Bracing For a Fall – How Some of E3’s Featured Titles Could go Wrong
Now that the excitement generated by E3 has died down a little, I thought I would have more of a pessimistic look at some of the stories from this year’s conference.
Each year, our appetites are whetted by tantalizing looking software and hardware. They look so great and polished that we can’t imagine how they could possibly fail. But, the truth of the matter is that for every one that is destined for success, there are two that will disappoint.
Below are some of the biggest stumbling blocks for six of E3’s major titles/announcements. In some cases, I’m confident that these pitfalls will be avoided, whereas in others, I’m not quite so sure.
Dante’s Inferno
I have already briefly expressed my concerns with EA’s God of War clone. It’s based upon the first part of Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”. Written in the early part of the 14th century, it chronicles the author’s journey through the Christian afterlife, seen through medieval eyes, from Hell, to Purgatory and finally Heaven. It features numerous well known characters from history suffering different levels of torment and is universally regarding as a literary masterpiece. Not to state the obvious, but Dante did not carry a massive scythe, battle huge demons nor was he built like a brick shit house, as EA would have you believe. Aside from the names and settings, one may question what exactly EA have taken from the original work.
So EA are already alienating fans of the book. Ok, this is perhaps not a big deal, as the majority of the target audience probably aren’t overly familiar with the Divine Comedy anyway. But you can bet that most of those gamers are more than familiar with the God Of War series. And from what we have seen so far, Dante’s Inferno unashamedly apes that series through and through. Watching the most recent trailer from E3, I was actually cringing due to the blatant rip job they seem to be doing. But unlike the God of War 3 trailer, which gave me goose bumps and left me wanting more, the DI video simply made me let out a disinterested sigh. I hope this gets sorted, but I have a feeling that this one is doomed, with some journalistic opinion already moving against it.
Metal Gear Solid Rising
“Raiden is back”. Oh, he is, is he? Not really a sentence that true MGS fans wanted to hear. Why couldn’t Snake be back?
When Raiden was announced as the main protagonist of MGS2, there was outcry amongst gamers worldwide who wanted to reprise their role as Snake. Raiden would win back a great deal of popular support with his appearance in MGS4, but does anyone really want to see him carry a game all by himself yet again? Only time will tell.
Being a Hideo Kojima production, I have faith that it will be a great game and another huge success for Konami. But making his audience truly care about Raiden is an issue that Kojima will have to tackle.
Motion Controllers
There has already been some negative backlash to Sony’s, and in particular Microsoft’s somewhat knee-jerk reaction to the Wii’s success. Critics have pointed out that Microsoft unveiled the Natal far too early, as the actual release date is far off in the future. They got the audience’s interest, but now they probably won’t have anything substantial to follow it up with.
Other concerns centre on the fact that most games do not lend themselves to motion sensor controls. Few and far between are the titles that successfully and seamlessly utilize it.
Furthermore, do regular gamers really want to be prancing around their living room all day? Like most people, I like to play my PS3 from the comfort of my sofa. My Wii is for swinging about like a mentalist, and I rarely touch it. Is there going to be enough demand for Sony and Microsoft’s new projects?
Final fantasy XIV
Square-Enix’s credibility may have taken a bit of a hit by announcing the forthcoming release of FFXIV before XIII has even hit shelves in Japan, and who knows how long before the rest of the world get it. Furthermore, their announcement that it will be a MMORPG, just like FFXI, has raised some eyebrows. I really enjoyed my brief time playing FFXI, but it wasn’t a game without flaws. They will have to implement some big changes, and win over gamers who aren’t interested in taking their role playing online, but there is no reason to believe that they can’t.
Left For Dead 2
A future boycott of this upcoming sequel has been threatened by some 25,000 fans of the original Xbox360 and PC title, Left For Dead. They are perturbed by the short period of time between the original’s release and the announcement of the sequel (1 year), as its release would split the current multiplayer community, thus lessening the experience. It is their belief that the new game will offer very little new, and would be better suited as DLC for the original.
Valve, the game’s creators, have been quick to respond that LFD2 boasts more than enough new features to warrant a stand alone title. Whether this is the case or not, they have some work to do to convince their core fans.
PSP Go
“It’s too small”
“It’s too expensive”
“There aren’t enough additions to make it a worthwhile purchase for existing PSP owners”
These are all worthy concerns that have been voiced by commentators over the last few days. The most pertinent is the price issue. At $249, it’s significantly more expensive than the current PSP 3000, which retails for $80 less. Adding insult to injury, word is that it will cost the same, or perhaps less to produce than the existing model.
