Another week, another update to GameTap's service. This week three titles have been added as the company preps the service for a major overhaul. This week's offerings continue the Grimm franchise -- with what GameTap old us is the biggest episode in the series -- while introducing new gamers to the world of hard-boiled insect detectives. Yeah, you read that correctly.

• Insecticide, Part 1 (Windows) - A "hard-boiled film noir action-adventure game" set a bug-ridden future? Sounds like realism to us, kids.
  
• Freak Out: Extreme Freeride (Windows) - An extreme skiing simulator that combines two of our favorite things, freaking out and the word extreme.
  
• American McGee's Grimm: Sleeping Beauty (Windows) - The continuing episodic adventures of Grimm this time tackling the age-old story of Sleeping Beauty. This one is free to play but only for today! Hop to it!

GameTap has added Just Cause (aka GTA in the Caribbean) to the free to play catalog but will only be free until March 26. Check out a full list of the service's downsized free-to-play titles after the break.

Good news! That $9.99 you're shipping off to GameTap every month just got a heck of a lot more valuable with the edition of Gamecock to the GT family. Think of it: For no additional money, you could be playing ... hmm, well, let's see. There's ... hey, there's Insecticide! ... Oh, and Stronghold Crusader Extreme. Anybody?

OK, so maybe it's not so exciting at the moment, but it'll likely be considerably more valuable when Gamecock games like Legendary and Velvet Assassin appear on the service. Until then ... well, hey, there's always Sam and Max, right?

Because we didn't. Seriously: we had totally forgotten about Roachy Carruthers and Insecticide even existing. The noirish bug detective title launched in the U.S. over three months ago, and as bloggers' memories are famously only fractionally longer than those of goldfish, there was little chance of ... um. Dang it, happened again.

Anyway, we deemed Insecticide to be a fairly inspired adventure romp that was held back by some tedious platforming sections, but if you're one of those Europe-based folks who enjoy great adventure games with horrible platform bits (a small group, for sure), then you'll be pleased to know that Insecticide is coming to your part of the world in August. Yes, it's five months late. But at least it's coming. Hurray.


[Via press release]

Just a quick reminder -- our latest DS Fanboy contest is winding down, and there are only a few days left to get your name in the hat! Your chance at scoring Drone Tactics and Insecticide winds down this Friday, but remember: you can enter the contest once per day. So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the original post and get your name in!

Insecticide never seemed like a title destined to set the sales charts on fire, so we're not surprised to see retailers already marking down the noir title. Less than two months after Insecticide's release, Amazon, GameStop, and other shops have chopped the half-adventure, half-platforming game down to $19.99, a two-thirds its original price.

And if that's still too much for you, you could buy Nirvana's Incesticide for only $7.97, less than half of Insecticide's price. What's the difference between the two, you ask? Well, it just so happens that we've put together a lovely comparison guide that should help you with that question.

[VIa CAG]

The adventure genre fan in us really want to love the new Insecticide. What did we ultimately think? Peep DS Fanboy's review for more details. Check out all of our hands-on impressions and reviews from the Joystiq Network this week:

Nintendo DS

• Insecticide (Review)

As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of adventure games. That's one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to play Insecticide -- it looked like it would be one of the best in the genre this year. And the action parts? Those would just be gravy.

Crackpot, the development team behind the game, is mostly made up of people who used to work for LucasArts, and it shows. Insecticide contains the same kind of humor and adventure goodness of games like Monkey Island and Grim Fandango. Yet, this title is not only an adventure game but also an action platformer, and when mixing genres, you have to be careful to do it right -- in a way that makes sense, and in a way that works. Unfortunately, though, Insecticide fails in those aspects.

The Gamecock guys sure know how to go all out in crazy fashion to promote a game. With Insecticide already out on store shelves, however, we're saved that blitz of feathers and capes. Instead, we're presented with a smaller, more intimate behind-the-scenes look at two of the individuals who helped Insecticide become a game. We're talking about Larry Ahern and Mike Levine of Crackpot Entertainment.

Of course, being Gamecock, they had to include some wackiness, though. Hit up the "Read" link below and check out the video.

