f13.net

It might be a little early for this since we aren't out of the holidays yet, but a lot of Q1 release dates have been solidified lately (or as solidified as release dates can get).

Clicking on each games' name should link you to the relevent discussion thread where available.  Portable games have not been listed since I don't generally follow portables at all.  Also not every release from Jan to March has been listed.  Some due to not having a very solid release date (Modnation Racers for instance), and some due to what I figure to be a lack of interest here (the Army of Two sequel, or Red Steel 2 for instance).  Some of those may be added in later.  I might also add in pre-order bonus information later.


Bayonetta - PS3, 360 - January 5th (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=18391.0)




Darksiders - PS3, 360 - January 5th




Dark Void - PC, PS3, 360 - January 19th



MAG - PS3 - January 26th (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=17807.0)




Mass Effect 2 - PC, 360 - January 26th (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=16240.0)




Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom - Wii - January 26th




White Knight Chronicles - PS3 - February 2nd




Star Trek Online - PC - February 2nd (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=13471.0)



Bioshock 2 - PC, PS3, 360 - February 9th (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=16361.0)




Dante's Inferno - PS3, 360 - February 9th
 



Aliens Vs. Predator - PC, PS3, 360 - February 16th (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=18402.0)




Heavy Rain - PS3 - February 23rd




Napoleon: Total War - PC - February 23rd (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=14813.0)




Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - PC, PS3, 360 - March 2nd (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=18193.0)




Supreme Commander 2 - PC, 360 - March 2nd (360 on the 16th)



Yakuza 3 - PS3 - March 9th



Final Fantasy XIII - PS3, 360 - March 9th (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=18272.0)




Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising - PC - March 11th




Resonance of Fate - 360, PS3 - March 16th



Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening - PC, 360, PS3 - March 16th



God of War 3 - PS3 - March 16th (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=17893.0)




Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight - PC - March 16th



Just Cause 2 - PC, PS3, 360 - March 23rd




Portable Games

Sands of Destruction - DS - Jan 12
Story by Masato Kato (Chrono Trigger/Cross) and gameplay by the guys behind Luminous Arc; looks to feature good ole turn based combat.


Puzzle Chronicles - DS, PSP, PSN, XBLA, PC - Feb 2
Another Puzzle Quest; this one with more Tetris style gameplay. Looks like they're actually animating the "battles" that take place as you fight, as well.


Ragnarok Online - DS - Feb 16
While not an MMO, this action RPG features 3 player online co-op and promises a good amount of character customization, along with randomly generated dungeons.


Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey - DS - March 23
The SMT series returns to its roots with a new first-person RPG for the DS.



Edit: Portable games added courtesy of Rendakor.  Made portable games a separate section due to the fact that I like the way it looks when I open up all the spoilers in the console section.

Edit 2: Just Cause 2 and Yakuza 3 added.

Waaaait, ME2 is 2 discs? I am torn between  :awesome_for_real: and  :ye_gods:.

Definitely turning these into referral links later. Also, 2010? Best year ever.

Anyone been following Supreme Commander 2?

Only enough to know they are reworking the economy stuff so as to make resource management tolerable.  It'll probably be a bargain bin title for me to be honest.

No mention of Just Cause 2?  The first was enjoyable enough and the second looks like it's amping up the crazy (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/vehicular-stunts-just-cause-2/59712) some more.

I wouldn't go that far, unless you're privy to some release information everyone else isn't. 

Definately better than '09, though.

I'd actually agree with schild.  Q1 2010 is going to be insane.  Turns out that MW2 was good for something after all.

I am, and it will be. Probably the best year for gaming since 1999-2000.

Like I said, there's stuff I might add in later.  Just Cause wasn't a particularly well received title, which is why 2 didn't make the initial cut.  Neither did Army of 2 40th day, No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, Blur, Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce, Everquest II: Sentinels Fate, Red Steel 2, Lego Harry Potter, Two Worlds 2, and a few other games for various reasons.

Fair enough.  

ME2, MAG, Heavy Rain, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and GT:5, and TOR (mildly interested), APB (very interested), and TSW (hopefully!) for MMOs...that's all I'm really looking forward to that I know of.

That's more good games than came out any year out of the last 4. Just to put it in perspective.

