This week marks the "unofficial" start of the fall game season. I know it's not fall yet, but in the biz, Madden usually marks the start of the rush to the holiday season. So, get your wallets out and make it rain on this industry!

Playstation 3	Xbox 360	Nintendo Wii
•Madden NFL 09 (Also released in a 20th anniversary edition, detailed after the list.)	•Madden NFL 09 (Also released in a 20th anniversary edition, detailed after the list.)	•Madden NFL 09
PSP	Nintendo DS	Playstation 2
•Madden NFL 09 (Also available this week: the Madden NFL 09 PSP Entertainment Pack, which includes a limited edition metallic blue PSP system, the Madden NFL 09 game, NFL: In Just One Play on UMD Video, and a coupon to download the game Beats from the Playstation Store on your PC. Retail price is $199.99)	•Bangai-O Spirits •The Cheetah Girls: Passport to Stardom •Imagine: Teacher •Madden NFL 09	•Madden NFL 09

As you can tell, the big game this week is of course Madden NFL 09 for all systems (including the ORIGINAL Xbox!). The 20th anniversary installment in EA's long-running franchise promises to be something truly special, boasting upwards of 85 new features and enhancements.  Among the new features include adaptive difficulty (which tests your and tailors the game to your abilities), online leagues, EA Sports Rewind (kind of a mulligan like feature if you screw up a play badly and want to learn from your mistakes), Backtrack (which acts in cooperation with Rewind and breaks down your last plays and tells you what you could have done better), new animations and models, new commentators (and no Madden!), more characters on the sidelines, user controlled celebrations and taunts, and so much more. Who says EA doesn't improve Madden each year? Because they're WRONG. Anyways, for you PS3 and 360 buyers, you also have the choice of buying the 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition for $89.99. This edition of the game includes Madden 09, NFL Head Coach 09 (also coming out separately from this edition next month), a fully playable version of Madden 93, Retro Playbooks, Retro Madden player models, and exclusive video content.  Wii owners get a special version of the game dubbed "All-Play", an EA Sports initiative that aims to make their games easier to learn for players of all types. Features of the Wii version include an arcadey 5 on 5 mode, use of the Wii remote to deliver tackles, single button play calling, and more. Regardless of which version you get, Madden 09 looks to be an awesome update of the long-running series. Also, PS3 owners, the game actually runs as good as the 360 edition this year.

Perhaps football isn't your thing and you would rather play a more traditional game. Well, this week has plenty to offer you. First up on the list is Bangai-O Spirits, the latest from fan-favorite developer, Treasure. As you may have guessed, Bangai-O Spirits is a sequel to the cult classic N64/Dreamcast shooter Bangai-O. If you haven't played the original, the game is a free-roaming, multidirectional 2D shooter. The DS version promises to retain the spirit of the original, including the insane number of bullets on screen at once. What's neat about Spirits is that the levels have been designed around co-op, so you can jump in with up to 3 other people and play the game together. However, the coolest feature about the game is that it includes a level editor which allows you to build your own levels and share them with your friends. However, since Treasure is a quirky developer, they had to go about sharing them in the most bizarre way possible. The created level is encoded as a modem-like sound that is played over your DS speakers and transferred to your friend’s system using the microphone. The sound can also be output over the DS headphone jack and recorded on your computer to share with the world in MP3 format or over YouTube. This feature will not only work with levels, but you can also send high scores and replay videos. Pointless? Sure, but at least you don't have to deal with friend codes. Awesome? Totally.

But there's more! This week also sees the release of the long-awaited Bionic Commando Rearmed on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Network, and PC (via Steam, Direct2Drive, and other digital distribution platforms). Rearmed is a remake of the NES classic which features the same great gameplay as the original, but with new 2.5D HD graphics, new areas, online leaderboards, and other features. The game does not have any Nazi references as seen in the original Japanese game, but the voice acting and script of the game does make fun of the fact that it's censored. People buying it on the PS3 will also be able to play the game on their PSP using the remote play feature, and can also look forward to trophy support in a future patch for the game. The game will cost $10 on both XBLA and PSN, while it's going to be $15 on PC.

Finally this week, the latest episodic series from one of my favorite developers, Telltale Games, begins. The series is Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People, based on the popular web toon Homestar Runner. The first episode of the five episode series, Homestar Ruiner, releases on Monday and is about Strong Bad's scheme to win the tri-annual Race to the End of the Race and his attempt to get Homestar out of the house. The game has full creative input from the creators of Homestar Runner, the Brothers Chaps, with original stories written for the game. The game will be released on both WiiWare and on PC via the Telltale Games website. The Wii version will cost 1000 Wii Points ($10) per episode with no option to buy the whole series, bringing the total to $50) for the entire series. The PC edition sells for $8.95 an episode, or you can pre-order the entire season for only $34.95! If you go the PC route, you can download all the episodes as they come out, and you'll be able to get a DVD of all the episodes at the end of the season for the cost of shipping. Not a bad deal at all.

Sorry for the long post, but there's a lot coming out that I wanted to highlight!

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