With three high-profile titles releasing in North America this week, we're having a hard time deciding what game (or games) to pick up for this weekend's promised downtime. Should we go with the tried-and-true formula of shooting everything in sight and get Nanostray 2? Or, should we see about putting on our gumshoes and solving a case or two in Insecticide? Perhaps the more epic quest is in order and we should go with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates? Maybe we should just go with them all?

While we try to decide, tell us what you've got going on in your gaming world this weekend. What will you be playing?

I met with Crackpot Entertainment's Larry Ahern, creative director of Insecticide, at this year's EIEIO event after he had finished demonstrating his game over and over again for successive groups of journalists and other attendees. Even after all of that time spent staring at Insecticide and introducing it to the few people in each group who weren't familiar with it, he seemed enthusiastic about his game.

He was also happy to reminisce -- fondly or otherwise -- about his time at LucasArts, during which he served as art director for Day of the Tentacle, lead animator for Full Throttle, and co-project lead on The Curse of Monkey Island, just to name a few classics.

Hit the break to find out about Insecticide's alternate history as a TV show, to read the most about BioShock you'll ever see on DS Fanboy, and more!

This week's release list is pretty darn nice, with a variety of genres being represented in the ranks of new titles available for the DS. RPG junkies get their fix with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, shoot-em-uppers get something new in Nanostray 2 and the niche crime-solving insect genre gets an entry in Insecticide. How's that for a week of releases?

Are you picking up a new game? Going to hammer away at something older? What are you playing?

Having trouble telling the difference between Nirvana's Incesticide album and DS platformer/shooter Insecticide? Afraid that you'll accidentally bring home a 15-year-old CD instead of the hard-boiled detective game? Worry no more!

We've put together a handy guide to help you tell these two "alternative" titles apart. Forget about wandering the streets in a daze, unsure which product features rock-out tracks like "Sliver" and "Son of a Gun!" No more embarrassing yourself in front of friends after mentioning an afternoon spent hunting criminal bugs with Kurt Cobain! We promise you'll never again confuse the game with the album or vice versa -- or your money back! Hit the image above for our life-changing chart!


See also: Nirvana: Plugged back in and electronicized

We've been fascinated by the potential of Insecticide since it first buzzed to our attention last May. Crackpot's noirish, bug-based title combines an adventure game with platforming, action, and detective elements. As it turns out, this willingness to fuse different genres and play styles seems to have backfired, with reviewers criticizing the action sequences in particular. We're pretty sure that there's a great detective-thriller game starring bugs just waiting to be made, but this doesn't seem to be it.

IGN -- 70%: IGN's Daemon Hatfield awarded the title its highest mark to date (apart from the two users who each gave it, er, a perfect ten on Metacritic), but still couldn't ignore the flawed action segments: "This one is a real heartbreaker. I really wanted to score it higher, but the action sequences get in the way of what could have been an extremely enjoyable adventure game. Crackpot has created an engrossing world with Insecticide, so maybe a sequel will focus more on pointing and clicking than frustrating and agitating."

Nintendo Power -- 65%: Likewise, Nintendo Power seems to insinuate that the game is a Jack of all trades, and a master of none: "Insecticide tries to be a lot of things at once -- platformer, shooter, and investigative adventure -- which is a trick that seldom works well." [Mar 2008, p.89 -- excerpt found at Metacritic]

Game Informer -- 58%: And there's just too much platforming for Game Informer's superbly named Joe Juba: "... Insecticide could have been an excellent adventure game. Instead, it's a platformer, and a bad one at that. The game squanders its stylish setting, writing, and entertaining puzzle solving by minimizing the fun investigation segments, focusing squarely on broken combat and platforming. The fact that you can run through most encounters without firing a shot makes the action element feel even more tiresome and pointless."

What a week for DS releases! Of course, in the shadow of a certain release on the Wii side of the Nintendo fence, a big week was probably necessary, but that doesn't make it any less exciting. Though there are only three DS titles scheduled for release, each one has something going for it. How often does that happen?

• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
• Insecticide
• Nanostray 2

In fact, there's a lot to look forward to all around the world. Europe's scoring Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and Bomberman Land Touch! 2, among other titles, and Japan boasts our beloved Contra 4 (there, Dual Spirits), and the hilarious Duel Love. Surely you can find some time to tear yourself away from beatdowns for one of these.