Manuel - “Madden is out! Let the gaming season begin!” – That was the barely audible shout from the other side of the pond last month as EA’s annual bell-ringer brought the holiday season to a predictable start, and with the release of FIFA on Friday we’re off and running over here.
But will 2009 be a year to remember or has unexpectedly sensible decision-making from publishers ruined the annual crop? With the likes of Blur, Bioshock 2 and Bayonetta being pushed back, what makes up your most-wanted for this year? And do you think we benefit from the lesser quantity of AAA titles?
Pogo - I don’t know about you guys but there’s always something magical about September. The hype machine starts delivering on titles we’ve been promised from all the way back in spring! I could be boring and throw words around like ‘recession’ and ‘credit crunch’ but hey, sod that. We love gaming and buying games is what we do, so long may it continue to be our post-madden spending spree tradition!
2009 certainly does seem to be a good year for sequels; Modern Warfare 2, Left for Dead 2, Forza 3 – all spinning up as AAA titles. Could we throw ODST into the sequel catergory? I think this year is the first in a while that doesn’t seem overcrowded, just some good titles to see us through ‘til our turkey dinner finale.
BIGsheep - Whilst Pogo does paint a picture of this being the year of the sequel, it’s the original IP that has slipped into next year that I’m harbouring more anticipation for. Titles like I am Alive and Alan Wake that have been chased out by fear that they will lost under a sea of already established titles. Their decision to shift to early 2010 is a sensible one, though. All too often good, quality titles that don’t have the marketing budgets of the behemoths get squashed under foot.
It’s at this time of year I do find it funny how you can almost predict the titles that you’re going to see without really being too far off the mark. When was the last time we were approaching Christmas and we didn’t have a Call of Duty, FIFA, Pro Evo, Need for Speed, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawks, etc. Don’t you ever find it tedious this predictability?
Manuel - Having just splashed out on FIFA and Need for Speed, I wish I could say yes, but I’m as guilty as anybody else for continuing the cycle. Personally, I don’t mind them. It’s sort of like comfort food, there are certain games that I want predictability from, and that’s the entire appeal of the sports genre as a rule. FIFA will still end up being my most played game between this year and the next, and FIFA 11 will continue in that tradition until they over-egg the engine and begin the gradual decline.
I mean, that’s why we love Halo, right? As great as ODST was, it’s hardly a ground-breaking title on any level whatsoever. There was a certain level of expectation to that game, and it delivered. If they altered it any further than they did, people would complain. It’s a little cynical for sure, as indicated by the whole attitude of “we have a release window, you have a year, make something”, but as long as the quality is there then I don’t think anybody really objects.
On a personal note, Uncharted 2 is the game that’s whetting my whistle the most at the moment. I cannot wait to get some hands-on time with Nathan Drake again – sequel or not!
BIGsheep - With ODST I can see what you mean, especially as I speak from a Halo fanboy’s point of view, but if they came out every year I could honestly see my interest waning. At the moment a Halo launch for me is a big event, one that only happens every two to three years. With the encroachment into an annual instalment they will undoubtedly destroy what I thought was so special about the lore.
Uncharted 2 is possibly going to be the next big purchase on the PS3 for me, and it’s been a while since I’ve had a good session on the sleek black box. I know a lot of people have been building it up for a while but the scores I’ve seen floating in have caught me unawares with the general media-wide praise it’s been receiving. It’s also a game that I can see Ali playing, given her liking for the Tomb Raider series and this seemingly like a spiritual successor to Lara’s adventures.
Are there any games you’d like to see take a break from their annual update and come back refreshed?
Manuel - Pro Evolution is the only one that really springs to mind, if only because they so desperately need to make up the quality gap with FIFA. I’m sure people would respect them more if they did so, as the incremental updates are breaking just as many things as they fix with that game. The new one is promising though, judging by the demo, but it’s still the same old ps2-era engine in the background.
The problem is, of course, that they can’t take a break for a year and risk losing a significant portion of their die-hard audience to a rival. I don’t know if Konami has the resources to put an additional dev team on that franchise to build an entirely new engine over a couple of years – in the way that EA did with FIFA ‘07 – but it’s the only logical route they can take. I guess that’s a large part as to why we’ll never see a lack of sequels around this time of year.
What about yourself? Anything you’d like to see take a Sam Fisher style hiatus?
BIGsheep - If you’d have asked me that question a year a go I would have told you Tony Hawks and Need For Speed. Both are as old as the hills and desperately needed a kickstart, even though Tony Hawks did attempt one a couple of years back with Project 8 but Skate blew it apart. Here they both are, though, with fresh ideas and a new direction. I’m impressed particularly at what EA have done with NFS in the space of just twelve months; it’s gone from something that bounced from gimmick to gimmick and no seems to have emerged as a pretender to GT/Forza’s throne. Quite a turn around and it will be interesting to see what all those fans who bought into the previous incarnations make of it.
As for Mr Hawk, I was very excited to see their new direction and no matter you say about yet another plastic peripheral from Activision, the use of it in this game I thought was ingenious. What could be more like skating than skating? And I speak from the point of view of someone who used to travel around a skateboard for a few years but couldn’t trick to save his life. This would finally move me into realms that I had previously had only ever dreamt about.
However, looking at my news feeds this afternoon I see the game is going to retail at £99. I’m sorry, Tony, I just can’t justify dropping that much money on a fake board.
I make my living as a programmer at a British games developer. In my spare time I try and spread myself between writing, gaming, drumming, goalkeeping, rolling dice and keeping my hair blue. Somewhere around that my wife fits in.
Disclaimer: the views expressed are my own and do not neccessarily reflect those of my employer. "
