Before we get to the new games, I want to say happy seventh anniversary to New Game Releases! Technically, the anniversary might have been last week, but the Switch 2 launch kind of overshadowed everything (including this week’s releases). I can’t believe that I’ve been at this, every week, for the last SEVEN YEARS. Time sure flies, huh? Every New Game Releases article is archived right here on The Avocado, go check out some old stuff, if you’ve got the time, and maybe see a game or two that you missed. Here’s a link to the very first one; I went back at one point and kind of spruced it up a bit so that it matched the current layout: New Game Releases 06/05/18

Top Releases:

• Dune: Awakening (PC) – Releases Jun. 10^th
• MindsEye (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 10^th
• The Alters (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 13^th
• Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic (PC/PS5) – Releases Jun. 13^th
• Screaming Savage Blood Death (PC) – Releases Jun. 13^th

With last week’s Switch 2 launch, coupled with the traditional “E3” week slow down (despite no E3), you will see that our new release slate is a little sparse. Still, there is a big game to check out, as Dune: Awakening is supposed to be the next great MMO but, then again, is it? The game looks really generic and I’m not entirely convinced this isn’t just a licensed cash grab.

Dune: Awakening (PC) – Releases Jun. 10^th

Developed by: Funcom
Published by: Funcom

Our other big game this week is MindsEye, the new game from Leslie Benzies, one of the former creatives behind the GTA franchise. MindsEye is, like GTA, a combat/driving game in which players move around a kinda/sorta open world (referred to as “Faux-pen World”) completing missions. MindsEye is part of a larger online service called Everywhere, a F2P space in which players can create their own content for others to enjoy. MindsEye is a “premium” title within Everywhere (meaning you have to pay for it) and you will be able to create content for the game, as well as play content made by others.

MindsEye (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 10^th

Developed by: Build a Rocket Boy
Published by: IO Interactive

That’s really it in terms of major releases. Our other games this week include The Alters, a sci-fi simulation game where you make copies of yourself to perform various tasks. There’s a new Five Nights at Freddy’s game called Secret of the Mimic that I’m sure my daughter is going to beg me for. Finally, we’ve got a cool looking indie title called Screaming Savage Blood Death, which has taken the look and feel of the old NES Friday the 13th video game and slapped a sort of modern gameplay aesthetic to it. I’m really curious how this plays and if it’s an improvement or simply an homage with the same bad controls.

The Alters (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 13^th

Developed by: 11 Bit Studio
Published by: 11 Bit Studio

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic (PC/PS5) – Releases Jun. 13^th

Developed by: Steel Wool Studios
Published by: ScottGames

Screaming Savage Blood Death (PC) – Releases Jun. 13^th

Developed by: James Intercative/Wayne Kubiak
Published by: James Interactive

Ports and Expansions:

I’m not sure who was begging for a modern re-release of the Gex Trilogy, but we got it. The Alien Hominid games are also making their way to PlayStation consoles this week, and Stellar Blade comes to PC where there will, inevitably, be a mod to remove the main character’s clothes.

• GEX Trilogy (PC/PS4/PS5/Switch/Xbox One/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 16^th
• Alien Hominid HD (PS4/PS5) – Releases Jun. 10^th
• Alien Hominid Invasion (PS4/PS5) – Releases Jun. 10^th
• Stellar Blade (PC) – Releases Jun. 11^th

Everything else:

• Cantaloupe Chronicle (PC) – Releases Jun. 10^th
• Dreamland (PC) – Releases Jun. 10^th
• Super Stripe (PC) – Releases Jun. 10^th
• Kanade (PC) – Releases Jun. 11^th
• Make it! Sushi (PC) – Releases Jun. 11^th
• Virtual Girl @ World’s End (PC/Switch) – Releases Jun. 11^th
• Blasfemia (PC) – Releases Jun. 12^th
• Forgotlings (PC) – Releases Jun. 12^th
• Maze of Perdition (PC) – Releases Jun. 12^th
• Vilde (PC) – Releases Jun. 12^th
• Wizard of Legend II (PC/PS5/Series X|S) – Releases Jun. 12^th

Notable Releases from 10, 20, and 30 (and sometimes 40) years ago:

You know the drill, it’s time to talk about all of the games, movies, and music we were checking out in 2015, 2005, 1995, and 1985. Are you excited? I am!

Games:

Starting things off, from 2015, we’ve got the mobile game Fallout Shelter. Set in the same universe as the traditional PC/console Fallout games, Shelter plays a lot differently from its cousins. Instead of exploring a vast, open world wasteland taking on quests and shooting things, players are in charge of maintaining one of Valut-Tec’s beautiful, state of the art vaults. Played in a cross section view, players will build rooms and facilities to keep their residents safe and happy. Nothing will ever go wrong, though, as Vault-Tec would never put its customers in danger; never.

