The LoadDown - 11/10/2011

The big Thanksgiving release season is upon us, but even as new retail titles hit the shelves, new downloadables continue to arrive.  This week's releases...


WiiWare -- One new title this week, and it's not really a game: Step Up! is a step-aerobics training program with serious intent behind it.  It works with or without the Wii Balance Board, and oddly substitutes its own avatar system for the traditional Miis.


Wii Virtual Console -- Going three times... nearly gone, though of course I will reinstate it should anything actually start happening on this platform again.

DSiWare -- Two new games this week.  Castle Conqueror - Heroes is a sequel to October's Castle Conqueror - Revolution, set in the same universe with more focus on strategy/simulation and less on the RPG aspects.  Bloons TD is a cute tower defense game in which dart-blowing monkeys must try to pop all the balloons before they escape.  (And I pause here to note that "tower defense" is now being abbreviated in titles as TD, so it must now be an official game type.  So unusual to witness the birth of a new videogame genre in this decade!)


3DS eShop -- The 3DS gets the DSiWare titles above, of course, plus something called Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive!  This is a creativity tool/game that allows players to create 2-D animated characters and environments, and uses simple physics and motivational AI to bring them to life.  It also has save/trade features using the Streetpass system.  Neat little idea.


XBox Live Arcade -- Just one new game this week, as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 rolls over everything in its path.  XBLA gamers can pick up Fusion: Genesis, a sci-fi starship-based MMO of sorts, with solo and online co-op and competitive quests.


PS3 on PSN -- Oddly, there's nothing here this week, but again it's CoD:MW3 week.  I will note that there are now PS2 Classics showing up for download on the PS3; I haven't been tracking these or the XBox Originals available for download on the 360 platform, but perhaps I should be.


PSOne Classics -- Sigh.  Again I have missed some recent activity.  This week brings Square-Enix's Chrono Cross to the platform, PSX sequel to the classic SNES RPG Chrono Trigger.  And the past few weeks saw fishing game Monster Bass!, Data East's Arcade Hits: Magical Drop, and shoot-'em-up construction kit (all in Japanese!) Dezaemon Kids! turn up.