PS3 games are building momentum into the holiday season and it starts this week with a couple great titles. Check out my 4th quarter report to see what else there is to be excited about coming soon. In the meantime, this week’s short list:

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
This game is getting good press and nice reviews. I enjoyed the demo on PSN and it’s near the top of my GameQ.

Def Jam Rapstar Bundle
Ummm, yeah. You know if this is for you.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
I’ve never really followed this series but I’ll probably play this one. The Limited Edition has an art book, bonus packaging and soundtrack.

Way of the Samurai 3
I haven’t heard much about this one. It’s got decent reviews on Amazon and it’s only $31.00 right now. Is a discount that steep on a brand new game a good sign?

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien
I know absolutely nothing about this game that I believe is based on a TV series. It’s probably a kids game, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. After all, I just platinumed LEGO Harry Potter.

NBA 2K11
This is the only new NBA game you’re getting for a while considering NBA Elite has been delayed.

John Daly’s ProStroke Golf
I’m going to just avoid the obvious jokes about “prostroking” John Daly and let this one speak for itself.

Rapala Pro Bass Fishing 2010
It’s fishing. In a video game. Yeah. Somehow, despite enjoying both fishing and video games, I don’t see myself playing this one.

Last week Swords and Soldiers from Ronimo Games was released on the PSN Store for $9.99. The game calls itself a side-scrolling 2D RTS. The way I heard it, RTS was supposed to mean Real-Time Strategy, a la Starcraft. I’m not sure “Strategy” is the best word to describe this game. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun.

The game is frantic and entertaining but can be frustrating at times, even when you’re winning. Three factions (Vikings, Aztecs, Chinese) are fighting for some reason or another – the plots are laughable, but you probably shouldn’t be playing this type of game for the story anyway. Each faction has their own unique units and magic powers. You really can’t go wrong with Ninja Monkeys and Aztec “Zombies” (actually they’re skeletons but whatever).

My first playthrough as the Vikings went by quickly enough, having only 10 missions at three to eight minutes each. It was very apparent in the first two or three levels that “strategy” is a term used very loosely. I created a few Viking laborers (think the “Fat Lady” from an opera, I called them Helgas) to mine gold. Then came berserkers and axe throwers. The strategy available is basically prioritizing your use of the two resources: harvested gold for upgrades or units and your auto-charging mana used to cast spells like heal, lightning bolt, snowstorm, etc. Each team increases the mana regeneration rate in their own way. Vikings can buy upgrades, Aztecs sacrifice warriors, and the Chinese can build Buddha statues (instead of defense based towers). In a traditional RTS I would save up my warriors and group them together for a coordinated assault. That is not an option here. As soon as a unit is built it begins it’s auto-charge. If there’s a way to station your fighters I couldn’t find it.

Later levels provided a few choices for completion. Sometimes you can take the high road, where you’ll find greater resistance and greater reward, or the easier low road that doesn’t provide the extra resources. On one mission I was tasked with harvesting a set amount of gold and could choose between defending my Helgas or assaulting the enemy stronghold. With no way to set up sentries I failed my defense attempt. On my second try I annihilated the enemy with no effort. Even the final Viking level wasn’t any more in-depth. It was just trial and error – it took me four attempts to learn the timing.

The Aztec and Chinese campaigns were similar, but upped the difficulty level. Unfortunately it didn’t seem the difficulty increased due to complexity or more highly developed strategy; instead the units seem underpowered and harder to use against a more aggressive AI. For instance, the Aztec “strategy” seemed to be centered around holding on by the skin of your teeth until you gain enough mana to summon THE BOULDER. The boulder basically decimates your opponent’s on-screen army. The Chinese faction has a similar dragon ability.

The factions each get a different story, units, magic, etc. but it’s the same game. Between the three campaigns you’ll get maybe five hours of play if you’re good. I’m perfectly willing to admit that the extension and irritation of my play time comes from my own inadequacy, but I’m not really that bad. Additional replay value comes mostly in the form of alternative game modes.

