GamePro Arcade

This week gamers get plenty of downloadable love in the form of eight (8!) new titles. Starting today Nintendo fanboys can pick up three WiiWare games (BIT.TRIP CORE, BUST-A-MOVE Plus!, Heracles Chariot Racing), one Virtual Console title (California Games) and one DSiWare game (Art Style:BASE 10).

Xbox 360 and PS3 owners get "Battlefield 1943" this week, while PC gamers get "Trine" (also on PSN) and "Monkey Island" (look for Andrew's review tomorrow).  

Hit the jump for all the details on this week's releases.

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WiiWare

BIT.TRIP CORE
Publisher: Aksys Games
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 600 Wii Points^™
Description: BIT.TRIP CORE continues the BIT.TRIP saga in this retro-arcade-style game. BIT.TRIP CORE adds up to an exciting action/rhythm game that’s best played while zoning out on the tunes and letting the visuals swallow you whole. The experience is inspired by games from the ’80s, but with a modern twist. The game play is entirely new to the series, leaving the single-axis controls of BIT.TRIP BEAT behind in favor of the ability to control two axes. If the difficulty gets you down, grab a friend and play cooperatively with two-player multiplayer. Make it to the end and you’ll have journeyed one step further to completing your BIT.TRIP.

BUST-A-MOVE Plus!
Publisher: TAITO
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 600 Wii Points
Description: BUST-A-MOVE Plus! is a simple but hugely addictive puzzle game in which you must try to burst a multi-colored mass of bubbles with your very own bubble launcher. Every time you make a group of three or more bubbles of the same color, they pop. There are two game modes available: 1P Puzzle (players tackle the game’s 135 stages in pursuit of a new high score or best time) and Battle (players take on friends or computer-controlled opponents). If that doesn’t satisfy your passion for popping, there are a total of 270 extra stages waiting for you in the two add-on-content packs, available for purchase on the Wii^™ Shop Channel. BUST-A-MOVE Plus! is simple to get into and deep enough to keep you coming back for more.

Heracles Chariot Racing
Publisher: Neko Entertainment
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone) – Comic Mischief
Price: 800 Wii Points
Description: The famous Heracles has taken on a challenge like none he has ever faced. Our hero will have to beat his opponents in a race across mythological kingdoms and be the first to reach the top of Mount Olympus. You can play as Heracles and help him return the sacred trophy, or play as one of the other varied mythological characters from Satyr to Poseidon and claim the prize for yourself. Race through three racing cups across 10 courses set in five mythic landscapes. Use awesome fantasy weaponry to defeat your opponents: tridents, fireballs, Zeus’s lightning rods and more. Get your friends together for intense two-to-four-player split-screen multiplayer action in Championship, Single Race or Battle mode.

Virtual Console

California Games
Original platform: Commodore 64
Publisher: Commodore Gaming
Players: 1-5
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Wii Points
Description: Welcome to California, home of the most radical sports in the world. You’re about to hit the beaches, parks and streets of the Golden State to go for trophies in everything from surfing to bike racing. California Games gives you the hottest sports and the most aggro competition. You even have to pick your own sponsor. So pull on those kneepads – you’re about to get into the most fun you’ve had since Mom hid your skateboard. California Games is going to take you from surf to the turf, from the pipe to the parks.

Nintendo DSiWare

Art Style: BASE 10^™
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-2
ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)
Price: 500 Nintendo DSi Points^™
Description: Art Style: BASE 10 is a game of numbers. Your goal is simple: create combinations equaling 10 by sliding numbers around the playing field. Move them horizontally or vertically, but be careful not to create an unusable non-number in the process. Choose from one of three modes: eliminate a set amount of numbers as quickly as possible in ZEROSUM MODE; get rid of prearranged groups of numbers in as few moves as possible in PUZZLE MODE; or continue removing numbers until your game is over in INFINITE MODE. In addition, you can challenge an opponent to a two-player wireless battle in VS MODE and see whose number-crunching skills reign supreme. If you think you’re a master with numbers, the straightforward yet challenging world of Art Style: BASE 10 gives you the opportunity to prove it in a unique way.

Asphalt 4: Elite Racing
Publisher: Gameloft
Players: 1-4
ESRB Rating: E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older) – Mild Violence
Price: 800 Nintendo DSi Points
Description: For the racing elite, the world is their racetrack. Choose among 28 dream cars and motorcycles from the world’s most prestigious manufacturers. Then race your way through eight of the most renowned cities, fully rendered in 3-D. Control your speed machine with either standard or touch-screen controls for precision driving. Photos taken with the Nintendo DSi^™ Camera can be used as your personal icon or can appear throughout the various environments, including the garage where you can customize and tune your vehicles. From New York to Shanghai, Paris to Dubai, you’ll weave a course through busy streets in six kinds of races plus four-player Multiplayer mode. Avoid police, demolish competitors and pass the leader to win. You’ll need to floor it at every straightaway and push every drift to the limit to stay one step ahead and become the ultimate VIP of urban racing.

XBLA/PSN

 

DEPLOY INTO WORLD WAR II COMBAT! “BATTLEFIELD 1943™” ARRIVES ON XBOX LIVE® ARCADE

Attention! Get armed and ready to enter the World War II Pacific Theater of Operations. The fully-featured, action-packed “Battlefield 1943™” is available for quick and convenient download on your premier destination for digitally distributed games, Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday, July 8. 

Build your rank as a fierce fighter pilot, a steel-fisted tank commander, or even a skilled rifleman. Log on to Xbox LIVE where you and up to a whopping 24 players can engage in historic battle between the US Marine Corps and Japanese Imperial, whether it´s in the sky, on land or across the sea.

Published by Electronic Arts and developed by EA Dice, “Battlefield 1943™” will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points worldwide, excluding Korea. The game is rated T for Teen by the ESRB.  For more details, please visit: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/b/battlefield1943xboxlivearcade/