Any good games on the horizon?

[[wcip]Angel]

Amidst the more serious threads on tornados and dissertations, I thought I'd have
a crack at a more jolly topic; games!

So what do we have to look forward to during the coming months? Game-wise it's been
a rather dry summer, with the exception of Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube and
God of War for the Playstation 2. But what does the future hold? Will there be any
promising titles this side of Christmas?

Hopefully...

Here are the ones I'm looking forward to:


"Oblivion", the fourth installment of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls-series. There are
some lovely screenshots of the game at their website, and I'm waiting with trembling
anticipation of how amazing this game is going to be. Also be sure to check out the
fan interview about some of the features of the game. :) And if you haven't seen
the trailer for the game yet, have a look.

*****


Being a huge fan of the Final Fantasy series (hey, FFVII: Advent Children is out in
Japan!), the idea of another FF-game being mere months away is a bone-chilling
thought. I'm not 100% certain, but I think one of the main themes of this
installment of the series will be "war", so I expect this to be better than its
predecessors FFX (which was a bit disappointing, character-wise) and FFX-2 (which
was just the most horrid game I've ever seen).

This will be the last final fantasy-game on the current playstation, and I have to
say I'm quite impressed with the beautiful graphics they've managed to churn out
of the 5 year old machine. Have a look at some of the screenies from Gamespot. I
also uploaded this trailer for you broadband-people.

******



I can't tell you how many hours I've spent on Civ3. For those of you who've been
hiding under a rock these past years, Civilisation allows you to create an empire
from the stone age up until modern times. From the bronze age to the Industrial
Revolution, from spears and arrows to guns and nuclear arsenals, civilisation is a
strangely addicting game and provides endless replayability. I can't wait to see
how they've improved upon Civ3 in this new installment of the series. There are
some screenshots here and a hilarious spoof-trailer that can be downloaded by clicking here

-----

Other than these games, I'm also looking forward to the next-generation installments
of Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil for the Playstation 3 as well as Max Payne 3
for the PC (no screenshots yet).

So, have you earmarked your hard-earned money for any specific games in the
coming months?

[Lady Vashj]

Civ IV is coming out!?

Can I get a w00t! w00t!

I started with Civ II, and it's amazing how I've kept playing such a simplistic game. The key is its addictive nature. CivCTP was a rough spot, though; I never did well in CTP without cheating hideously. I never did get my hands on more than a borrowed copy of CivIII, though that stemmed more from lack of funds than lack of interest.

I must wonder...what next?

[Refrigerator]

I'm looking forward to Fahrenheit, or Indigo Prophecy, or whatever the heck it's being called now. Also Starship Troopers (the game!), aaand.... after seeing the design for Nintendo's Revolution controller, I really want to buy a Revolution.

Hmm... I still have to buy a few already released games that I've been meaning to get though, like Rome: Total War.

[pakman]

I'm looking forward to this. I played the demo and I am getting a multiplayer demo next week because of my subscription to PC Gamer. It looks incredible and it fun to play. Yes, it's another FPS, but I love 'em.

I am also looking forward to Oblivion. I loved Morrowind. I never actually beat Morrowind because I accidently save over my character that was the furthest along :(.

Spore. Another Will Wright game. I saw the GDC demo of it and it looks incredibly fun.

Edit: I just downloaded and watched the trailer, and, WOW. Patrick Stewart as the narrator in the video was awesome. The in-game graphics look incredible.

[Roland]

1) I'm as unimpressed about FFXII as I am about every other FF since Square left Nintendo.

2) Many of the screenshots are all of cinematics. These do not in any way show the graphical power of the PS2.

3) The trailer is, likewise, entirely composed of cinematics.

This has been a common tactic of Square since they partnered with Sony, and it's truly despicable. It's typical brainwashing advertisement, hoping to hook you in with pretty cinematics and a "dramatic" storyline rather than actual solid gameplay. Forgive me if I couldn't care less about the game.