Extra modes include online or split-screen multiplayer, skirmish and challenge. Split screen has the disadvantage of being able to adjust your strategy based on watching your opponent. Online is basically a frantic match to utilize your gold and upgrades faster than your opponent. It went about as I expected, random people called xXscreennameXx whipped my ass in a heartbeat – every time. As I sort of indicated above, I’m an avid gamer, not a good one. The Viking berserker challenge is simplistic but addicting. Aztec boulder throwing is even more simplistic but entertaining. Chinese survival mode will challenge you to last just a little longer for that elusive 30 minute trophy, but it can be incredibly frustrating as you can’t actually win and even surviving is as much lucky timing as it is strategic choices. Skirmish isn’t good or bad, just a fun way to extend the life of the game.

When it comes to multiplayer, one feature piqued my interest. I usually get frustrated waiting for opponents in online games. Consequently I don’t use those modes often. Ronimo has added a nice feature that lets you tell the game to find a match, then go back to singleplayer while it searches. It will notify you when an opponent is available and take you right back where you left off when the match ends.

While the sound design is unremarkable, the art is fantastic. I’m not sure how to describe it, but there is a  feel of Disney making an episode of South Park. The Vikings are essentially faceless – their beards cover the entire head and have eyes and mouth surrounded by whiskers. Aztecs and Chinese characters have more detail, though they’re just as generic and not nearly as lovable. I really dig the ’60s Batman style screen wipes with accompanying audio.

The game does have 3D options that I scanned. I like the idea of a sliding scale to set the strength of the 3D features, but I don’t have a 3D TV available so I’ll just assume that’s a good thing.  It seems like you can probably play it with a standard pair of red and blues, but I don’t have those ancient relics either.

I didn’t know what to expect from this game because I had never played anything with a similar style. Ultimately, it’s about as average as it comes, enjoyable but not exciting. If you’ve got an extra $10 in your PSN account you can do worse – but you can also do better. The PSN store has a relatively new rating system that I used to give it three of five stars. But I’m clearly in the minority. Based on 82 votes as of this writing, it’s user ranking is 4.69.

Dragon Quest IX is the newest title in the Dragon Quest series, and therefore the game born in Dragon Quest VIII’s ominous shadow. Surprisingly released exclusively for a portable system, the Nintendo DS. Which, I thought was an odd decision, but because it is such a good system I was never really worried. (Plus, the Dragon Quest games that have previously been released on it were very good.)

The game has a slightly different feel from the rest of the games, it takes the religious element to a new level, making the main character a Celestrian. (Which is essentially an angel) An interesting element to this game is that all of the playable characters are completely customizable. Including your main hero, which can either be male or female, with many different hair styles, skin colors, and body types.

The game starts with your Celestrian mentor showing you how to be the guardian of your own town. Then you are taken to a place called “the observatory” (which is the angel headquarters, a sort of mid-way to heaven), and told that you need to feed the world tree benevolence. You are essentially a ghost, and you go around helping people and collecting benevolence from them. (It might sound odd, but I thought it was a cool way to start the game.) After a short time, you return your benevolence to the world tree, Yggdrasil, but rather than helping the world, it has some cataclysmic effects throwing your character from the sky down to the Earth. The twist is, when your character lands, they’ve lost their wings, and can no longer go back to the observatory.

Your character keeps some of their Celestrian powers, (like the ability to see dead people.) and you travel the world, going around saving town after town, trying to get back up to heaven. In this regard it has a similar feeling to many of the other Dragon Quest games, in as far as each of the towns have their own unique affliction.

One of the things that I liked best about this game was the job system. It was a lot like the system in Dragon Quest 3, and 7, where you get to choose the jobs of everyone of your party members, and you can change them as often as you like. In most ways, I think they perfected the system compared to the older models… but they left it with one thing that I consider a pretty major problem, which is, the benefit from leveling extra jobs on a single character is key, but for the most trivial reasons. For example, there are certain moves that you get on certain jobs that will benefit your character on every job greatly… but then you are leveling a single job 16 levels for a single move, and basically nothing else. Another problem, that isn’t the games fault, is that the leveling was addictive, and I wasted many hours doing nothing but that.

