The LoadDown - 03/21/2011

The month of March, er, marches on, and there are more new games to consider, though we seem to be entering the quieter spring and summer window...

WiiWare -- The recent trend continues with one new game and one free demo.  The new title is not entirely original -- Arcade Essentials is a collection of five classic arcade-inspired games, borrowing concepts from Space Invaders, Qix and other vintage coin-ops.  There's also a demo version of the underwater action-adventure Dive: The Medes Island Secret.

Wii Virtual Console -- One unusual new title arrives -- Natsume Championship Wrestling for the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System, supporting up to four players with twelve colorful (though unlicensed) wrestlers to choose from.

DSiWare -- Just two new titles this week, perhaps because the new Nintendo 3DS debuts this coming Sunday March 27 in North America and DSiWare may be taking a bit of an interest hit.  G.G Series D-TANK is a simple tank game with defense and attack missions.  Shapo is a matching puzzle game, with a novel weight-based scale-balancing element.

XBox Live Arcade -- One I missed and one new one.  I overlooked the late arrival of Battle: Los Angeles back on March 11th, a first-person shooter based on the recent movie, which accounts for the odd timing.  There's also Full House Poker, built on the technology developed for Microsoft's 1 vs. 100; I'd rather have the trivia game show back on the air, to be honest, but this seems like a worthy attempt at a followup.

PS3 on PSN -- Two new games this week.  Konami's spiritual Contra sequel, Hard Corps: Uprising, arrives on the PS3 after debuting on XBLA a few weeks earlier, none the worse for wear.  Slam Bolt Scrappers is an interesting attempt to meld the fighting, puzzle and strategy genres.

PSOne Classics --  All's quiet on the Western front here.