As we expected, there were some pretty big announcements and video debuts during Spike’s VGA show on Saturday. There’s very little detail right now, but at least we know what games are expecting continued coverage over the next year. The awards show was rather boring and a little too hyped on itself but it did show honors to some worthy games. I am personally disappointed with their choice for Game of the Year, as are many others – particularly those who are still suffering game-breaking glitches. For the full recap of the night’s winners, click here. For the latest video game news, read on.
Western JRPG fans will be getting a treat this summer. Agarest: Generations of War 2, the third game in the series is on its way to Europe and the US. If you haven’t been following the series I can’t really explain it you. Just know it’s a Japanese RPG, Anime girls with animal tails and all. It is worth noting that the title may be shifted to Record of Agarest War 2 for the Western audience.
You had to be expecting a collector’s edition of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. But were you expecting three of them? Only 2000 units of the Special Edition ($80) will be released, netting you 40 replica Destiny Cards, a seven-piece set of Amalur-themed dice, the original soundtrack, a parchment map of Amalur’s Faelands and a bonus DLC pack of nine Fate-Touched Weapons that grant bonus XP from Fate Shift kills. The Collector’s Edition ($200) is limited to 700 and adds on to the Special Edition with a concept art lithograph signed by Ken Rolston and a 12.5″ Prismere Troll statue worth about $175. Finally, limited to 300 indiviudally numbered units, is the Signature Edition ($275). What do you get for that extra $75? Todd McFarlane, R.A. Salvatore, or Curt Schilling (founder of 38 Studios) will sign that troll. Wait a minute! Who’s gonna pay $75 for Curt Schilling’s autograph? That troll is pretty awesome though.
When Tony Hawk teased via Twitter last week that he was announcing a new game on Saturday I suggested they go back to the series’ roots. Little did I expect I’d be so close. Rather than releasing Tony Hawk’s Activision Cash In With Yet Another Stupid Peripheral And “Edgy” Name, the newest game is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD. While I was hoping for a return to the third game, this will actually be recreating elements from the first two in full HD on PSN and XBLA. It’s set for release in the first half of 2012 and is expected to be about $15. This sounds like good news to me, but Robomodo (the devs behind Ride and Shred) are handling the legwork. Excited trepidation would probably be the most accurate assessment of my feelings.
One of the expected treats at the VGAs was the game BioWare teased a few weeks ago. That first screenshot was very misleading, though the second one actually generated a few correct guesses prior to Saturday’s debut of Command & Conquer Generals 2. Looks like but they’re trying their hand at an RTS. I guess they deserve a chance to try something new, but when they’re continually making such great games in the RPG genre, like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, I see this as an unnecessary gamble. Even more so considering it will be a PC-exclusive. Yes, I know C&C has always been a traditionally PC game. But BioWare’s got a lot of credit with console gamers right now. And PC gaming is hardly dead, but more families have gaming consoles than hardcore gaming PCs. Skipping the console audience skips a huge swath of potential players. Regardless of my own opinion, look for this in 2013.
The VGA reveal of the Last of Us didn’t surprise me with its tone or story. Not that much story was revealed. It certainly looks like a post-apocalyptic zombie drama, as I expected. Maybe they aren’t exactly zombies in the traditional sense, but I didn’t get a real good look at them. But the reveal did excite me anyway. Why? Because it’s coming from Naughty Dog! After the Uncharted series on PS3 and the Jak series on PS2, these guys basically have the pin number on my debit card. The bigger question is whether this was more than just another game announcement. Jak was a definitive series on PS2. Uncharted is the same for PS3. Could this game be Naughty Dog’s PS4 powerhouse? The schedule currently has it set for late 2012, early 2013. That matches with many industry analysts speculation on the next generation of consoles. We also know that Sony has some of its in-house teams working exclusively on next-gen. Hmmm. If you think PS4 is coming but Naughty Dog isn’t involved, you’re crazy. Do they have time and resources to develop The Last of Us AND a PS4 game?