At this price, are existing PSP owners going to upgrade, and are customers in general going to be attracted to Sony’s product as opposed to Apple’s wildly popular iphone?
Each year, our appetites are whetted by tantalizing looking software and hardware. They look so great and polished that we can’t imagine how they could possibly fail. But, the truth of the matter is that for every one that is destined for success, there are two that will disappoint.
Below are some of the biggest stumbling blocks for six of E3’s major titles/announcements. In some cases, I’m confident that these pitfalls will be avoided, whereas in others, I’m not quite so sure.
Dante’s Inferno
I have already briefly expressed my concerns with EA’s God of War clone. It’s based upon the first part of Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy”. Written in the early part of the 14th century, it chronicles the author’s journey through the Christian afterlife, seen through medieval eyes, from Hell, to Purgatory and finally Heaven. It features numerous well known characters from history suffering different levels of torment and is universally regarding as a literary masterpiece. Not to state the obvious, but Dante did not carry a massive scythe, battle huge demons nor was he built like a brick shit house, as EA would have you believe. Aside from the names and settings, one may question what exactly EA have taken from the original work.
So EA are already alienating fans of the book. Ok, this is perhaps not a big deal, as the majority of the target audience probably aren’t overly familiar with the Divine Comedy anyway. But you can bet that most of those gamers are more than familiar with the God Of War series. And from what we have seen so far, Dante’s Inferno unashamedly apes that series through and through. Watching the most recent trailer from E3, I was actually cringing due to the blatant rip job they seem to be doing. But unlike the God of War 3 trailer, which gave me goose bumps and left me wanting more, the DI video simply made me let out a disinterested sigh. I hope this gets sorted, but I have a feeling that this one is doomed, with some journalistic opinion already moving against it.
Metal Gear Solid Rising
“Raiden is back”. Oh, he is, is he? Not really a sentence that true MGS fans wanted to hear. Why couldn’t Snake be back?
When Raiden was announced as the main protagonist of MGS2, there was outcry amongst gamers worldwide who wanted to reprise their role as Snake. Raiden would win back a great deal of popular support with his appearance in MGS4, but does anyone really want to see him carry a game all by himself yet again? Only time will tell.
Being a Hideo Kojima production, I have faith that it will be a great game and another huge success for Konami. But making his audience truly care about Raiden is an issue that Kojima will have to tackle.
Motion Controllers
There has already been some negative backlash to Sony’s, and in particular Microsoft’s somewhat knee-jerk reaction to the Wii’s success. Critics have pointed out that Microsoft unveiled the Natal far too early, as the actual release date is far off in the future. They got the audience’s interest, but now they probably won’t have anything substantial to follow it up with.
Other concerns centre on the fact that most games do not lend themselves to motion sensor controls. Few and far between are the titles that successfully and seamlessly utilize it.
Furthermore, do regular gamers really want to be prancing around their living room all day? Like most people, I like to play my PS3 from the comfort of my sofa. My Wii is for swinging about like a mentalist, and I rarely touch it. Is there going to be enough demand for Sony and Microsoft’s new projects?
Final fantasy XIV
Square-Enix’s credibility may have taken a bit of a hit by announcing the forthcoming release of FFXIV before XIII has even hit shelves in Japan, and who knows how long before the rest of the world get it. Furthermore, their announcement that it will be a MMORPG, just like FFXI, has raised some eyebrows. I really enjoyed my brief time playing FFXI, but it wasn’t a game without flaws. They will have to implement some big changes, and win over gamers who aren’t interested in taking their role playing online, but there is no reason to believe that they can’t.
Left For Dead 2
A future boycott of this upcoming sequel has been threatened by some 25,000 fans of the original Xbox360 and PC title, Left For Dead. They are perturbed by the short period of time between the original’s release and the announcement of the sequel (1 year), as its release would split the current multiplayer community, thus lessening the experience. It is their belief that the new game will offer very little new, and would be better suited as DLC for the original.
Valve, the game’s creators, have been quick to respond that LFD2 boasts more than enough new features to warrant a stand alone title. Whether this is the case or not, they have some work to do to convince their core fans.
PSP Go
“It’s too small”
“It’s too expensive”
“There aren’t enough additions to make it a worthwhile purchase for existing PSP owners”
These are all worthy concerns that have been voiced by commentators over the last few days. The most pertinent is the price issue. At $249, it’s significantly more expensive than the current PSP 3000, which retails for $80 less. Adding insult to injury, word is that it will cost the same, or perhaps less to produce than the existing model.
