Metroid Prime 3, Stranglehold, Warhawk Hit In Major Release Week

Gamasutra's regular round-up of worldwide video game releases, "Release This!", takes a look at every game title we know to be shipping to stores this week, in an exclusively compiled list. The United States prepares itself for war at retail this week, as long-anticipated heavy-hitters like Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Stranglehold, and Warhawk fight it out on store shelves alongside the likes of Blue Dragon and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam. Japan and Europe opt for more laid-back release schedules, though standout titles like Boogie, Blade Storm, and beatmania IIDX 13: DistorteD are certain to spark interest. The following list covers all of the game software we know to be available -- across all platforms and regions -- for the week ending September 1st, 2007. Games Released in the United States:

Facing off against numerous major releases across all platforms, Nintendo's Metroid Prime 3: Corruption comes out on top in this week's Mindshare data by a significant margin. Competition is much more fierce among the next tier of popularity, however, with Stranglehold, Warhawk, and Blue Dragon gathering near-equal amounts of prerelease anticipation and purchase intent in the days prior to their debuts. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 also stands among these top titles in this week's results, though its Mindshare data is split between both its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ports. The Xbox 360 version proves to be the more popular of the two, continuing the trend of gamers generally favoring Xbox 360 editions of multiplatform releases. Interestingly, though, IGN's users show a marked preference for Dynasty Warriors: Gundam's native PlayStation 3 version, rather than its recently assembled Xbox 360 port. As the PlayStation 3's install base grows, this margin of preference is expected to shrink further over the next several months. Games Released in Europe:

Europe plays its usual game of catch-up this week, with big names like Madden NFL 08 and Boogie making their way overseas weeks after finding success in the United States. Exclusives and early debuts for titles like Impossible Mission, Worms: Open Warfare 2, and Dragon Ball Z: Goku Densetsu help to balance the release scales between both regions, however, while Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 and Stuntman: Ignition will become available to both European and American gamers almost simultaneously. Games Released in Japan:

Gintama Gin-San to Issho! Boku no Kabuki Machi Nikki and Blade Storm: Hyakunen Sensou lead weekly preorder numbers at Amazon.co.jp in the week prior to their releases. The Nintendo DS release One Piece: Gear Spirit is also gathering significant preorder support among Japanese gamers and importers alike, as are both the regular and special edition releases of Konami's beatmania IIDX 13: DistorteD. Otherwise, this week's Japanese lineup is fairly unremarkable, with its remainder largely consisting of budget releases and edutainment titles. [About IGN GamerMetrics: IGN GamerMetrics is an interactive tool designed to report the real-time behavior and interests of visitors to IGN Entertainment's network of gaming enthusiast web sites. Using data collected from IGN's readers, GamerMetrics shows the levels of consumer awareness, engagement, and purchase intent in every video game title released in the U.S. market.]