Upcoming games thread

Medal of Honor - October 12, 2010 - PC, PS3, 360
Dead Space 2 - January 25, 2011 - PC, PS3, 360
Portal 2 - February 9, 2011 - PC & Mac, PS3, 360
Homefront - February 22, 2011 - PC, PS3, 360

Other ones you've listed or are future TBA releases...FEAR 3 comes out early next year and the MechWarrior franchise is supposed to reboot.

 

Dead rising 2 looks pretty good. Been looking at a few vids on youtube, they just seem to get more and more insane.
I mean, come on, who doesnt want to run around a casino dressed as elvis mowing down zombies with a wheelchair... then get pissed and slash them in two with a samurai sword?

And Portal 2 you say? ... nice one.

...just checked it out, looks fantastic.

 

If you have a 360 and and extra five bucks, pick up Dead Rising: Case Zero on the Marketplace. It's a great preview of what you'll be able to do in Dead Rising 2, which by far is a tremendous improvement on the first Dead Rising. And hey, something to take up three hours of your day.

Twisted Metal - 2011 (PS3)
Dead Rising 2 - Sept. 28, 2010 (360/PS3)
Splatterhouse - Nov. 23, 2010 (360/PS3)
Fable III - Oct. 26, 2010 (360/PC)
L.A. Noire - Feb. 1, 2011(?) (PS3/360[?])
Dead Space 2 - Jan. 25, 2011 (360/PS3/PC)
Portal 2 - Feb. 9, 2011 (PC/Mac/360/PS3)
Rage - Sept. 13, 2011 (360/PS3/PC)

 

No xbox im afraid mate. I do have it for wii, which i think is poor, but still good as far as wii games like that go. But I dunno i havent played it properly yet.

Thats why im glad to see it hit pc this time as i missed out o the first one on xbox.

Holy shit ! Twisted metal 3 remake. Nice one. Il have to check that out. Pity its ps3, although im planning on buying a console in a few months. Gonna hang off and see how this playstaion move turns out. But fuck me, twisted metal. Blast from the past right there.

Just checked a preview out, looks/sounds great.

Spatterhouse too, vaguely remember that one. megadrive or amiga i think it was on.

Just need a road rash remake now and il be as happy as a pig in shit. {or syndicate remake, im easy lol}

 

Ah, bummer, frank. I heard the version of Dead Rising for the Wii was alright, but I've only touched my Wii recently to replay No More Heroes 1 & 2 and Smash Bros., so I haven't really invested too much in the old system. Which is sad, since Nintendo used to own my childhood gaming experience.

But yeah, man, Twisted Metal on the PS3. I've been waiting for David Jaffe to resurrect and redeem the series ever since Twisted Metal 3 was a huge letdown. If anything, this should be enough inspiration to get a PS3

Splatterhouse was one of the most convoluted games I've ever played in my life, but this re-imagining looks spectacular. But yeah, it had releases on every old first through third gen system practically.

Keep your eyes out for the next E3, bro. This year's was full of remakes, re-imaginings, and fresh ideas for aging names (Metroid's Other M for example).

 

Yeah think il look into E3 a bit more mate, only really had a browsee the last time.

Dead rising for wii does look ok from what iv played and has a decent score from gamespot if i remeber correctly.
I plan to play it but funny enough iv also just started playing no more heroes 1 and have 2 also, i recently just came into quite a few games, all good ones, but just cant find the time in the day. Addicted to tiger woods 11 for the wii atm.

Is there a wii appreiciation thread around here, i see one for everything else lol.

 

Yeah, man, E3 is where it's at every summer if you want to know what to get ready to blow your paychecks on over the next year, haha. Plus, the graphics for PS3 games seemed to increase dramatically at this year's E3. Check out The Last Guardian trailer to see what I'm talking about

No More Heroes is where it's at for the Wii. I fell in the love with the game as soon as I got it, and the second one wraps it all up real nicely. Plus, Travis Touchdown is going to be a cult videogame character one of these days, and I'll be proud to say I was there to get them when they first came out. Shame they won't be selling the PS3/360 version of No More Heroes: Hero's Paradise outside of Japan.

