Gaming Addict

I should be really excited that there is a new Star Wars Battlefront game coming out, but I’m just not.  Probably because Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is planned as a PSP, Nintendo DS release.  I’m getting really tired of playing Battlefront on my PSP, and I’d like to switch to consoles now please.  I don’t understand Lucasarts.  You have this amazing medium of PS3 and better yet Xbox 360 for it’s Xbox Live set up, which would be perfect for Battlefront.  Yet still, no announcement on the game every Star Wars fan is waiting for.  

For what Elite Squadron is, the game still looks decent.  The big changes this time around are space and land battles that happen simultaneously, so you’re able to affect a space battle from the ground, and vice versa.  That means blasting ion cannons at a star destroyer, or taking the big guns in space and shooting at the ground, or even flying your X-wing or TIE fighter from space to the battles below.  Of course you’ll have to deal with a 5 second loading screen when you transition from land to space, but small price to pay.

Elite Squadron promises a revamped single player campaign as well.  We all know Star Wars Battlefront games in the past had throwaway senseless single player campaigns, but Elite Squadron promises to change things this time out.  No details on how that will change, just that the story spans the entire 6 episode Star Wars saga.  

But really, give us Star Wars Battlefront for consoles already.  I’m dying to take the game out on Xbox Live, where I can talk to friends and formulate strategy while we take down some hopeless chumps in multiplayer.

If you’re a fan of Square-Enix you’ve no doubt noticed that one of their most favorite things to do is post vague countdown timers on their website, to announce brand new titles.  Well they’ve had a new one up for some time now, and it’s gone as far as the picture seen above.  The problem with the countdown this time around though, is that the secret has already been leaked.  Apparently this is to announce a new Final Fantasy title for Nintendo DS, called Final Fantasy Gaiden, but also referred to as the Four Warriors Of Light.

Rumor has it that the game focuses on a 14 year old boy and his quest to save a princess.  You’ll have three other party members, and the game will be a more traditional menu based RPG.  I’m most excited because the artwork is being designed by Yoshida, who’s previous exploits include Final Fantasy Tactics, and Final Fantasy XII.  So this is set up to be a pretty cool game, and although I’m not exactly a big fan of the DS, I’ll definitely be willing to pick up my handheld and give a completely new Final Fantasy a shot.   Especially one that’s more in the vein of previous FF adventures.

Legacy Interactive has announced a brand new Nintendo DS, Wii and PC title currently in production based on the television show House.  The game will feature five cases for you to solve using the same actual medical procedures, and crazy diagnostician techniques from the show.  And oh yes, breaking into patients homes to find out more about them will be an included feature.

As a fan of House all of this is sounding fairly entertaining, even considering how horrid most television series cash-ins tend to be.  But Legacy Interactive has a good history of medical/detective based games in the past, and House falls into those categories, so the game is in good hands.  Although there is still one glaring disappointment that will still make me weary of playing the game.

Hugh Laurie is a brilliant actor.  In case you didn’t know, he’s British, and that’s a flawless American accent that he uses on House, and in so doing he’s created a unique style of speaking and emoting for everyone’s favorite ornery doctor.  But Hugh Laurie is also a big star, and landing someone like him for a videogame would add a massive amount to the low budget for a game like this, meaning his services won’t be provided, and Dr. House will have to be voiced by a sound-a-like voice actor.  And that makes me nervous.

I’ve played Star Wars games in the past with Obi-Wan Kenobi sound-a-likes, and the unique way Ewan McGregor spoke in the prequels seemed lost on them, resulting in laughably bad dialogue deliveries.  I really hope that doesn’t happen with House…as that would make the game almost unplayable to me, but I’ll still give it a fair shot.

