A Look At 2012

 ...I patiently await the day the zombie apocalypse begins.

Well 2011 has ended. We've all reflected more than enough so now we look towards the coming year in gaming. If the Mayans are right, it will be our last and (re: they aren't) it looks like this will be a pretty good year to end it on. Plenty of high caliber titles are due out this year, and some big announcements seem imminent, and who knows what else we might see this year. So lets take a look at whats on the way.

The Games 
(Note: I can not possibly talk about every last game here, so I'm only touching on a few of the bigger ones, or ones I feel should be on the radar for most people.)

There will be plenty of huge games getting released this year, and we have one of the biggest dropping at the end of the month. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is set to hopefully mark a return to form for the Final Fantasy series. The past two titles have not been received well. In fact, the MMO styled Final Fantasy XIV was so bad they had to temporarily shut the game down so they could fix the myriad of troubles that plagued the title at launch. Luckily, it seems that the sequel to Final Fantasy XIII seems set to fix the things that upset players and keep the things that worked. A new combat system should also prove to help keep things interesting. Soul Caliber V is also set for release at the end of the month as well, a day all fighting genre gamers should have circled. In fact the first three months of the year seem to be set to be one of the bigger parts of this years game release schedule, with The Darkness II, Syndicate, Twisted Metal, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Asura's Wrath, Max Payne 3, Tom Clancy's Future Soldier, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Ninja Gaiden III, Dragons Dogma, DOTA 2, Kid Icarus: Uprising and SSX are all set for release in the first three months of the year.

There's two games also out in the first three months that RPG fans everywhere should be waiting with baited breath for. Mass Effect 3 is set to cap off Commander Shepard's trilogy with a huge bang. Every event in the past two games has lead to the epic finale and given what we've seen so far, this could be the best game from Bioware yet. They have made the bold claim that every plot point will be wrapped up nicely in this game, and the potential for the game to end in many different ways, including a few where you fail to save the galaxy, could make for one of the best endings to a story in gaming history. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning has flown far under the radar so far but that seems hard to believe from my viewpoint. With a story penned by fantasy author RA Salvatore, a visual style courtesy of Todd MacFarlane, and the design being overseen by Ken Rolston, a Bethesda veteran, there should be plenty of interest to begin with. Then there's the games refreshingly new story and universe. Along with that a very cool combat system and condensed, yet deep skill tree. Most gaming critics and experts have walked away from previews with nothing but nice things to say about the new IP.

Then at the end of March brings us the launch of Diablo III (hopefully, finally.) This is a game people have been waiting years to see release, and finally Blizzard fans can rejoice that the games March 31st release date seems set in stone. The dungeon crawler has some new classes and improved AI and combat, not to mention a beautiful graphics system and the marketplace where players can sell the gear they find online for real cash. People have been waiting a long time for this one, and hopefully, Diablo III can live up to the hype.

Sadly after that awesome start to the year, there won't be a whole lot in the way of top caliber titles to look for. Aside from Prototype 2 in April, Darksiders 2 in June, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time at the end of June, and Dust 514 also at the end of June, there won't be a lot to look for, which should give those of us strapped for cash plenty of time to get caught up and get ready for the usual flurry of releases in the Fall. Right now the only games to really be looking for are the Tomb Raider reboot, Halo 4 and Far Cry 3 but most of the big name titles won;t be announced until E3. The big game people are waiting for in the fall/winter is Bioshock Infinite. Given the gameplay we've seen so far, it's a safe bet that this game is set to be among the biggest of the year. The visuals are impressive, and the narrative is shaping up to be pretty deep, though it might not top the original Bioshock.  The city of Columbia also appears to have been just as well crafted as Rapture. It's a safe bet we'll be seeing the usual release from Call of Duty but aside from that we're not really sure what else to expect after September ends. Borderlands 2, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, and Metro: Last Light are among the games that have no release date set but are expected to ship at some point this year.

The Announcements and Reveals


We've already heard some bubbling rumors about what we might be seeing this year, but this entire section is mere speculation and personal thought. So don't take too much of it to heart.

We've seen an awful lot of stuff regarding Half-Life 3 as of late. First the shirt worn by a Valve employee, then the supposed references in the acceptance speech from Wheatly's VGA award win, and finally the appearance of a website that bore the Half-Life 3 logo and appropriate logos related to the games development (if it exists). Valve has dismissed it all as "the community trolling the community" but there's an awful lot floating around right now, so something must be up right? Sadly, we'll likely have to wait until E3 until we get our answer, if we get one at all. 

There's also been a lot of rumors that the next Xbox console is set for a reveal at E3 2012. While I have never seen Microsoft come out and say it won't be, my gut says that it won't be. They've just redesigned the dashboard and tried to get the Kinect to become a big pat of the Xbox 360 experience. Not to mention there are several big titles, chief among them Halo 4, that would make more sense to hold off until next year if an announcement and then hopeful launch next year. Then again, it may be time to start at least considering the rumor as a possibility. A few years back Microsoft told us the 360 was halfway through it's life cycle, and if that's true, we only have two or three years left until the next console. That's not the only reason this could be true. The eighth generation of consoles is starting. The Wii-u is set for a release at some point this year (likely the fall), both Sony and Nintendo have released their newest handhelds (North America will be getting the PS Vita in Feburary). But like with Half-Life 3, we'll have to wait until E3 before we really figure this one out.

Then there are all the games and companies that are due to make some announcements. Bioware did just announce Command and Conquer: Generals 2, but that's being developed by a new studio. Given some of the rumors surrounding Dragon Age, I'd wager we'll be seeing the next installment announced at some point. Grand Theft Auto V has been announced but that's about it. Expect lots of details to be fleshed out in the coming months leading up to E3. Something else to watch for is more information about Halo 4. We saw the reveal at E3, but have learned little else since. Expect E3 to be the place where we will really get a solid look at 343's first game with the franchise.


Well there you go. It's not much, but there's a brief little look at what to look forward to in 2012. It's shaping up to be an awesome year yet again to play video games, bu then again , when isn't it awesome? I'd also like to wish everyone a (late) Happy New Year. I hope that you'll keep reading and checking out this place through this year too.

Oh! And if you want to comment on any of my blog posts, feel free to do so. I welcome input and other opinions.


Image Source Links
#1: http://www.kaheel7.com/userimages/2012-mystery.JPG
#2. http://www.gamepur.com/files/images/2011/final-fantasy-xiii-2-screen.jpg
#3. http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2011/08/Mass-Effect-3-41.jpg
#4. http://theallgamingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/ss29-hires.jpg
#5. http://theurbangamer.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/xbox720-pic-3.jpg

Weekly Wrap Up: Gordon Freeman In The House?

...I swear if this is some kind of sick joke.

A Valve employee has been spotted wearing a Half-Life 3 t-shirt. Yes, apparently Chandana Ekanayak, an executive producer at Uber Entertainment (the guys behind Monday Night Combat), spotted a random valve employee wearing the shirt pictured above. Now, hold on a second here (prepare for your dreams to be deleted here, along with mine), before we get too carried away I'd like to point out that Random Valve Employee Man had absoluetly no problem having a a picture of the shirt taken by Ekanayak, who proceeded to stick it up on Twitter. If Valve were really close to a Half-Life 3 reveal they most certainly would be doing their gosh darnedest to keep it under wraps until the big reveal. Not to mention stuff like this can get someone fired. So unless Random Valve Employee Guy really disliked his job with one of the premier game developers, I think it unlikely he'd just let a picture be taken unless it meant very little for the time being.

That said we'll have to wait and see what Valve's inevitable response to this will be.

In the meantime, here's some more gaming news from the past week.

Sony Clarifies One Account Policy For PS Vita

NeoGaf discovered this weekend that the Playstation Vita will allow only one Playstation Network account per portable.

So what in blazes does that mean exactly?

At a recent hands-on event, Sony tried to clarify. "Only one account. If you want to use a different account you need to format the system to factory settings." Sony's Brad Douglas, Sony Japans Third-Party Relations guy clarified further by mentioning that the Playstation Portable also only allows one account. The only difference is that the Portable doesn't force you to do a factory reset to log in. The main reason players have two accounts is so they can play digital titles available in Japan, as well as their own country. The factory reset throws a wrench into that by forcing you to stay region locked essentially, unless you like jumping through very small hoops on fire draped over piranha tanks. 


EA Online Passes Can Expire 
A now, and understandably so, disgruntled NeoGaf member has learned that the online passes that EA requires for access to it's games online content expire after a certain amount of time after purchasing a brand new copy of Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit only to find the games online pass activation key had expired. Some other members looked through the EULA and did find a clause that states the codes can in fact expire. Joystiq followed up on the story and as it turns out some games passes are set to expire, according to a customer service advisor with EA. So essentially for these games even if you buy the game new you will still have to pay to access online features, a move initially made to combat used game sales.

Again, people are understandably upset with EA. I think it's absolutely unbelievable that they never really came out and notified anyone about this. Yes it's in their EULA agreement but this is the kind of thing people really need to know ahead of time.

XCOM Loses A Developing Team

2K games has announced that it's Canberra, Australia development team, which was helping to work on the upcoming XCOM reboot, would be shifted to help with development of Bioshock: Infinite instead.

Initially, this lead to speculation that XCOM might be on hold, or might have even been canceled. However, 2K Games told Kotaku that 2K Marin was still developing the game with the hope that the game would still be a strong title. However, when pressed for more information about the size of the development team, 2K declined to get more specific. "As a rule we do not comment on the size of our development team."

I don't view this as a setback for XCOM necessarily. Bioshock: Infinite is shaping up to be one of the premier titles for next year, and 2K probably recognizes that in order to get it out in time for it's tenative holiday 2012 release, they're going to need as many people working on it as possible.

