If you own a PlayStation 3, there’s a good chance you were ready to buy Little Big Planet this Tuesday. But after the unfortunate delay we learned of earlier today, come next week, you’ll be walking home from the videogame retailer of your choice with one less game than you were planning.

Had the game come out this Tuesday as expected, it would’ve faced some stiff competition — although it seems unlikely that the inevitably huge sales of LBP would have taken much of a hit (and, if anything, these other games should be sighing with relief). With that in mind, here’s what big releases remain for you to come home with next week:

• Far Cry 2 (PC, 360, PS3)
• Fable 2 (360)
• Rock Band 2 (PS3)
• Wii Music (Wii)
• BioShock (PS3)
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (DS)
• Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (PC, 360, PS3, PSP, DS, Wii, PS2)
• Eternal Sonata (PS3)
• Midnight Club: Los Angeles (360, PS3)

If you also happened to come home with a copy of Petz Rescue: Wildlife Vet for Wii, I wouldn’t have judged you. That might not be entirely true, but what is true is that, with Little Big Planet now scheduled for release on October 27 (although with stingy retailers, that likely means Tuesday, October 28), gamers with multiple consoles are looking at another hard week on the wallet. Here’s what you might be picking up along with your copy of LBP:

• Fallout 3 (PC, 360, PS3)
• Guitar Hero World Tour (PC, 360, PS3, Wii, PS2)
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift (PS3)
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC)
• SingStar: Vol. 2 (PS3)
• MotoGP 08 (PC, 360, PS3, PSP, Wii, PS2)
• Scene It Box Office Smash (360)

It’s truly going to be one of the most wallet-busting stretches in gaming history over the course of the next several weeks. We should probably be thankful there aren’t any new consoles releasing — unless you plan on picking up the new PSP 3000s or importing a DSi next month.And — tempted as you might be — selling an arm on the black market isn’t as great an idea as it might seem. If nothing else, it’ll make playing that shiny new game of yours much more difficult.

It has been one crazy week, and the craziest thing happening at home base while Jonathan and Shawn were in LA was the amount of assets we received in our inboxes on a daily basis. I have decided to post the lonely screens and trailers that did not get their very own post into one large post full of links. There’s just is not enough time to post them all, so this is the best way I know how.

While this is not a comprehensive list of what was not covered, it is close. There are more screens floating around out there that we have yet to get, but if or when we do, we will do our best to wow you with them.

Below you will find a list of games from A-N and a link to the trailer or screens for it. Be sure to look over the list carefully, because something you are interested in may be included. I have highlighted ones that may be of special interest.

Games O – Z are posted after the jump

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Screens
Active Life Outdoor Challenge Trailer
Afro Samurai Screens
Age of Booty Screens
Age of Booty Trailer
AWAY Shuffle Dragon Screens
Babysitting Mania Screens
Bangai-O Spirits Screens
Bangai-O-Spirits Trailer
Battlestations Pacific Screens
Bionic Commando Screens
Bionic Commando Trailer
BioShock PS3 Screens
Borderlands Presentation Trailer
Borderlands Screens
BUZZ! Master Quiz Trailer
Champions Online B-Roll Trailer
Champions Online Screens
Chrono Trigger DS Screens
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 Trailer
Cooking Mama World Kitchen Screens
Dark Void Screens
Dark Void Trailer
Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon Trailer
Digimon Championship Trailer
Digimon World Championship Screens
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen Screens
Dungeon Hero Screens
Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero Screens
Empire: Total War Screens
Eternal Sonata PS3 Screens
Eternal Sonata PS3 Trailer
Final Fantasy IV DS Screens
Flock! Screens
Flock! Trailer
Gran Turismo 5: Prolouge Trailer
Heavy Duty Screens
I Am Alive Trailer (This looks rather interesting)
I Heart Geeks Screens
Infinite Space Screens
Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Enc. 2 Screens
Kill Zone 2 Trailer
King’s Bounty: The Legend Trailer
LEGO Batman: The Video Game B-Footage Trailer
LEGO Batman: The Videogame Screens
Little King’s Story Screens
Luminous Arc 2 Teaser Trailer
Marker Man Adventures Screens
Marvel Ultimate Alliance II: Fusion Trailer
Mega Man 9 Screens
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Trailer
Metal Gear Online Screens
Monster Lab Screens
Monster Madness: Grave Danger Screens
MySims Kingdom Screens
N+ Screens
N+ Trailer
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 Screens
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja STORM Screens
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja STORM Trailer
National Geographic Panda Screens
Neopets Puzzle Adventure Screens
NHL SK9 Screens

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NAMCO BANDAI announced today that Eternal Sonata is now available for the Xbox 360. An original Japanese developed RPG with cel-shaded graphics and a hybrid battle system, Eternal Sonata spins a tale of friendship and destiny in a fantasy world inspired by the music of famed composer Frederic Chopin.

From what we have seen via the demo, screenshots, and trailers over the past few months, the game is drop dead gorgeous, has a fast-paced battle system and definitely a unique storyline. With the game’s battle system, players will be able to execute their attacks in real time while taking advantage of pauses in the encounter between each character’s actions to devise new strategies. Using “light and dark” mechanics, players will be able to execute different special attacks depending on whether they are standing in the the or in the shadows. Similarly, enemies can take on new forms depending on their exposure to light, which adds a new layer of tactical possibilities to the game’s action. Up to three players can participate in the game’s battles, and take an active role in the flow of the game. Eternal Sonata has a classical score with selections from Frederic Chopin’s compositions, performed by renowned pianist, Stanislav Bunin (one of my heroes).

