Here it is, only the middle of July, and the sports game season is already beginning. Every year, the appearance of EA Sports' NCAA franchise signals the eventual countdown to Madden, and once that hits, the holiday game buying season isn't far behind. How time flies.

Take a look at the new releases for July 11 through 17, 2010, broken out by platform and date.

Microsoft Xbox 360

Nintendo DS

  • Dragon Quest 9: Sentinels of the Starry Skies 7/11
  • Pop Island - Paperfield 7/12
  • Animal Planet: Vet Collection 7/13
  • The Bachelor 7/13
  • Chuck E. Cheese's Party Games 7/13
  • Dungeon Raiders 7/13
  • Junior Classic Books and Fairytales 7/13
  • Little League World Series: Double Play 7/13
  • Paws & Claws Regal Resort 7/13
  • The Sorcerer's Apprentice 7/13
  • Mystery Stories 7/15

Nintendo Wii

  • The Bachelor 7/13
  • Little League World Series: Double Play 7/13

PC

  • CosmicBreak 7/11
  • Disciples III: Renaissance 7/13

Sony PS2

Sony PS3

Okay, we know the sports gamers out there are headed straight for NCAA Football 11 (as long as they're not playing on Nintendo hardware or the PC), but what about the rest of us?

Is Dragon Quest 9 the game that finally makes the series as big in America as it is in Japan? Japanese gamers have gobbled up four and a quarter million copies of the portable multiplayer RPG. Expectations are running high, and it looks like the game just might deliver.

Personally, the game I'm most excited about this week is Deathspank, the collaboration between Ron Gilbert (Tales of Monkey Island) and Hotead Studios (Penny Arcade Adventures). A loot-filled action-RPG, heavy on the humor, with an attractively cartoony look, Deathspank is just the kind of game I can loose significant chunks of my waking hours to (though I'm a little skeptical about the game's multiplayer option).

As always, we want to hear about what games you are looking forward to this week. Picking anything up? Any games on the horizon you're looking forward to? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Gamespot