While critics praised Fallout Shelter for its graphics, art style, and tone, it was still a F2P mobile game that contained all of the trappings that entails, namely a massive reliance on microtransactions and predatory, addictive gameplay (which drives you to spend money). Shitty business practices aside, Fallout Shelter was still able to win a couple of honors, “Best Mobile Game” at the Golden Joystick Awards and “Mobile Game of the Year” at the DICE Awards. Developer Bethesda has kept the game going all these years, releasing regular content updates and, despite the ever-present microtransactions, all of it is totally free.

From 2005, we’ve got the FPS game Battlefield 2. The series’ more realistic war simulator tone was a contrast to rival Call of Duty, which had more of arcade style, helping to set it apart from the competition. While there was a single player campaign (featuring a conflict between the US, China, and a fictional Middle Eastern country) the main draw of Battlefield 2 was the online multiplayer mode. Up to 64 players could take part in an online match, 32 on each team, as they attempt to take over control points and eliminate their opponents ability to call in reinforcements (through a “ticket” system). Once a team runs out of respawn tickets, they lose and the match is over.

Battlefield 2, was highly praised by critics, particularly for its multiplayer mode, and was cited as one of the best video games of 2005 by many outlets. Magazine PC Gamer even named it “Game of the Year” for its robust online play with huge, well designed maps. At the Interactive Achievement Awards (now the DICE Awards), Battlefield 2 was named “FPS Game of the Year” and given the award for “Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay”.

With over two million copies sold by the end of 2006, Battlefield 2 was a hit with players, as well, who kept the multiplayer servers online until 2014, when host GameSpy was shut down. There are still fan servers up and running to this day, though some have come under the ire of IP holder EA, claiming copyright infringement on servers that run modded versions of Battlefield 2. Hey, EA, just let these people play a 20 year old game. Who are they hurting?

Our 1995 notable title is probably not one you’ve heard of, but was likely instrumental in helping a lot of children with diabetes; a Super NES game called Packy & Marlon. Part of a suite of medical educational titles put out by publisher Raya Systems, Pack & Marlon was made specifically for children diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes or, as it’s also known, juvenile diabetes.

The goal of Pack & Marlon was to educate affected children on the best way to take care of themselves and mange their disease, done through game play. The main goal of Pack & Marlon is help the two elephant characters retrieve stolen food & medical supplies from their Summer camp, Camp Wa-Kee. A group of pesky rodents has made off with them, and players must navigate through several platforming levels in order to win. Along the way, players must take a moment to both check their glucose levels and take their insulin.

Packy & Marlon was, by all outside appearances, a normal video game; that was the point. Kids with diabetes may have trouble feeling like they fit in with other kids, while children without diabetes may think of these kids as different. Pack & Marlon was an attempt to show that kids with diabetes were just as normal as everyone else, they just had to stop every once in a while to take care of themselves.

While not really a game that was reviewed by critics, studies of the game showed that children who played Packy & Marlon were four times less likely to visit the ER or urgent care. Overall, Packy & Marlon really seemed to be a hit with patients and hospitals. It gave kids going through a scary situation learn that they were, in fact, just as normal as everyone else, while stressing the importance of taking care of their medical condition.

Our last notable title of the week is 1985’s King’s Quest II: Romancing the Throne, the second entry in Sierra’s wildly popular King’s Quest franchise. Like the first King’s Quest, part 2 is a graphical text adventure game, where players move the character of Graham, now king of Daventry, around the game world, typing commands into a prompt in order to make him do things. As is typical of adventure games, you can talk to other characters, take items, push or move objects, and so forth, all in an attempt to solve various puzzles and move the plot forward.

In Kings Quest II, King Graham of Daventry is shown a vision of a young woman trapped in a crystal tower. Charmed by her beauty, Graham ventures forth, traveling by sea and air, to reach the tower, save the damsel in distress, Valanice, and marry her. It’s a very standard good vs. evil, hero saves princess kind of story, a prototypical fairy tale, but made more interesting by the writing of Roberta Williams and the programming prowess of the team at Sierra.

Critical reception to King’s Quest II was very positive, with high scores across multiple gaming outlets. Critics were quick to point out that William’s storytelling, and the game’s graphics, were very reminiscent of Disney animated features (something that people would say about Roberta’s King’s Quest work, like, the next 40 years). A couple of fan remakes would appear over the years, while the episodic King’s Quest remake would revisit the events of this game in chapter 3, Once Upon a Climb.

Movies:

In notable films, 2015 gave us Jurassic World, a reboot of the Jurassic Park series. Clearly, a “Park” is baby ass, bullshit. Real ones know that “World” is for big boy, mother fuckers who like sick ass dinosaurs that fucking kill people and do drugs and flip off cops and act up and shit. 2005 saw the release of the indie film Me and You and Everyone We Know, a very weird, very quirky film that I remember fondly for giving us the emoji ))<>(( which is two butts passing the same piece of shit between their buttholes, back and forth, forever; just watch the movie.

From 1995, we have the movie Batman Forever, the first of two Batman films directed by Joel Schumacher (best known for The Lost Boys), and the first & only film to feature Val Kilmer in the titular role. While the move is kinda/sorta set in the same universe as the Tim Burton Batman films, Forever took the franchise back to its campy, 1960’s TV show roots, with bright, garish colors, silly dialogue, and over the top villains.