I felt this custom made character system worked well, it especially makes sense with the multi-player aspect of the game, but I think I prefer the designed character systems better. I also felt this game lacked in one other aspect because of the multi-player element (that I decided not to try out) and that was that the game was quest based, and almost every quest was completely optional, therefore the game had lots of things to do, but it required almost none of them. In this regard the game was actually quite small, in fact I would venture to say that the world map in this game was the second smallest of all the games.

Along with the quest system, it also had a vast alchemy system, where you can blend items to create really good weapons and armor… Although, it had a similar problem of simply not being necessary. So while these systems that I didn’t really care for were massive, it completely lacked some of the systems that were offered in the other Dragon Quest games that I generally anticipate. For example, a monster arena, and a casino. On the plus side of the item and alchemy systems was the fact that every piece of armor has its own skin.  So you can make some really interesting looks for your characters depending on the armor you equip.

The construction of the battle system was hardly different than any of the other games, with very few exceptions, and it was good. There was one aspect where it fell short though, and that was that it was hardly ever a challenge… I think this was the easiest Dragon Quest game in the series. Some of the boss battles were still good, but ultimately unless you accidentally fought something you shouldn’t have, you will never have any trouble. Which is one of the things I like about most of the other Dragon Quest games, I think they are usually challenging, and this one was not. As a final statement on this subject, I will mention that the boss battle was a let down. Sorry Dragon Quest, you’ve done a lot better.

Finally, I’ll mention the overall story. Which I thought was good, but still nowhere near as good as the others. The Celestrial element is strong, but they don’t take it far enough. They have some good towns, and a really cool mode of transportation, which is a flying train called the starlight express, but it just isn’t as intricate as the other games.

The more I write this review, the more it makes it sound like I don’t like this game, but it isn’t the case. I think it is really good, but it might be one of the worst Dragon Quest games, which simply isn’t an insult. The art design by Akira Toriyama is as good as ever, if not better.. They even have some animated cartoon sequences, For example: an animated battle between Greygnarl an ancient dragon, and Barbarus, a resurrected black dragon. The animations are easily some of my favorite things that have come from the entire series… Not to mention the soundtrack of the game, which I thought was excellent.

Anyway, I’ll wrap up by saying that it is worth buying, and easy to play through… but don’t expect another Dragon Quest VIII. If for the overall score I was rating it against other Dragon Quest games, it would certainly get a lower score, but since I am just rating it in general, I’m giving it an 8 out of 10… It really is worth playing.

You can buy your copy of Dragon Quest IX on Amazon through this link!

If you’re a Scott Pilgrim fan and own an Xbox 360 or PS3 you probably bought the downloadable game and have been reminded how hair-pullingly hard the games from the 8-bit generation could be.

Good news: Not only will Knives Chau soon be a playable character, but “Average Joe” difficulty will be slightly less aggravating. With the DVD and Blu-ray release on November 9th (and you better be buying that), the new video game content will also be available. You can’t beat the entry price of $9.99 for the whole game and $1.99 for DLC that includes playable Knives Chau, a free-for-all battle arena and dodgeball mode.

The patch to ease up the difficulty, fix a few bugs and allow drop in/out local multiplayer will be free. There are still no plans for online multiplayer.

For anyone who hasn’t been reading regularly, I do a weekly breakdown of PS3 and PSN releases. Well, I’ve decided to help you with your shopping lists by hitting you with the hottest titles coming out in the next three months. This list will certainly have a Sony bias, but if it’s big I want to include it. Fourth Quarter is always huge because of the holiday season and this is no exception.

So why do we need this list? Because there are a lot of cool games and I like to see them in a row to help me decide where to put my gaming dollar. There is also a new trend over the last few years of having different preorder bonuses depending on where you buy your game and I want all our robot friends to get the best deal. Personally, I think Amazon’s pre-order bonus is hard to beat so I’ll link the games to them. Their release day delivery charge is about the same price you’ll pay for tax in a brick and mortar store, they usually have a discount of a couple bucks, and the $10 (or more) credit on future game purchases is tough to beat. Also, their “Wish List” feature makes not-so-subtle hints to loved ones about Christmas (or other holidays of your choosing) all too easy.

