Summer Drought: Downloadable edition

I've already gone over the physical disc-based games that are coming out this summer, and even though they are few in number, they look high in quality.  Downloadable fans rejoice! There are many games that will be clamoring for your harddrive space releasing this summer as well. XBLA, PSN and Wii-ware games have a special place in my gaming system.  Small games that deliver a large experience while costing a meager sum.  Simply put, I love them.  Here are some highlights of this summer's byte-size goodies:

April 13th:  Fez (XBLA)

A bizzare and captivating 2D/3D hybrid game, it has the old school look and feel of a platformer, mixed with dimension bending powers of a puzzler to give you... well, probably a headache until you get used to it. Check out the trailer for an idea of how this works, as its really hard to describe on paper without sounding like a crazy person...

April 17th: House of the Dead 4 (PSN)
Have Playstation Move and dissapointed with the games out?  Well, you've got one light-shooter gem coming your way.  Yes, its a remake of the old arcade game, but for a rather sparse line up for Move, anyone with the add on for Playstation should have this one on their list.





April 18th: Trials Evolution (XBLA)
The first game was an amazing physics-based biking game that was met with rave critical reviews.  Released in 2009, its been a while since my tires got some mud on 'em, and with multiplayer tracks to actually race one another (finally), this game will get my motor revvin' for sure!

April 25th: Bloodforge (XBLA)
Have a bad day?  Want to eviscerate some poor saps who get in your way?  Click on Bloodforge to start it up and feel the blood-rage leave your body by stabbing, slicing, dicing, and decapitating your way through a handful of levels built to test your action button combos.  The real star of this game is the cinematic camera angles that give you some sweet views of the blood shed.  Very cool.  Almost too cool looking to believe its a downloadable game!




May 1st: Awesomenauts (PSN, XBLA)

An arena brawler that will take you back to arcade days, this game features 6 different characters, all with special abilities, that will rip and shred their way through waves and waves of enemies.  All the characters are ridiculous, and the animation looks right at home for a downloadable title.  Reminds me much of a certain Castle Crashers game, and I know I had too much fun with that game for it to be even legal.  This one is for sure on my watch list, and my couch can't wait for my friends and I to sit on it again.


May 9th: Minecraft (XBLA)
I haven't dug into the craze that is Minecraft yet, but if you are on a computer that can do simple processing, you probably have run into a minecraft phase or two.  If not, well you're in luck, as it's coming to Xbox360!  Featuring all the same addictive elements that the PC one has, you now can share your creations with all of your Xbox Live friends, and even participate in some co-op online or split screen!  That way, you can introduce your friends to this blockbuster and be there every step of the way to help them figure out what they are doing.

May 15th: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Ep 2 (PSN, XBLA)
Sonic fans! Are you here?! Anywhere...?  Oh here we are.  Episode 2 for the fourth iteration of the series is finally releasing!  Yes, I know, you hardcore fans had some issues with some things about episode 1, but you guys are very hard to please! Its been more than two years in development, so hopefully they took care of those issues!  Guess we'll find out 5/15...

July: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD (PSN, XBLA)
Well, Tony Hawk must've heard some cries of pain from all of his Ride-based games.  He's realizing the success that he had in video games came primarily from the amazingness that THPS 1 and 2 brought to the table, and therefore he's re-releasing them in HD for this summer.  A mixture of levels taken from the first two games, as well as their soundtracks (!!!), but rebuilt from the ground up in modern engines, it looks promising that what wasn't broken, wont be "fixed".

Summer: Foosball 2012 (PSN)
Yup.  This is not a joke.  This is getting released.  Supports Move too.
Really all I have to say about...
Ugh...
A videogame involving a literal foosball table...

Wanna hear more news about all of these great games (and one head scratcher)?  Subscribe to us, Like us on facebook, and please do leave us some comments!  We'd love to hear from you!