2009: Great Year for Gaming?

[DaMadFiddler]

This year, it feels like there are more games I'm really looking forward to than any other single year for some time now. On all platforms.

DS:
- Ace Attorney Investigations is a Phoenix Wright spinoff, where you play as the obnoxious prosecutor. Should be fun.
- Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. I don't know why the hell Link is operating a train, but frankly, I don't really care. It's Zelda, and that's all that matters.
- Rhythm Heaven came out recently, and is incredibly addictive. It's the first DS game I've bought in six months; my interest in the system has been waning significantly.

Wii:
- A Boy and His Blob is getting a high-res hand drawn remake. It looks really good.
- Bit.Trip Beat is a pretty simple downloadable title that came out a little while ago, but it's very addictive. Think Pong by way of Rez.
- Cave Story has been remade with higher-resolution graphics, and should be available as a downloadable title in the next few months.
- The Conduit is the game that looks like it'll actually get FPS right on the Wii. Good controls, graphics that someone actually bothered to spend some time working on, and (from what I've seen) some pretty solid gameplay.
- Dead Space: Extraction is getting surprisingly high marks from everyone who's seen it, and the visuals are very impressive. Besides, I like light gun games. If it turns out as well as people are saying, it should certainly be a worthwhile investment.
- House of the Dead: Overkill sort of reboots the franchise with a grindhouse flair, and is a blast. My girlfriend loves zombie movies, and I got her this for our anniversary. We played through it together. Highly recommended.
- Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings looks like it has the potential to be quite good, though I'm waiting for reviews.
- MadWorld came out a month or so ago, and is a lot of fun.
- Muramasa: Demon Blade is from the makers of Odin Sphere, with more of an action focus, and designs based on Japanese mythology.
- No More Heroes 2 is in its way.
- Pikmin was rereleased with Wii controls recently. Recommended if you don't already have it for 'Cube.
- Virtua Tennis 2009... the Virtua Tennis games were always a lot of fun, and the new one is getting very high marks. It's also set to use the Wii MotionPlus add-on (shouldn't Nintendo have built this functionality into the remote to begin with?), and controller movements have a direct 1:1 correspondence with the racket action.

PS3:
- Batman: Arkham Asylum looks to be the first Batman game done right since the NES. Everything I've been seeing about it has been very good.
- Beyond Good & Evil 2 is supposed to come out sometime this year... though whether or not it actually will is still anyone's guess.
- Bioshock 2. Do I even need to say why?
- Brutal Legend just sounds fun. Sort of a cartoony Metalocalypse-ish action game starring Jack Black.
- Dead Rising 2 looks to improve on the original in just about every way. Too bad the Wii version was so atrocious.
- Ghostbusters: the Video Game has been on my radar for a long time. Still not sure whether I'm going to get it for Wii or PS3, but I'll definitely be getting it either way.
- God of War 3 is set to be the Playstation's big holiday release this year. Perhaps I should get around to finishing #2.
- Katamari Forever. 'Nuff said.
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is coming out as a $15 download. Since this is one of my three favorite fighting games (along with Smash Bros. and the "first" Soul Calibur), it'll be nice to have this enhanced version. I just sold my PS2 copy, before it depreciates too much.
- Ninja Gaiden 2 is set to come to the PS3 later this year.
- Ratchet & Clank games are always fun, if very similar to each other. Ratchet & Clank: Future was either the second or third game I got for my Playstation, and I had a lot of fun playing it. A Crack in Time should continue the trend.
- Uncharted 2 is the PS3 game I'm most looking forward to. The first one is one of my favorite games for this generation, and I can't wait for the sequel.



That's a lot of stuff to be excited about for one year, and it's certainly not a wallet-friendly list. But as a gamer, it seems like there's a lot to look forward to this year.

[Maturion]

You completely forgot about the Xbox 360. There are loads of nice games coming for it this year.

[DaMadFiddler]

You completely forgot about the Xbox 360. There are loads of nice games coming for it this year.

Well, the list above is just the games I'm excited about. I don't have a 360, so I haven't really been following its releases.

[Luriden]

The only one out of that list that I'm excited about is Dead Space: Extraction. It's a shame it's on rails, as the Wii already has enough of those lately. I loved the first game and the movie, so I'll give it a shot just to see the storyline.

Katamari Forever would have been great if I hadn't played the first three console renditions. I think I'm pretty much done with that series.

