Menu
News

Agent Clank doesn't care if his martini is shaken or stirred either

The next eight days in handheld games

Agent Clank doesn't care if his martini is shaken or stirred either
|
DS + PSP

After the excitement of last week, it's time to catch breath and settle down to more a regular service when it comes to DS and PSP releases.

Things are looking good for PSP though, with Sony's robot sidekick getting the opportunity to branch out on his own in a 007-stylee in Secret Agent Clank. And that's not all - with the obscure attractions of Namco's demon-possessed beat-'em up series Naruto also gracing the portable widescreen.

On DS, for some reason, Take 2 has managed to bring forward the release of its usually impressive tennis sim Top Spin 3 by a couple of weeks early but still managed to miss the obvious Wimbledon tie-in opportunities. Oh well. It only had losing world number ones Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, plus Andy Murray, on the cover anyhow.

But if none of those interest you, next week's offerings - while sparse - are certainly more significant for the likes of Nintendo and Sony, not least when it comes to selling hardware.

Most obvious is Sony's £100 Go!Explore bundle, which adds a GPS antenna to the top of your PSP and links its location-finding abilities into the mapping software contained in the available UMDs that cover various European countries. In-car kits will also be available, although this seems unlikely to compete with current in-car GPS market leaders like TomTom and Garmin.

Much more silly will be the DS' Guitar Hero: On Tour. Again, something of a compromise to meet the demands of handheld technology compared to the original - in this case the Guitar Hero console guitar peripheral - nevertheless, the DS-friendly plug-in fret board has been a huge success in the US, selling 300,000 copies on its week of release.

Europe - you have been warned, but please don't act in the manner of Activision's marketing video - the bastard love-child of Jet's 'Are you going to be my Girl?' meets 'I'd like to teach the world to sing' meets 'I'd like to teach some models to act'.

Europe: Out July 11th
Doodle Hex (DS)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2 (PSP)
Secret Agent Clank (PSP) (Read our review.)
Top Spin 3 (DS)

Europe: Out July 18th
Animal Genius (DS)
Guitar Hero: On Tour (DS)
International Athletics (DS/PSP)
Go!Explore (PSP)

US: Out up to July 25th
Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity (PSP)
Final Fantasy IV (DS)
Izuna 2:the Unemployed Ninja Returns (DS)
Mister Slime (DS)
Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (DS)
Nancy Drew: Clue Bender Society (DS)
NCAA Football 2009 (PSP)
New International Track & Field (DS)
Space Chimps (DS)
Suzuki Superbikes (DS)

Click on any of the above European games to buy them. We alternate between linking to either Play.com or GAME, depending on which offers the cheapest deal.
Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.