The big release this week is Hellgate: Borderlands, a shooter RPG in which you can choose among hundreds of guns with stats that vary by as much as several points. Also out this week is Banana Republic strategy game Tropico 3, created by no one who had anything to do with either of the previous Tropico games.

There's something called WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010. I don't know either of those characters or why they would fight each other, but I'm putting my money on Smackdown. Also out and beyond my ken is a FIFA game. I'm told "FIFA" is the Esperanto word for "soccer". Let's see, a bunch of last-gen Astro Boy tie-ins for the movie. The PSP port of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, which will be missing the DS version's distinctive touch-screen and double-screen charm.

For the most part, it looks like a good week to keep your money. There are, however, a few promising inexpensive prospects. An arena sport/combat game called Metal Drift, available on Steam, looks like a latter day Ball Blazers. Space Invaders Extreme 2 is the Nintendo DS sequel to Square/Enix's excellent reboot of the classic arcade shooter. And finally, you probably won't want to miss Lost Winds: Winter of the Melodias, the sequel to Frontier's lovely platformer that made great use of the Wiimote as a sort of wind wand. It will be available as Wii Ware for $10.