There's a lot of potentially good stuff coming in 2010 even beyond what I listed in the first post.  Some of it is actually scheduled for sometime in Q1 (I generally didn't include anything yet that hasn't at least been narrowed down to a particular month), and some of it is scheduled for later, but in addition to the games listed above, this year also brings us Mod Nation Racers, Dead Rising 2, the first part of Starcraft 2, Alpha Protocol, Alan Wake, and The Last Guardian among other stuff. 

Of course for better or worse, it's also going to bring us the PS3 Wand, and Natal.

I though JC was pretty well-liked, despite it's obvious connections to last-gen gaming, and would recommend it to 360 owners since it can be had used (spinning treetops and all) for under $10 and will deliver stupid fun.  The franchise's stock went up when Mercs 2 turned out to be something of a clusterfuck and Pandemic got shuttered, since I really like the idea of raising hell in an open-world 3rd world country.   Hell, I enjoyed Ao2 and am looking forward to the 40th Day, but I attribute that mostly to having someone that I play with in co-op (co-op being worth +2 score on a 5-point scale in my book)  regularly.  Most of the rest I can see omitting, though.

Why the hell would No More Heroes not make any cut?  Only reason to own a Wii.

Good god that line up is brutal.  There's no possible way I can sneak that past the wife.  I'm doomed.

6 sight unseen must buys and a whole lot of interest in most of the rest.  Gyah.

edit: I'm seeing Mass Effect 2 and getting a little pissed off.  All of my save games are on the 360.  I'd rather have it on the PC or PS3. :tantrum:

No doubt.  I look at that lineup and say, 'Welp, there goes $600.'

C'est la vie.

I was just saying the same thing to schild about ME2.  I'd rather get the PC version, but will have to stick to the 360 for now. 

No More Heroes is something I'll likely add to the list eventually.  Just putting together what I did was somewhat time consuming.  It didn't get included in the initial post because... well, because the first one was a bit of a flop, and very few people here seem to be avid Wii gamers.  Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom only made the initial cut by virtue of the fact that it's part of the Vs. series which is fairly well regarded due to the Marvel Vs. Capcom games.  That and my knowledge of Wii games is only slightly better than my knowledge of portable games.

If schild or any of you mods want to edit in stuff that you feel should make the cut, I won't be offended.  Otherwise I'll take any suggestions and add them in when I have the time.

TvC is the only Wii game that matters for all of 2010.

Waiting for hi-def version. Guess my Wii will stay off for another year.

Especially since NMH is already coming to the HD twins and invariably the sequel(s) will as well.

I see Mass Effect 2 (PC)... and then Bad Company 2 (PC) and Final Fantasy XIII (360) if they're not-crap on systems I'd like to play them on.

I knew it was going to be a good year, but damn :heart:

I'll be honest, but there isn't much on that list I'm really excited for.  My hope for 2010 is HL2: Episode 3  :ye_gods:

You are possibly a bad person.  Definitely a bad gamer.  :awesome_for_real:

None of them ring my bell either, but I'm fairly specific in which type of games get me excited. I can, at least, see why others are excited, surely that gets me a point or something.

Here's some handheld* love; feel free to edit it into the OP if you're so inclined.



Sands of Destruction - DS - Jan 12
Story by Masato Kato (Chrono Trigger/Cross) and gameplay by the guys behind Luminous Arc; looks to feature good ole turn based combat.

Puzzle Chronicles - DS, PSP, PSN, XBLA, PC - Feb 2
Another Puzzle Quest; this one with more Tetris style gameplay. Looks like they're actually animating the "battles" that take place as you fight, as well.

Ragnarok Online - DS - Feb 16
While not an MMO, this action RPG features 3 player online co-op and promises a good amount of character customization, along with randomly generated dungeons.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey - DS - March 23
The SMT series returns to its roots with a new first-person RPG for the DS.


*And by handheld, I mean DS, since there isn't shit coming out for PSP besides another Lunar game.

Edited to add that Puzzle Chronicles is coming to multiple platforms.

Persona 3: Portable will come out stateside... eventually.

This is the Q1 thread, not the Soon(tm) thread.

True.  Any reference to "release dates" on "handhelds" sends me searching for a P3P release date.  When not found, there's much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

It's a sickness, I know.

Bayonetta - PS3, 360 - January 5th
Probably.