At this price, are existing PSP owners going to upgrade, and are customers in general going to be attracted to Sony’s product as opposed to Apple’s wildly popular iphone?
E3 Round-up - Part 2 0f 2
E3 2009, the industry’s biggest game show, has just wrapped up after 3 hectic days. It was packed full of games in every stage of development and featured announcements big, small, surprising and expected.
Although I was of course not in attendance, I have been following all the news as best I can. So to save you the trouble of sifting through the hundreds of announcements, videos and little tidbits from the show floor, as I have, I have put together a two part summary of all the biggest and most interesting announcements and non-announcements from E3 2009. If you want to see footage of the games that I am talking about, try kotaku.com or gamespot, which both featured pretty exhaustive coverage.
So here is E3 2009 Part 2, M-Z (Part 1 can be found here ).
MAG
There was a time, not all that long ago, when playing a console based multiplayer FPS with 256 people would have entailed purchasing 64 consoles, TVs, games, multi-taps and cords, not to mention having a rather large living room. Thankfully, these days you can go to war with 256 people you have never met, all on your lonesome. Introducing MAG, Sony’s ambitious massively multiplayer FPS. It looks very impressive, though it did apparently suffer from some lag when showcased during Sony’s stage show.
Metal Gear Solid Rising
Konami’s big announcement, and half of the climax of all those online countdowns we have been seeing (link), the next home console installment of the Metal Gear saga is coming to the PS3, PC and more surprisingly, the Xbox 360. Starring the formally derided lady boy turned robotic ninja hard man Raiden, details are few and far between. Hopefully Hideo Kojima will deliver the goods yet again.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Yet another pleasant surprise for PSP owners. Promising to fill in some of the gaps of the Metal Gear story, and acting as a direct sequel to MGS3, the game will feature Big Boss as the main protagonist and seems to centre on the Outer Heaven mercenary group. It looks great, but I do wish it were a PS3 release. But I can’t really complain with two MGS titles being announced in one day. Good times.
Motion Sensors
Project Natal is Microsoft’s “controller-free gaming and entertainment experience”, as announced at E3. It should allow Xbox360 users to play games via gestures and spoken commands, and development kits have already been sent out to game developers. Is this the future of gaming?
Not to be outdone, Sony made an announcement concerning their own motion sensor controller. Used in conjunction with the existing Playstation Eye, and consisting of two wand-like units, it should be available by Spring next year.
As well as appealing to the causal gamers who have been wooed so convincingly by the Wii, these new motion sensor devices will hopefully add something to the gaming experience that more dedicated gamers can also share in. Fingers crossed.
No More Heroes
Not a huge amount of info was revealed at E3, as Suda51 seemed content to play his cards very close to the chest. But by the looks of the new trailer, Travis Touchdown is up to his old tricks. This is good news for Wii owners everywhere.
Playstation 3
There were plenty of reasons for PS3 owners to get very excited at E3. But there were a few disappointments, most notably Sony’s insistence that a price cut is not in their short term plans. Also, Sony failed to address the previously leaked stills of what is purported to be a PS3 slim.
PSP Go
E3’s worst kept secret. The new and arguably improved version of Sony’s portable device has made a strong showing at E3. Substantially smaller, but featuring only a slightly reduced screen size, it does away with the old UMD drive and replaces it with a digital format. It boasts a sliding screen, 16GB of built-in storage and will retail at $249.
There are also rumours that Sony may offer some sort of service saving owners of existing UMD based titles from repurchasing them all over again to play on the PSP Go. I’m anxious to see exactly what that will entail.
Sony’s direct response to the success of the iphone does look rather plush and compact, but I am a little concerned about the close proximity of the controls. It doesn’t look all that comfortable, but I won’t know for sure until I try one myself. It should hit the shelves on October 1st, and fingers crossed I will get a chance to try one at the Tokyo game Show this September.
Resident Evil title for the PSP
Capcom have announced that they will be bringing a Resident Evil title to the PSP in 2010. It will mark the first time that the series will have graced the PSP and adds to an increasingly promising line up of titles coming to Sony’s portable device this year and next. Fingers crossed that Wesker will feature heavily.
Super Mario Bros.