Epic’s big VGA reveal was an interesting little piece called Fortnite. I still haven’t quite figured out what this is going to be. Then again, I was expecting the announcement to be Bulletstorm 2, so don’t trust my instincts. As they described the game prior to the trailer I was thinking Minecraft. The video looks nothing like it, but the concept doesn’t seem that different. Lee Perry, Lead Game Designer, didn’t shy away from this similarity on Twitter and I wasn’t the only one to notice it. According to Perry, “Minecraft was an inspiration for sure. But Minecraft lets you build anything, we are focusing on constructing buildings specifically.” It appears there are strange demon creatures that attack in force at night. During the day you’ll be gathering supplies and building your fort’s defenses to keep you alive through the night. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more of this one in action. Could be a while though. No date, or even which platforms are getting it, have been announced.
Am I the only one that thought cutting off the acceptance speeches from Bethesda to show off another trailer was a strange decision by Spike? Seriously, these guys won Game of the Year (deservedly or not) and you cut away to have Hideo Kojima stutter through his announcement. And I don’t want to be harsh on Kojima-san. He’s not a native English speaker and he was very nervous. A translator would have been much easier on him and the viewer. Regardless if it was the right programming choice, Kojima did show off a trailer for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. First off, I like the name shift. Keep the Solid moniker for the stealth games in the series. That said, Revengeance is kind of a dumb word. Of greater import is that development has passed to Platinum Games. They’ll do a fantastic job with Raiden’s katana slashing. Ninja hack and slash is their specialty. I am concerned about what this means for the series. Is the name Metal Gear going to lose its power as it gets co-opted for a whole series of wild games in varying genres? Possibly, but I think I encouraged the same behavior from other studios just a few short weeks ago. As long as they keep Snake’s story as one solid, cohesive narrative I’m not really concerned with ancillary titles in the franchise.
In the post-VGA days there is still gaming news making the rounds. Codemasters has announced DiRT Showdown. A proper sequel to the racing franchise is still coming, but this version looks to change things up a bit. The handling will be simpler to allow for easier tricks, but the real star of the show are the three game modes. You’ll still get muscle cars and SUVs to race. You’ll still get Hoonigan cars for Gymkhana and stunts. But you’ll also get some heavy, destructive beasts for demolition modes. It’s been a lot of years since I’ve played a game with decent a Demolition Derby mode. I’ve got high hopes for this one to fill that niche.
It may have taken three decades to finally bring Duke Nukem Forever to retail, but they haven’t been shy with the DLC. Apparently releasing this week, “The Doctor Who Cloned Me” will be adding new maps in multiplayer and additional single player campaign for $9.99. The new campaign has Duke fighting clones, alien queens, robots, and more in an effort to take down Dr. Proton’s evil plan. What is his evil plan? Ha, like that matters. As long as Duke gets to blow shit up and act like dick it doesn’t matter what nefarious plot he’s stopping. That’s just the Duke way.
Finally, for Sonic fans, the wait is finally over. Sonic CD, originally released in 1993, is coming to PSN and XBLA tomorrow. The better news? Getting the Time Stones back from Dr. Robotnik will only set you back a measly $5.00.
And that’s going to be it for today. I skipped a few minor stories for the sake of brevity. I’ll be doing my best to keep up through the holidays, but this time of the year tends to be pretty dry on the news front as many developers take time off to be with their families after the high pressure build up to the Fall release schedule. I am still looking for a new post pic to ring in the new year. Those children just get uglier every time I see them. Post a link in the comments or email your suggestions to balda$$bat (at) yahoo dot com (replace the $ with the letter “s”). You’ll be credited in a column and I’ll find something to send you. Maybe it will be an unwanted Christmas gift. Maybe it will be one of my R2-D2 action figures. Or possibly just a wrinkled old dollar. But I will find something.