Darksiders - PS3, 360 - January 5th
Pics look alright. Never heard of it. WTF is it?

Dark Void - PC, PS3, 360 - January 12th
Pics look alright. Never heard of it. WTF is it?

MAG - PS3 - January 26th
Possibly. I'll at least try the demo.

Mass Effect 2 - PC, 360 - January 26th
Eventually. But no rush.

Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom - Wii - January 26th
Oh, it's on the Wii. How cute.

White Knight Chronicles - PS3 - February 2nd
Looks JRPG-Tastic.

Star Trek Online - PC - February 2nd
Oh, I'm sure this will be good.

Bioshock 2 - PC, PS3, 360 - February 9th
Very Likely. $5 steam sale ahoy!

Dante's Inferno - PS3, 360 - February 9th
Looks God-of-War-tastic. Might have potential.

Heavy Rain - PS3 - February 16th
Pics look alright. Never heard of it. WTF is it?

Splinter Cell: Conviction - PC, 360 - February 23rd
Hopefully Worthwhile.

Lost Planet 2 - PC, PS3, 360 - Februrary 23rd
Also has potential.

Napoleon: Total War - PC - February 23rd
I've bought like 8 Total War games and bever enev installed any of them, aside from a day-long flirtation with Rome.

Aliens Vs. Predator - PC, PS3, 360 - February
Hopefully not as bad as Rogue Warrior. Potential. Please.

God of War 3 - PS3 - March
This is a given.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - PC, PS3, 360 - March 2nd
Lots of potential in both directions.

Supreme Commander 2 - PC, 360 - March 2nd (360 on the 16th)
Fuck RTS

Final Fantasy XIII - PS3, 360 - March 9th
FF does nothing for me personally.

Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight - PC - March 16th
Fuck RTS

Gran Turismo 5 - PS3 - March (Japan)
And fuck serious racers, too.

Out of everything mentioned so far, I can only muster interest in ME2 (mostly because I worked on it), APB, and Napoleon: Total War.

Plus Jumpgate Evolution, if it makes it out the door this quarter.

I'll be buying FF first day, possibly Dark Rain and SupCom2 first week depending on initial reactions around here.

For sure at some point:
I will buy Bayonetta eventually
Mass Effect 2

Possibly later:
I will buy White Knight eventually if somebody here says its worth it.

Yay, a lot of stuff coming out with PC versions. Even though I'm sure a lot of it is going to be console ports. Especially "dark void" which for some reason screams out console in its appearance even if I'm not sure why.

I need to go buy mass effect and play it. Bio-shock as well. Sure they're both cheap on steam now. Lots of nice RPG action on the PC.

I have no interest in Battlefield : Bad Company, but if they don't price gouge on steam and have a full featured release for the PC I'd almost feel obligated to buy it.

Not many MMO's though. STO reeks of suck, WoW Cataclysm is not interesting because it's an auto buy... Wonder if we'll see SWTOR next year. The secret world would be nice but a lot less likely.

APB is still being aimed for a release early next year (their site says Spring), and FFXIV is supposed to be a 2010 release as well, though they haven't announced a release date any more specific than that.

So far, I'm only really interested in Mass Effect 2. I expect there'll be something else that pops up in Q1, of course.

Yeah, Just Cause 1 delivered a surprisingly large amount of fun. The only thing that really turned me off of it was the shockingly-designed road races when I was trying to 1000 my games rather than just finish them and move on. I should re-learn how to play it and finish it, since it's something I'd say deserves to be finished. Blur also has potential - made by the PGT guys with that Kudos shit thrown out, some weapons, and a more arcadey feel. Well, not a full-price purchase, but unless they fuck it up, I'd be looking at it as a bargain-binner. The latest Dynasty Warriors and Lego games will be fished out of the bargain bin when I finiah off their earlier cousons that I already own. Ao2-40th might also make the bargain bin, depending on how much fun the $10 part 1s give me in co-op.

ME2, Dark Void, Splinter Cell: Conviction, AVP and probably Bad Company 2. If SWTOR and TSW come out, I'll hop on those too, but otherwise, that's about it.

Me, too. ME2 is the only title I'm interested in. Bioshock 2 as a steam special in 2011.