A huge financial success, Batman Forever held the record for largest opening weekend of all-time (until 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park), and was the second highest grossing Batman film (until 2008’s The Dark Knight, which pushed everything down one place). Batman Forever would go on to be the second highest grossing film of 1995, behind Toy Story, and led to the much maligned Batman & Robin which would nearly destroy the franchise until Christopher Nolan’s 2005 film, Batman Begins.

Our last notable film is 1985’s The Goonies, an all-time classic that has delighted audiences for over 40 years now. Produced by Steven Spielberg, The Goonies was released in an era where “Mr. E.T.” could do no wrong (he produced another big movie we’ll talk about soon, something called Back to the Future…). In case you haven’t seen it, The Goonies tells the story of four buddies who decide to search for the lost treasure of the pirate One Eyed Willy. The boys need this treasure so that their parents don’t have to sell their homes to the rich assholes in town, which would break up their “Goonies” gang.

From there, The Goonies just throws one action sequence after another at you. The young teens are constantly getting into trouble as they, not only, stumble upon booby traps (that’s what I said!) left behind by Willy and his crew, but also have to stay one step ahead of a local crime family, the Fratellis. I can’t imagine my life without The Goonies, I’ve been watching this for the last 40 years, have owned multiple copies of it, and could probably recite it word for word if I had to.

One of my favorite YouTube personalities, Adam The Woo, recently went to Oregon, where they filmed The Goonies, and attended a big 40th anniversary event. The home of lead character, Mikey, was purchased by a man named Behman Zakeri, (despite a larger bid from writer Adam F. Goldberg, of The Goldbergs fame), and intends to turn it into a kind of Goonies museum or Airbnb. Various cast members appeared at fan events around town, and a screening of the film took place at a local theatre. I wish I could have gone but, like, I have a family and responsibilities and shit; boo. Can’t I be ten years old again?

Albums:

In notable albums, 2015 saw the release of Not Sorry by the punk band Bad Cop/Bad Cop. This was the all-female band’s first major album release, having been signed to the label Fat Wreck Chords. While not a major seller or award winner, I would be remiss to not highlight a group that based their name on how shitty cops are after all the bullshit that went down in Los Angeles this past weekend; fuck the police.

From 2005, we’ve got the album In Your Honor by Foo Fighters. This album found the band comfortably setting into their roles as the “daddiest” of dad rock and reaching the top of the charts. The album was nominated for five Grammy awards, but failed to win any, including for hit single “Best of You”, which was nominated for Best Rock Song. This is kind of where Foo Fighters dropped off the radar for me. While I enjoy the occasional song from them, they are far from the band that I fell in love with in the 90’s.

1995 gave us the album Jagged Little Pill from Alanis Morissette, a huge commercial and critical success. Ditching the pop sound of her earlier releases, Morissette went down the rock route for Jagged Little Pill, slotting in nicely between the outgoing grunge sound and the upcoming alternative rock sound that was hitting the airwaves. The album’s most popular song, by far, is “You Oughta Know”, an angry, scathing takedown of one of Morrissete’s former lovers (supposedly Full House star Dave Coulier).

Jagged Little Pill, while one of the best selling albums of the year & the decade, debuted at #117, not reaching #1 until October of 1995. At the Grammy awards, the album would clean up, earning four awards; Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song for “You Oughta Know”, and Album of the Year. These four wins for Morissette put her in the record books, tying with Bonnie Raitt and Carol King for most wins by a woman in a single Grammy ceremony.

One of the most influential albums of all-time, Jagged Little Pill would open the floodgates for rock-centric, alternative minded, and folk female artists. Like Jewel and Fiona Apple, every girl at my school wanted to be Alanis and every guy wanted to be with her. I remember getting this on CD from Blockbuster Video (remember when they sold CDs?), acting like a brat and whining for it after seeing my younger brother do the same thing for a candy bar. I think I embarrassed my dad so he bought it to shut me up. I can still see the eyes of the other people in line, judging me like some asshole. Whatever, I had one hand in my pocket and the other on a copy of Jagged Little Pill.

Closing things out this week, we’ve got the debut solo album from Sting, The Dream of the Blue Turtles. This not at all pretentious title gave us the not at all pretentious song “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free”. Sting is humble, and he’s not shy about it. While I’m sure there were some who thought Sting wouldn’t make it after leaving The Police (the band, not the fascist organization), but he proved those nay-sayers wrong, with Blue Turtles reaching #2 on the Billboard Top 200 and earning two Grammy nominations (Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male & Album of the Year).

That’s it on Sting and, since I love this article so much, I’m going to set it free for the week. See you next time!

Fallout Shelter (iOS) – Released Jun. 14^th, 2015

Battlefield 2 (PC) – Released Jun. 21^st, 2005

Packy & Marlon (SNES) – Released Jun. 1995

King’s Quest II: Romancing the Throne (PC) – Released Jun. 1985

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