

Top Releases:

Funko Fusion (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 13th

Developed by: 1010 Games Ltd.
Published by: 1010 Games Ltd.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics (PC/PS4/Switch) – Releases Sep. 5th (Physical release Nov. 22nd)

Developed by: Capcom
Published by: Capcom

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 10th

Developed by: The MIX Games/Wallride
Published by: The MIX Games

Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 12th

Developed by: Dragami Games, Ltd.
Published by: Dragami Games, Ltd.

The Jackbox Naughty Pack (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 12th

Developed by: Jackbox Games Inc.
Published by: Jackbox Games Inc.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 12th

Developed by: KT Racing
Published by: Nacon

Wild Bastards (PC/PS5/Switch/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 12th

Developed by: Blue Manchu
Published by: Maximum Entertainment

Expansions:

The Persona 3 remake from earlier this year gets new content in the form of an epilogue, one that you have to pay for. While an earlier re-release of Persona 3 included this epilogue for free, Sega and Atlus are now going to charge you for this extra content, because that’s Capitalism, baby!

  • Persona 3 Reload – Episode Aigis: The Answer (PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Sep. 10th

Everything else:

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

It’s a pretty big week for notable titles, with a couple of all-time classics that have gone on to help shape and mold many games after their release. What are they? Let’s find out!

First up, from 2014, we have the real time strategy game Total War: Rome II. This is the eight game in the Total War series and sequel to the 2004 title called, yes, Total War: Rome. Like previous games in the series, players would find themselves controlling massive armies as they attempt to snuff out their rivals. The amount of unique factions was increased over its predecessor, and the AI used to drive each of them was significantly updated to give each one a stronger identity & goal.

Total War: Rome II was a hit with both critics and players, beating the amount of both sales and day one player count for every previous Total War game. However, the game would soon be mired in controversy as players began to report major problems with the game. Rome II was riddled with bugs, some of which required you to wipe the game from your hard drive and re-install it. Other players began reporting issues with the game’s AI, as the various factions did not react as they intended. It got so bad that the game’s creative director, Mike Simpson, had to issue an apology to players as they vowed to, yes, “get it right”. While current Steam user reviews are Very Positive, players do seem to still find issues with the AI. They can’t all be winners.

From 2004 we’ve got the Xbox exclusive, Fable, created by industry luminary Peter Molyneux. While Fable is certainly a fantastic game with strong gameplay and superb graphics for its day, just seeing the name Peter Molyneux should tip you off that not all was well with Fable when it finally came out.

Developed over four years, Fable, or as it was once called, Project Ego, was supposed to be a grand RPG where players followed their character from birth to death, as they roamed a massive open world full of endless choice. If that sounds too good to be true, that’s because it was! What really happens is that players spend the opening 30-60 minutes as a child, making various choices that are either “good” or “bad”, then you move on to young adulthood where you kind of choose your class/playstyle and then, from there, you just kind of venture off into the world and do stuff.

There’s a quest line to follow and you will sometimes get side missions from NPC’s, but the world is segmented into small, contained areas (kind of like Borderlands), and your choices are either comically evil or righteously good. All in all, Fable is incredibly fun to play with interesting areas to explore, but this is no grand RPG/life sim. Despite not fully living up to its potential, Fable was still a huge success for developer Lion Head and publisher Microsoft. Three main line games would come out, as well as four spin-off’s, and the promise of a fourth game in the series has been teased for several years, and has a vague “2025” release date. Fable was the game that made me want an Xbox, and while I was underwhelmed by the promises it failed to keep, I still found myself completely immersed, turning me into a lifelong fan.

1994’s notable title is a pioneer when it comes to narrative in the action/adventure genre, the sci-fi classic System Shock. Created by Doug Church and Warren Spector, System Shock is a first person shooter that trades in the quick & frantic gunplay of Doom for a quieter, more tense experience. Set in the year 2072, players take on the role of a hacker that has been caught on trying to steal classified documents from a company called TriOptim Corporation. Instead of turning you in, the company offers you a deal, your freedom if you can disable the AI running the station, named SHODAN.

