E3 09: Release Dates for Monster Hunter 3, Band Hero, Sin and Punishment 2, others @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on June 05, 2009

News: Nintendo dates a few of the biggest upcoming Wii releases.

With E3 coming to a close, Nintendo has released a massive list of upcoming Wii games. All told, the list includes nearly 150 different titles and, according to Nintendo, that will push the Wii's total library to more than 650 games (not counting the Virtual Console or WiiWare). But a few of the games included in the list had never been given release dates before, so now we have a better idea when the following games will be available:

Nintendo's own Endless Ocean 2 and Sin and Punishment 2 were both on the list with "Q1 2010" release dates. Neither game was expected to be released in 2009, but this is confirmation we won't have to go too far into 2010 before they're released.

Next up, Activision's Band Hero was given a release date of November 2009. Previously, Activision has said this "family-friendly" entry in the Guitar Hero series would be released in the Fall. Releasing it in November would make sense as that would provide a three-month gap between Band Hero and Guitar Hero 5 (which releases September 1).

It's likely (but unsaid by Nintendo) that the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Band Hero will be released in November as well.

Finally, Nintendo has staked out release dates for two of Capcom's biggest titles over the next year. Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil Zero is listed with a Winter 2009 and Monster Hunter Tri was listed with a March 2010 release date. Capcom previously stated that Resident Evil Zero would be released this year, but never got more specific than that. As for Monster Hunter Tri, Capcom has yet to confirm it's even being released in America, let alone given it a release date. I suppose that cat is now out of the bag.

We'll have more on all of these games soon.