This week in new game releases is a bit better than the past few with X-Men Origins: Wolverine hitting all consoles and the WWII stealth action of Velvet Assassin for the 360 and PC. Oh, and as reported earlier, Stalin vs. Martians was delayed from last week and pushed to this week, so watch out for that as well.

Pick of the Week: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Xbox 360:

• Velvet Assassin
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine

PS3:

• X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Wii:

• Fantasy Aquarium World
• My Horse and Me: Riding for Gold
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine

PS2:

• Backyard Baseball 2010
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine

DS:

• Elite Forces: Unit 77
• Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine

PSP:

• Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine

PC:

• Stalin vs Martians
• Velvet Assassin
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine

As any FPS fan can tell you, the game market these days is oversaturated with World War II games. With Call Of Duty: World at War on the horizon, it seems like it’s a trend that shows no sign of stopping any time soon.

However, there’s one WWII-themed game coming out that will bring you a different perspective on this tired-out subject: Velvet Assassin. Instead of being a soldier on the front lines, you play through the game as a female spy. Focused mainly on stealth, you might find this game breathes some new life into a war that has practically been beaten to death.

You’ve probably heard whisperings of this game from the viral marketing scheme, where participants have had to use their secret agent skills to follow a trail that eventually led them to real bars of gold. For those who haven’t heard anything about Velvet Assasin, it is based (loosely) on the true story of a woman named Violette Szabo who joined the British Special Operations Executive after the her husband died in the war. In real life, Violette was captured, tortured and killed by the Germans in the mid-1940s.

In Velvet Assassin you play as Violette Summer, who is not quite dead (it might be hard to play the game if she was). She’s laying on her deathbed in a hospital, and in the game you are actually playing through her life in memories. This allows for some interesting game mechanics to be added in, such as “morphine mode.” When you find a bit of morphine in the game, there are two parallel things that happen: In real life, it means that Violet is getting feverish and the nurses are giving her morphine to calm her down. In the memory you’re playing, the morphine alters the way you remember things happening; the movement of your enemies is slowed down, and the screen gets a bit foggy with some ghostly red blood cells floating around. This is pretty useful if you find yourself in a pinch.

The sneaky part is what makes this game fun. During the build playthrough at PAX, the woman controlling Violet showed us how you could sneak right up to the enemy and pull the pin out of his grenade without him noticing. There’s something about watching a guy wander away from you, knowing that he will soon explode for no reason he can name, that makes you want to giggle with childish glee. Sneaking around levels is fun and fairly simple. When you’re invisible to the enemy Violet will glow a bit purple, so there’s not a huge danger of accidentally getting caught. To me, it seemed like a slightly more fast-paced version of Metal Gear Solid.

A few of the levels were revealed in more detail today. One of them, entitled “The Lost,” I actually got the chance to see for myself. You start outside, and you have to sneak your way into the enemy bunker, being careful not to step on leaves or twigs that would give away your position. Sneaking around in an enclosed area is not so easy, so you’ll find yourself taking out the lights in some area to provide you with cover. There’s just this really authentic, tense mood as you creep through the dark halls of the bunker.

The second level that has been revealed is called “The Third Man,” and it is actually broken up into three different areas. You start out by making your way through the sewers, and end up in the middle of the Warsaw Ghetto. Even though the buildings around you offer cover, being in broad daylight will certainly put you at a disadvantage. As you wander the streets, you can hear the shots of SS officers as they search the buildings for hidden civilians. Though the press release isn’t specific, it can be safely assumed that the third area mentioned is inside one or more of the buildings. Either that or the area is crucial to the plot and they don’t want to ruin anything.

The more I see of this game, the more excited I get for it. I think the only thing that worried me about the build I saw was (and I know this sounds kind of odd) the size of Violette’s ass when she’s moving in a crouch. It was actually kind of distracting me from the game after a certain point. However I figure if that is the only thing that I’ve found wrong with the game so far, it’s a good sign.

For more information on the game, check out the official site. You can check out the trailer, screen shots, and a diary of Violette’s which provides a more detailed background story. The game should be hitting shelves for 360 and PC in March 2009.

Today, publisher SouthPeak Games announced that it has acquired Austin-based Gamecock Media Group. SouthPeak, the company behind Two Worlds and Dream Pinball 3D, certainly seems to be adding some good games to its repertoire with the addition of Gamecock’s Velvet Assassin and Legendary.