So here we go:

October 5:

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Limited Edition For PS3 and XBox, if you haven’t heard of Castlevania you haven’t played video games long enough. Stand-alone disc is $60, but fans will want the limited edition (soundtrack and art book) for $80. Preorder bonuses include a $20 gift card at KMart, a t-shirt at Gamestop and a redeemable code for Symphony of the Night on PSN or XBLA at Best Buy.

October 12:

Medal of Honor Limited EditionI’m not an FPS player so I can’t say much about this game but I know it’s anticipated. The limited edition (Battlefield 3 beta; MP7, TOZ194 and 870MCS in-game weapons; special ops skin; and Frontline) is only $60, but I don’t see a “regular” edition so it may just be marketing hype. Preorder bonus is Tier 1 Day 1 code from Gamestop and $20 credit at Amazon.

October 19:
Fallout: New Vegas Collector’s EditionThis one is a no-brainer. This is my most anticipated game this year. I rarely buy games any more because I use Gamefly but I’ve long since preordered the $80 Collector’s Edition (“Lucky 7” poker chips from each of the in-game casinos, “Lucky 38” platinum chip, custom-themed deck of cards, hard cover graphic novel by Chris Avellone and Dark Horse and a making of DVD). There are four different preorder outfits with bonus weapons and items depending on where you get it. Gamestop has the Vault 13 Classic Pack, Amazon gets you the Tribal Raiding Armor, the Caravan Pack comes from Wal-Mart and Steam, and the Mercenary pack is available at Best Buy. Mine is coming from Gamestop for no other reason than I had $60 in gift cards. If I can tear myself away from the game long enough to write it, I should have a review sometime after launch. But seriously, don’t wait for my review. The Collector’s Edition goodies are worth the price of admission alone. You could also try winning a copy here.

October 26:
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Collector’s EditionIf I were writing this for a general gaming site I would have picked Rock Band 3 or Fable 3 for this week. But for Big Shiny Robot! it had to be Star Wars. I played the demo for this game at Celebration V and never stopped smiling. You can save $5 at Amazon on the Collector’s Edition (collectible steel book, three challenge levels, Ralph McQuarrie concept art skin, exclusive lightsaber crystal and designer Mimobot 2Gb thumb drive preloaded with a digital art book). They also get you two extra challenge levels for preordering. You can preorder from Gamestop for the “Maulkiller” skin or the Sith Acolyte skin and trading card from Best Buy.

November 2:
DC Universe Online Collector’s EditionTrue Crime and God of War: Ghost of Sparta are both out this week but if you’re reading this site you know this is the one you want. Don’t tell my wife, but this might be my first MMORPG. Make your own hero or villain and fight alongside, or against, your favorites from the DC Universe. PS3 only has the $60 game available but if you’re on PC you can buy just the game for $50 or the Collector Edition for $100. The Collector Edition comes with a limited edition Batman figure based on Jim Lee’s concept art, a back story comic by Geoff Johns, an art book by Wildstorm productions, and the Legends Issue #0 online comic. Preorders at Gamestop will get the online comic even if you don’t get the cool package, plus you get to play as Batman in arena battles and use the Joker’s Confetti Bomb in game.

November 4:

Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures!I don’t own a 360 and I don’t understand the motion gaming phenomena but this is a major release and I would be remiss to skip it. The basic package with the sensor and Kinect Adventures is $150 everywhere. Preordering at Gamestop or Best Buy nets you three extra levels for Kinect Adventures. Amazon gives you a $30 credit on a future game purchase, which seems like a way better deal to me. All retailers are encouraging preorders and may limit the number you can buy. They’re expecting early sell out.

November 9:
The Sly CollectionThat’s right. I’m skipping Call of Duty: Black Ops in favor of Sly Cooper. I’ve already covered one FPS and I don’t want to explain the difference between the basic, hardened and prestige editions. Besides, Sly Cooper is not just awesome, this collection is only $40 for three games – one of them in 3D. I haven’t seen any preorder bonuses but they might announce something small like an avatar for your PSN ID.