I haven't seen one yet, and I did a quick search to verify and the closest I got was a Smash Bros. Brawl thread. You should start one up, bro

 

diablo 3 is NOT that far off.


they announced it in 08, that would mean that Diablo 3 would be due spring/summer of '11. and we can expect to hear A LOT ABOUT IT, and there's also a gameplay demo, at Blizzcon '10 in about a month.


In the Beginning

Starting back in 2008, Diablo III was first announced at the World Wide Invitational in Paris. Soon following this announcement, Rob Pardo shared why they decided to announce the new game.

Official Blizzard Quote:
[Blizzard Source]
...it's probably been about 3 years I think since then and as far as why we're announcing now well it was just kind of the right time for the game. The game's really far along and it's really fun to play already even though we're not having a playable build here at the show it's pretty far along and it's already a fun game to play so we just felt like it was the right time to announce the game, and a great place too.

Starting off this announcement with such positive views of the game development helps signify how far along the game is now. Even back in June of 2008, a lot of work had been done. The Barbarian and Witch Doctor were shown and Rob Pardo even mentioned other classes being playable at that time. We even later found out that the Wizard had been developed long before the Witch Doctor and was even more complete. We also later found out that the fifth unveiled class was the first class they worked on. This left the Monk, which has since been revealed, to actually be the class with the least development made. With the Monk's development now, we can assume that the most of the work on the Heroes is near completion.

In this first interview regarding Diablo III, Rob Pardo also shared that Act I was playable. Now, we know that the Diablo Development team does not work linearly. So, if Act I was playable, then we at least know that back in 2008, the rest of the Acts were at least being worked on. Since then, we have learned that Act II at least has playable areas. However, Rob Pardo mentioned that there was still a lot of work to be completed on the Acts. He mentioned that specific areas were polished but not the whole Act. With two years of time to develop these Acts even more and knowing that the team polishes one area to get a reference for the rest of the areas, it is quite possible that all four Acts are closer to completion, at least environment wise.

The next clue we got on a purposed release date was given in another interview following the announcement. In the interview, Rob Pardo was asked about Blizzard's plan to release a new game each year and where Diablo would fall in this line up. The interviewer spoke about StarCraft II coming out in 2009 (keep in mind this was before the delay), World of WarCraft's Cataclysm in 2010, and Diablo following that. Rob Pardo responded by saying:

Official Blizzard Quote:
[Blizzard Source]
...ehm...wait...that would be great.

While this quote gives us no actual information, the fact that Blizzard has stated that they are trying to get a new game out each year and Diablo III following two other games, which are both now announced for actual release, this gives us a good idea that they at least originally planned Diablo III to be released in 2011.

In one last interview at the 2008 WWI, Rob Pardo was once again asked why they decided to announce Diablo III now, with two other major titles ahead. Again, Rob Pardo answered with an idealistic time line that they have for Diablo III.

Official Blizzard Quote:
[Blizzard Source]
The announcement of our projects is usually when it's time for that game to be announcedThis project has been going for a while and it finally got to the point where it felt like it's time to announce the game. We kind of have this rule of, ideally, we announce a game a year to a year and a half before the game comes out. That's our theory, and then three years later [trails off].

There is good and bad news from this statement. First the bad. He mentions that they idealistically announce games hoping to get them out in about a year and half. That would place Diablo III to be released late last year. We all know this is not true and that it will not even be coming out this year. However, the good news is that he jokingly makes a comment about three years later. While being sarcastic, we can imply that three years out is the furthest they have released a game after its announcement. With Diablo III being announced in June of 2008, three years later would be about summer of 2011.

While the game was far from complete when first announced, Rob Pardo did give some interesting insight to just how far along they were at this stage and when they had planned on having Diablo III released.


StarCraft's Influence

Since this initial announcement and release of information, Rob Pardo has not spoken too much directly about Diablo. However, with StarCraft II at the peak of hype and close to release, he did mention a few things about StarCraft II that can be related to Diablo III's progress.