Apparently, Yakuza 3 is coming here in March (http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/12/yakuza-3-marches-west) as well.

That's certainly a surprise.

This for me too, although I may end up getting Supreme Commander 2 also. Maybe Napoleon.

Has the total war series gotten around to 16:9 support yet?

Dunno, I skipped Empire.

Missed (or maybe just cruelly ignored) in the initial list:

Ace Attorney Investigations in February for the US (http://www.gamespot.com/ds/adventure/gyakutenkenji/index.html)

 :drill:

Whatever happened to Mafia II?

I'm always dubious and wary about games that slip for too long.

Bad Company 2
MAG
ME2
maybe Darksiders

Decent enough lineup, but nothing I am really overly excited about.

I'm going to be so happy in February.  My god!  Time to buy a new charger for my DS.   :heart:

I'm looking forward to Red Steel 2, Napoleon (though I'm not sure my computer can handle the fucking thing), and maybe Mass Effect 2 once I get finished with 1.

Darksiders is the first game that will be released by Vigil, who are also the developers on the Warhammer 40k MMO.  The studio was co-founded by Joe Madureira, who is a fairly well known comic book artist (with a reputation for working at a glacial pace) and is the game's creative director.  From what I've seen of the game (and it's not something I've been following particularly closely) it reminds me of Soul Reaver in a lot of ways.

Dark Void is being published by Capcom, and developed by Airtight Games (largely made up of former FASA Studios staff, and recently joined by Kim Swift, lead developer on Portal).  Again, another game that I haven't been following too closely until recently, it comes across to me as a futuristic version of the Rocketeer.  Gameplay seems to be a mix of on the ground combat and air combat (a lot of people involved worked on Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge).

Heavy Rain, you'd be better off just watching some video of.  It's easily my most anticipated game of Q1, and I'm sure it's somewhere near the top of schild's list also.

Are they plugging TW: Napoleon as Empire that actually works? Because I'm not falling for any more of their traps unless it's about WWI and kicking Kaiser ass.

Does anyone plug their game as something that doesn't work?  Anyhow, there's a decent preview at IGN. (http://pc.ign.com/articles/105/1053026p2.html)

No but they could plug the fact that the AI was the main focus instead of just looking great on your FLASHY NEW AWESOME MONITORS AND VIDEO CARDS!

Eliminate the console chaff and a few '19th in the series' derivative retreads, that just leaves you with maybe ME2, Bioshock2, and fucking Star Trek?


I'm not even excited for TW, especially not 1 year after Empire, for what is transparently an expansion pack being sold at full price. Meh, Q1 sucks every year.

Least we always have EVE and endless Dragon Age DLC.

Mass Effect 2 (I wish I could sleep the next 45 or so days off and just wakeup on release day!), Final Fantasy XIII (probably) and Bioshock 2. White Knight looks pretty generic but I love me some JRPGs so I'll probably cave eventually. Though I doubt it'll be on release.

Your face is console chaff.

That line up could justify the purchase of a PS3.

Why? And I'm asking that seriously. I don't follow this shit like some of you people, so I like to hear why this is so exciting.

Media blackout on Heavy Rain for me. Go look up trailers.

Oh! Vigil!
They of Vaginass' fame!

Hm, I guess all three have potential. I'll see what the reviews are like when they come out before investing time in following them beforehand. At least I know what to keep an eye out for now.

Heavy Rain and God of War 3 mostly.  MAG, White Knight Chronicles, and Yakuza 3 (with GT5 hitting either during Q1 or shortly after) are just gravy.  At this point, you probably know whether or not you like the God of War games.  As for Heavy Rain, like schild says, just watch the videos.  1Up has a pretty lengthy interview with the director, as well as some other videos (http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3150340).  Or check out Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy if you haven't already.  Same team, and more or less the same kind of game but they've now had four years and since then and a lot of funding from Sony to iron out a lot of the issues.

Watched a Heavy Rain vid. looks lovely, but I'm not sold. It looks like it might play like Dragon's Lair: 2010 edition. I'll wait for the reviews and the Day1 report from f13's eager consumers.

Yea I am not sold either, Heavy Rain look like Ninja Blade without the ninjas or fun. From the videos I have seen so far it is essentially a choose your own adventure game via Quicktime events. The technology behind the game is certainly impressive but I worry there may not be much 'game' to back it all up.

