First up, as if anyone cares, Top Spin 4 will be MOVE-compatible on the PS3. Oh, and it’s coming out March 15, 2011.
Next, once again proving the title to be completely incorrect, Final Fantasy XIII will have a direct sequel. Possibly even this year. Seriously, what’s so “final” about a game with 53,000 iterations? Apparently FFXIII-2 has been announced by Square Enix and is scheduled for 2011, making me think it’s actually been in the works a long time. To the best of my knowledge, this is only the second direct sequel in the franchise’s history.
Game Informer interviewed Bethesda about the new game engine being used for Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. Anyone who played Oblivion or Fallout knows the engine needed an overhaul despite the games’ being fun. It’s a pretty extensive interview and you may just want to read the whole thing. The highlights to me were drawing distance and detail; dynamic shadows, wind, and weather; and general physics. Other interesting changes will be in NPC AI. Characters actually work instead of stand in the restaurant all day, they react to you walking into their house in the middle of the night, and a mission provider that you kill may be replaced by his brother (who will still get you the mission but might also hold a grudge). It seems they’ve made the entire game and its world far more dynamic, which is saying a lot.
Arguably the biggest news I’ve got today is about Valve, Portal 2, and PS3 connectivity to Steam. I don’t use Steam since I play almost exclusively on PS3 but I have a lot of respect for what Valve has done for the accessibility and distribution of gaming. If you play on PC you really should have a Steam account. They get great deals and their network is amazing. But today’s news follows up on the company’s promise at E3 that the PS3 version of the game would be the ultimate one. Many of us wondered at that statement and assumed it was just pandering to the audience, especially considering derogatory statements their top dogs had made in the past. Apparently, with the Portal 2 disc in your PS3, you’ll be able to link to your Steam account where you’ll be able to chat or play with your friends regardless of which system they’re using (PS3, PC, Mac). This kind of cross-platform interactivity has been a long time coming and is a welcome sight to see. In addition, your activation of the PS3 version will also unlock a PC or Mac copy for download in your Steam account – another welcome announcement considering the higher price point for the console version. This game was headed straight to the top of my GameQ, but with this information I may be buying it in April instead.