Warner Bros is taking the reins of the Lord of the Rings movie/game tie-ins, and are going to start us off by basically remaking the games that have come before.  First up is Lord Of The Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, which is just a rehash of the same battles and events you’ve already played through from the films, only this time you’re only given the choice of playing as Aragorn.  The game is going to be released for DS, PSP, PS2, and Nintendo Wii, which also means we won’t get a cool glossy and beautiful ‘next-gen’ LOTR world to play through, meaning this really is going to be nothing but rehash of what you’ve already done before.

Lame, is all I have to say, completely and utterly lame.

I don’t really find myself interested in any ‘unique’ take on Aragorn’s quests, at least not with last-gen technology, or motion control gimmicks.  I want new LOTR experiences, with battles that push the scale and ability of the Xbox 360 and PS3, with graphics that make you feel a part of Middle-Earth.  I don’t want to play yet another LOTR PS2 game, or a gimmicky DS game…although some cool epic battles on the go would be awesome for PSP considering the 3D rendering ability of the handheld.

But still…new experiences, not rehashed cash-ins…please Warner, take that to heart.  

Once again my disappointment with Lucasarts knows no bounds.  There is in fact a new Star Wars Battlefront game on the horizon, but not in the way that we were all hoping.  If there is in fact to be a ‘next-gen’ Battlefront, we’re certainly going to have to wait for some time, as the only release coming up will be for PSP and DS.  Which to me, once more, means Lucasarts is cutting corners, likely because of the hits they’ve taken in the economic recession.  And I understand having to cut corners when the economy sucks, but it still pisses me off.  

I have two PSP Battlefront games, and they’re both damn near identical, just as this new Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron is destined to become.  I don’t want more crappy visuals combined with crappy controls Battlefront games.  I want the real thing, with awesome visuals that push 360 and PS3 to their limits, vehicles that rival the fun found in Halo 3’s vehicular carnage, and epic stages lifted straight from all six Star Wars films.  And something new, not the Hoth battle again, we’ve all done that to death, it’s time to let the lame Hoth stage die once and for all.

Please do a Battlefront game right!  We got an awesome Battlefront esque Lord Of The Rings game with LOTR: Conquest, and it was fantastic, from graphics down to battle scale, down to just how cool the combat itself was.  Step up Star Wars, give us a movie franchise battle game that we’ve all always wanted!

I understand I’m not exactly in the target demographic for these games, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t understand the appeal.  I just don’t get simulation games for things that are easy to do in real life.  I can understand like sport sims or something along those lines, because not everybody, in fact practically nobody, gets to play a sport at the professional level for a pro team.  But cooking?  Really?  You want to play a cooking game in which they try to get the Wii’s motion controls as close to real life as possible, but you don’t want to actually do something proactive and accomplish something in the real world by actually learning to cook?

Now I can understand kids playing Cooking Mama, because children really have no place around the dangers of the kitchen utensils and stove.  But Gardening Mama?  Anybody can garden can’t they?  And seriously, aren’t there better things to demo on the DS than virtual bulb sorting, soil tilling, or pest spraying?   I understand there are plenty of parents out there that want semi-educational as well as nonviolent videogame experiences like these for their kids.  But there’s really no videogame that’s completely educational, so just let your kids have fun with Mario, because those are nonviolent and ridiculously entertaining.

Enough with the pointless simulations that just feel tacked on to use gimmicky Nintendo ‘innovations’ like a touch screen or motion control.  

The first real details regarding Guitar Hero: Modern Hits for the Nintendo DS have been released by Activision, and this is sounding like yet another Guitar Hero game that you’ll end up buying.  Modern Hits is bringing about the World Tour-ish concept of deciding how to run your band as you progress though the Guitar Hero storyline, to the portable realm.  Which is cool because World Tour has been the best Guitar Hero to date.

Modern Hits will also bring a brand new feature to the Guitar Hero universe in the form of Fan Requests, in which the NPC audience will give you song requests, and in turn you can build your fan base by taking the requests and rocking their digital socks off.  While I’m not expecting a whole lot from the song list, after all how much money are they going to spend on licensing for a handheld game, I’m sure there we’ll all find plenty to play when all 25 proposed tracks are announced.

