Videogame Releases: Week of January 31st, 2011

If you really want to get technical about it, there are videogames being released this week. You can get plenty of DS shovel-ware, if that’s what you really want – or an MMO from an otherwise unknown developer. There’s a bit of DLC too, which should hopefully hold you over until the release of ‘Marvel vs. Capcom 3’ later this month.

Earthrise (PC)

You’ve never heard of the post-apocalyptic MMO ‘Earthrise’? You’re not alone. It’s not exactly a top-tier game, and the Bulgaria-based Masthead Studios is a new studio. That’s a big problem for an MMO. The game looks nice enough, for what it’s worth.

There’s one good reason to care about ‘Earthrise’, though. Masthead may be an unknown quantity, but they’re the people working on ‘Fallout Online’ with Interplay. ‘Earthrise’ could be a strong indicator of what we’re getting from ‘Fallout Online’. So if you’re a big ‘Fallout’ fan, you may want to give this one a try.

Call of Duty: Black Ops “First Strike” Map Pack (360)

When the most interesting release of the week is downloadable content, you know it’s a slow week. DLC for ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops’ is huge for fans of the game, though. The “First Strike” map pack gives you four new multiplayer maps, and a zombie map for those who aren’t sick of the addition of zombies to games that don’t need them. You can pick it up now for 1,200 Microsoft Points.

9 comments

  1. Alex

    Out of curiosity, do you guys (meaning both writers and readers) ever buy games using XBox Live’s Games On-Demand feature? I’m really curious how that service is doing. I’ve bought a couple games there, but not tons, and yet I do really like the idea. Confessedly it kills the second-hand market for video games, but it was a remarkably smooth and comfortable experience. Any thoughts?

    • I love the idea of the Games on Demand feature, but I’ve only bought a few games. I think pricing is the main problem – if I can buy the game for $10 less at retail I have a hard time justifying the purchase.

      The games that I have bought, I’ve had an incredibly good experience with. Not needing to load in a disc is nice and the games run smoothly. It’s definitely an option I’ll return to soon, especially since I expect to be snowed in for the next few days.

      As far as the second-hand market goes, I don’t mind seeing that die 🙂

      • Gotta say I would mind seeing that die, I get most of my games 2nd hand from places like Gamestop or Amazon or Ebay, not many people have the money to keep up with every game they want as gaming is an expensive hobby….I would be playing a lot less games if the used market dies off, but I do see this possibly going that way entirely.

        Although in a good way it can save the manufacturers money, it can stop the millions of plastic cases, dvds and instruction manuals from being made, but what really pisses me off is that we dont save any money by getting Digital downloads, there is no packaging, no manual no disc, yet the game still costs the same…..they should run at least $10 cheaper without all of that marketing junk, plastic and stuff…..

        Otherwise I’ll gladly stick with the used game market as it saves a TON of money for myself, the games I really got to have day one I will still buy and give the money to those who deserve it

        • Dick Ward
          Author

          I totally get that argument, and that’s one of the reasons I’d really love to see digital distribution take off on consoles. Cheaper games, better delivery and money that goes to the people who made the games instead of padding the pockets of the folks at GameStop.

          My PC doesn’t have a CD drive or a DVD drive – there’s no reason for me to have one. I download all of my games from Steam or from Blizzard. It’s a great setup and I wish console releases were the same.

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