Best New Games This Week

Man, it's a good week to be a PS3 owner. Hitting this week -- as you probably are already well aware -- is the latest (and perhaps last) in Hideo Kojima's legendary Metal Gear series. It's also a pretty good week to not be a PS3 owner, because this week also sees the release of a classy, limited edition PS3 model with a gunmetal finish that's bundled with the game. If you don't happen to be into Metal Gear's brand of stealth action - what's wrong with you? - you're pretty much out of luck this week, unless you happen to be a fan of either Sherlock Holmes or NASCAR. Or both.

Top Three:

Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots

WATCH VIDEO TRAILER

Take the phone off the hook, kill the lights and get your best cardboard box ready: gravelly-voiced special ops master Snake is back, and he's bringing with him a plot more tangled and twisted than - well, than the last game. It's gathering the best set of reviews since Grand Theft Auto IV, it's bound to make more money than a moonshiner at an AA convention, and it's got better toys than Batman, James Bond and Inspector Gadget all rolled into one delicious whole. Turn on, tune in, and get thoroughly weirded out.

NASCAR 09

WATCH VIDEO TRAILER

The dour mug of Jeff Gordon graces the front of the latest release from EA Tiburon, and in a new career mode twist he's also your mentor as you rise through the ranks. NASCAR 09 also packs connectivity options that'll let you design car skins on your computer before uploading them to your console, and your friends'll see them in online races. Hey, it's got to beat fumbling through Forza's menus with a controller.

Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes

DOWNLOAD NOW

Fancy yourself as a detective? Take up the deerstalker hat, pipe and violin of the world's most famous sleuth, and tackle 16 unique cases of forgery, espionage and murder. Lost Cases is the first computer game to be officially licensed by Conan Doyle's estate, and is packed full of minigames that'll test your powers of observation, deduction, and being snide to London policemen. Dr. Watson, Mycroft, and Inspector Lestrade all put in appearances, as do 40 historically accurate London locations.

Best of the Rest

• Mystery PI - The Vegas Heist:
  Hidden-object gameplay heads for Sin City.
• Carrie the Caregiver 3:
  Just in time for Father's Day, it's a new Carrie the Caregiver game.
• Age of Atlantis:
  Do you have what it takes to find the lost city of Atlantis? This match-3 game will let you find out.