Release This! Heating Up, Pricing Down, Getting Horizontal

The worldwide game releases for the week starting October 17th see another heavy week in this pre-holiday season. The U.S. gets a barrage of high-profile titles, while Europe sees a surge in quiz games, and Japan gets a couple of interesting Nintendo DS games. Games Released in the United States: Game Boy Advance: Backyard Football 2006, Crash & Spyro Superpack, Crash Superpack, Duel Masters: Shadow of the Code, Madagascar: Operation Penguin, Pac-Man World 2, Spyro Superpack, Tony Hawk's American Sk8land, Chicken Little, SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants!, Ultimate Arcade Games GameCube: Fire Emblem, Crash Tag Team Racing, Chicken Little, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants! Nintendo DS: Scooby-Doo Unmasked, Dig Dug Digging Strike, Spyro: Shadow Legacy PC: Shattered Union, Quake 4, X3: The Reunion, Age of Empires III, Diner Dash, F.E.A.R., Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Mall Tycoon 3, Professor Fuji's Sudoku Deluxe, SPLAT Magazine Renegade Paintball, SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants!, Ultimate Online: 8th Age, Worms 4: Mayhem, Zoo Tycoon 2.0 Endangered Species, Chicken Little PlayStation 2: Blitz: The League, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Special Edition, The Warriors, The Bible Game, Crash Tag Team Racing, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Jak X: Combat Racing, MLB 2K5 World Series Edition, Shadow of the Colossus, Sniper Elite, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, World Poker Tour, Chicken Little, SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants!, Shining Force Neo PlayStation Portable: NBA Live 06, The Con, X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse Xbox: The Warriors, Stubbs the Zombie: Rebel Without a Pulse, Shattered Union, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy, Blitz: The League, Codename: Kids Next Door, Crash Tag Team Racing, Greg Hastings Tour Pinball Max'd, MLB 2K5 World Series Edition, Sniper Elite, The Bible Game, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, World Poker Tour, Chicken Little, SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera Pants! Christmas comes a little earlier every year, they say, and here it is not even Halloween yet with a lot of big guns coming out in America all at once. Guaranteed hits this week are Quake 4, Blitz: The League, The Warriors, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Fire Emblem, Jak X, and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. Less guaranteed but possibly more deserving are Wideload Games' Stubbs the Zombie, the 1950s retro-sci-fi zombie invasion game, and Shadow of the Colossus, the followup effort from Sony's Ico team. Games Released in Europe: Game Boy Advance: Crash and Spyro Superpack vol. 3, Finding Nemo: The Continuing Adventures, Finding Nemo & The Incredibles, Pokémon Emerald GameCube: SSX On Tour PC: Counter-Strike: Source, Football Manager 2006, Quake 4, Shattered Union, UFO: Aftershock PlayStation 2: Buzz!, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Family Board Game, Garfield: Saving Arlene, Genji: Dawn of the Samurai, L.A. Rush, NASCAR 06: Total Team Control, Pro Evolution Soccer 5, SSX On Tour, The Warriors, Top Spin Tennis, WWII: Soldier, X-Factor Sing PlayStation Portable: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Namco Museum Battle Collection Xbox: Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, Fable: The Lost Chapters, Halo Triple Pack, L.A. Rush, NASCAR 06: Total Team Control, Ninja Gaiden Black, Pro Evolution Soccer 5, Shattered Union, SSX On Tour, The Warriors It's a good week to get a lot of bang for a little buck in Europe: there's a slew of combo packs for the GBA, and two enhanced rereleases on Xbox in the form of Fable: The Lost Chapters and Ninja Gaiden Black, both with more content for a lower price point. Otherwise, European retail sees new SSX and Pro Evolution Soccer games, plus the ultra-generic Family Board Game and WWII: Soldier. Games Released in Japan: Nintendo DS: Akachan wa Doko Kara Kuru no?, Kenshui Tendo, Pokémon Torouze, Super Princess Peach, Urusei Yatsura: Endless Summer PlayStation 2: D1 Grand Prix 2005, Shuffle on the Stage PlayStation Portable: Fukufuku no Shima, Touhokudai Gaku Mirai Kagakugijutsu Kyoudoukenkyuu Center: Kahashima Ryuuta Kyouju Kanshuu Nou Chikara Trainer Portable Another light week in Japan is chiefly interesting for a pair of Nintendo DS games. Though she's been playable in games such as Super Mario Brothers 2 and the Paper Mario series, Super Princess Peach finally puts Peach (otherwise known as Toadstool) in a starring role for the first time since her debut as Bowser's captive in the original Super Mario Brothers. Finally, Akachan wa Doko Kara Kuru no? (Japanese for Where Do Babies Come From?) is the sequel to the game that North America knows as Feel the Magic.