November 16:
Assassin’s Creed: BrotherhoodAdding multiplayer for the first time in the series, followers of the franchise have been watching for this game. I’ve played both prior entries on PS3 and Bloodlines on PSP. Preorder this from Gamestop soon and you can access the multiplayer beta starting October 4. They’ll also give you a Harlequin playable character. The $100 Collector’s Edition includes two in-game single player maps, a physical Rome strategy map, exclusive art book, bonus disc with extra media, and a collectible jack-in-the-box (Gamestop’s is the Harlequin version, everywhere else is a basic version).

A special note for Big Shiny Robot! readers, Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet is out today too. It’s for kids, but I bet it’s fun anyway.

November 23:
Nothing to care about this week. Unless you love Michael Jackson or have fond memories of Splatter House

November 30:
Disney Epic Mickey Collector’s EditionThis is the only Wii-exclusive making the list but it’s safe to say it would be here even if there were good games coming this week for PS3 or 360. It’s Mickey Mouse from Warren Spector. How can that not be awesome? No preorder bonuses yet, but Amazon will save you $5 on the Collector’s Edition (special package, 5″ vinyl collectible figure, bonus DVD, Wii faceplate and Wii remote skins).

The month of December is actually pretty weak, probably because everybody assumes Christmas shopping is done and there’s been enough awesomeness already. If you really need another new game this late in the year you might as well get TRON: Evolution Collector’s Edition

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, is the newest game in the Kingdom Hearts series, and is a prequel to the first game. It was released on the today from a few weeks ago, and is playable only on the PSP. Just like most of the other titles in the series it is an action role-playing game, that takes characters from the Final Fantasy, and Disney universes, and blends them in with an original cast of half-breeds.

The story takes place a long time ago, when there were many keyblade masters. Honestly, the story reminds me a lot of the Star Wars prequels… A lot. Although, unlike the prequels,  I wouldn’t say that it’s to this series detriment.  What’s really cool about this particular games story is that it is viewable from the perspectives of three different main characters, Ventus, Aqua, and Terra.

I don’t know where I sit on this series completely, I’ve always been torn between having fun because the games are generally well made,  and being annoyed because they have really childish areas in the game. For example, Pirates of the Caribbean land, and the Hundred Acre Woods. Although, there are usually as many really good choices for world’s as there are bad. For example, Tron, and Nightmare Before Christmas. Birth by Sleep’s main advantage in this field is that the world’s are really short, so you aren’t caught up in Cinderella land for an obnoxious length of time.

I was a little worried about the gameplay in Birth by Sleep, as it’s on a portable system, and it is a fast paced game, but I was quickly surprised to find that it runs as well as the other versions, and way better than the other portable versions. So to sum up, I was really impressed with how good this game felt. They have an entirely new skill system, that includes a slew of what they call “finishing combos”, that are pretty innovative. They removed MP from the formula, which gives the game a whole new spin. All and all the changes are vast, but it manages to feel similar enough that it fits in to the series wonderfully.

This is probably the best PSP game I’ve played… visually speaking at least. The cinematics were not only done really well, but they had some really good content. All around I would compare the graphics to the PS2 versions of Kingdom Hearts, and I’d say that some of the enemy designs are better than ever. They introduce a new enemy species in the vein of the heartless, called the unversed, that have a really good design, and I thought it was a good addition that two of the main characters actually looked like adults… or at least tall teenagers.

The only complaints I really have, are that there are a lot of load times, and there might be a little too much story. Meaning that I feel intimidated to take it on the road sometimes, but that is how I feel about almost all of the PSP games… I wish that I could just play PSP games on a console… Whoa-is-me.

This is a really impressive game, and totally worth the investment if you like the Kingdom Heart series. For some reason my score graph isn’t working on this post, so I will just sum it all up by saying, I give this game an 8 out of 10.

Buy Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep on Amazon here!

