Hey there folks, Monki here with a new weekly article for our up-and-coming games section on the site.

Today we launch our "Games of the Week" article that will give everyone a heads up as to what is going to be hitting store shelves this week.

We had a bit of technical trouble this week, so most of these releases are probably on the shelf already, but expect this column to be hitting on either Monday or Tuesday of each week, giving you plenty of time to head out to Best Buy and pick up these new titles.

Helming this new section is an old friend of mine who loves Liza Minelli almost as much as he loves Sonic the Hedgehog. So, without further ado, here is Dan with our first ever Games of the Week.

Game Releases for the Week of June 18th

Hi everyone! This column is supposed to be a quick-and-dirty list of what's new in game releases this week, so to that end I'll make the introductions fast and painless.

My name is Dan and I will be the guy compiling the game lists. I've been around on the internets for awhile; a select few of you may remember me from a popular website dedicated to the 3rd Jurassic Park movie, Dan's JP3 Page.

I had a JP2 and Wing Commander website way-back-when too, but why obsess over the past? Let's move on.

First I'll give you the game releases, and under that I'll pick a game of the week and game I'm playing.

This Week's Releases:

It's been a pretty slow month for game releases, and this week is no exception.

Though we've got a NFL game, another motorcycle game, and a Tomb Raider for PSP, so it's not all bad news.

It's another down week for the 360 as well, with not one release in sight. Maybe the powers that be figure everyone is busy playing their DS Lites? You did remember to pick one of those up, right?

Here's the full list:

DS

6/20/2006 Break Em All - See game of the week below
6/23/2006 Sudoku-Mania - Am I the only one who was tired with Sudoku around the second time I solved one of those dumb puzzles in the newspaper? Apparently people are buying these games, so they keep coming. This one features "endless gameplay".

GC

None

PSP

6/20/2006 Tomb Raider Legend - PSP port of last month's multi-console Tomb Raider title, this one was pretty highly acclaimed, at least compared to previous TR games. Except for some downgraded textures from the PS2 version, this the same version as on the consoles, and even contains some new bonuses and game modes.

6/20/2006 Legend of Heroes 2: Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch - Turn-based RPG developed by Nihon Falcom, maker of the popular Ys series of RPGs. This game features the "return of the pet system", certain to have RPG fanatics drumming their fingers in anticipation.

Xbox 360

None

Xbox

6/20/2006 NFL Head Coach
6/22/2006 IHRA Sportsman Edition - Budget drag racing title. I'm sure if you're a fan you'll know whether you want to pick this one up, but it features real IHRA locations and rules, so it can't be that bad, am I right people?
6/22/2006 AMF Extreme Bowling 2006 - Another budget title, this one a bowling sim. Somewhere in a Wal-Mart, an employee is clearing space on a shelf for this one.

PC

6/19/2006 NFL Head Coach - EA is dropping this one for Xbox, PC, and PS2 this week, a brand new football franchise from Tiburon, the people who make Madden. Word on the street is its Madden on steroids (um, no pun intended), with a far more in-depth managerial aspect. Also notable is the tie-in with EA's fantasy football web portal, Fantasy Football Commissioner.

6/19/2006 Cossacks II: Battle for Europe - Budget expansion pack for the mediocre RTS "Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars".

PS2

6/20/2006 NFL Head Coach

6/20/2006 MotoGP4 (Online) - Not to be outdone by last week's Xbox 360 motorcycle release, Moto GP 2006, Namco is releasing their own Moto game, the latest in their MotoGP franchise. This is a port of the Japanese version, which adds PS2 online play as an exclusive feature for the US release.

6/20/2006 NFL Head Coach
6/22/2006 IHRA Sportsman Edition - Budget drag racing title. I'm sure if you're a fan you'll know whether you want to pick this one up, but it features real IHRA locations and rules, so it can't be that bad, am I right people?

6/22/2006 AMF Extreme Bowling 2006 - Another budget title, this one a bowling sim. Somewhere in a Wal-Mart, an employee is clearing space on a shelf for this one.

Game of the Week:

Break Em All, Nintendo DS, 6/20

Each week I'll pick a game that I think will be the one to watch, the one I want to play, or the one I've played and think is badass (that is, if there is one). This week I must admit I haven't played Break Em All, the new breakout clone for the Nintendo DS, but the premise just sounds so simple and addicting: this is just breakout for the DS, the age-old game of Pong turned on its side and with bricks substituted for the other player. The object, obviously, is to use the ball to destroy the bricks before advancing to the next stage to do it all again. Of course, this is a game that's been done hundreds of times before, but the main difference here is Break Em All utilizes the DS' touch screen, perhaps the perfect control scheme for this type of game. The developer is also spicing thing up a bit with various game modes and new powerups that will hopefully improve on the ones established by Arkanoid in 1986. As you'll soon learn reading this column, if there's a type of game I love it's reincarnated classics, and this one is certainly my cup of tea.

Game I'm Playing:

New Super Mario Bros, Nintendo DS, 5/15

What can I say? I loves my DS. New Super Mario Bros, if you haven't played it yet, is exactly what a SMB game should be. It's essentially just more of the same great jumping and running platform action that we've all grown up with. There's very little gameplay variation other than the "Super Big Mario" gimmick, but that's exactly why it works so well. It's basically just more levels to run around in, and for that I'm appreciative. I'm almost 100% done with it though, having collected almost every big coin and opened every locked door, so the only thing I'd like now is the release date of *New* New Super Mario Bros, please!