No prizes for guessing the biggest games news since last weeks’ Console Yourself.

The postponement of Grand Theft Auto IV from Christmas this year to Q2 of next has both fans and the industry a-buzz.  Sony-centrics were quick to claim that the 360 DVD format was too small and compression issues stalled production. Microsoft and 360 supporters speculated that all too familiar problems that third party companies have reported when developing for the PS3 hardware were the problem.

I have another theory.

It’s not been a good year for Take2. First Manhunt 2 got crippled by the rating bureaus and just last week Ryan Brant, one of the company founders,  narrowly avoided a jail term in the culmination of a stock options backdating court case in which two other executives were implicated. Brant was handed a sentence of 5 years probation.

I don’t think it’s any accident that the new release date of GTA IV puts it firmly into the next financial year. If I were Take2 I’d want to draw a line under an abysmal 2007 too,  write it off and start 2008 with the huge influx of money that GTA IV,  possibly the most eagerly awaited videogame ever, will doubtless bring.

What EA gives with one hand, it takes away with the other. Following some great news about online features for their new games (The new NCAA game will feature real time weather conditions and NHL08 will finally have online leagues) came the news that they are shutting down the servers for most of their ‘2006’ titled games. Sure there can’t be so many people playing these games but not everyone can afford the latest release and to me this seems a pretty cynical way to ensure less money is lost to the second hand market.

EA also revealed the release date for the highly anticipated Skate – A skateboarding game that isn’t a Tony Hawk title. It’ll see the light of day on September 12th for 360 and two weeks later on for PS3. If you’ve not seen this in action check it out below – we could be looking at a game that finally aces the aforementioned Tony Hawks series.

The long running Harvest Moon series made it’s way to PSP recently and it turns out that far from being a new and original title for the machine it’s more a less a combination of two of the old Playstation games. I don’t think it’ll harm sales though, the hardcore fan base of the series will still pick it up and it’s a pretty niche title – PSP RPG fans who aren’t afraid of a little old skool presentation should find plenty to like if they’re new to the Harvest Moon IP too.

Do you remember Rescue Raiders (1984) or Armour Alley (1990),  first released for the old Mac?  Maybe not,  but you’re more likely to remember those than the criminally overlooked Super Army Wars for the GBA.  These three games– each an unofficial remake of it’s predecessor – feature gameplay that is a hybrid of a real time strategy game mechanic and the classic Choplifter graphic presentation.

Just released for the NDS is Glory Days 2, the next game in this sequence. Don’t go looking for Glory days 1 though, as that game was renamed and became the aforementioned Gameboy Advance title Super Army Wars.   Anyway… Glory Days 2 is the kind of game that isn’t going to sell very well and is destined for the label ‘Cult Classic’ due it’s high difficulty level and unashamed 2d presentation. The sound, by all accounts, is among the very best on the system – one of those games where they tell you to use headphones in the manual. Take a look (and listen) below with this video courtesy of IGN:

Another GBA games just out and well received is Picross DS, a game clearly released to make capitol on the Suduko craze.  But don’t let that put off,  I ran through many a pack of AA’s playing the Gameboy incarnation of this image based puzzler and the DS version features downloadable content and Wi-Fi multiplayer. Guaranteed to suck away hours of your life!

The only other releases in the past week have been on the PS2 the mind numbingly average survival horror effort Obscure II and EA turn up again with Rugby 08 which suffers from not being different enough to Rugby 06… two years work did not go into this game… however, Rugby 06 worked pretty well as an enjoyable but simplified version of the sport that American Footballers aren’t tough enough to play.

And with that we arrive, much sooner than usual, at Classic Game of the Week.

As I write this there is one PAL copy of Rez for the Dreamcast on Ebay and the ‘Buy it Now’ price is 45 quid,  and it’ll go for that too.  Rez isn’t a game – it’s an audio visual experience – in the manual it advises you to make sure you have a light on and be sure to sit a ways from the TV. I advise you to do the opposite, and while you’re at it make sure and jack the volume up to ear-bleeding levels too. To a soundtrack of beautifully organic electronic music you fly into the screen in an ‘on-rails’ Star Fox style and make your way through a series of the most incredible wire frame worlds imaginable.  The electronic/organic theme set by the music is carried over into the mind blowing visuals as many of the enemies are wireframed and polygonal plants and animals.

Now I think about it this is bad choice for Classic game of the week – it is doubtless a classic game and one that I think everyone needs to play or at least see in all it’s glory – it’s just that it’s impossible for to do it justice with mere words. They still have some videos from the PS2 version over at IGN and you really should check them out if you’ve never seen the game in action.

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Posted by Jaguar Wong in Console Yourself, Sci-Tech & Video Games • Add to del.icio.us Add to Digg