I played this at PAX this year and it was one of the best demos I played while there.  It reminded me of the visceral fun I had the first time I played God of War.    The art, animation, controls and combat just felt intuitive and right.

Another game I saw and really liked at PAX, but was not in the OP is Split Second (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_Second_(video_game))  (Set to release 2/16/10).  I'm usually not a big fan of racing games (except for mario kart), but this game was really fun to play.  This differs from a typical racer because the course is littered with opportunities for all kinds of madness to transpire.  I'm not sure exactly how the rules work but as you drive through the course you can trigger these things to happen with split second (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/strategy-walkthrough-split-second/59591) quicktime events. 

A basic example would be I see a gas tanker up ahead, and get the triangle button flashing on the screen for a second.  If I hit it, the gas tanker will explode possibly taking out other racers near it. 

The exploding gas truck is actually a pretty tame example of the insanity transpiring on the race course. I had one of those rare, OMGDIDTHATJUSTHAPPEN gaming moments as I rounded the corner to see a 747 jet crash landing down the course.

Split Second doesn't currently have an announced release date.  Any date you see right now is just a retail or game site estimate.  Gamestop for instance currently has it listed for May.

So it's Fahrenheit without the crazy demons.

Paelos - White Knight, MAG, and FXIII added onto the list of Uncharted 2, Demon's Souls and the multitude of PSN games.

It's really a personal preference that has me interested in buying a PS3.

From what I've heard, Vigil has existed as an incorporated studio for 10 years, but has never actually shipped a game.

At this point I suspect I'm the only gamer on the planet that hasn't played God of War. Something about Kratos rubs me wrong and so I haven't been motivated to try it.

This has yet to be proven.  And the demons weren't the problem with Fahrenheit, it was the sudden merging of sci fi into horror fantasy for no real reason that took it over the shark for me.

Dante's Inferno demo should be up for the PS3 today.  360 version won't be out until Christmas Eve.

I skipped GoW until I tried the GoW 3 demo.  At first it was  :drill:.  So I bought the GoW 1 & 2 discs.  When I saw things repeating in the GoW 3 demo from GoW 1 it turned to  :oh_i_see:.  Depending on what I see in GoW 2 I may cancel my GoW 3 preorder in favor of basically every game listed in this thread.

EDIT:  Played GoW 2.  I'm canceling GoW 3.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripyat has been confirmed for February.  I'll add it into the OP when some more screenshots and video pop up.

Sounds like success to me!

Well, in terms of someone is fucking paying these people (and their rent, utilities, equipment). VC moneys?

The Dante's Inferno demo was fun but it pales in comparison to the presentation in the Bayonetta or GoW 3 demos.  However I liked the combat in Dante's Inferno (weapon, ranged/spells, holy/unholy upgrades and the absolve/punish thing) more than GoW 3's.  Plus going to hell is a nice scenery change.  But I don't understand why Dante's wife was topless.  It's like that reporter in Dexter who was topless once an episode.

Oh I forgot one more thing, I love how GoW 3 handles QTE's by placing the button notification on a side of the screen corresponding to the button's placement on the controller (circle pops up on the right side of the screen, triangle on the top, etc.) which opens up the screen and makes QTE's easier.  Dante's Inferno should lift that idea too because it's current QTE button notification is terrible.

/raises hand

Never played it. Don't even know the basic premise or what genre it is.

Haven't played it, not particularly interested.

It's DMC set in mythical ancient Greece with bladed chain whips instead of guns and more platforming.

Now, what is DMC?  :oh_i_see:

I'm glad you asked, because now I don't look stupid.  Stupider.

I've been considering the GoW 1/2 pack, but I don't really know what the fuck this game is.  I do remember the .gif that went around with the protagonist disgustingly ripping off someone's head, and that was pretty cool.

Edit:  Oh wait, I just figured it out.  So GoW is like Devil May Cry?  I've just gone all flaccid again.

(http://justrealeyez.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/dmc.jpg)

[/obviousanswer]

Heh that was my first thought as well. Word!

GoW is DMC without the huge leather wearing cock in your ass.

Had some fun with GoW when it was on PS2 but didn't finish it.  I think I'm getting the PS3 collection for christmas. 