Obvlivion, however, looks to be unbelievable, and I will grab my copy as soon as it hits shelves. It looks to have everything - incredible gameplay, storyline, AND the best graphics ever seen in a video game.

Having never played the Civ series, I can't comment about Civ IV. However, I am looking forward to the continuation of the series. We need more innovation in RTS however.

I personally am looking forward to the new Zelda game. It looks to be phenomenal, a real step back in the direction of the older games.

Dark Messiah - Might and Magic also looks to be a strong contender, particularly for the Elder Scrolls camp. :) I'll be very interested in that title.

Some other random games:
Warhammer 40K - Winter Assault XP
Kingdom Under Fire - Heroes
Neverwinter Nights Kingaker Experience
X-Men Legends II - Rise of the Apocalypse
FarCry - Instincts
Age of Empires III
Raiden III
Quake 4
Black & White II
Galactic Civilizations II
Titan Quest
Star Wars - Empire at War
Star Wars Battlefront II
Rampage - Total Destruction
Bet On Soldier - Bloodsport
Heroes of Might & Magic V

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but those are on my list. :)

[Assur]

I've got a short list:

Heroes of Might&Magic, Titan Quest and Stalker (you have to love a game where the first transport you can unlock is a Lada)

[Wyrm]

Right now my list is pretty short as well. All it really consists of is Suikoden Rhapsodia (I think Suikoden Tactics will be the US release title) and Suikoden V. There are a some of games I haven't decided on yet, but am thinking about, namely FFXII, Grandia III, and Guild Wars Chapter 2.

The PSP re-release of Suikoden I + II looks nice (yay widescreen graphics) but I already have both games for the PS1 and don't have a PSP, so that's out of the question. I might consider getting a PSP if it did something other than re-release PS1 games, much in the way that the GameBoy Advance was mostly a re-release of NES and SNES games.

[rant] One of the most disappointing things about PS2 games (as well as games on all platforms - including Windows) right now is the lack of games with 5.1 sound support. Even the ones that do have it are a little lackluster in their performace using it. FFX-2 had it in cinematics, but not the in-game ones, only when you bought movie spheres and watched them later. Metal Gear Solid 2 had it in some in-game cinematics, but that was it. I can't even think of any other games right now that even support Dolby Digital or DTS. Considering how far games these days have advanced visually, you'd think they would at least attempt to advance sound a bit. [/rant]

[Chaerophon]

Sorry, my computer is simply not in the market to handle new games, and it won't be getting upgraded anytime soon; however...

TALK ABOUT JOY!!!

Nov 5 2005: Vancouver Canucks at Calgary Flames. As of today, I'm officially setting aside a case of beer for that one! :D

[Quark]

I'm interested in some mentioned, but here are some a little further in the future:

Witcher - Has the Aurora Engine and Bioware at its back, sounds like it could be a great story too.

Xenosaga 3 - What can I say, I'm hopelessly hooked.

Shadow Hearts: From the New World - can't say enough good things about this series, honestly. Even though it's lesser known, the darkness (and yet with quirky humor) of the series is awesome. The ring system works really well too, giving you a reason to pay attention during Turn-based battles.

[Swiss Mercenary]

Bioshock, by the guys over at Irrational Games.

How will it stack up compared to System Shock 2? No idea.

[roguebanshee]

It's a good year to be bad.

[Lady Vashj]

It's a good year to be bad.
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Sounds appealing. Unfortunately, the beta test (which despite the August 2005 date is still mentioned in the future tense, ergo is probably not here yet) is closed, with invites going to people who have been playing City of Heroes for a long time or have already preordered City of Villains.

[Brother Laz]

'Somewhere in 2006'... which I believe means a beta test in early/mid 2006, release for Xmas.

An action RPG by the people behind D2 (don't buy the hype, the Blizzard people in Guild Wars are mostly network people and the balance guy from Starcraft), with strong FPS influence, first/third person viewpoint.

[whyBish]

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After being burnt by Civ3, which claimed to be multiplayer but ended up requiring to purchase a full priced add-on to get it, I wont touch it at all.

