All right, I admit that technically, Ridge Racer Unbounded doesn’t launch until the 30th, but let’s face facts here.  The “trailer” for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 is beyond boring.  I’m sure the prospect of gaining “access to Augusta National Golf Club’s Tournament practice facility” and an “authentic Green Jacket Presentation” are enough to get real golf fans giddy, but a) the video doesn’t really explain any of that, and b) panning shots of a video game golf course aren’t exactly compelling.

Warriors Orochi 3 also drops on Tuesday, but I could only find a Japanese version of the launch trailer.  That would have been fine if it had introduced any new or exciting elements to the Dynasty Warriors formula.  Unfortunately, it looks like Warriors Orochi 3 is going to be practically identical to every other game in the series ever.

So, we’re left with Ridge Racer Unbounded, which is an interesting game to me on two fronts.  First, I thought new Ridge Racer games were the exclusive domain of console launch days, but Unbounded is dropping for the 360 and PS3, and those systems have been out for years!  Second, there’s a shot of the track builder in the video that’s really piqued my interest.  Grid-based track design with tweakable stunts in a (vaguely) realistic, fully-destructible city environment?  Yeah.  All of a sudden this is on my watch list.

Anybody getting anything new this week, or is Mass Effect Mania still gripping the world?

I feel a bit sorry for the games releasing this week, as they’re still essentially competing with Mass Effect 3 for the attention of gamers everywhere.  That said, I’m looking forward to reading reviews on Silent Hill: Downpour.  I haven’t played any since Silent Hill 3, but my wife has always been a huge fan, so I keep an eye on new releases in the series to see if they’re worth pursuing.

Other releases this week include a new Naruto game (Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Storm Generations), a new Tales game (Tales of Graces f), a new Street game (FIFA Street), and a new game that inappropriately tries to leverage zombies.  I know zombies are the In Thing right now, and I’m sure there are plenty of cultural reasons why.  (My bet: zombies will always be monsters.  Outside of parody, you can’t really sparkle them up and make every high school girl squeal.)  However, zombies in Red Dead didn’t make much sense, zombies in Call of Duty didn’t make much sense, and zombies in Yakuza really doesn’t make any sense.

So, I’m definitely skipping Yakuza: Dead Souls, and anything else dropping this week will be a later-date purchase to be sure.  How about you all?  New games, or just more Reaper killing?

Mass Effect 3.  It’s the first true blockbuster of the year.  Kingdoms of Amalur had some buzz behind it, but it was nothing compared to this.  And, as ought to be expected, I’m not going to be picking ME3 up.  I still haven’t played Mass Effect 2.  I hear it’s good.  I enjoyed the hell out of Mass Effect.  I just never had time, and no matter how great ME3 is going to be, I’m not skipping a step in the series.

Of course, I haven’t had much desire to put Kingdoms of Amalur back in the 360.  It’s fun, but it’ll keep.  And the other games dropping this week aren’t all that enticing.  MLB 2k12, MLB 12 The Show, and Street Fighter X Tekken are all… well, I promised I’d stop rambling about sports and fighting games.  Mario Party 9 sounds like it might be dusting off the Wii for, but I don’t feel any particular hurry.  And Blades of Time, well, it could be a sleeper hit or a stinking turd, thus I’ll be waiting on that one.  So, maybe this weekend is the perfect time to get caught up on my Reaper killing and alien boinking.

How about you?  Any big plans for the return of Shepard?

The Producer and the Tlustos didn’t give the Syndicate co-op demo much love this week, but this wouldn’t be the first time a demo has failed to properly convey the potential of a game before (Kingdom of Amalur, say).  Of course, plenty of demoes also show exactly what the game ends up being all about (Bulletstorm), so who knows?

Also dropping this week: Asura’s Wrath, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D and a little-known piece of new hardware.  Something from a company called Sony.  The Villa?  Vitamin?  Vita?  I doubt anybody’s excited about that, though.

So, whatchu got planned this week?

Kicking a Skyrim addiction by picking up Kingdom’s of Amalur is going to be a bit like replacing heroin with meth.  That said, I’m likely to do that.  I dig the art style, I dig the action-RPG combat, and I dig the leveling mechanics.  Of course, I’m as likely to finish KoA as I am to finish Skyrim, but with a main quest of 40-60 hours, and many hundreds of hours of side content, can you blame me?

Other major releases this week: The Darkness 2 (meh), Resident Evil: Revelations (no 3DS), the Jak & Daxter Collection (maybe someday), and Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition (meh again).  Anything else that should be on my radar?  Anything you’re planning on getting?

The last day of January brings with it a torrent of new games.  I don’t know why the industry decided January was a no-go zone, but the drought is over for now.  To celebrate, I’ve decided to post a bunch of release trailers, rather than just one.

Soul Calibur V

To be honest, I’m surprised this video isn’t just long close-ups of cleavage and g-strings, but I’m glad it’s not that crass.  I haven’t been overly enamored with most recent fighting games I’ve tried (Mortal Kombat and Marvel vs. Capcom 3, in particular), so I’ll probably rent this one first.  Unlike Sam, though, I do recall at least enjoying a few of the Soul Calibur entries, so perhaps this’ll be the modern fighting game I’m looking for.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 (There are probably spoilers for XIII in the trailer.)

