Games Coming July 2009

July is a relatively mellow month for gamers which is good in a way since you can now save up for the more intense months to come. There are a few interesting games heading our way this month, two of which are PC ports of excellent games so lets take a look at what July has in store for us:

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (Xbox 360 PS3 PC)

A prequel serving as a sequel, Call of Juarez: BiB will shed some light on Reverend Ray’s violent past as he along with his brother Thomas McCall rebels against the US government and hunts down the legendary gold of Juarez while killing half the population of Texas and Mexico.

Punisher: No Mercy (PSN)

When I heard of a new Punisher game I was elated. Then I heard it was a PlayStation Network exclusive not being developed by Volition so I was a tad bummed out. But today I actually checked out a few gameplay videos of this Unreal 3 powered first person shooter that’s looking insanely violent and gratifying so I’m kinda happy again. 

Street Fighter IV (PC)

We’ve already reviewed the console version of Capcom’s  excellent fighter. If you’re like really lazy, here’s a quote from the review:

To sum up, Street Fighter IV is undoubtedly at the zenith of the franchise where depth and balance is concerned. There's a really deep combat system in place for those who wish to immerse themselves in multiplayer bouts, but the lasting appeal is limited when it comes to new players since it can get repetitive if you don't enjoy the intricacies of two player versus games. If you do however, there's no better game than Street Fighter IV.

Bionic Commando (PC)

The world didn’t like this game but I loved it. People hated the swinging mechanic but once again I loved it. Now I could go on and on about how I’m radically different from the world. Once again, if you’re the lazy variety, here’s a quick quote:

So do I recommend Bionic Commando? Hell to the mother loving yeah. Bionic Commando is a game that challenges you, but never frustrates you. The game achieves a perfect balance between platforming and combat so you never get really bored of either of them. Even though the game’s pretty linear, you do have a few options up your arsenal so you could say the game even warrants multiple playthroughs. The swinging mechanic will take some time getting used to but stick with it and you’ll love it the way I do.

 

Tom Clancy's HAWX get's 'Supremacy Pack' from Ubisoft

Tom Clancy’s HAWX was released in early March this year and has been received with fairly mixed reactions. Now Destructoid reports that Ubisoft has just released an expansion to Tom Clancy’s HAWX titled the ‘Supremacy Pack’.

This expansion pack adds sixteen planes to the game, some of which are real while others are prototype airplanes. But apparently, all of the planes in the expansion have already been released earlier, spread across three previous packs, the US Eagles Pack, the Russian Pack and the European Pack.

The Supremacy Pack contains the following aircraft, which can be piloted in single player as well as online modes:

A-12 Avenger II.

F-111F Aardvark.

F-18 HARV.

F-4E Phantom II.

FB-22.

Mig-23 Flogger.

Mig-31 Foxhound.

Mirage 2000N.

Mirage 4000.

Mig-MFI.

Rafale M.

RF-15 Peak Eagle.

Saab-37 Viggen.

SR-71.

Su-39.

XA-20 Razorback.

The Supremacy Pack can be downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360 and from the PlayStation Store for the PS3. The Xbox 360 DLC comes for 800 Microsoft Points while the PS3 content can be downloaded for a price of 9.99 USD (approx. Rs. 475).

Gears of War 2 for PC Coming?

Gears of War is the highly acclaimed third person video game from Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games, and the Windows PC version of the game was release about a year after the Xbox 360 version. Now IGN reports that website Beantown Games has put up the PC version of Gears of War 2 for pre-order.

When they contacted Microsoft for comment, a company rep told them, “Gears of War 2 is a great franchise for the 360, and so we are putting all of our attention into making sure that it stands out on that console. There are no plans to bring the game to the PC.”

The site offering the pre-order also lists December 4, 2009 as the release date for the Games for Windows version of Gears of War 2. They also say that the limited edition version will come for 59.99 USD (approx. Rs. 2,850) and includes a PC DVD-ROM, a 48 page book called ‘Beneath the Surface: An Inside Look at Gears of War 2’ all in a special case, plus a gold-plated Lancer Assault Rifle for online play.

Sony Planning PS3 Price Cut Effective as of August?

At E3 there were many new announcements including one ‘it’s been a long time coming’ announcement, we all saw from miles away, which is of course the Sony PSP Go. But there wasn’t a single mention of console hardware price cuts from any of the companies. Well, now there are rumors about just that.

IndustryGamers reports that according to Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with the investment firm Sterne Agee, Sony plans a 100 USD (approx. Rs. 4,745) price cut for the PS3 in mid-August. This is incidentally just before the launch of Madden (8/18).

“Industry sources indicate Sony is planning a $100 price cut on the PS3 in mid-August, just prior the launch of Madden (8/18) and the start of the back to school shopping season. This will naturally be a positive for the industry,” Arvind Bahatia says, adding: “The industry is alive and well. While software sales for the first half of 2009 are expected to be down mid-single-digits, we believe the second half, in contrast, will likely be up 10% to 15% driven by a robust lineup, easier comparisons and potential price cut(s).”

This is, of course, just rumor at this point. But if Sony does slash the price of its PlayStation 3, it would be interesting to see what sort of response Microsoft and Nintendo would have with respect to their own consoles. Also, no word on whether Sony plans to reduce the price of their PSP-3000, now that the PSP Go is coming.