Also announced on the music game front, is the expected release date of the highly anticipated The Beatles: Rock Band, from developer Harmonix.  This is basically the same exact thing you’ve already played in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and will play again in Guitar Hero: Metallica, only this time it’s through the eyes of The Beatles.  Same Rock Band formula, only backed by the incredible Beatles catalogue of songs.  Grab it on Wii, Xbox 360 or PS3 on September 9th.

Bethesda has detailed what you can expect from the next Fallout 3 DLC pack The Pitt, and I’m actually intrigued.  Which is saying a lot, considering how I still feel burned by the travesty that was Operation Anchorage, this new DLC actually looks fairly promising.  This pack will take place in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, hence the title The Pitt, where the city has become a staging ground for a huge battle between Raiders and their slaves.  You’ll have the opportunity to infiltrate either side, if you like, by either disguising yourself as a slave to join their rebellion, or joining the Raiders in their bid to quell the uprising.

Bethesda promises somewhat of a twist ending to this new section of story, as well as some badass new weaponry.  Like the AutoAxe, which is sort of like a half axe half chainsaw weapon that looks really fun to use on some unsuspecting foes, or some suspecting ones. . .either way blood fuelled mayhem.  Meet your new best melee weapon friend:

Hopefully Bethesda will actually deliver this time, I’m putting my trust in them once again, mostly because I refuse to believe that the studio responsible for the fantastic post-release content that was developed for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, could screw us over again.  I’ll never forget the money I wasted on Operation Anchorage, but I’m willing to give Fallout 3’s DLC another try.

Remember how completely awesome the first DiRT was?  Well I do, and quite fondly, as I’m not much of a racer fan, but there was something ridiculously entertaining about DiRT.  And there’s good news if you happen to be a fan, as developer Codemasters has announced DiRT 2 which will be released in September on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP.  Promising a bigger World Tour mode, and more fantastic race tracks based on real-world environments, DiRT 2 is going to be everything you loved about the first game, with the enhanced graphics and controls that come with a sequel.

Speaking of games by Codemasters, the developer has just announced that June is going to be the month of Overlord, as three games in the franchise will be released throughout the month.  Overlord II for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, Overlord: Dark Legend for Wii, and Overlord: Minions for the Nintendo DS.

I loved the first Overlord, and if Codemasters has sorted out the issues with combat/control of your Overlord character, then I can see myself buying Overlord II and even Dark Legend on Wii.  I am after all, very intrigued to see how the Overlord concept of minions translates into the motion control format.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time is set to be the first cross platform multiplayer game, at least according to Square-Enix.  Echoes Of Time will offer an up to four person multiplayer experience, and each of those four people can play Echoes of Time on either their DS or Wii, and that’s pretty cool.  The notion that you can be at home playing the new FF Crystal Chronicles with your friends, or on the go with the DS’ Wi-Fi feature is fairly revolutionary, and something Sony should really employ through the use of their two consoles PSP and PS3.

The brilliance in this concept is pretty much enough to get me to try the new Crystal Chronicles.  I liked the last game, and will need something to play on my new DSi when I purchase one on April 5th, so I can continue being a slave to Nintendo’s technique of re-releasing the same console with like two new features every time, and always for a higher price point than the last game.

But the new DS might actually be worth a higher price, considering the addition of DSiWare, which will allow you to download games and applications straight to your DS.  Kind of iPhone clone-ish? Completely, but how is that  a bad thing?

There’s a new Dead Space game being developed exclusively for Wii, and it’s apparently going to be a prequel to the first game called Dead Space Extraction.  Taking place on Aegis VII mining colony, located in deep space, you’ll have to attempt to escape a horrific infection, in first-person view, with Wii motion controls.  Everyone with a Wii should be excited because Dead Space Extraction will bring the series’ trademark massive amounts of gore and violence, to the almost exclusively family friendly console.