Just played the Dante's Inferno demo on PSN.  It's an absolutely shameless GoW ripoff, but it's pretty well done at least.  Character movement felt fluid enough to me that I think I'll pick it up at launch.

Also keeping my eye on FFxiii, ME2 and Darksiders.  Going to be an expensive winter.

I don't really think it's all that much like Devil May Cry.  Superficially it's similar in that you do combo's, and the longer the combo the more orbs you get to spend on upgrades.  The games feel completely different to me though in every other respect.  The combat is paced differently, GoW has more platforming and puzzles, the story and setting in GoW are much better, the boss fights are better designed... I could go on an on.  I really dislike DMC 2-4, and DMC 1 I only found fun in sort of an arcade game style.  GoW 1 and 2 are some of my favorite games in recent memory.

The majority of "platforming" in GoW is moving across beams/ropes and climbing walls.  Both of which induce rage.

Fuck Dante's Inferno. It's such a shameless rip-off it's pathetic, even the UI is exactly the same fucking thing. Not to mention the whole "EXXXTREME LITERATURE!!!" angle.

Plus it sucks compared to Bayonetta anyway. I suppose it's a competent GOW clone but nothing spectacular.

Ghost tits!

Oh, you've played it at retail? How was it? What's THE FUTURE LIKE?

Every game in that style is technically like DMC. DMC was the first.

God of War and Devil May Cry aren't really all that similar other than that they are 3D action/adventure games. Devil May Cry is much more combat centric, while God of War is much more about the adventure and scope of the game as well as the art production.

God of War is meant to capture the feel of an epic pulpy adventure and it does that very well, whereas Devil May Cry is more akin to an over-the-top action movie. The mechanics of God of War are fairly simple and vanilla, whereas Devil May Cry has gotten progressively more complex and a large part of the game is exploring the combat mechanics.

Put another way, God of War is the Castlevania to DMC's Contra.


This is one example of a place where they should have copied more. They are basically unreadable, I thought it was prompting to shake the stick when in fact it was to press a button. I shudder to think of hard QTE's using those notifications.

Apparently the PS3 version of Dante's Inferno is essentially a Collector's Edition of the game but for the same price as the 360 version.  It contains:

What the hell? Early year is the time to catch up on games that you didn't have time to play at the end of the previous year. What are the studios trying to do to us?

That would require more than 3 games worth playing to have been released over the holiday season.

Well, my 360 just red ringed so I guess I have an excuse to buy the PC version now.  I mean, I'll likely have my 360 back by then, but I'd rather have the PC version at this point anyway.  Funny thing is, I hadn't used my 360 in a few months, and it was working fine back then.  Popped in Mass Effect to finish the last few achievements I needed and it upped and died on me.

Because there's no thread that I can find (or searching sucks), Heavy Rain preview from ars:

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/12/its-boring-until-its-not-the-subtle-genius-of-heavy-rain.ars

Free launch day DLC for Heavy Rain pre-orders. (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177383)

From that list, only ME2. And JC2, after seeing the video linked in this thread, for open world hijinx.

Removed Lost Planet 2 from the list.  Monster Hunter Tri, Super Street Fighter IV, and Dead Rising 2 also won't be coming out during Q1 due to the crowded release schedule (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177449).

Games running away from games that ran away from Modern Warfare 2 :awesome_for_real:.

More like the consequences of cutting payrolls to support your stock price.  You can't guarantee your product for the shelves on or near Black Friday (because your schedule already called for an unrelenting death march), so they tell you to fuck off until Q1.  MW2 is the beneficiary of the drought, not the cause.

--Dave

What's up with Darksiders?  It's got the best chance of getting post-xmas gift money but I don't know what it's like.  Is it a GOW clone ala Dante's?

Clone, but without the charm of Greek Myth. Even a blatant ripoff of Kratos/Ares, with some other character being a personification of "war". Except it's not myth or stylized. It's inspired by more modern Bible thumping themes. Meh. GOW3 will be here soon.

Ooh, didn't know a Tropico was coming out..

Anyone seen Darksiders yet?  Reviews have been leaning more towards Zelda gameplay than GoW.  Seems to have an open world past the first hour, with dungeons ala Zelda.  That's only what I'm reading.  Metacritic has maybe 8 reviews up and it's at an 87% so far. 