From the press release:

Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak, stated, “Gamecock brings us a solid slate of upcoming titles, including Legendary, Mushroom Men and Velvet Assassin and supports our strategy of working with independent developers. We are excited to give the Gamecock titles a bigger platform to succeed.”

“We are thrilled to be joining forces with SouthPeak to continue to bring great original titles from independent developers to market with a stronger sales and distribution reach,” said Mike Wilson, CEO of Gamecock. “We have followed each other’s progress closely over the last two years, and combining our team with theirs results in a very strong and well-rounded force in the market.”

SouthPeak Games, already one of the fastest growing videogame publishers, should be on the rise even more after the Gamecock acquisition, and the publisher said it expects to ship both Legendary and Mushroom Men in the current quarter.

We managed to nab a video of the newest Velvet Assassin trailer that was show at the Leipzig Games Convention today. Of course, when I say “we managed to nab” I mean that Gamecock provided it for us. Looks to me like “The Chronicles of Splinter Gear British Girl”. Could be interesting…

The game previously known as Sabotage, Velvet Assassin, has finally been given a release date of Fall 2008 for its outing on the Xbox 360 and PC platforms.
Developed by Replay Studios and published by Gamecock Media Group, Velvet Assassin puts the player in the shoes of Violette Summer, a woman going behind enemy lines in Nazi occupied Europe to help the fight against the Third Reich.

The story within the game is based around the real life experiences of Violette Szabo, an Allied secret agent who worked for the British Secret Service during World War II, eventually being captured and executed in 1944.

With missions based on real events from the time, the game isn’t going to take it easy on you. One mission shown to press at EIEIO in March had the player deliver cyanide capsules to captured British agents to allow them to kill themselves.

The press release touts “a ground-breaking stealth combat system and one of the most unique perspectives ever brought to gaming”, so Velvet Assassin is setting up high expectations for its release later this year.

Source: Replay Studios

We just received word that Publisher Gamecock and Hamburg Germany Developer Replay Studios have changed the name of the stealth-action game we first experienced at last years EiEiO Conference in Los Angeles CA titled “Sabotage” to “Velvet Assassin”.

“Rather than a trite, overused, and generic working title like ‘Sabotage,’ ‘Velvet Assassin’ captures the heart of what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Sascha Jungnickel, Creative Director at Replay Studios.

Being that the main character is an attractive dark haired woman by the name of Violette Szabo who boasts a mean killing streak, the new title resonates well with us. Full press release after the jump.

THE “VELVET ASSASSIN” STRIKES DOWN SABOTAGE

REPLAY STUDIOS ANNOUNCES NEW NAME FOR THEIR WORLD WAR II STEALTH ACTION TITLE

Cockpit, Austin, TX – February 29, 2008 – Today developer Replay Studios, along with publisher Gamecock Media Group, have announced the official name change for ’Velvet Assassin’, their upcoming stealth-action title formerly known as ‘Sabotage’. The new title creates a perfect marriage between the story of real life hero Violette Szabo and the clandestine art of sabotage she championed. From the incredibly innovative art style, storyline, and combat gameplay, Velvet Assassin is poised to revolutionize the stealth-action genre later this year.

“Rather than a trite, overused, and generic working title like ‘Sabotage,’ ‘Velvet Assassin’ captures the heart of what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Sascha Jungnickel, Creative Director at Replay Studios. “From the start we’ve wanted a game with a strong female lead that stays true to the history of Violette Szabo while pulling players into a world of dark intrigue.”

Inspired by the true story of British Agent Violette Szabo, players will take on the role of Violette Summer. Behind enemy lines in Nazi occupied Europe, Violette risks her life fighting to fell the Third Reich with anything she can get her hands on, including enemy soldiers. With no support or official backing from the British Government, Violette puts everything on the line to defeat the German war machine – one mission at a time. Velvet Assassin combines lush, surreal visuals, a ground-breaking stealth combat system and one of the most unique perspectives ever brought to gaming. Velvet Assassin is planned to release in Fall 2008 on PC and next-generation consoles.

“Most of the time a name change happens because it’s not ‘catchy’ enough or because the marketing team didn’t like it,” said Tim Hesse, Executive Producer at Gamecock Media Group. “I have to say, the Replay crew have outdone themselves by making Violette into one of the best looking stealth-killers ever. This game has come so far since last year that Sabotage just didn’t do the game justice – ‘Velvet Assassin’ sums up every aspect that makes this game great.”