It’s definitely going to be a long time before I even attempt to tackle this one.  I still haven’t managed to get more than about ten hours into FFXIII-1, and I’ve seen some grumblings that the much-vaunted fixes XIII-2 brings may be smoke and mirrors.

NeverDead

2011′s Knight’s Contract and this week’s NeverDead both feature immortal protagonists fighting off demons and the undead.  Knight’s Contract, though, was a medieval hack-and-slasher, and immortality just meant you could mash buttons to regenerate yourself if you took too much damage too quickly.  In NeverDead (a modern-day shooter), immortality apparently means being able to rip yourself apart and some how strategically use your body parts in combat.  It’s definitely a unique take on the idea, but I think I’ll have to try this one before I buy as well.  Also, NeverDead’s trailer makes no mention of a vulnerable female sidekick (one of Knight’s Contract’s weak spots), but I’ve heard there may be one, so I’m curious if they’re downplaying that in order to avoid negative comparisons.

So, two rentals and one pass for me this week.  I’m still neck deep in Skyrim, so prospects don’t look much better for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning next week, but we’ll see what happens.  How about you?  Any games on your radar this week?

I haven’t forgotten about this column, I promise.  Rather, there’s been absolutely nothing worth mentioning coming out at retail.  Last week saw three PSP double packs, and the games in the packs were old PSP games.  The biggest release this week appears to be a NatGeo PSMove title.  And next week’s biggest title is a re-release of Gran Turismo 5.  (If you need a reminder of our opinion of GT5, the cover of episode 49 ought to serve nicely.)

I wish I could find a reliable source for independent or digital-only game release dates.  I’m sure that XBLA, PSN, or Steam have some interesting titles coming out, but nothing I’ve found says when.  Of course, that kind of seems to be the nature of that market.

The point remains, though, that Two Days isn’t dead, it’s just waiting for the industry to start selling stuff again.  Looks like that won’t be ’til the last weekend of January, though.  See you then!

Turns out I picked a bad week to reboot the Two Days column.  Seriously, Mr. Bean, Aladdin (not Disney’s), and Trojans (not prophylactics).  I’m not going to bother embedding any videos of these games.  The first result for Mr. Bean’s Wacky World is a commentary on how terrible it is.  I refuse to even waste time looking for an Aladdin’s Magic Racer video.  And the most recent trailers for Warriors: Legends of Troy are from E3.  Of 2010.

Actually, as I look into it, I’m not even sure the release date on Mr. Bean is correct. Gamespy claims it’s been out since early 2009 in Australia and the UK, and since January in the U.S. I use Amazon’s release calendar when I’m putting together these posts, though, and Amazon claims it’s pre-order only, so I’m going with that.

Either way, rather than ask if you’ll be getting any new releases with your (presumably huge stacks of) Christmas Cash, let’s hear about your holiday haul.  Did the jolly fat man (or whatever else) leave any gaming goodies?

Perhaps next week will be better.  (Don’t hold your breath.)  In the meantime, here’s an awesome analysis of Mega Man and Mega Man X. (Language is NSFW.)

Did I mention last week how it’s crunch time for me at school?  Two massive projects constituting 80% of my grade in the two (theoretically) most important classes of my college career are coming to head over the next couple weeks.  I guess it’s only fitting, then, that I have two games pre-ordered this week.

Yup.  Assassin’s Creed Revelations and Saint’s Row: The Third.  There’s just no way I could have not purchased these two games.  I mean, one is the culmination of a brilliant character and a compelling story tying together the loose ends of a conspiracy that spans centuries, and the other lets you use explosive shotgun rounds to juggle an energy drink mascot in the air.  How can you go wrong?!

I guess there’s other stuff coming out this week, too.  Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, Need for Speed: The Run, Kinect Disney Land (that one’s for you, Alex!), Dynasty Warriors 7 Xtreme Legends, Jurassic Park, Rayman Origins, Super Mario 3D Land…. Can you tell Christmas is a month away?

So, the goodies, they are plentiful.  I have no idea how I’ll find time to play my pre-orders this week, but thankfully next week is Thanksgiving Break (or whatever they call it), and I can guarantee I’ll be immersed in hidden blades and dildo bats the entire week.  How about you?

I’d rather run Skyrim’s trailer here, but Bethesda has been sucked in by the pull of an all-elevens release date, so it technically doesn’t drop in two days.  In addition, we ran the Battlefield 3 trailer a couple weeks back, and I don’t want anyone to accuse me of picking sides (though I think Activision is kind of evil and would choose BF3 if forced).  So, Modern Warfare it is!

As mentioned, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim also drops this week (eventually), along with the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, Deepak Chopra’s Leela, a new Rabbids game, and some other stuff.  For you PC-only folks, L.A. Noire is also making it’s computer debut, so jump on that.  It’s definitely worth your time.

Skyrim hits a bunch of my geek genes, but I’ve never played Oblivion, and I only ever managed to get lost in Morrowind.  Add in the fact that my term paper due dates for both of my capstone courses are rapidly approaching, and I’m not likely to pick anything up this week.  If you have more free time on your hands than I do, what are you picking up?

Aw, what the heck, here’s Skyrim, too: