EA has been no stranger to confrontation lately, what with the whole Bad Company 2 vs Modern Warfare 2 thing they’ve been trumpeting in the last few months.
Well, if we read into this one, it looks like EA Sports just might be throwing the gauntlet at THQ and their UFC: Undisputed series.
Check it out and let us know what you think. Apparently quite a few of you liked last year’s UFC offering after all. I think EA’s got one hell of a fight on their hands, even if they nail the gameplay.
I have some incredibly fond memories of Snowblind Studio’s Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance on the Playstation 2, and Champions of Norrath was one of the great unsung action RPG’s of the PS2 era. The idea of a new Snowblind RPG on Xbox360, Playstation 3, and PC’s excites me enough, but setting it in Middle Earth? Well, lets just say i’m incredibly excited! No, it ain’t quite the “Elder Scrolls set in Middle Earth” that i’ve been looking forward to since EA canned “The White Council“, but it’s one hell of a fantastic start!
It’s coming in 2011! Hopefully EARLY 2011.
Click on through for the full announcment!
So I cracked open a copy of the hot off the press Dragon Age expansion from the suddenly prolific RPG gurus at Bioware only to discover the following card inserted into the game’s packaging:
Sorry for the crappy webcam pic, awash as it is with overhead flourescent lighting, but you can clearly see a nice rendering of the Dragon Age poster child, the Blood Dragon, and a single date…
Dragon age II? Another Dragon Age expansion? Your guess is as good as mine. Either way i applaud Bioware’s brilliant efforts at teasing the crap out of us. Given the relatively distant date given, my money is on a sequel.
The Charge:
Your Smallest Decisions Can Change Everything.
Opening Statement:
The latest from French Developer Quantic Dream (Indigo Prophecy) has been hyped and heralded as a boon to the PS3’s growing library of top-drawer exclusives since it was first announced way back in 2006. Does this latest experiment in cinematic gameplay deliver an experience worthy of two thumbs up?
Facts of the Case:
In a terrorized city, the hunt for a missing child will lead four disparate people to ask the question: How far would you go to stop a killer? Heavy Rain puts you in the shoes of each of the four characters as they piece together clues and attempt to track down the latest target of The Origami Killer, a ruthless serial killer who abducts young boys and drowns them in rainwater, before he becomes another casualty.
This just popped up over on the Official Playstation Blog:
“I wanted to drop in and deliver some truly exciting news – on behalf of everyone here at Zipper Interactive, I’m pleased to announce that SOCOM 4 is indeed in development and is slated for release exclusively on PlayStation 3 this fall…
Oh, and before we let you go, we wanted to send a message to our SOCOM and MAG fans all over the world. First, if you play MAG and wonder what this means for the game’s future, wonder no more – we’re still fully committed to supporting MAG for a long, long time and the addition of another game in our lineup doesn’t change that. Second, it’s been great to hear from SOCOM fanatics located in every corner of the globe as we led into today’s announcement. We’re extremely excited to be attached to this beloved franchise again and knowing that so many people wanted us to return to something that already meant so much to us has been both inspiring and touching – so thank you to all of you who wanted it to happen! We look forward to living up to your expectations.”
As a longtime fan of Zipper Interactive’s work on the series (they created the franchise and were responsible for its first two sequels on the PS2), and someone who song an ungodly amount of online time into SOCOM 2, this is some mighty exciting news.
Word is they are very intent on delivering a top drawer single player campaign, and allusions have already been made to the storytelling in Uncharted as being a prime example of the approach being taken. This excites me immensely. I’m sure more details will be forthcoming. The first trailer airs exclusively on tonights episode of Gametrailers TV, but i’m sure it’ll be all over the web by tomorrow.
"Funny - that tumultuous storm looks a lot like March 16th! ARES!*"
March is another lively one, but PS3 owners get the edge as Kratos finally makes his next-gen presence felt in God of War III. Also coming is the ridiculously long in development Final Fantasy XIII, and for the first time, X-Box owners get to share in the fun (albeit with 3 discs of content, an 18 gig optional install and inferior graphics, but who’s complaining?) EA’s first volley in the war against Call of Duty, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is also on store shelves right now, and it’s a doozy! The Pokemon train keeps on a-rollin, and there’s even a bit of love for PC gamers. Also, March 16th looks insane. OHMIGOD! That’s a Dragon Age: Origins expansion! Sorry Kratos, sorry chick with pink hair who stars in Final Fantasy XIII, i’ve got darkspawn to slay.
03/02
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (multi)
- Supreme Commander 2 (PC)
- MLB 10: The Show (PS3)
- Major League Baseball 2k10 (multi)
03/09
- Final Fantasy XIII (multi)
- Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition (Multi)
- Yakuza 3 (PS3)
03/14
- Pokemon Heart Gold (DS)
- Pokemon Soul Silver (DS)
03/16
- God of War III (PS3)
- Dragon Age: Awakenings (Multi)
- Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight (PC)
- Metro 2033 (PC/Xbox360)
- Prison Break: The Conspiracy (multi)
- Fragile Dreams: Farewell to the Moon (Wii)
- Resonance of Fate (Multi)
3/23
- Just Cause 2 (multi)
- Red Steel 2 (Wii)
3/30
- Grand Theft Auto 4: Tales from Liberty City (PS3)
I’ve got Battlefield: BC2 spinning now, and God of War III and Final Fantasy XIII are musts, but it’s Dragon Age: Awakenings that i’m really looking forward to. What are you buyin’?
The Charge:
Hunter. Survivor. Prey.
Opening Statement:
Everyone’s favorite extra-terrestrial Cuisinarts are back, and as per usual, mankind is caught in the middle. Can Rebellion, the studio behind the original PC classic, manage to get it right this time around?
Facts of the Case:
The Weyland-Yutani Corporation has found something beneath the surface of BG-386, a discovery so valuable that even Karl Bishop-Weyland (Lance Henriksen, of course!) has taken an active role in the excavation. When the planet side colony goes silent, the USS Marlow is dispatched on a search and rescue mission. The Marlow however isn’t the only ship in the stars above Freya’s Prospect; a group of Predators has made one hell of an explosive entrance. They’ve got some time to kill, and more than enough prey (of the soft meat and hard meat varieties) to keep them occupied.
February looks to be a solid, if not stacked top to bottom month for new shizzle for all hands. Even the Pee-Cee gets a little nerd uber-love… not only another MMO, but an MMO wherin your five year mission is to seek out new life, to boldy go where no man has gone before… unless of course the player base stinks, in which case your mission may last less than 18 months.
2/2
- Star Trek Online (PC)
- White Knight Chronicles (PS3)
2/9
- Bioshock 2 (multi)
- Dante’s Inferno (multi)
2/16
- Alien Vs. Predator (multi)
- Miles Ellsworth: Ace Attorney Investigations (DS)
2/18
- Deadly Premonition (xbopx360)
2/23
- Sonic & Sega Allstars Racing! (multi)
- Heavy Rain (PS3)
2/25
- Risen (xbox360)
Right now my buy list consists of White Knight Chronicles, Alien Vs. Predator, and Heavy Rain… I snagged in import of Risen back in the fall, and while flawed, it’s definitely a contender for those who dig on open world RPG’s. The North American version is promising some needed control fixes and enhanced graphics to boot.
I’m sure more than a few of you will be returning to Rapture, and EA’s colorful (read: EXTREME) interpretation of classic literature is sure to turn a few heads…
What are you grabbing?