Don't look now, but it's another four-game batch for this week, with the exclusion of the digital-only releases. This week's biggest titles come from the Watchmen, as they get released into different titles for the PS3 and Xbox 360 respectively. But hey, if you're into guinea pigs and cartoony RTS, you'd probably like the other two in the bunch. Read up on this edition of On Shelves This Week for more info.

We've got some major heroes on board this week, from those serving the country in full honor and glory, to childhood heroes. Marshmallow Men busting ghost agents (Ghostbusters: The Video Game), WWI fliers, they're all in this week's On Shelves list. Dig in and enjoy.

Wondering which games will be making their appearance over at this July's E3 event? We've picked up a list of the titles that have been currently confirmed to be arriving, with more expected to be announced in the near future. You can view the currently list over in the full  article.

Anticipation grips the Nintendo Wii owners here in North America, as Mario Strikers: Charged schedules for its retail punt this Monday. For the PSP owners, we've sighted Brave Story: New Traveler making the trip, while the PC owners get some serious luvin' by way of Combat Mission: Shock Forceand Attack on Pearl Harbor. We have the list of games on shelves this week.

Mario Striker Charged. Making its first appearance over in Europe, this latest installment of the Mario Strikers franchise will now be kicking into North America. Play as any of your favorite Mario characters in Nintendo's take on the ball game that's taken the world by storm.

• Nintendo Wii - July 30, 2007
• US$ 49.99
• ESRB E 10+ (Everyone aged 10+)
• Nintendo

Of course, that's just a teaser of the games that will be landing in your local retail stores this week as July moves into August. Click on the Full Article link below for the full list, and make sure to call your local stores to confirm if your local shop's got stock.

Even as the Entertainment Software Association's (ESA) E3 Media & Business Summit draws closer this week, the invite-only event may have scared off many publishers and developers, aside from consumers, due to extraneous costs and a smaller retail presence. Reports are coming in that companies have declined their invites, while others have wanted to go but never received an invite.

Tecmo (Ninja Gaiden Sigma) was one company that had turned down the invite to the E3 Media & Business Summit, following a history of impolite treatment from the organizers, lower retail presence and a pessimistic outlook on the part of Tecmo. "New show management didn't seem to know what they were doing," said John Inada, vice president.

A representative from GameStop had claimed that the company had "limited folks" who were going to attend the show, but it appeared to major publishers that no retail presence was going to show up at all. Retailers such as Best Buy have been reported to opt out entirely, prompting other publishers to high-tail it out of the event.

"Why should we bother dealing with the ESA's confusion when we can meet with our retail partners separately and then stage our own gamers' day event later on in the year where we set the rules? It just doesn't make any sense," said a source, coming from a publisher not going to E3.

In contrast, XSEED Games (Brave Story: New Traveler) didn't have a choice laid out for them. Even while the publisher decided to go to the event, they didn't receive an invite. "Assuming we had a chance to participate, the costs of securing a meeting area in one of the hotels, from what I've heard indirectly through third parties, would have been cost-prohibitive for us," added XSEED's Ken Berry, head of sales and marketing.

Money was another issue, forcing even some of the big name publishers to re-think their showcasing strategies and host their own events, rather than attend E3. GameCock Media Group (Sector 8) created their own little E3 in response to the new invite-only arrangement.

Publishers believe that E3 needs more tweaking if they're to attend the succeeding events - a possibility that's fast fading after many other companies anticipate 2007 as E3's final year. In an end-note, GameCock's co-founder Mike Wilson said:

We're going to have some fun on the beach and say good-bye to the magical beast of yore that was E3. I'd say there's a fair chance there won't be a show called E3 anything next year, which is why we're saying farewell to it on the beach. But I can't wait to see what emerges.