StarCraft II has both had an influence on figuring out Diablo III's progress but has also had no actual influence on its development. Let me start with how StarCraft II and its development, along with any other game Blizzard is working on, has no effect on Diablo III's progress. Back in 2008, StarCraft was pushed back with the decision to split up the game into three parts. Then in 2009, the game was pushed back even further due to Battle.net design and issues. Many worried that this delay would also mean the delay of Diablo III. However, this is just not the case. Mike Morhaime discussed that the delay of StarCraft would have no effect on the release dates of any other games they were making. He also went on to explain that the release date of any game would not push back any other release dates as proven by both StarCraft II and Cataclysm both coming out in 2010. Rob Pardo went on further to explain why this was.

Official Blizzard Quote:
[Blizzard Source]
Each game has individual development teams; it's just that the way that we develop games, we develop them very iteratively.

This news is nothing new but something that needs to be reaffirmed. With Blizzard having separate teams for each game that they make, no game's delay or release, really has any impact on Diablo III's progress and development. This includes not only StarCraft but all games they are currently working on such as Cataclysm and the other two games they are currently working on. It is possible that when a game finishes that some of the people move to other teams to work on the project but that would hardly help them get a game out any amount of time sooner. Most teams continue on with the same team to create the next expansion or sequel of that game. If anything, some good news comes from StarCraft's delay in regards to Diablo III. With Battle.net 2.0 being a big reason for StarCraft's delay, many of these major issues had to be worked out. With Battle.net 2.0 being a big reason for StarCraft's dealy, many of these major issues had to be worked out. Bearing in mind that Diablo III will also use Battle.net 2.0, it is safe to assume that these major issues have been resolved and will not cause any delay for this game.

As mentioned, while StarCraft II has had no actual impact on Diablo III's development, there are some clues it gives us to when we can expect this game. Rob Pardo was asked in an interview about Diablo III's progress. While not giving any actual information he did share an interesting clue.

Official Blizzard Quote:
[Blizzard Source]
The development cycle will be more like StarCraft II. Wrath of the Lich King is an expansion set to a game that's very established in technology, pipeline, team, and everything else. Diablo III is a full-blown new product for us so it will be similar to StarCraft II.

While StarCraft II was not released at the time of this interview, it has since come out. With this, we can figure out about just how long it took for them to develop it and how long it will take for them to develop Diablo III. StarCraft II was announced in May 2007 at the WWI. Even with its delays and development problems, the game was released on July 27, 2010. This is approximately three years from its announcement date. With Diablo III, the game was announced in June 2008. With approximately three years needed to finish development, the game should be able to released in the summer of 2011 as long as they are matching StarCraft's development as stated.

Lastly, there is StarCraft II's sequel Heart of the Swarm that may give us some clues as to when we can expect Diablo III. First, let me begin by recanting a statement I made in my last "How Soon is Soon™" article. I made the statement that Rob Pardo had said that Diablo III would be released before the Heart of the Swarm expansion for StarCraft II. While I remember reading this "somewhere" I have yet been able to reproduce this quote. While it still may be true, I will not use it as a credible reference for Diablo III's progress. With that said, we can still use this to figure out some information on Diablo III's progress. Going back to Blizzard saying they want to release a game each year, many have said that HotS will be the game coming out in 2011. However, there is evidence that HotS will not be coming out before Diablo III. Rob Pardo recently mentioned HotS's progress.

Official Blizzard Quote:
[Blizzard Source]
Now that we’ve shipped “Wings of Liberty”, we’re just now getting serious about breaking ground on “Heart of the Swarm”. We always have a lot of ideas and there’s been some design work on it, but hardcore art and programming is just now starting to begin.

While the game engine and other hardware issues have been dealt with in the previous installment, there is still a lot of work to be done on HotS. While Diablo III may still have work to be completed, it has far advanced from initial art and programming. If Blizzard is planning on still trying for the one game a year statement, it is only likely that Diablo III is the only game far enough in its development to come out next year.

Unfortunately, Rob Pardo has not said much else in regards to Diablo III. Since 2008, Jay Wilson has taken over as the official spokesperson for all news regarding Diablo III. But, thanks to Rob Pardo and his early statements, we at least have a vague idea of what was planned and what they are shooting for with the release of Diablo III. I am still guessing June 28, 2011.