The Drop: Week of Aug 30th, 2010 New Releases

This week’s The Drop tells the story of the Green Knight, Gray Knight, Conehead and Snakey when they discover a black magical box in the Animal Ark that plays Blu-Rays. Get your battle axes and animal orbs ready, The Pipistrello and the Frost King await your arrival on the PlayStation Network. Need a testosterone hit of big guns, mechs and explosions? Here’s your chance to save New York City (again.) Shinji Mikami replaces the undead of Resident Evil with the Augmented Reaction Suit, when the PSN demo for his new sci-fi action shooter drops on PSN.

Jeff has a death grip on his PSP this week with the arrival of Valkyria Chronicles II, and PlayStation minis get some love when Europe’s Metacritic PSP darling and Youtube viral sensation goes ‘crabbing for gold.’ The PlayStation Network has tons of love to give this week — get the bandages ready — your gaming thumbs are going need it.

PlayStation Network

Castle Crashers // PSN Demo — Dan Paladin is not only the co-founder of his very own independent studio and Art Director for Castle Crashers, he’s also amazing at wrapping gifts. Yes, August 31st may be a Tuesday, but it’s also the official day PlayStation fans can pull battle axes and volleyballs out of their closets and download Castle Crashers on the PlayStation Network.  If the whole hack’n’slash thing has got you down, there’s a happier alternative. The PS3 version of Castle Crashers adds an additional volleyball mini-game, where you can play locally or online. There’s also a demo on PSN if you want to dip your toes in before taking the plunge.

Sam & Max Episode 5: The City That Dares Not Sleep — Debuting as a comic book in 1985, Sam & Max have their own episodic video game in its third season. Episode 5 of The Devil’s Playhouse grants Max the ability to shape shift, teleport and use future sight to fight an arcane scholar.

PlayStation Network Demos

Vanquish — If the creator of Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami woke up from a dream one morning and wanted to create his very own third-person shooter (and destroy San Francisco) he’d named that dream Vanquish. In the distant future, Russians have captured a US space station which harnesses solar energy, and have used it to annihilate the Bay Area faster then you can say Nuclear Man.

Armed with the Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS) — you play as Sam Gideon — the last defense against the Russians. Your mission is to restore peace and recapture the space station before they reach their next target, New York City. Associate Community Manager for Vanquish, Julian Mehifeld posted a blog earlier this week, with more details on PlantiumGames‘ latest title.

R.U.S.E. — Deception and intellect are the key ingredients behind this real-time strategy game. Play up to six different factions ranging from the US to the USSR, and change the tides of war using decoys and ruses to trick your enemies. Ubisoft and Eugen Systems deliver a demo this Tuesday and promise PlayStation Move support in the future.

PSone Classics

Theme Hospital — The classic 1997 hospital simulator comes to PSone classics this week. Manage and build your very own hospital when Bullfrog Productions gives you everything you need to operate, resuscitate, deploy doctors and nurses in the thematic successor to Theme Park. I’ll be McSteamy, you be McDreamy.

PlayStation Portable

Valkyria Chronicles II — Valkyria Chronicles II takes place two years after the conclusion of the original game on the PlayStation 3. Experience stories of friendship, love and growing pains when Gallian Military Academy cadets plunge into civil war against the Gallian Revolutionary Army.

It’s no secret that our very own Jeff Rubenstein is a huge fan of Valkyria Chronicles II. He frequently drives to SEGA to pay Aaron Webber a visit when he needs a VC multiplayer fix on his PSP — we have a new multiplayer video tour coming up this week. Stay tuned.

Ace Combat: Joint Assault — Pilot over 40 fully licensed aircraft and control the skies in Ace Combat: Joint Assault. The second game in the franchise made for PSP, Joint Assault goes full throttle with fast-paced dogfights, real-world locations and robust multiplayer options

PlayStation minis

Coconut Dodge — Coconut Dodge is an arcade-style mini that was released in Europe in May and quickly gained critical success with glowing reviews and a handful of perfect 10 out of 10 scores. It now sits at number 25 all time highest rated PSP games on Metacritic.com. Check out how addictive the game can be in the infamous One More Go video, which shows a player going through the highs, the lows and the ultimate joyous relief as he tackles Level 9 of Maze Master mode. Get ready to Crab some Gold!