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New PS3, Wii, 360 Downloadables Announced
360 gamers have Lost Planet to look forward to this week, but PS3 and Wii owners have things to smile about as well. Today's virtual console game releases feature the Hudson classic title Dungeon Explorer, as well as the shmup Gradius and the sidescrolling shooter Soldier Blade. PS3 owners will get six great downloadable titles sometime 'in early 2007', courtesy of Midway and Sony Online Entertainment. "The six games announced in the deal are Mortal Kombat II, Gauntlet II, Joust, Rampage World Tour, Rampart, and Championship Sprint. Sony Online said those titles were chosen specifically for their multiplayer components, as the company is adding online play for all six." Update: 01/08 22:32 GMT by Z : Oops. Missed Ms. Pac-Man on XBLA this week.
To maximize the interest in the Wii Shop channel, and to maximize their profit on each game, Nintendo is being very careful not to release too many of their biggest games at a particular time. If Nintendo releases one of their major classic titles every 6 to 8 weeks you will likely download it, play it until you complete it or get bored, check out the Wii shop channel every week for 4 to 6 weeks (and possibly buy 1 or 2 lesser known games), and when they release their next big game the cycle continues. If every game was available from the start, or they released too many big games at once, you'd likely buy a bunch of games and not look back at the Wii shop channel for months (or possibly years).