Topic: Game Releases and DLC for the Week Ending January 24

[NWR_Neal]

This week features EA's SimAnimals for Wii and DS, the long-awaited release of Ultimate Shooting Collection, and Southpeak's latest DS game, Big Bang Mini.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=17594

 This quiet week features a few new releases, including EA's SimAnimals for Wii and DS, Tommo's Ultimate Shooting Collection for Wii, Southpeak's Big Bang Mini for DS, Dreamcatcher's Inkheart, and Majesco's WonderWorld Amusement Park.    

In the downloadable content realm, Guitar Hero: World Tour and Rock Band 2 both add more tracks. Guitar Hero: World Tour gains three more songs from the Australian Rock Pack while Rock Band 2 adds six more songs from the backlog.    

 

Wii Games

   

         

SimAnimals    Publisher: Electronic Arts   Cost: $49.99   ESRB Rating: Everyone       EA's SimAnimals is basically the Sims, but instead of screwing with people, you screw with animals. The player must manage the lives and relationships of different animals so he can journey deep within the forest and unlock different areas like woodlands and swamps. SimAnimals features more than 30 animals from the Northern Hemisphere such as bears, foxes, owls, and rabbits. Also, there is a four-player cooperative mode exclusively for the Wii version.

   

   

         

Ultimate Shooting Collection    Publisher: Tommo   Cost: $29.99   ESRB Rating: Everyone       The oft-delayed Ultimate Shooting Collection contains three different vertical shooters, including two that have never been release in the U.S. The three games, all developed by Milestone, are Chaos Field (released for GameCube as Chaos Field: Expanded), Radio Allergy (was supposed to be the final GameCube release before it got cancelled), and Karous (a spiritual sequel to Radio Allergy). Each game features cel-shaded graphics and distinct gameplay mechanics.

   

 

DS Games

   

         

Big Bang Mini    Publisher: Southpeak Interactive   Cost: $19.99   ESRB Rating: Everyone       Big Bang Mini is a vertical shooter that involves igniting fireworks instead of firing guns. Featuring nine levels, players use the touch-screen to launch fireworks at incoming enemies. If they miss their mark, then the fireworks explode and eschew debris that the player must avoid. Each level concludes in an intense boss fight and, after the boss is defeated, a vibrant display of fireworks called the Final Bouquet. Big Bang Mini features online leaderboards and five separate modes: Arcade, Challenge, Relax, Mission, and Versus.

   

   

         

Inkheart    Publisher: Dreamcatcher Interactive   Cost: $29.99   ESRB Rating: Everyone       Based on the upcoming movie, which itself is based on the book by Cornelia Funke, Inkheart is about a young girl named Meggie whose father can brings book characters to life by reading aloud their stories. With the console being held like a book, the game is a series of puzzles and challenges with four different playable characters.

   

   

         

SimAnimals    Publisher: Electronic Arts   Cost: $29.99   ESRB Rating: Everyone       The DS version of SimAnimals is similar in concept to the aforementioned Wii version. Featuring Sims-like gameplay with animals, SimAnimals puts players in control of taking care of animals in an expansive forest. As the player makes friends with the more than 30 different types of animals, he unlocks more and more areas in the forest, ranging from swamps to eerie abandoned cabins. The DS version features full use of the touch-screen and the ability to blow into the mic to control the wind.

   

   

         

WonderWorld Amusement Park    Publisher: Majesco   Cost: $19.99   ESRB Rating: Everyone       Based on the Wii game that came out last year, WonderWorld Amusement Park features 30 different carnival mini-games spread across six different zones ranging from Spookyville to Space. Players unlock outfits and accessories by winning tickets in the various mini-games. WonderWorld Amusement Park also features competitive multiplayer for local play.

   

 

DLC

   

Guitar Hero: World Tour

   

This week's Guitar Hero: World Tour track pack comes with an Australian theme as three different rock groups hailing from Down Under are represented. Each song is available separately for 200 Wii Points ($2).    

 
• "Tomorrow" by Silverchair
 
• "Outtathaway!" by the Vines
 
• "Dimension" by Wolfmother
 

 
   
 

Rock Band 2

   

Six more songs from Jimmy Buffet, Nine Inch Nails, and two classic punk bands hit the Rock Band 2 Wii Music Store. The songs are all from the large backlog of downloadable Rock Band songs and they are all available for 200 Wii Points ($2) each.    

On the heels of this week's announcement was also the revelation that the regular weekly Rock Band 2 downloadable content will begin hitting Wii the same time it hits Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in February.    

 
• "I Fought the Law" by the Clash
 
• "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffet
 
• "Volcano" by Jimmy Buffet
 
• "The Collector" by Nine Inch Nails
 
• "March of the Pigs" by Nine Inch Nails
 
• "Rockaway Beach" by the Ramones
 

 
 For Nintendo's Virtual Console and WiiWare releases for this week, check out our weekly article.

[Jonnyboy117]

Ultimate Shooting Collection (wow, terrible name) sounds like a good value for $30.  Those games wouldn't have been worth full price individually, but at $10 each... yeah.  I reviewed Chaos Field for GameCube and found it interesting but not great.  I have a final burned copy of Radio Allergy for GameCube -- shame it was never released, but it's not anything special save for the art style.  Karous is supposed to be really good, but I haven't played it.

[Pale]

Wow yeah... I hadn't even heard of Radio Allergy finally getting a release here.  Very interesting.

[Flames_of_chaos]

EA's SimAnimals is basically the Sims, but instead of screwing with people, you screw with animals

That just sounds wrong.

[UncleBob]

I totally would have purchased Radio Allergy for full price at the end of the GameCube's life.

Now, instead, it looks like I'll be waiting to find Ultimate Shooting Collection in a $10 bargain bin...

[NWR_Lindy]

Ultimate Shooting Collection is an Amazon Deal of the Day waiting to happen.

[Nick DiMola]

Man, Big Bang Mini is lookin awesome, really want to get that one...

[BeautifulShy]

I tried out the demo on the Nintendo Channel and I liked it.

[KDR_11k]

Ultimate Shooting Collection (wow, terrible name) sounds like a good value for $30.  Those games wouldn't have been worth full price individually, but at $10 each... yeah.  I reviewed Chaos Field for GameCube and found it interesting but not great.  I have a final burned copy of Radio Allergy for GameCube -- shame it was never released, but it's not anything special save for the art style.  Karous is supposed to be really good, but I haven't played it.

I recall seeing a Karous special edition back in the day that had these three games inside. It had much better box art, didn't look like shovelware, unlike this...

I don't know about you guys but to me shooters aren't rare. Every game developer on the internet seems to make one of these since they're easy (no level geometry, no complex physics, ...).

[UltimatePartyBear]

I bought Chaos Field because I wanted a modern shmup, but barely touched it.  Even so, that collection is tempting.

I've wanted Big Bang Mini ever since I heard of the concept, but I'd all but forgotten about it until I just happened to be ordering something else last week and saw it on the new release list.  A copy is shipping to me right now.

I recall seeing a Karous special edition back in the day that had these three games inside. It had much better box art, didn't look like shovelware, unlike this...

I thought that was only in Japan.  Did it come to Europe?

[KDR_11k]

Nope, I saw it at PlayAsia.