Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming

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Sunday, January 06, 2008

The Games of 2008: Q1

2007 is now a distant memory, and while I've still got to finish The Orange Box, Assassin's Creed, and Mass Effect (and, um, Viva Piñata), I'm already looking to the games of 2008.

So what's up for the next year of gaming after arguably the most prolific and quality-high year in the industry? Did the industry peak in 2007? Does life after Halo 3 and Portal seem a letdown?

Here are my picks -- and don't get your Underoos in a knot if your favorite game isn't here. I'm a PC and 360 gamer, so those titles are a priority for me, as are those titles on other platforms that look compelling for artistic or commercial reasons.

So "your" game may not be here, I may have forgotten some, dates may change, the game may suck, blah blah blah, wah wah wah.

Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom (X360) -- Hey, an action RPG brawler retake on an action RTS mainstay, playable co-op over Xbox Live? I'm in (even if the demo was less than accessible).

Pirates of the Burning Sea (PC) -- An MMO that's not orcs 'n' elves?Let's see how it does. I probably won't play until the ninja community mod expansion pack kicks in.

Devil May Cry 4 (X360, PS3)-- I'm a franchise fan, and even if it's more of the same (but bigger, faster, more insane), it being available out of the gate on the 360 makes it a grabber for me.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) -- If I can get a Wii, this and Super Mario Galaxy are the two boxed titles I'm likely to buy.

Lost Odyssey (X360) -- This may be the JRPG that gets me into JRPGs (sorry, Blue Dragon). Yeah, it's Mistwalker Studios, but it's from Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of the original Final Fantasy series), composed by FF music creator Nobuo Uematsu, art by manga creator Takehiko Inoue, and written by Japanese novelist Kiyoshi Shigematsu.

The Club (PC, PS3, X360) -- Take a top-notch racing game developer and throw them at a stylistic, Running Man-esqu thinking man's FPS? I'm in.

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (PC, PS3, X360) -- An FPS in alternative 1950s America where the Nazis won? Of course it's on my list.

Insecticide (DS, PC) -- "Insecticide is a film noir action adventure game set in a decaying world run by bugs. " Plus it's published by Gamecock Media. Who are in Austin, TX, and make me laugh.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot (X360, PS3) -- The first Condemned is one of the strongest launch games on the 360, and it still stands up. Add a more polished version of one of my favorite other vertical game engines (Lithtech) and multiplayer, and I'm ready for another "brown trouser" excursion (thank you, Brits, for that expression).

Bully: Scholarship Edition (X360, Wii) -- Bully for Rockstar for doing something different with this game. Sure, it came out the PS2 a while ago, but this version will have new classes, new content, and achievements (on the 360). Plus, the 360 version is being built using Emergent Game Technologies's Gamebryo game engine.

Viking: Battle for Asgard (PS3, X360) -- I'm a big fan of Norse mythology, action brawlers, and SEGA. It's a lock.

Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon (PS3, X360) -- I know the writer for this, so I would suck if I didn't list it. Plus the franchise genuinely rocks on all fronts.

Haze (PS3) -- Free Radical has my eternal love for the TimeSplitters franchise (bring me TS 4!). Haze looks smart and subversive. Just bring it to 360, kids -- I'd hate to see a sales shortfall for the potential franchise by limiting yourselves to a PS3 SKU.

Labels: brawlers, Emergent Game Technologies, fighting, MMO, Nintendo, PC, PlayStation3, releases, RPG, sandbox, SEGA, shooters, Sony, Wii, Xbox 360

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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.

Friday, June 29, 2007

GTA IV trailer ...

In case you missed it, here's the new Grand Theft Auto IV trailer.

Gotta say it's starting to look more compelling ...

Labels: announcements, sandbox

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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Forza 2 demo, new Crackdown DLC ...

Forza 2, probably Microsoft's premiere title for the Xbox 360 (maybe until PGR4), saw its free demo released last night on Xbox Live MarketPlace. (As an aside, I was entertained watching forum posters percolate the "it'll be available at 2 a.m. EDT" rumor all last night, and saying they were going to wait up for it. Since Microsoft only releases content on a PDT schedule, those East Coasters waiting for the content at 2 a.m. EDT (rather than 5 EDT) are probably sucking it up in home room this morning.)

More exciting to me (I'm stoked about Forza, but that's in the context of my sucking at racing games) is the massive amount of downloadable content coming in the next week for one of my favorite 360 games -- Crackdown (at which my suckage is less obvious).

Check out the MajorNelson.com post for all of the details (and videos), but there's a ton of free and premium content coming for Realtime Worlds's seminal sandbox title. The free stuff''ll get you new and improved attacks and effects, new game types, and achievements. The premium content (800 MS Points) will get you new vehicles, races, weapons, achievements, and gametypes -- including formally supported rocket tag. Sadly, it looks like it's all still limited to 2 player, so I'll feel a bit mislead by the released screenshot with 4 of the new Agency Buggy vehicles (turns out the new race type actually supports 12-way racing, but 10 of those racers are NPCs).

And really cool? If your friend buys the premium content and you join his / her co-op game, you get that premium content for that co-op session. That's a really intelligent product choice, in my mind.

Check out the post for the pages and pages of text and video goodness.

Labels: DLC, driving, sandbox

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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.