Oblivion on the other hand I will look at picking up, probably a couple months after release, to give enough time to make sure that all the CTDs etc. are fixed... :(

[roguebanshee]

Sounds appealing.  Unfortunately, the beta test (which despite the August 2005 date is still mentioned in the future tense, ergo is probably not here yet) is closed, with invites going to people who have been playing City of Heroes for a long time or have already preordered City of Villains.
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Well the beta is already underway and the scheduled release date is October 31 '05.

[Armin]

http://www.bioware.com/games/dragon_age/

http://www.gothic3.com/

http://www.atari.com/nwn2/

[Mithrandir]

To be completely honest, nothing has really grabbed my eye. Which isn't a big deal since I already have more than enough gaming on my plate at the moment :) I'll almost certainly pick up a copy of X-Men Legens 2 and GTA: San Andreas eventually. I've been hearing from a lot of people that Darkwatch is a lot of fun and worth a buy - plus the whole premise of being a vampire cowboy is just too cool. But other than that...

It seems as though the next couple months are the lull before the storm for Xbox games due to the impending release of the Xbox 360. I haven't really seen enough of the 360 launch titles to really get that excited about them. Oblivion looks very, very cool obviously. I've always wanted to play Morrowind, but with my latest ROM craze and a renewed effort to knock off a couple Xbox games I never finished, I have more than enough to keep me busy already. Heh, I hope I can get arround to Morrowind eventually (and Deux Ex / FF7). I'll be getting Oblivion for my PC and not Xbox 360 though, so I can take advantage of the mod community easier.

There's been a lot of buzz about Gears of War and Ninety-Nine Nights looks cool. But once again, nothing that I really feel compelled to run out and buy the instant it hits shelves.

I'm a big BioWare fan, so I'm always looking forward to their next game. Dragon Age is no exception, especially if it's a lot like NWN. I think I've gotten more playtime out of NWN than any other game I have ever owned because of the great community effort to release lots of quality content.

Halo 3 is out there too - looming somewhere :)


Edit: Almost forgot NWN2, thanks Armin. Don't know how that slipped my mind. I really loved the folks at Black Isle. Which reminds me, I lost my copy of Fallout 2 a while ago :angry: I might have t buy a new copy off Ebay.

[jahcs]

Warhammer 40K - Winter Assault XP
Quake 4
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I went up to the store on my lunchbreak and picked up the Winter Assault expansion. It is now sitting on my desk mocking me while I watch the clock. :angry:

I also saw the Quake 4 preorder boxes on the shelf. No recomended hardware list was provided on the box for all the eye candy on the back cover.

[Jim]

Hi,

Dungeons & Dragons Online, looks interesting, Asheron's Call is Turbines game and they do a Great job :D

Turbine is thrilled to announce that over 125,000 people have now signed up for a chance to participate in our Alpha.

D&D Online

Beta Sign-Up
==============================================

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, the first and only MMORPG based on the world-renowned Dungeons & Dragons franchise from Wizards of the Coast, features highly customizable characters, award-winning visuals, dangerous dungeons with devious puzzles and traps, Instaport technology that takes parties immediately to their next private adventure, and authentic D&D® races and monsters from the magical Eberron® campaign setting.

Overwhelmed With D&D Online Players

[Walkiry]

One of the greatest things that came out of the Diablo II back-pushing and hyping is that I no longer pay any attention to whatever is on the future releases list, but rather I just check reviews and ask people when I feel the urge to go play a new game. Sometimes a new game will make enough noise in some forum I read to prompt me to check it as well, but only if it's noise due to it being released.

The only thing I may have been looking forward to was City of Villains, but the re-balancing nerf that happened in Issue 5 left me with a rather bitter taste in my mouth, so I'm not playing CoH anymore. Such is life :)

The other thing is the F.E.A.R. game, the demo was nice so it may end up being a good game, but with so many FPS games it's hardly something I'm holding my breath over ^_^