This sure fire hit features up to four player action, though no online multiplayer. It’s also billed as having 80 levels, so it should keep fans of the diminutive Italian plumber more than happy. Coming later this year.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Another one for the core Nintendo fans. Similar to SMG, it will feature levels spread across various 3D planets, 90% of which are brand new.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Watching a video of the Sony press conference, I was blown away by the footage of Nathan Drake’s latest escapades. And by the sounds of things, so were the audience. It looks like a dream, and I can only presume that it plays like one too. With Metal Gear and Final Fantasy going multi platform, I think this is Sony’s jewel in the crown. I fell in love with the original a bit later than most, but I will be sure to get onboard from the get go when my most eagerly anticipated PS3 title is released at the end of this year.
Wii Sports Resort
It is what it is. As much as I deride the Wii and its astounding amount of piss poor games, you can’t really go wrong with Wii Sports. The new version looks much the same, which is no bad thing, but will utilize the Wii MotionPlus and features an increased roster of sports - sword dueling, wakeboarding, Frisbee, archery, basketball, table tennis, gold, bowling, power driving (jet skis), canoeing, cycling, and air sports.
Xbox 360
It will live for 10 years, or so says Microsoft. Following Sony’s lead, Microsoft announced that they foresee a 10 year shelf life for their system. This is great news for consumers who have in the past felt short changed by a constant turnover of consoles. I’m looking at you Sega.
New Zelda
A cause of disappointment for may Nintendo fans. There was no announcement for a new Zelda game, as many had expected. Instead, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that a new home console Zelda will is in development, and announcements would be forthcoming next year.
Although I was of course not in attendance, I have been following all the news as best I can. So to save you the trouble of sifting through the hundreds of announcements, videos and little tidbits from the show floor, as I have, I have put together a two part summary of all the biggest and most interesting announcements and non-announcements from E3 2009. If you want to see footage of the games that I am talking about, try kotaku.com or gamespot, which both featured pretty exhaustive coverage.
So here is E3 2009 Part 2, M-Z (Part 1 can be found here ).
MAG
There was a time, not all that long ago, when playing a console based multiplayer FPS with 256 people would have entailed purchasing 64 consoles, TVs, games, multi-taps and cords, not to mention having a rather large living room. Thankfully, these days you can go to war with 256 people you have never met, all on your lonesome. Introducing MAG, Sony’s ambitious massively multiplayer FPS. It looks very impressive, though it did apparently suffer from some lag when showcased during Sony’s stage show.
Metal Gear Solid Rising
Konami’s big announcement, and half of the climax of all those online countdowns we have been seeing (link), the next home console installment of the Metal Gear saga is coming to the PS3, PC and more surprisingly, the Xbox 360. Starring the formally derided lady boy turned robotic ninja hard man Raiden, details are few and far between. Hopefully Hideo Kojima will deliver the goods yet again.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Yet another pleasant surprise for PSP owners. Promising to fill in some of the gaps of the Metal Gear story, and acting as a direct sequel to MGS3, the game will feature Big Boss as the main protagonist and seems to centre on the Outer Heaven mercenary group. It looks great, but I do wish it were a PS3 release. But I can’t really complain with two MGS titles being announced in one day. Good times.
Motion Sensors
Project Natal is Microsoft’s “controller-free gaming and entertainment experience”, as announced at E3. It should allow Xbox360 users to play games via gestures and spoken commands, and development kits have already been sent out to game developers. Is this the future of gaming?
Not to be outdone, Sony made an announcement concerning their own motion sensor controller. Used in conjunction with the existing Playstation Eye, and consisting of two wand-like units, it should be available by Spring next year.
As well as appealing to the causal gamers who have been wooed so convincingly by the Wii, these new motion sensor devices will hopefully add something to the gaming experience that more dedicated gamers can also share in. Fingers crossed.
No More Heroes
Not a huge amount of info was revealed at E3, as Suda51 seemed content to play his cards very close to the chest. But by the looks of the new trailer, Travis Touchdown is up to his old tricks. This is good news for Wii owners everywhere.
Playstation 3
There were plenty of reasons for PS3 owners to get very excited at E3. But there were a few disappointments, most notably Sony’s insistence that a price cut is not in their short term plans. Also, Sony failed to address the previously leaked stills of what is purported to be a PS3 slim.
PSP Go
E3’s worst kept secret. The new and arguably improved version of Sony’s portable device has made a strong showing at E3. Substantially smaller, but featuring only a slightly reduced screen size, it does away with the old UMD drive and replaces it with a digital format. It boasts a sliding screen, 16GB of built-in storage and will retail at $249.