For more information about the game, please check out our previous posts and visit the official website, which is VERY cool.

Now… if someone will just make one about Beethoven and Rachmaninoff fighting vampires… I would be thrilled.

Via: PRESS RELEASE 

Namco Bandai has announced that a new picture pack for Eternal Sonata is now available for Xbox LIVE subscribers to download. The Allegretto Picture Pack features new avatars of Allegretto, Beat, March, Salsa and Viola. There is also still the Polka Picture Pack available, which includes five more avatars of characters from the game. Get them both, and you should have the full collection of main characters. The actual game of Eternal Sonata should be out on store shelves on September 17.

Demos here, demos there, demos everywhere. Eternal Sonata, Stranglehold, and Bioshock, the recent releases of these incredible demos have sent my seasonal expectations into overdrive. What would make these last couple of weeks complete? How about the SKATE demo from EA? Sure, why not?

Well, looks like we may have to wait another week. EA has just announced that they are going to miss their SKATE demo expected release of 8/15, (On Xbox Live, no current date for PS3 demo) using the extra development time to work out some of the kinks. What kinks you ask? Well, here’s the official word from the EA spokesperson.

“We are trying something completely new for an Xbox Marketplace demo in allowing people to play the game and upload footage they take in-game to our Skate website. The skate.reel video upload functionality is much more technically complex than a standard offline demo, and the number of moving parts have resulted in undue & hard-to-predict delays.”

You can make online skate videos with the DEMO? Cripes, kiss my social life goodbye. Luckily for us, the word from the official forums is that the expected delay should not last more than a week.

It’s starting. Can you feel it? The magnitude of amazing gaming titles in store for us this year is starting to become a reality. In the last few days we have seen both the Eternal Sonata demo and now the Stranglehold demo hit us square in the face. What’s even more amazing, is that in a normal holiday season, either one of these titles would be seen as some of the most highly anticipated. Not this year. This year, the course laid out at our table is a veritable feast of happiness. So how does the Stranglehold demo hold up? Let’s brave the 1.3GB waters and find out.

Story: John Woo and Midway worked closely together to bring this game to life, and nowhere is that more evident than the story. The numerous cut scenes flow perfectly with the rest of the action, and the directing style takes a page directly out of Mr. Woo’s playbook. You really feel as if you are playing one of his movies. While the themes may not be that complicated, (Injustice happens, Tequila gets pissed, people die) you never really feel slighted because the action sequences tell the real story.

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For the longest time, the Xbox console series has been noted for quality shooters and sports titles, but no real “must-have” RPGs. The Xbox360 seems poised to change that, with the release of a few A-list titles over the next few months. As we reported earlier, one of the most anticipated of these, “Eternal Sonata” hit Xbox Live as a demo earlier today. With all this hype, is it worth the space on your hard drive? Let’s find out.

Story: With a storyline as abstract as Eternal Sonata’s is, (You are in a dream world created by real-world famous composer Frederic Chopin hours before his death) it is really hard to get a sense for the true nature of the plot. With the “dream world” aspect of the story, it seems that Eternal Sonata has a much softer edge to it than your traditional Final Fantasy title.

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Namco Bandai has announced that a demo for the upcoming RPG, Eternal Sonata, is now available for download over the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. So what sets this game apart from the endless stream of anime-style RPGs? How about the fact that you get to play as Frederic Chopin. And no, I don’t mean a guy called “Frederic Chopin;” I mean the actual 20th century composer Chopin. The game’s setup is that as Chopin lay dying from an illness, he entered a dream world whose inhabitants had all contracted incurable diseases. These diseases however also granted them magical abilities. Chopin sets out with several other characters to try and save the world using magic, weapons, and even his own music to fight he evil corrupting this world. If you check out the demo, you can get an introduction to the strange world inside a master composer’s dreams. The full game should hit U.S. store shelves in September.

NAMCO BANDAI has been feeding us screens, trailers, and whatnot for Eternal Sonata for a couple of months now. As usual, the screens are eye candy but what I am wondering is if the gameplay is going to live up to the hype surrounding the storyline and the lovely graphics. I suppose we will all find out in September when it becomes available for the Xbox 360. When that happens, I will be more than happy to confirm if it is just “pretty art” with a cool website or rousing gameplay. Stay tuned.

Yesterday in Japan, the Xbox 360 version of Oblivion flew off the shelves with the resulting grand total of 35,000 units sold on its first day. That is a major accomplishment considering that the Xbox 360 has had such a lukewarm reception in Nintendo County. According to 360 Gamer, this is great news for Spike (which owns the Japanese publishing rights to the Bethesda favorite)as there seems to be a growing RPG trendin the Japanese marketplace once more. With strong early sales of such titles as Blue Dragon (80,000) and Eternal Sonata (50,000), Microsoft is just hitting the tip of the iceberg with their exclusives in that particular market, especially with more titles on the way: Infinite Discovery, Lost Odyssey, and The Last Remnant. This should give the 360 a bigger edge in a market that has been dominated by Mario Corp since the 80s, and with the Wii offering less in the way of RPGs, the flailing Microsoft love child could finally form a lasting relationship in the hearts of the Japanese consumer.