The Drop: Week of April 16th 2012 New Releases

Taking advantage of some of PS Vita’s unique hardware features and bringing exclusive content, Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention brings two new characters, new story chapters and quests, new bosses, and new unique GPS positioning functionality. Also on PS Vita as a PSN release, StarDrone Extreme puts you in the pilot seat of an always-in-motion spaceship through 60 diverse cosmic environments, where you’re tasked to survive, destroy, and collect items.

Dropping this week in the form of a full PS3 digital download is Dead Rising 2: Off The Record, which sees Willamette survivor and photojournalist Frank West take center stage as players experience a very different interpretation of events in this re-imagining of the Fortune City outbreak. Enjoy this week’s The Drop.

PlayStation Vita

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Also on PSN) — Disgaea 3 is a sequel to Disgaea, a hardcore, turn-based strategy RPG. The game follows the exploits of Mao, the most honored student at Evil Academy, a school where the tardiest, laziest, and rudest demons receive the highest marks. The son of the school chairman, Mao has never once attended class nor opened a textbook. He longs to overthrow his father and assume the title of Overlord, which he decides he must become a hero to achieve. Join him on his zany adventure filled with witty dialogue, exciting events, and thrilling strategy battles.

PlayStation 3

Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat — Based on the Spike TV series that pits two of the most feared warriors civilization has ever known against each other, Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat combines two explosive Deadliest Warrior games — Deadliest Warrior: The Game and Deadliest Warrior: Legends — into one package, and also adds a huge arsenal of additional weapons and features found only on this Blu-ray disc.

• Deadliest Warrior: The Game — Players can choose from history’s greatest warriors, equip them with signature weaponry, and go head to head against the greatest fighters that ever lived. Sever limbs, decapitate foes, and taunt your enemy’s lifeless corpse to build up ranking points and compete on a global scale to become “The Deadliest Warrior.” The game features five play modes, customizable warrior, and true-to-life action with interactive environments.

• Deadliest Warrior: Legends — In Deadliest Warrior: Legends, take control of history’s greatest warriors and face the likes of Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Hannibal, Hernan Cortes, Shaka Zulu, Sun Tzu, Vlad the Impaler and William Wallace. With enhanced graphics and nine arenas, new fighting options like grapples, pushes, ring outs, feints, projectile targeting, and new final strikes will expand your tactical options. Also included is a new strategy game called Generals! Players take control of the Battlefield Simulator from the TV show and play one of the nine legendary warrior campaigns and unlock abilities that the actual warriors used to get an edge in battle.

PlayStation Network

NHL 12 (Full PS3 Game) — Experience a fresh new look and feel with all new gameplay presentation, and, for the first time ever, the chance to lace up outdoors under the lights in one of the biggest hockey events of the season, the NHL Winter Classic at Pittsburgh’s Heinz field. This year will be the first to see dynamic goalies in the game; players can knock the net off and make contact with goalies, knocking them down or out of position, as they crash the crease. Watch as goalies fight through screens to make awe-inspiring saves and leave the crease to trade punches with hated rivals during fights.

StarDrone Extreme (PS Vita) — StarDrone is a perfect blend of high-speed physics and pinball action, with strategic elements of break-out and object collection. But this is no walk amongst the stars, as the Drone is always in motion in the zero gravity environment, and the more stellar matter collected, the faster it travels until it is careening across the screen at light speed. Gather enough momentum and enter into Comet Rush where the Drone is impervious to all enemies and obstacles.

Dead Rising 2: Off The Record (Full PS3 Game) — Dead Rising 2: Off The Record sees Wilamette survivor and photojournalist Frank West take centre stage as players experience a very different interpretation of events in this, a reimagining of the Fortune City outbreak.

This alternate storyline means an-all new Dead Rising 2 experience; with Frank facing new missions, new enemies, new combo-weapons with which to defeat them plus a brand new Fortune City attraction to explore. Complimenting the new narrative and action of Dead Rising 2: Off The Record are enhancements to elements such as the save system and the co-op experience to deliver more satisfying gameplay.

The House of the Dead 4 — Slap in a clip and prepare for an onslaught of terror in The House of the Dead 4! Set three years after the second game, the fourth game in the shoot-em-up series featuring House of the Dead 2’s protagonist James Taylor as well as new hero Kate Green, working together to battle untold horrors from beyond. In addition to the run-and-gun-down-creatures gameplay players had come to know and love, the game fully supports PlayStation Move.

PS Vita Demos

• Stardrone Extreme

[Editor’s Note: The following dates are subject to change. Game details are gathered from Press Releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]