The Video Game Librarian Pick of the Week is expanding this week thanks to the beginning of the “Fall Gaming Season.” With more than a dozen new titles this week, there’s something to recommend for everybody.
The NFL season kicked off two Sundays ago, so let’s start with some new sports games. EA Sports released Madden NFL 17 a month ago, but the publisher was back this week with NHL 17 for the PS4 and Xbox One. If you’re more of a basketball fan, 2K Games released NBA 2K17 this week for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Soccer supporters will also get a new simulation this week with the release of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. And the checkered flag goes to NASCAR Heat: Evolution, which was released for the PS4 and Xbox One this week. All four games always score very well with gamers and would make a good addition to any collection.
Far away from Earth’s athletic fields is the planet of Far Eden, an interstellar colony that’s been overrun by villainous robots in Microsoft’s ReCore. Developed by Armature Studio, with additional idea work by Keiji Inafune, ReCore lets players fight back as Joule Adams, a resourceful woman who has her own team of robotic helpers. ReCore is available for the Xbox One.
Finally this week, a trio of re-releases will reintroduce gamers to a few beloved franchises. BioShock: The Collection will bring BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite together in a single package for the PS4 and Xbox One with improved graphics and exclusive commentary by Ken Levine and other developers from Irrational. Meanwhile, Capcom’s Dead Rising also makes the leap to the PS4 and Xbox One with improved graphics. And Square Enix and Nintendo collaborated on a brand new localization for the 3DS release of Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, an absolutely massive RPG that was originally released in 2001.
All Links in “This Week’s New Releases + Game News” are Provided by Warp Zoned.
New Release Round-Up
- Retail Releases: NBA 2K17: Early Tip Off Edition, ReCore, BioShock: The Collection, more
- Nintendo Download: Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past, Noitu Love: Devolution, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, more
- PlayStation Store: NBA 2K17, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, BioShock: The Collection, more
- Xbox Games Store (Wednesday): ReCore, Pac-Man Championship Edition 2, The Witness, more
- Xbox Games Store (Friday): NBA 2K17, Just Sing, Mount & Blade: Warband, more
Warp Zoned’s Weekly Warp-Up
The Tokyo Game Show kicked off to some disappointing news this year. In addition to a no-show from Nintendo’s NX console (though the consolemaker might have accidentally leaked a March 4, 2017 release date), Sony revealed that The Last Guardian has been hit with another delay. The very highly-anticipated game will now be released for the on December 6… hopefully.
Elsewhere on Warp Zoned this week, we dove into hands-on impressions of both Pit People (a strategy RPG from The Behemoth) and the MetaArcade Adventures Platform (a text adventure creation tool from MetaArcade).
New Game Announcements
- Earth Defense Force 5 will be released for PS4 in 2017 (in Japan).
- Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection will bring together Assassin’s Creed II, Brotherhood, and Revelations on the PS4, Xbox One this November.
- Titanfall franchise will come to mobile devices this Fall with the strategy card game Titanfall: Frontline.
Pre-Launch Updates and Release Date Announcements
- South Park: The Fractured But Whole‘s release date was delayed to Early 2017 by Ubisoft.
- Axiom Verge will be available for the Xbox One on September 30.
- The Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is now available for all PS4 owners and Capcom released a new trailer.
- The Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition includes a Sonic statue that shouts “Say-Gaa!”
- Square Enix delayed Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue to January 24, 2017.
- Heart Machine cancels Wii U and Vita launch of Hyper Light Drifter.
Other Game News
- Inversus players will be able to unlock 250 hidden color palettes in the latest update.
- Madden NFL 17 was the best-selling game of August 2016.
- Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment expansion will be available in Spring 2017.
- Rob Pardo, World of Warcraft’s Lead Designer, formed a new development house known as Bonfire Studios.
- Sony blocked the release of modding tools for Fallout 4 and Skyrim: Special Edition on the PS4.
New Videos
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare – “Story Trailer”
- Super Mario Run – “Shigeru Miyamoto’s Favorite Ways to Play”
- Batman: The Telltale Series – “Episode 2 Launch Trailer”
- Final Fantasy XV – “TGS 2016 Trailer”
- Dragon Quest Builders – “What Is Dragon Quest Builders?”
- Minecraft: Story Mode – “Episode 8 Launch Trailer”
- WWE 2K17 – “Gameplay Trailer”
- Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 – “Hunter Vs Runner” and “Giant Ghost”