Don’t say we didn’t warn you. After last week’s mini release resurgence, which perhaps topped out with Starbreeze Studios’ incredibly atmospheric pseudo RPG-edged, first-person shooter The Darkness (PS3, Xbox 360), this week sees a typical trough arriving hot on the heels of a modest peak. And so, it’s off back to the summer doldrums we go following a tantalisingly brief glimpse of what the gaming scene really should look like.

Oh well, for those of you in North America who care to peruse the scant listings offered up before them this week – which, we must point out, also contains a few repeat offenders when it comes to ‘weekly slippage’ – you can look forward to a predominantly Nintendo-led seven days. Not that it’s a particularly sparkly seven days by Nintendo’s usually high standards.

Moreover, if you’re in the US and armed with a Wii, you can take a pot shot at Chicken Shoot or Dragon Spirit on the Virtual Console (contain your excitement). Or, if you’re stateside and a DS-lover then there’s Turn It Around and Platinum Sudoku to sate your insatiable appetite (or not, as the case may be). Beyond that, highlights include Vampire Rain on the Xbox 360 (guilty of slippage last week), and also Ninja Gaiden Sigma for the PlayStation 3.

If you thought those pickings were invariably slim, then shed a salty tear for your gaming brethren in Europeland who are hit with a positively emaciated selection of releases this week. Indeed, the poor schmucks in Europe get King of Fighters XI and King of Fighters: Maximum Impact 2 (both PS2) and Touchmaster on the Nintendo DS… and that’s about it.

These are sad, sad times. The end of the summer season cannot come quick enough.

North American new releases:

Monday July 02

Chicken Shoot (Nintendo Wii)

Dragon Spirit (Nintendo Wii)

Jewels of Cleopatra (PC)

Turn It Around (Nintendo DS)

Tuesday July 03

Dead Reefs (PC)

Marvel Trading Card Game (PC)

Ninja Gaiden Sigma (PlayStation 3)

Platinum Sudoku (Nintendo DS)

Steel Horizon (PSP)

Vampire Rain (Xbox 360)

Vegas Casino High 5! (Nintendo DS)

Thursday July 05

Chicken Shoot (Nintendo DS)

Ride! Carnival Tycoon (PC)

Seven Kingdoms: Conquest (PC)

Taito Legends 2 (PC)

Friday July 06

Terror Strike (PC)

European new releases:

Friday July 06

King of Fighters XI (PS2)

King of Fighters: Maximum Impact 2 (PS2)

Metal Slug Anthology (PS2)

Touchmaster (Nintendo DS)