There are also rumours that Sony may offer some sort of service saving owners of existing UMD based titles from repurchasing them all over again to play on the PSP Go. I’m anxious to see exactly what that will entail.
Sony’s direct response to the success of the iphone does look rather plush and compact, but I am a little concerned about the close proximity of the controls. It doesn’t look all that comfortable, but I won’t know for sure until I try one myself. It should hit the shelves on October 1st, and fingers crossed I will get a chance to try one at the Tokyo game Show this September.
Resident Evil title for the PSP
Capcom have announced that they will be bringing a Resident Evil title to the PSP in 2010. It will mark the first time that the series will have graced the PSP and adds to an increasingly promising line up of titles coming to Sony’s portable device this year and next. Fingers crossed that Wesker will feature heavily.
Super Mario Bros.
This sure fire hit features up to four player action, though no online multiplayer. It’s also billed as having 80 levels, so it should keep fans of the diminutive Italian plumber more than happy. Coming later this year.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Another one for the core Nintendo fans. Similar to SMG, it will feature levels spread across various 3D planets, 90% of which are brand new.
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Watching a video of the Sony press conference, I was blown away by the footage of Nathan Drake’s latest escapades. And by the sounds of things, so were the audience. It looks like a dream, and I can only presume that it plays like one too. With Metal Gear and Final Fantasy going multi platform, I think this is Sony’s jewel in the crown. I fell in love with the original a bit later than most, but I will be sure to get onboard from the get go when my most eagerly anticipated PS3 title is released at the end of this year.
Wii Sports Resort
It is what it is. As much as I deride the Wii and its astounding amount of piss poor games, you can’t really go wrong with Wii Sports. The new version looks much the same, which is no bad thing, but will utilize the Wii MotionPlus and features an increased roster of sports - sword dueling, wakeboarding, Frisbee, archery, basketball, table tennis, gold, bowling, power driving (jet skis), canoeing, cycling, and air sports.
Xbox 360
It will live for 10 years, or so says Microsoft. Following Sony’s lead, Microsoft announced that they foresee a 10 year shelf life for their system. This is great news for consumers who have in the past felt short changed by a constant turnover of consoles. I’m looking at you Sega.
New Zelda
A cause of disappointment for may Nintendo fans. There was no announcement for a new Zelda game, as many had expected. Instead, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that a new home console Zelda will is in development, and announcements would be forthcoming next year.
E3 Round-up - Part 1 of 2
E3 2009, the industry’s biggest game show, has just wrapped up after 3 hectic days. It was packed full of games in every stage of development and featured announcements big, small, surprising and expected.
Although I was of course not in attendance, I have been following all the news as best I can. So to save you the trouble of sifting through the hundreds of announcements, videos and little tidbits from the show floor, as I have, I have put together a two part summary of all the biggest and most interesting announcements and non-announcements from E3 2009. If you want to see footage of the games that I am talking about, try kotaku.com or gamespot, which both featured pretty exhaustive coverage.
Without further ado, here is E3 2009 Part I, A-L.
Alan Wake
God knows how many years this title has been in development. But, the demo has garnered rave reviews and is being talked about as one of the best titles on show at E3. A psychological thriller for grown ups, Alan Wake has an interesting take on a well worn genre. Likened to a TV drama in its presentation, Xbox 360 and PC gamers should keep an eye out for this one in 2010.
APB
Part of the open world crime genre that has been championed by the Grand Theft Auto series, APB seems to have a lot of things going for it. Although details are scarce for this 2010 release, it features an online mode supporting up to 100 players at a time, as well as high levels of customization, from the appearance of your character right through to their ride.
Assassin’s Creed 2
Earmarked for a November release, and set in Venice, Florence and Tuscany of 1486, Assassins Creed looks to be a real treat. Including an appearance from da Vinci, beautiful city vistas and all the tools of the assassin trade, it promises to be one of the biggest cross platform releases of the year.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
This is dark Batman. This is good Batman. Camp 60’s fighting and George Clooney’s nipples are nowhere to be seen, thankfully. Never been a fan of comic book games, but this title really does appeal. Slated for an August release, I will definitely be checking it out.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The in-game video looks amazing and is instantly recognizable as the follow up to 2007’s acclaimed Call of Duty Modern Warfare. It showcases a great mix of gameplay (ice climbing, shooting, knife play and snowmobile driving) and the graphics look amazing. Check out the Sony stage show demo.