GamePro Sails Away Into The Sunset

This news is not a good sign for the state of the printed gaming press.

One of the longest running magazines about video games, starting way back in 1988, GamePro announced that it will be ceasing it's publication as a standalone company as of today, December 5th. Both the site, and the magazine will be shutting down. In a statement on their site (which probably no longer exists) was this:

Thank you for your loyalty, support, and participation in the GamePro.com community. At noon on December 5, 2011, the U.S. version of GamePro online will shut down as an independent site. GamePro will become part of PCWorld.com (http://www.pcworld.com/gamepro) offering gaming news, reviews, and how-tos from the PCWorld team. Thank you to the entire GamePro staff for their hard work and dedication.

 GamePro was one helped to give the games industry a voice, especially as it began it's rise into the pop culture stratosphere. Handfuls of talented writers and journalists have written for the magazine. It's death is a significant blow to gaming journalism and really give us a sign of the times.

Dragon Age Getting Multiplayer

An insider has claimed that Dragon Age will be getting a multiplayer mode that has an arena-like style to it. The mode will cover Player versus Environment, Player versus Player, and Player versus Dragon play modes. Details on the PvE section are slim, but according to the source the mode is fairly far along in development. IT is apparently being developed using DICE's Frostbite 2.0 engine. What was not made clear is if this rumored multiplayer mode is going to be DLC of some kind for Dragon Age II, or if it will be in an upcoming game. Or perhaps a game on it's own entirely. 


Sadly, this news seems to confirm somewhat the rumors that EA is requiring all of it's games to have some kind of online multiplayer. And unlike the Mass Effect co-op mode, so far this mode sounds somewhat unrelated to anything in Dragon Age as of now. Then again we didn't know exactly what Mass Effect's multiplayer was exactly until it was announced/leaked. Still given the success of recent RPG's like Skyrim and Skyward Sword, one has to wonder if requiring games that have previously been single player to have multiplayer is a good idea or not. 


Okay so maybe this past week wasn't all happy news. Hopefully this coming week will be a bit happier. And, with a bit of luck, maybe some Gordon Freeman too.  

Vaas: The Best Video Game Character Ever?

...Sorry Freeman, your out.

E3 has been, as usual, a flurry of activity. The barrage of information is oftentimes a bit overwhelming and sometimes people miss the best reveals or previews. I know I'm still sifting through a mountain of interviews, trailers, and reveals. Despite this I thought for sure I was going to be most impressed by various titles like Mass Effect 3, and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. However a bit later in the afternoon, I was browsing around, chatting with my friend Jimmy when I stumbled upon the Far Cry 3 gameplay demo. The gameplay was cool, the graphics were pretty solid, those things didn't blow me away per say, so much as they just looked really cool.

The voice acting and animation on the main villain Vaas on the other hand left me speechless.

"Have I ever told you...the definition...of insanity?" 

First off look at this guy. He LOOKS like an insane psychopath. Look at his eyes. You can see the fire and insanity in those eyes. His movement is also amazingly detailed...and slightly unpredictable. One moment, he's having a somewhat calm, albeit, disturbing, conversation with you, the next he suddenly blurts out, "...I am sorry....I don't LIKE....the way your looking at ME!" and then proceeds to go a little crazy, flipping over a makeshift table. He calms down for a minute walks over to the cement block your tied to, and shoves it off the cliff your next to. Which brings me to the voice acting. I am desperately looking to find out how gave Vaas' voice performance because whoever it is gave one of the best performances I have ever seen. Some people (not me... specifically anyway...) are comparing it to the kind of performance Heath Ledger gave in The Dark Knight. That's not blowing it out of proportion, that's how good it really was. And this is just the first ten or so minutes.

Think about that for a second. A lot of people are already blown away by Vaas and we've seen just one micro-fragment of the game. If the developers over at  Ubisoft Montreal pull this off right, and make Vaas' story and character development unique and/or interesting, he might become one of the best fictional characters ever. Obviously we still have a ways to go before Far Cry 3 is released, and in that time we'll see plenty of more gameplay videos, and learn lots of new information to be sure, but thanks to Vaas, I can't wait to see more, because I can't wait to see if the other characters can match up to his performance. 

Since this is a bit shorter than I want it to be, I'll wrap it up with the ten things I learned at this years E3...

10.) Nintendo's Wii-U is essentially a gigantic Nintendo DS.

9.) Star Wars Kinect is going to be the worst Star Wars game in a long time. Maybe even ever.

8.) Microsoft didn't care that Bungie "Finished the Fight."

7.) I never want to be the first person on stage at E3's press conferences.

6.) Peter Molyneux will need all the optimisim he has to get through his current Journey.

5.) Sony is still intent on getting into the handheld market. 

4.) Microsoft intends to make Cable obsolete.

3.) Nintendo might finally be trying to get M rated gamers interested in their consoles.

2.) Elder Scrolls Dragons are going to be the best creatures in a game ever.

1.) Microsoft still can't keep secrets.

That's all folks so until next time...

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