I'm interested in hearing what people think before I drop my last gift card on it.

I've seen several clips of Darksiders and it looks great.  Much more like Zelda (puzzles, weapons, combat and style) than GoW (there is a combo counter, but I haven't seen anyone string combos).  Here's two Dev walkthrough clips from July '09 with minor spoilers on the early levels: 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iYcWdr32A8) 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7NMpS_kNQ0)

I played to the first boss at PAX.  It had the intuitive combat flow of God of War, but with a meaty character that carries the same kind of gravitas as in Gears of War.  Nothing in the first level was particulary puzzly, just a couple jump/climb areas and perhaps figuring out how to blast through a wall.  It felt good to play.

I like the movies - I'll probably pick it up tomorrow.  Looks like something I'd enjoy.

hm, I might look out for the demo of Darksiders in that case. Certainly put it on my list of stuff to check out.

They're not doing one, apparently.  Back at e3 they said they were doing one, but then just a few weeks ago in an interview they said they ran out of time. 

Sadly, I bought the game on Tuesday morning and haven't even opened it yet.  Too busy. 

Another delay hits with Splinter Cell: Conviction being pushed back until April.

Edit:  Also GT5 is getting it's March release in Japan pushed back, with no new release date listed.

Blurph.

its

Fuck off.

I am playing ME again to refresh my memory. Still hate the animation, mostly the running animation. But still, the game rocks. However, I see a lot I would like to have from DA:O in ME... better be in ME2

I'll consider it.

So, White Knight Chronicles is also Dark Cloud Online.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/01/white-knight-chronicles-international-edition-online-tutorial/

 :Love_Letters:

Yeah, that's the part that makes me really excited about this game.   The online stuff looks fabulous.

Looks like a day 1 purchase for me.  Actually, I'll likely give FFxiii a pass because WKC looks more up my alley.

Thank god that's coming out next month. I've been doing exactly what the thread tells me not to.. "Blowing all my money over the holidays" and then some.  :grin:

This. I just cancelled my FFXIII preorder and put the cash on White Knight Chronicles.

I feel like praising Level 5 as better than Square would be wasted effort since I've been saying it since Dark Cloud.

Both Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2 were games I played before finding F13, but it's good to see that some others enjoyed them.  I beat DC1 and got lost in DC2 and never finished it.  DC2 was thick and I'm hoping for more of the same with WKC. 

I liked DC 1&2, but didn't care for Rogue Galaxy. Square, on the other hand, gets a lot of credit from a lot of us because they made a lot of great games. On the SNES and PSX.

I prefer the ideas of DC1&2 to Rogue Galaxy but prefer the implementation and actual execution in Rogue Galaxy. That said, all 3 are more entertaining than anything Square has released since FFVI, or if we're being kind, Vagrant Story. But then, Vagrant Story was flanked by Threads of Fate (Dew Prism) and Legend of Mana. Whereas Rogue Galaxy wasn't flanked by anything that makes me cringe and hurt inside.

I loved Legend of Mana.  Probably one of the last Square games I can say that about.  That said, from the ps2 era on, there are a number of jrpg developers you could say are better than Square.  Really, that's faint praise these days.

Jagged Alliance 3 has apparently been confirmed for first quarter 2010. I'm not going to link the source because i'm lazy, but i'll look it up in a day or two.

I like Square up until Square stopped being Square, I guess.  :grin: FFX and X-2 are still pretty cool imo.

I've only played DC1 and Rogue Galaxy, I'm not sure I can compare them to anything but Square's more action oriented games.. But they are definitely in that respect.

Now that's news. Last month there was a story that Akella had dropped the game and wasn't working on it.

Looks like Dark Void is getting some pretty bad reviews. (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/darkvoid).

Also, Bioshock 2 is now up for pre-order on Steam.  Pre-orders come with free copies of Bioshock 1, although I expect anyone who pre-orders the sequel would likely already have the original.  They're also doing a four pack for 134.97 (which breaks down to about $33.74 each).

216 US$ for the bioshock 2 four pack in Australia, 72 US$ for the single. Looks like another game to wait on or buy from play-Asia.

I approve of you getting it from Play-Asia. /pimps link up top

Yeah, seriously. Get your console games from Play-Asia or one of the UK places that import here.
Unless you don't like saving 40-80% on your games compared to EB's asking price and not much less than that from JB's.

