New Releases for The Week of Ants and Private Demon Lords

CB Droege 14 Jul, 2009 at 5:34pm ET Article published in Gaming

Ant Nation

On WiiWare this week Ant Nation will be available for download. This game has players manage and experiment with an ant colony, a la SimAnt. Fight spiders, avoid bug spray, make the ants happy, and build them a home. Afterward you can kill all your new friends with hammers and magnifying glasses. The companion version for the DS has a slightly different story: your ants are special genetically modified fighters bred to destroy an alien ant threat.

BitBoy!!

Another interesting title for WiiWare this week is BitBoy!!. Bitboy has to travel back in time to rescue his friends, but since he is a video game character, he also has to travel back through video game technology. Starting in the 4-bit era, he progresses forward through advancing technology rescuing his friends, while returning home to the 128-bit era. The game features a co-op mode.

Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This?

Protecting itself from the Icrontic Spotlight this week is Holy Invasion Of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? for the PSP. Seemingly combining elements from Dig-Dug and Dungeon Keeper, this unfortunately named game is a neat take on the recently very popular defense genre. Play the role of a demon lord who just wishes to be left alone. Dig tunnels and populate them with monsters to defend yourself from the ‘heroes’ of the world above. Use your limited number of actions per phase to create the path, and level-up the monstrous defenses, earning more actions for next phase depending on your success. It doesn’t stop there, however. The dungeon you’re crafting quickly becomes its own complex eco-system. Monsters are constantly losing health, and in order to survive, they must feed. The lowest forms of monsters will just live off the soil, but larger and more complex monsters must eat smaller monsters, and every monster dies of old age eventually. If you plan your food chain right your dungeon can become mostly self-sustaining, as your monsters live, eat, and reproduce in your tunnels. Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! seems like a simple concept with potentially deep strategy and simulation levels. This is the first title in a long time which has made me really wish I had a PSP to try it out on. Originally to be released as a UMD, it was recently changed to download only.

Following is a list of this week’s announced US releases:

PC

Bionic Commando
Hysteria Hospital: Emergency Ward
Nancy Drew: The Ransom of the Seven Ships
Operation7
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
WarpForce

PS3

NCAA Football 10

PSP

NCAA Football 10
Unbound Saga
Archer MacLean’s Mercury (PSN)
Holy Invasion Of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do To Deserve This? (PSN)

Wii

My Fitness Coach: Cardio Workout
Ant Nation (WiiWare)
BitBoy!! (WiiWare)
Incoming! (WiiWare)
PulseMan (VC – SG)
Secret Commando (VC – SMS)

DS

50 Classic Games
Dino Pets
Fifi and the Flowertots
Postman Pat: Special Delivery Service
Roary the Racing Car
Brain Challenge (DSiWare)

Xbox

NCAA Football 10
The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (LIVE)

Comments

15 Jul 2009 ~ 8:58am kryyst A rather dull and underwhelming week indeed.
15 Jul 2009 ~ 10:05am CB Watch out. I tried to say that last week, and caught hell for it.
15 Jul 2009 ~ 11:19am kryyst Good point - I mean Roary The Race Card driver is a [sarcasm]Tripple A+++ title[/sarcasm].
15 Jul 2009 ~ 12:21pm Winfrey Not much for the PC, but oh hey another EA Sports game...
15 Jul 2009 ~ 3:12pm MiracleManS You be quiet. I love NCAA Football as a series...mostly because I love college football.
15 Jul 2009 ~ 3:19pm Thrax Yay NCAA Football 2009 II!
15 Jul 2009 ~ 3:20pm BuddyJ /me pops his collar, gets some Natty, and listens to Dave with his bros.
20 Jul 2009 ~ 10:38pm chrisWhite I'll say it, boring. I'll be jumping on Monky Island as soon as it hits the iPhone.
20 Jul 2009 ~ 10:59pm chrisWhite ROTFL, here's how Sean "Elysium" Sands put it over on Gamers with Jobs

It's pretty fair to say that I'd rather tackle basic home maintenance than spend money on a new game this week. After all, it's mid-July and I live in the suburbs, so I have an artificial image to uphold. Some light yard work, repair a few shingles, trim some branches and then soak in a bathtub full of my own dashed dreams. Yup, that still sounds better than a Rock Band Country Pack.