Jeers of War 3

We’ve brought this week’s new release round up forward a couple of days as this week’s biggest release – Gears of War 3 – is being released today. A Tuesday, of all days.

Reviews hit the ‘net late last week. The Official US Xbox magazine gave it a perfect score of 10/10 while the Official UK Xbox magazine awarded it 9/10. Away from the dubious official publications, IGN went with 9.1 while GameInformer a 9.5. Eurogamer and Destructoid weren’t quite as impressed, each giving it an 8. It’s these two reviews in particular that ruffled Cliff Bleszinski’s feathers calling Eurogamer “haters”. If you’re the design director of a company and expecting your game to get 9s and 10s then you’re not really leaving yourself open to any constructive criticism, are you?

EA MMA didn’t do too well when it was released last year, despite being a lot more accessible than UFC: Undisputed, so it’ll be interesting to see how 505 Games’ Supremacy MMA does. A version for the PSVita is due out at some point too. It’ll probably be a launch game unless they’re making it from scratch for the handheld.

Similarly, F1 2011 hits PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC this week with a PSVita version due later. A 3DS version is also in the works, unless it has been silently canned. The Metacritic stands at 86, with most reviewers claiming Codemasters have addressed a lot of problems from the previous F1 and have given the multi-player mode some much needed attention. GamesRadar gave it 90.

And what do Wii owners have to look forward to? We Wish You a Merry Christmas. “The Perfect Stocking Stuffer!” reads the blurb, but who exactly has their stockings out in September?

Next week: FIFA 12 (PS3, PS2, 360, Wii, PC, PSP, 3DS), Child of Eden (PS3), Ico & Shadow of the Colossus (PS3), X-Men Destiny (PS3, 360, Wii, DS), Cooking Mama World: Outdoor Adventures (DS), Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (DS), Anglers Club Ultimate Bass Fishing (3DS), Atelier Totori: The Alchemist of Arland 2 (PS3), Ben 10 Triple Pack (DS) and the apparently very good Aliens: Infestation (DS).