Dante’s Inferno
A new trailer has been released of EA’s upcoming God of War meets masterpiece literature title. Some details have also been released about the accompanying PSP title. I’m still intrigued by the potential of this game, but I have to admit that my interest wanes with each new video I watch. It just doesn’t seem to be offering anything new, whilst butchering its rich historical influence. I guess I can only be pleasantly surprised.
Final Fantasy XIV
Aside from English demos of the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix made a surprise announcement that FFXIV is on its way in 2010. It will be a massively multiplayer online role playing game, in the same vein as FFXI. It is a PS3 console exclusive, and will be released alongside a PC version with a worldwide simultaneous release. I don’t know why, but I’m already more excited about this announcement than the forthcoming FFXIII.
God of War III
Being that I can’t wait for this one, I was a little disappointed to hear that the release isn’t until March 2010. The in-game shots look very impressive, and the video demo was supposedly everything you have come to expect from the series and more. Let’s hope it lives up to the high standards set by its predecessors.
Halo: Reach
Scheduled for 2010, this new entry into the widely popular Halo series is rumoured to be a prequel. It’s still a long way from release, so not much else to add.
Last Guardian
The team behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, are hard at work bringing their next game to the PS3. Not many details as of yet, but if their pedigree is anything to go by, it will be a very well received game. It’s well worth checking out the brilliant trailer for something a bit different.
Although I was of course not in attendance, I have been following all the news as best I can. So to save you the trouble of sifting through the hundreds of announcements, videos and little tidbits from the show floor, as I have, I have put together a two part summary of all the biggest and most interesting announcements and non-announcements from E3 2009. If you want to see footage of the games that I am talking about, try kotaku.com or gamespot, which both featured pretty exhaustive coverage.
Without further ado, here is E3 2009 Part I, A-L.
Alan Wake
God knows how many years this title has been in development. But, the demo has garnered rave reviews and is being talked about as one of the best titles on show at E3. A psychological thriller for grown ups, Alan Wake has an interesting take on a well worn genre. Likened to a TV drama in its presentation, Xbox 360 and PC gamers should keep an eye out for this one in 2010.
APB
Part of the open world crime genre that has been championed by the Grand Theft Auto series, APB seems to have a lot of things going for it. Although details are scarce for this 2010 release, it features an online mode supporting up to 100 players at a time, as well as high levels of customization, from the appearance of your character right through to their ride.
Assassin’s Creed 2
Earmarked for a November release, and set in Venice, Florence and Tuscany of 1486, Assassins Creed looks to be a real treat. Including an appearance from da Vinci, beautiful city vistas and all the tools of the assassin trade, it promises to be one of the biggest cross platform releases of the year.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
This is dark Batman. This is good Batman. Camp 60’s fighting and George Clooney’s nipples are nowhere to be seen, thankfully. Never been a fan of comic book games, but this title really does appeal. Slated for an August release, I will definitely be checking it out.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
The in-game video looks amazing and is instantly recognizable as the follow up to 2007’s acclaimed Call of Duty Modern Warfare. It showcases a great mix of gameplay (ice climbing, shooting, knife play and snowmobile driving) and the graphics look amazing. Check out the Sony stage show demo.
Dante’s Inferno
A new trailer has been released of EA’s upcoming God of War meets masterpiece literature title. Some details have also been released about the accompanying PSP title. I’m still intrigued by the potential of this game, but I have to admit that my interest wanes with each new video I watch. It just doesn’t seem to be offering anything new, whilst butchering its rich historical influence. I guess I can only be pleasantly surprised.
Final Fantasy XIV
Aside from English demos of the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix made a surprise announcement that FFXIV is on its way in 2010. It will be a massively multiplayer online role playing game, in the same vein as FFXI. It is a PS3 console exclusive, and will be released alongside a PC version with a worldwide simultaneous release. I don’t know why, but I’m already more excited about this announcement than the forthcoming FFXIII.
God of War III
Being that I can’t wait for this one, I was a little disappointed to hear that the release isn’t until March 2010. The in-game shots look very impressive, and the video demo was supposedly everything you have come to expect from the series and more. Let’s hope it lives up to the high standards set by its predecessors.
Halo: Reach
Scheduled for 2010, this new entry into the widely popular Halo series is rumoured to be a prequel. It’s still a long way from release, so not much else to add.
Last Guardian
The team behind Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, are hard at work bringing their next game to the PS3. Not many details as of yet, but if their pedigree is anything to go by, it will be a very well received game. It’s well worth checking out the brilliant trailer for something a bit different.
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