I miss my PS3. It hasn’t gone anywhere or died at all. I’ve just been so busy I’m lucky to get a couple hours a week on it. I’ve been having fun with being busy. This past weekend I was in Moab, UT for a wedding and got a chance to see Arches National Park. That place is amazing. This weekend I’ll be joining a few other ‘bots in Orlando, FL for Star Wars Celebration VI. I’m really angling for a chance to get a look at Star Wars 1313, but I have no idea what they’ll have available. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We still have a few bits and pieces left over from Gamescom to cover.
Gabriel Dobrov, CEO at Haemimont Games, has announced they are already starting work on the next Tropico. But don’t get too excited just because you loved Tropico 4. According to Dobrov, “This time we’re wiping the whole game clean and building it from the ground up. We’re starting with a clean design this time and all the graphics will be new.” He declined further comment so who knows what this will mean. Shifting focus from a turn-based point and click to a first person shooter made the Fallout series go from “awesome” to “really awesome in different way” so this may not be a bad plan. It’s bound to make fans of the series a little nervous though.
Traveller’s Tales has revealed a little more about their next LEGO title, Lord of the Rings. If you’re familiar with past titles there’s not much new they can say, but they did mention at least 85 playable characters, some of whom were not in the films. Apparently the entirety of Middle Earth from Tolkien’s second age will be playable. Thankfully you won’t need to spend 16 hours walking to Mordor like they did in the films. There will be a fast travel feature, a la remote bat terminals from LEGO Batman 2. Prepare to callous your hairy-painted feet this Fall.
If LEGO journeys aren’t your thing and you can’t wait until October 6th to revisit Peter Molyneux’s former world then the announcement of Fable: The Journey‘s demo is good news for you. It’s coming to XBLA on September 17th.
Have you forgotten Remember Me? Sounds like that won’t happen again, as Capcom has explicitly stated that the IP is part of their long term plans. This is the exclusive that Sony dropped about a year ago and gave the rights back to Dontnod, the developer. Since then Capcom has picked up publishing for the now multi-platform game and they want to build a future for it. For now they’re pulling in assets from other projects, as Yoshinori Ono (producer for Street Fighter IV) is now advising on combat. I still haven’t actually figured out what this game is even about, but it sounds like i’ll need to get my hands on it when May rolls around.
Sanzuru and Sony had an announcement about your favorite thieving raccoon at Gamescom. What they didn’t want you to notice is that release date for Sly 4: Thieves in Time has slipped to early 2013. Which is fine, late 2012 is going to be crowded enough as it is, though a good family friendly game is always welcome around Christmas. The bigger reveal was that you’ll be able to use your PlayStation Vita in much the same way Microsoft has discussed SmartGlass, or Nintendo has described the Wii U’s tablet controller. You’ll also be able to play oyur save game across the two platforms, PS3 and Vita. Which is great, but it means you have to buy versions of the same game. Actually, no. This title will be part of the Cross Buy program. Buy the game once, get it on both platforms. Details on how that will work (likely as digital download only for Vita) were not explained, but look for more information soon.
Cevat Yerli and Crytek have a couple of minor things to note from Gamescom, but nothing urgent. First, they are looking into the possibility of bringing Warface, their free to play shooter currently in closed beta to consoles. Sony has already had some success with the model but Microsoft hasn’t experimented in that direction yet. Recent changes in the console online infrastructure and corporate philosophies mean both of them could be a future home for the title. However, this is in the theoretical phase only so it will be a long time before we see any progress if it even happens. Second, Ryse has sort of disappeared but not for the reasons being rumored. According to Yerli they wanted the Budapest team to work on tablets and have moved the Roman Kinect action game to a different area of the company. It is still in production and proceeding nicely, though they aren’t ready to discuss any further details.
We all know I don’t like to post rumors unless they’re really awesome. Which is why I’m choosing to skip the almost nonsensical rumors supposedly coming from a Bioware survey about Dragon Age III. On the other hand, anything that might clue me in to Fallout 4 is giving me rock hard nerd-boner. According to a few anonymous tipsters frm Reddit, one who supposedly has a direct connection to MIT, Bethesda has been in the Boston area scoping settings for their next post-apocalyptic entry in the franchise. Anonymous internet tipsters get very little credit in my book so I’m inclined to discount 90% of this, except Bethesda does have a strong connection to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and it would a be a ripe location for the next game. Then again, if we’re talking researching locations phase of development, we’ve clearly got plenty of time before this even sees the light of day. We’re likely talking next-gen. Which is probably the soonest I’d be willing to risk Bethesda’s notoriously glitchy game system and heavy-handed favoritism for 360.
You know how actors don’t like getting typecast? Apparently video game developers don’t care for it either. No, I don’t mean Bethesda is making a puzzle game. I mean something even more bizarre, like Harmonix making a real-time combat game. According to an ad on Gamasutra, Harmonix is looking for a combat designer “to create real-time, single-player combat experiences for a brand new IP on next-generation hardware.” They’re still finishing up Rock Band Blitz and Dance Central 3, but at least some of element of a next gen game already in the works will have single player, real time combat. It seems like a strange fit, but I’ve enjoyed Harmonix’s so far. I’ll give it a shot.
Other minor announcements:
- PopCap says Plants vs. Zombies 2 is coming in late Spring 2013.
- The Worms Collection has been confirmed for August 31st in Europe. North America?
- Sony’s Sports Champions 2 set for release on October 30th. Despite archery, bowling, boxing, golf, skiing, and tennis included, I’ll still be getting Assassin’s Creed III instead.
- Tokyo Jungle has been scheduled for September 25th in North America. Who would win a fight through post-apocalyptic Tokyo, a giraffe or a chimpanzee?.
That’s all for the early edition. I’m planning a late edition for Friday, but I simply don’t know busy I’ll be at Celebration VI. I may just write a bunch of Wookie-Zabrak slashfic instead.