I'll pick up Bioshock 2 once it hits the bargain bin, like I did with the first one, but it'll be for Xbox 360 and probably won't hit the price I want until next year.

[Nico0020]

I personally couldn't stand the first zelda DS game due to having to play with the stylus. They need to ditch that entirely. Watching the trailer for spirit tracks just made me want to burst out laughing.

I am excited about Bioshock 2, I hope they do a cool LE again. I loved the first one, but I feel with Luriden though, that game has no replay value.

[DaMadFiddler]

I am excited about Bioshock 2, I hope they do a cool LE again. I loved the first one, but I feel with Luriden though, that game has no replay value.

It's one of my girlfriend's favorite games, and she doesn't even like most FPS. She's the one who turned me on to BioShock. Also, we get at least some replay value out of the fact that when one of us gets a game, the other is probably going to play through it when the person who bought it is done.

[Eviltaco64X]

It's gonna be a great year for the PSP:

Assassin's Creed
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
Tekken 6
Final Fantasy XIII Agito
Littlebigplanet
Patapon 2
Rock Band: Unplugged
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
Madden '10
Dissidia Final Fantasy (outside of Japan)
Motorstorm: Arctic Edge
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
Tales of Vesperia
Duke Nukem Trilogy
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Persona

[DaMadFiddler]

It's gonna be a great year for the PSP:

Assassin's Creed
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny
Tekken 6
Final Fantasy XIII Agito
Littlebigplanet
Patapon 2
Rock Band: Unplugged
Monster Hunter Freedom Unite
Madden '10
Dissidia Final Fantasy (outside of Japan)
Motorstorm: Arctic Edge
Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier
Tales of Vesperia
Duke Nukem Trilogy
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
Persona

Hmm... yeah, I heard that Sony was making a big push to corral developers for a PSP revival. I can't really say many of these interest me that much, since they're almost all just portable versions of console games (which has been the PSP's main problem), but at least it looks like some quality stuff.

Patapon is one of the three games for PSP that I wish I had... too bad you can't play downloadable PSP games on the PS3, since you can already buy and download them via the PS3. (The others are Loco Roco and Dracula X Chronicles... and frankly, I'm kind of surprised Drac X hasn't been announced for Nintendo's Virtual Console).

[Kevin Beckman]

I had no idea they were even making a second Beyond Good and Evil.

Well I'm looking forward to MAG, Assasin's Creed 2, and the third Red Faction. Brutal Legend will be awesome.

[Code-Red]

Ghostbusters..... and that's about it.

[Specially Cork]

Not a lot for me. I'm sure there is stuff I want - it's just kinda hard to follow things from where I am, plus I have so many games sitting unplayed. The only 2 games I'm really really looking forward to are Dragon Quest IX and Final Fantasy XIII.

[Stormwatch]

You forgot Dux!

[Christuserloeser]

That won't come out until 2010 or 2011.

[Juan]

Wow, a bunch of sequels and ports of 2008 games plus some remakes. Yea, such a better year.
Not saying the games are bad, just questioning the threads approach.

And yet another addon for the Wii. Seems like the MegaDrive days.

Yuck. How about an addon to improve graphics?

[Specially Cork]

[cube_b3]

hahhahahahahahha

[BlackAura]

Yuck. How about an addon to improve graphics?

What's the point? You have a game which is, at most, four people who are too small to see clearly running around on a tennis court, which is basically a big, flat, green area with a net in the middle of it, with uniform flat lighting. Short of raytracing the thing, there's not really anything you can do to make it look prettier than the Wii version of this game does.

To my eyes, the PS3 / Xbox 360 and Wii versions look pretty much identical, at least in gameplay. In fact, it looks like they're using the exact same textures, the same models (with reduced polygon count on the Wii version), the same lightmaps, and the same character animations, and something very close to the same lighting model (simple lambertian reflection, simple projected shadows).

Oh - the shaders used in the Xbox 360 / PS3 version give the characters that odd plastic look characteristic of basic phong shading, while the Wii version's lighting model gives it the made-of-cardboard look characteristic of basic gouraud shading. Not that you'd notice if you were playing the game - the characters are all too small to see clearly anyway.

[Nico0020]

dude you always forget about the wii toast!

[Eckostyle]

I'm just waiting for Modern Warfare 2. The only other game I've been waiting on for this year was SF4.

I'd say Sacred 2, but there is the chance the port will be bad and I don't see it being that popular. Still reserving it @ work, though.

[melancholy]

Klonoa for Wii came out today. How could this year get any better?