From there, things get nuts. The player finds that the space station is seemingly abandoned, with the station’s security robots going lethally haywire and the crew, well, the crew is not alright. While the game is considered a classic today, System Shock was a financial disappointment. The game sold well enough, but it wasn’t a smash success like Doom, or even a financial success like Ultima. However, it’s mature storytelling and horror-like atmosphere would go on to inspire more prominent games in the late 90’s, including Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, and Half-Life. Spector himself would revisit the ideas presented in System Shock with his own game, Deus Ex, while System Shock 2 developer, Ken Levine, would take the ideas from the game even further in his own series, Bioshock.

System Shock is an all-time classic that might be bogged down a bit by archaic game play, but is well worth your time. If you just can’t get over the old school style of play, a remake came out in 2023 that is also worth checking out.

Those were some cool games, but what about the movies? Well, from 2014 we have the comedy/drama The Skeleton Twins, starring SNL alumni Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. This was the second film from writer/director Craig Johnson, who came out of the NYC “Mumblecore” scene of the late 2000’s. The film follows the story of two twins (played by Hader and Wiig) as they both grapple with their, separate, attempted suicide’s; hilarious!

2004 gave us the film Resident Evil: Apocalypse which kinda/sorta tells the story from the game Resident Evil 3. Despite the savage beating the film took at the hands of critics, the movie still debuted at number for the weekend, pulling in almost $30 million, and would go on to gross $130 million worldwide. I personally enjoy this movie, if only because it actually feels like it’s part of the video game series. Every other entry stuck to the formula of the first film, so at least Apocalypse was able to set itself apart.

1994’s notable film is another shitty sci-fi/action film, the Jean-Claude Van Damme flick Timecop. Based on an independent comic book, Timecop tells the story of a, well cop that travels through time, trying to make sure that no one messes with history. Timecop is, to this day, Jean-Claude Van Damme’s highest grossing film in which he is the lead actor, making over $100 million worldwide. While I enjoyed this movie as a teenager, I haven’t had a chance to watch it recently to see how it holds up. You know what did hold up, though, Van Damme himself, when he did that crazy splits on the kitchen counter in his underwear. Haven’t seen it? You haven’t lived, then.

Moving on to notable albums, 2014 gave us the second album from indie rock band BRONCHO, called Just Enough Hip to Be Woman. I didn’t listen to this, did you listen to this? Did anyone? 2004 gave us the album Funeral from another indie rock band, Arcade Fire, and I’m pretty sure a lot of people listened to this. While the album was only a modest success, reaching a peak of 123 on the Billboard Top 200, it took some time, word of mouth, and a highly positive review from Pitchfork to get the album noticed.

A stunning debut, Funeral was a calling card to the world from what would become one of the most well known and success bands of the 2000’s and 2010’s. I remember downloading this album (illegally…probably…) and wondering where the hell this crazy new band had been all this time, and also that Broken Social Scene was now yesterday’s news (I kid). This is a great album, give it a listen if you’ve never checked it out.

Finally, from 1994, we’ve got what is 100% the most important album of the week, Ready to Die by The Notorious B.I.G. Another debut album, Read to Die was well received by critics, with Rolling Stone magazine calling it the strongest rap debut since Ice Cube’s AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted. Full of rhymes and pimping, dealing, killing, and stealing, critics felt the Biggie was able to tell a story with such startling clarity that it was like listening to a film script as the movie played out in your head.

The lyrics felt real because, well, they pretty much were, with many of the songs being based on actual event’s in Biggie’s life. The album is full of dark themes and lives in a bubble of depression, with the final track of the album, “Suicidal Thoughts” being about, well, Biggie’s own suicidal thoughts. Biggie wouldn’t kill himself, though he would tragically die just three years later, murdered while sitting in his car at a red light. RIP, Big Poppa.

Total War: Rome II (PC) – Released Sep. 3rd, 2014: Wiki Link

total war rome ii

Notable Film Release: The Skeleton Twins – Starring Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: BRONCHO – Just Enough Hip to Be Woman
Click here to listen to the album

Fable (Xbox) – Released Sep. 14th, 2004: Wiki Link

fable

Notable Film Release: Resident Evil: Apocalypse – Starring Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, and Mike Epps
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: Arcade Fire – Funeral
Click here to listen to the album

System Shock (PC) – Released Sep. 23rd, 1994: Wiki Link

system shock

Notable Film Release: Timecop – Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Ron Silver, and Mia Sara
Click here to watch the trailer
Notable Album Release: The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die
Click here to listen to album

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