That’s what keeps me interested, even though I wasn’t a huge fan of the first Dead Space.  The game was scary as hell, and gory as hell, two things you want from a survival horror game.  As long as the Wii version remains true to the series, and offers plenty of crap your pants/wince at the blood moments, I’m willing to give Extraction a try.

Remember the long rumoured Sin City game?  You know, the one based on the Frank Miller graphic novels, opposed to the film?  Well Red Mile Entertainment announced that unless they can receive $10,000,000 to keep the studio open, we may never see Sin City: The Game’s release.  And I guess that sort of bums me out, I did love the graphic novels, but I don’t know that Sin City would translate well to the videogame world.  Sin City seems more like a great story driven read for anybody with a high plot standard that’s also interested in comics, but I just don’t think the series has the massive amount of action a video game would require.

And finally, the last list of WWE wrestlers to be featured in the upcoming Legends Of Wrestlemania game has been announced, and is as follows:

• Ric Flair
• Arn Anderson
• Undertaker
• Paul Bearer
• Mr. Perfect
• Big Bossman
• Michael P.S. Hayes
• Ultimate Warrior
• Koko B. Ware

Once again, not a wrestling fan, but if you happen to be, go nuts.

Sadness, at least I would call this a sad event anyway, as EA announced Bioware’s brand new RPG awesomeness Dragon Age: Origins will be delayed into late 2009, meaning we all have to wait practically a year still to play brand new Bioware goodness.  That disappoints me, considering how fantastic all of Bioware’s console RPG’s have been, Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic, Jade Empire, and the greatest action RPG ever conceived, Mass Effect.

And Dragon Age: Origins sounds unbelievably cool, considering the massive amount of possible paths you will be able to take with this game.  Such as the first awesome feature of Origins, in which you realistically play through your chosen main character’s beginnings.  Let’s say you want to play as a Dwarf, a Dwarf noble specifically, then you will start as a part of the royal family in one of the Dwarven cities.  Opposed to a Dwarf commoner, where you would have to start living on the rough streets of said city.

That alone is one of the coolest concepts I’ve ever heard, and will no doubt produce an incredible amount of replayability.  Not to mention the fact that every single choice you make during your time playing through Dragon Age: Origins campaign will affect how the world around you evolves into a different place depending upon how you played the game.  And real world changing stuff, not the fake but promised world changing that Fable II was supposed deliver.

So you see, you too should be disappointed that now the new Dragon Age has been put off for a little longer, because Bioware looks poised to pull off another piece of RPG brilliance.

The new Dragon Age isn’t the only EA game relegated to another delay, The Sims 3 has also been pushed back, although not quite as far as Dragon Age, to a June 2nd release.   Everyone enjoys The Sims on some level, and 3 will be intriguing because EA promises it to be The Sims 2 without all the annoying maintenance you were constantly required to do on every character.  A game should be fun, and The Sims 2 kept you so busy feeding your Sims and reminding them to go to the bathroom that you forgot about any of the fun stuff 2 brought to the table.

If EA delivers on their promise, than just maybe I can be persuaded to give The Sims another shot.

And finally, one more in the EA delay news, The Godfather II has been pushed back to either an April or June release, opposed to later this month.  Apparently EA feels the game will sell better if given a second quarter release.  I couldn’t be bothered to care too much however, as I love GTA clones, but The Godfather just didn’t deliver on the thrills or wacky fun enough for me.  But if the Godfather is your thing, I guess you’ll have to wait a little longer to give the new one a try.

Have you played that new Resident Evil 5 demo yet?  Because I’m guessing you have gotten around to it, especially considering the fact that RE 5 was the most downloaded Xbox demo in history, with almost two million downloads in seven days.  That completely smashes previous holder Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’s previous record of one million in eight days.  And why not?  RE 5 looks freaking awesome, and I can’t wait to fire up the full version when it ships March 13th.