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March is a big month for the PlayStation 3 with three top exclusive franchises coming home to roost, and a fourth formerly-exclusive franchise appearing for the first time on the system.

On the exclusive front we have the critically acclaimed MLB'10 The Show from Sony on March 2nd, Yakuza 3 from SEGA on March 9th, and the vengeance-filled rage-fest God of War III on March 16th. MLB'09 The Show was called "a true pinnacle of sports gaming" by the creative director of the Madden team last year, so Major League Baseball 2k10 has a high bar to reach for this year. Yakuza 3 brings an English-subtitled version of the very popular Japanese GTA-style open world game sans a couple of heavily Japanese aspects like a trivia game and so-called hostess clubs -- and this one is notable because melee seems to be the game's strong suit while GTA typically falls down very flat in that department. God of War III really needs no introduction and seriously, if you think it does, go pick up the God of War Collection to see where Kratos is coming from.

The PSP isn't slacking off this month, either, with an enhanced remake of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, the late-but-could-be-great Dante's Inferno port, handheld ports of MLB'10 The Show and Major League Baseball 2k10, and oddly enough a port of BlazBlue Calamity Trigger. Lunar has already gotten high praise and an 8.0 from Gamespot, and I have to say that the PlayStation Store demo's combat system, effects, and decent story charmed me, despite my normal complete disdain for JRPGs and anime. Chris Roper had positive, Chains-of-Olympus-like things to say about the early build of Dante's Inferno he had seen for the PSP, so there is hope there for action fans. That's all I can say about the PSP, so back to the PS3.

In case you missed it, Kratos is vengeful:

You can also take a look at MLB'10 The Show:

Final Fantasy XIII also shows up on the Xbox 360 on March 9th, but the PS3 version has the honor of just needing 1 disc instead of 3. Other than that critics expect the two to be equal, but we know how it goes with ports sometimes. Also coming on the 9th is Resident Evil 5's Gold Edition to bundle up the DLC for the title thus far if you'd rather kill zombie-like... whatever you're killing in that game.

Military shooter fans are no doubt ready for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 who is showing up in two spots on the release calendars: March 2nd for one edition and the 30th for the other. Torgo from the PS Nation Podcast thinks that this may draw the Killzone 2 faithful (who haven't hooked up with MAG, anyway) into a new game, and a friend who is a fan of Modern Warfare 2 is also eyeing this game as something to take him away from that game, which he has played almost exclusively on his PS3 since getting it late last year. The demo alone has been downloaded over 3.5 million times.

Fans of cripplingly difficult games will no doubt enjoy Mega Man 10 coming on March 11th. I'm not one of those people. I need my games to be fun.

Rounding out the open world trifecta that Yakuza 3 began this month is Just Cause 2 and the DLC Episodes from Liberty City. As a longtime GTA fan I'm excited to see the GTA 4 episodes make it to the PS3, and the fact that they'll be released on a disc as well as as digital downloads mean I can perhaps get them on sale in the near future instead of pay full-retail DLC pricing on the Store. Our very nice Just Cause 2 coverage courtesy of Joe Haygood here has me interested in the game as something of a spiritual successor to GTA San Andreas, at least as far as vehicles are concerned. I mean, we've seen jet aircraft, fire engines, and parachuting so far. All they need is a nice helicopter with arcade-style control to inflict mayhem with and they'll have won my heart.

See anything you like?

From Aeropause.