Last night at their conference in Chiba, Japan. Nintendo dropped the final details on their newest handheld the 3DS. As seen on Kotaku the 3DS will hit Japan on February 26, 2011 at the price of 25,000 yen ($300 U.S.). It will then release to the west right around March 2011 (kinda feels like Nintendo digs Spring handheld launches.) The kit will come bundled with: a 2GB SD card, 6 augmented reality cartridges, the 3DS touch pen, and a charger stand(shown below).

The 3DS will support streaming TV, have a slew of software available at launch, and much to the relief of gamers consistently burned through Nintendo upgrades, unlike the DSI and DSI XL It will allow you to import your digital game library. For those new to the DS world, this means that DLC purchases will be able to transfer when you buy a new system for whatever reason. Aaaaaand….wait for it…… The Virtual Console for 3DS will have Gameboy Advance support! Apparently it only took 2-3 years of us bitching to get that, this announcement has me giddy as a school-girl. Hopefully the titles for the 3DS will be as strong as its looking so far.

Here are the technical specs:

According to Nintendo, the new functions include a slide pad, a motion sensor and a gyro-sensor.

The portable will have parental controls like the Nintendo DSi and the DSi XL portables before it.

It is possible to play games downloaded off the 3DS’s Virtual Console as well as games downloaded onto a Nintendo DSi and DSi XL. The Nintendo 3DS works with game cartridges in the Nintendo DS series.

The Nintendo 3DS is 134mm by 74mm. It is 21mm thick and weighs 230 grams.

The top screen is 3.53 inches and with an liquid crystal display of 800 x 240 pixels. The button screen is 3.02 inches with a liquid crystal display of 320 x 240 pixels.

It has two outer 0.3 megapixel cameras and one inside the portable’s clamshell.

The Nintendo 3DS has WiFi functionality.

There is a game cartridge slot, an SD card slot, an slot for the AC adaptor and headphones jack. Stereo speakers are on the right and left of the portable’s upper shell. It has a mic, too.

Cartridges for the Nintendo 3DS are the same size as cartridges in the Nintendo DS line.

As with the DS line, the Nintendo 3DS is powered by a lithium ion battery.

As shown on Kotaku NBA Elite was delayed indefinitely on September 27th, due to technical issues brought forward by the demo. Did they really delay it indefinitely due to technical issues? Or were they so stung by my comparison that they decided to give up hope?

On a serious note it is unfortunate to have the game “crucified” one week before its release. Peter Moore president of EA Sports lightly touched on the issue by saying:

“Unfortunately, NBA Elite 11 is not yet ready and we have made a decision to delay next month’s launch. The decision to delay NBA ELITE was hard because the game has great promise. But ultimately we feel this is the right thing to do. We’ve been making steady progress on basketball for the past few years and it’s going to take extra time to make the game.”

From the ashes of this “tragedy” rises good news, NBA Jam will be releasing October 5th for Wii right on schedule, and then will be heading to PS3 and 360 closer to the holidays, maybe the realization that Elite was a bad idea will come with an added revelation that the 360 and PS3 players also deserve a full version of NBA Jam to sink their teeth into?

feel free to discuss below.

I’m not sure how this decision got made but it’s hilarious. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II will have Guybrush Threepwood as an unlockable skin. Threepwood is the hero in LucasArts’ Monkey Island series. Some Star Wars fan out there is probably wailing. Some Monkey Island fan is probably doing the same. Me? I’m laughing. I played the demo of this game at Celebration V and I can’t wait to play it at home. You can bet this little feature will be awesome after a few beers.

So I’m a little bit late posting the store update this week because I stayed up too late playing LEGO: Harry Potter. Who cares if it’s for kids? Those LEGO games are a riot.

Starting things off with the latest discounted PSOne title in celebration of the Playstation brand’s 15 year anniversary is Street Fighter Alpha (8/13/08) for $2.99.

Sony’s latest PS3 gadget, the MOVE, is getting some love with a demo of the newly MOVE-compatible Heavy Rain, and an update to Hustle Kings (which is also 3D-compatible now).

I noticed a whole new section on the store devoted to Tomb Raider. This is clearly part of the hype surrounding the newest game in the series, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (available now for $14.99 or in demo form for free). Amongst the goodies were various trailers and themes from the 2008 game, Underworld.

