Q1 2010 Releases: "Don't blow all your money over the holidays" Edition

[Azazel]

No mention of Just Cause 2?  The first was enjoyable enough and the second looks like it's amping up the crazy some more.

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.

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.

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.

[Surlyboi]

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.

[Sky]

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

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

[MisterNoisy]

Apparently, Yakuza 3 is coming here in March as well.

[caladein]

That's certainly a surprise.

[Ingmar]

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

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

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

[Sky]

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

[Ingmar]

Dunno, I skipped Empire.

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

Ace Attorney Investigations in February for the US

 

[Azazel]

Whatever happened to Mafia II?

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

[AcidCat]

Bad Company 2
MAG
ME2
maybe Darksiders

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

[trias_e]

Dunno, I skipped Empire.

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

Ace Attorney Investigations in February for the US

 

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

[HaemishM]

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.

[Velorath]

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?

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

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.

[Paelos]

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.

[Velorath]

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.

[Paelos]

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!

[eldaec]

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.

[Riggswolfe]

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.

[schild]

console chaff

Your face is console chaff.

[NiX]

That line up could justify the purchase of a PS3.

[Paelos]

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.

[schild]

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.

[Azazel]

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.

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.

[Velorath]

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.

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.  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.

[Azazel]

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.

[Phire]

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.

[stark]

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

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.

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.

[stark]

Another game I saw and really liked at PAX, but was not in the OP is Split Second  (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 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.

[Velorath]

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.

[NiX]

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.

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.

[Stormwaltz]

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 heard, Vigil has existed as an incorporated studio for 10 years, but has never actually shipped a game.

[Riggswolfe]

At this point, you probably know whether or not you like the God of War games. 

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.

[Ard]

So it's Fahrenheit without the crazy demons.

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.

[Velorath]

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

[ffc]

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.

I skipped GoW until I tried the GoW 3 demo.  At first it was  .  So I bought the GoW 1 & 2 discs.  When I saw things repeating in the GoW 3 demo from GoW 1 it turned to  .  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.