In this episode: Diablo III, The Unfinished Swan, The Elder Scrolls Online, Company of Heroes 2, Black Ops II, MacGuffin’s Curse and much more!

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Presented in glorious alphabetical order, New Media: Retail Roundup is your indispensible checklist of the home console and handheld titles arriving in stores this week. What will you be playing?

MICROSOFT Xbox 360 Dirt: Showdown * Dragon’s Dogma * Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

NINTENDO Wii Nothing 3DS Mario Tennis Open * Purr Pals Purrfection

SONY PS3 Dirt: Showdown * Dragon’s Dogma * Sorcery * Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier PSV Nothing

VARIOUS PC Dirt: Showdown * Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City * Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Gods & Kings

New Media: Downloadable Digest is your handy reminder of the downloadable titles released during the past week.

MICROSOFT XBLA Dragon’s Lair * Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II Games on Demand The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim * Let’s Cheer * Need For Speed: The Run * Saint’s Row the Third

NINTENDO WiiWare Nothing Wii VC Nothing 3DS eShop Bird Mania 3D 3DS VC Kirby’s Dream Land 2 (GB)

SONY PSN PixelJunk 4am * Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II Full PS3 Games Saint’s Row the Third PS1 Classics Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty PS2 Classics Deus Ex PSV Titles Nothing Minis Nom Nation * Velocity

VALVE Steam Alien Shooter 2: Conscription * Dead Hungry Diner * Gratuitous Tank Battles * Moon Breakers * Nancy Drew: Tomb of the Lost Queen * Offspring Fling * Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City * Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II

Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for the stories published on the site this week.

MONDAY REVIEW Journey > Over the past few weeks, I have slowly been getting acquainted with the semi-closed beta for Path of Exile, the debut action RPG from New Zealand based developer Grinding Gear Games. I say semi-closed, because Grinding Gear has taken a rather strange approach for what is a free to play game by selling beta keys to the general public. READ MORE

TUESDAY REVIEW Fez > When I first received Fez, I have to say I wasn’t excited, mainly because 2D puzzle platformers have never quite hit the mark for me. Braid, Cave Story and Limbo didn’t excite me the way I wanted them to. Something seemed off and while others were praising their originality I simply found them annoying. So it was with some trepidation that I began my journey into the world of Fez. Was I going to once again fail to see what the fuss was about or was this the game to convince me that there is a lot of fun to be had with this format? READ MORE

WEDNESDAY NEWS Stealthjam > A new collaborative game event is in the works for budding developers of a devious disposition. It may sound like a surprise follow up to Michael Jordan’s Space Jam, but Stealthjam will actually see participants come together to “design, prototype and explore new avenues of stealth gameplay.” READ MORE

THURSDAY INTERVIEW Frank Simon on Resistance: Burning Skies > The PlayStation Vita has arrived, and with it, the full potential of dual analogue sticks. As the first game to take advantage of the new control scheme, Resistance: Burning Skies is something of a trailblazer. We’re fortunate enough to have the chance to speak with Frank Simon, Senior Managing Producer with Sony America and all round alien enthusiast. We discuss not only the game’s “uncompromised” controls but also the human drama at the centre of Sony’s ongoing invasion saga. READ MORE

FRIDAY NEWS nanoBITES 80 > Blizzard has apologised for the rocky launch of Diablo III. Server congestion has prevented countless players from accessing the game and thanks to ‘always on’ DRM, many frustrated fans can’t even start a single player game. This is just one of the stories in the latest edition of nanoBITES, our ongoing feature devoted to small but important news items. READ MORE

NanoBITES captures those small but important morsels of gaming information that otherwise might slip between the cracks.

ITEM! The team responsible for fantasy RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is in trouble. According to WPRI (via Joystiq), 38 Studios has defaulted on a $1.125m loan repayment and is also failing to meet its commitments to its employees.

ITEM! Blizzard has apologised for the rocky launch of Diablo III. Server congestion has prevented countless players from accessing the game and thanks to ‘always on’ DRM, many frustrated fans can’t even start a single player game.

ITEM! The future of Tomonobu Itagaki’s over the top action game Devil’s Third is in doubt. As reported by Gamasutra, the project has been stymied by cost overruns and struggling publisher THQ is now looking to pass the game onto another company.

ITEM! Lara Croft has been keeping a relatively low profile of late and unfortunately for her fans, this looks set to continue. Crystal Dynamics has confirmed that its Tomb Raider reboot has been bumped to the first quarter of 2013.

ITEM! The battle for control of DOTA has ended in an out of court settlement. Valve retains its trademark and publishes DOTA 2, Blizzard DOTA becomes Blizzard All-Stars and Blizzard communities continue to use the term for non-commercial pursuits.