Swords and Soldiers from Ronimo Games is now available for $9.99 (free demo). The game was originally WiiWare but has now made its way to HD. It’s an RTS featuring ninja monkeys and Aztec zombies, how can it go wrong?

Providing a perfect transition between games and DLC is DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue. This game actually came out last week and included the two DLC packs if you bought early. If you didn’t take advantage of that deal the game is still available at $14.99. The two DLC packs, The Snowy Mountain ($2.99) and Tankko the Warrior ($0.99) are now available separately.

Other DLC available:

• Borderlands New Revolution $9.99
• FIFA 11 Live Season: All Leagues $9.99
• FIFA 11 Online Pass $9.99
• Mafia II Greaser, Renegade, Vegas and War Hero Packs $2.99/ea
• Naughty Bear Episode 9 – Pirate Bear $4.99
• BlazBlue: Continuum Shift– Valkenhayn R. Hellsing $7.99
• ModNation Racers Air Raid w/ Kart
• My Aquarium Underwater Glamour Set $0.99
• Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock– Soundgarden’s “Telephantasm” Album $17.99
• Rock Band DLC and RBN (<L>=LEGO compatible)
• Anthrax Pack 1 (Among the Living, I’m the Man, <L>Indians, <L>Madhouse [Live] and <L> Metal Thrashing [Live]) $8.49 or $1.99/ea
• <L>”Closer to the Edge” – 30 Seconds to  Mars $1.99
• “Coffin Nails” – Atreyu $1.99
• “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” – My Chemical Romance $1.99
• “Welcome to the Black Parade” – My Chemical Romance $1.99
• “Out of Line” – Buckcherry
• <L>”Listen to the Music” – The Doobie Brothers $1.99
• <L>”Long Train Runnin'” – The Doobie Brothers $1.99
• “Cali Girl” – Ballyhoo $0.99
• “First We Feast, Then We Felony” – Circus Circus – $0.99
• “Hail Destroyer” – Cancer Bats $1.99
• “Leaderless & Self-Enlisted” – Norma Jean $1.99
• “Now Demolition” – Evile $1.99

Not a bad supply of demos this week. In addition to Lara Croft and Swords and Soldiers, the demos for EA MMA, PES 2011 and MySims Sky Heroes are out.

Sony also hasn’t been holding back on the new Avatars ($0.49/ea). This week sees a large release from ModNation Racers (Astro Kitty, Chief, Dolor, Drillbit, Espresso, Fade, Hale, Jez, Tag and Uncle Richard), Deadliest Warrior The Game (Apache, Centurion, Knight, Ninja, Viking, Spartan, Samurai and Pirate), and Mega Man 10 (Bass Running w/ Blaster, Bass Running, Solar Man, Strike Man and Treble). Flying solo is Chuck from Dead Rising 2.

New themes are present as well. The only new Dynamic theme is the Zombie Mistress ($2.99). Non-dynamic premium themes are Baltic Sky ($1.49), Blackbeard’s Curse ($1.49), Deadliest Warrior ($1.99), Dragon ($1.99), Vision ($1.49), Mayan Skulls ($1.49), Inner Warrior ($1.99) and Haunted English Castle ($1.49). Don’t forget the Swords and Soldiers theme and the five Kung Fu Rider wallpapers.

For videos we get another collection from the Dew Tour; promos for Resistance 3, Bioshock Infinite and Swords and Soldiers; and Developer Diary #5 from Mafia II.

And I’m not forgetting the PSP updates. The Blackbeard’s Curse, Deadliest Warrior and Mayan Skulls themes all have PSP counterparts. The portable also gets exclusive machine gun themes: RPD and UMP for $1.49/ea). Demos for God of War: Ghost of Sparta and DragonBallZ: Tenkaichi Tag Team are available for all. Retail title Rapala Pro Bass Fishing is $19.99. MotorStorm costumes ($0.99) for Little Big Planet, new characters for Gladiator Begins: Ella, Galea of Mars, Ikaros’s Wing, Mysterious Female (all free) and Valkyria Chronicles 2 DLC Pack 2 ($4.99) are all on the store now.