If you're wabting BS on PC via Steam, see if people here on f13 are going to get it, and see if they'll be willing to do a 4-pack and split it. That's how I got my PC Borderlands. Start a thread!

Aliens Vs. Predator seems to be locked in for a February 16th release date.  Pre-order is up on Steam now for $49.99, and comes with a free copy of Universe at War (which isn't much of a deal) as well as the same 3 pre-order skins all the other stores are giving out.

People who are picking this up on the console have the option of a $99 "Hunter Edition" which includes a fully articulated facehugger model among other bonuses.

Info on AVP is pretty spartan still. I can't find the tech requirements anywhere either.

I might pre-order the PC version (we get the full monty with facehugger on PC here) and then wait a few days after release to see if the actual facehugger is any good before decifing which way to go, like I did with the Batarang (it was shit, so I cancelled the pre- and got something else).

If it seems to be good and has a decent co-op mode, I can then get 2 of them for 360 via play-asia, if I can talk my wife into being interested.

AvP Co-op will be glorious. You will die* for implying otherwise.

*In-game.

Have they announced anything about it yet?

Just a reminder that in addition to the games listed here in the first post (ME2, MAG, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom), No More Heroes 2 also released today to surprisingly good reviews so far (in that in the few reviews that have been done on it so far, it is scoring a good deal higher than the original).

Are they releasing this one on the 360/PS3 as well at a later date?

Metro 2033 has been given a March 16th release date (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/journey-into-metro-2033/61483).  Trailer linked for people not familiar with it, but it's an Eastern European game (some of the people that worked on it used worked on the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game), based on a Russian novel.  Looks like post-apocalyptic, survival-horror stuff.  Gotten a bit of good buzz so far from what little I've heard it mentioned, and pre-ordering on Steam gets you a free copy of Red Faction Guerrilla.

I can't wait for Metro.

I have NMH 2 but I haven't opened it yet, waiting until the weekend. Also got Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. And Killer 7.

Downloading the Heavy Rain demo now (you have to complete the thing on the precinct52.com website to get early access, or wait until the 11th).  Sadly, due to my work schedule I won't have time to try it until tomorrow night.

Kinda wish we had a random game news thread, but since one bit of news pertains to January's game sales, and the other to release dates, I'll just mention it here:

First, sales for most of the January releases really don't look too good (taken from the NPD thread on NeoGAF):


MAG's absence is somewhat understandable given it was only on sale for four days of this NPD period (although ME2 was also), but Bayonetta's absence is a little bit more startling.  And while Darksiders charted, the numbers there don't look to be the greatest either.


The other bit of news is that at Microsoft's X10 event today they announced the following release dates:

Splinter Cell Conviction - April 13th

Alan Wake - May 18th

Lost Planet 2 - May 18th

Dead Rising 2 - Aug. 31st (also announced 360 exclusive DLC taking place between the first and second game)

Fable 3 - Holiday Season.

What?

How is that surprising?

Because the low end of January's top 10 is only 171k.

Still not particularly shocking :|

Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War - Chaos Rising added to the list for March 11th.  Pre-order now up on Steam.

Bayonetta's price just dropped by 1/3 at my favorite UK vendor! Interestingly, AVP PC is being released there at 1/2 the cost of the console version...

Looks like Resonance of Fate was given a March 16th release a few days back.  Too lazy to put up box art or screenshots right now, but the Japanese version has gotten some positive buzz from people who've played it.  It's tri-Ace, which has a pretty spotty record, but I guess if FFXIII the week before doesn't end up being enough of an RPG for some peoples' tastes, it sounds like this might be a decent substitute.  The mechanics are supposed to be fairly complicated, which I guess could be a plus or minus depending on what you like out of your JRPG's.


Edit:  Also, fans of The Settlers might be interested to know that the sequel, The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, is releasing March 23rd.  Ubisoft also has an exclusive Gold Edition available for download in their online store. (http://digitalstore.ubi.com/9200/product/Buy-The-Settlers-7:-Paths-to-a-Kingdom-Gold-Edition-(With-FREE-Game)-Download)

Looks like Supreme Commander 2 is going to release within the month.   What are folks hearing about it?