July 2007

The Games Of E3

July 6, 2007

News / by Jason Dobson Make a comment! / Tweet it!

With E3 just around the corner, companies have begun issuing their lists of titles that will be shown, demonstrated, and offered for hands on play during the four day media summit, and we have a list here of what we expect to see.

As we pack out bags, and prepare to make the trek to sunny Santa Monica next week, Eurogamer has taken the time to put together a comprehensive list of the titles that have been announced as well as those simply expected to make a showing. We’ve put some of our own in here as well, giving you a sort of checklist to use when looking for impressions next week as well as in the days that follow.

Activision
Bee Movie
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Guitar Hero III
Spiderman: Friend or Foe
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground

Atari
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
Godzilla: Unleashed
Jenga
The Witcher

Bethesda Softworks
Fallout 3

Capcom
Ace Attorney 3
Devil May Cry 4
MotoGP 2007
Rocketmen: Axis of Evil
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Talisman
Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure

Codemasters
Cliver Barker’s Jericho
HEI$T
Rise of the Argonauts
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

D3Publisher of America
Ben 10: Protector of Earth
Dark Sector
Dead Head Fred
Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire
Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution
Naruto: Path of Ninja

Eidos
Age of Conan
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men

Electronic Arts
Army of Two
Boogie
Burnout Paradise
Crysis
EA Playground
FIFA 08
Half-Life 2: The Orange Box
Hellgate: London
Madden NFL 08
Medal of Honor Airborne
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
MySims
NASCAR 08
Need For Speed: ProStreet
Rock Band
The Simpsons
Skate
SimCity Societies
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08

Gamecock
Dementium: The Ward
Dungeon Hero
Fury
Hail to the Chimp
Mushroom Men
Unannounced titles (possibly Section 8)

GSC Game World
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. sequel

Hudson
Fishing Master

Konami
Metal Gear Solid 4

LucasArts
Fracture
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Majesco
Blast Works: Build, Fuse & Destroy
Holly Hobbie & Friends
Kengo: Legend of the 9
Nancy Drew and the Deadly Secret of Olde World Park
Operation: Vietnam
Turn It Around
The Wild West
Zoo Hospital

Microsoft
Blue Dragon
Halo 3
Halo Wars
Fable 2
Lost Odyssey
Mass Effect
Project Gotham Racing 4

Midway
Blacksite: Area 51
John Woo’s Stranglehold
Unreal Tournament 3

Nintendo
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Mario Galaxy

Namco Bandai
Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
Beautiful Katamari
Culdcept Saga
Digimon World: Dawn/Digimon World: Dusk
Digimon World Data Squad
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
Eternal Sonata
.hack//G.U. Vol. 3 Redemption
Namco Museum DS
Namco Museum REMIX
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes
Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2
Smash Court Tennis 3
Soulcalibur Legends
Space Station Tycoon
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
Time Crisis 4

NCsoft
Aion
Dungeon Runners
Guild Wars: Eye of the North
Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa

Sega
Condemned 2
The Club
The Golden Compass
Gas Powered Games’ RPG
Iron Man
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
Sega Rally
Universe At War: Earth Assault

Sierra
Crash of the Titans
Empire Earth 3
Geometry Wars: Galaxies
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
SWAT: Target Liberty
TimeShift
Unannounced title
World in Conflict

Sony Computer Entertainment
Killzone 2

Sony Online Entertainment
Pirates of the Burning Sea

Take-Two
BioShock
NBA 2K8
NHL 2K8
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

THQ
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008
De Blob
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Destroy All Humans 3

Ubisoft
Assassin’s Creed

Warner Bros. Interactive
FEAR sequel

Snackbar Games, Looking For Columnists

July 5, 2007

News / by Jason Dobson Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Are you someone with an opinion about the video game industry but you don’t have an outlet for your voice? Snackbar Games wants to be your megaphone. If you are interested in writing a column about weekly or bi-weekly happenings, want to talk about gaming soundtracks, imports, giant robot or dōjin games, want to wax poetic over your favorite MMO, or just about anything else you are passionate about, we want to hear from you. Drop us a line and we’ll set you up with your very own soap box.

Microsoft Expands Xbox 360 Warranty Coverage – Again

July 5, 2007

News / by Chris Rasco Make a comment! / Tweet it!

News stories about the failure rate of the Xbox 360 have been published by the dozen. In response to what Microsoft feels is an unacceptable number of repairs to Xbox 360 consoles, the company conducted a massive investigation into the source of these general hardware failures. The result of this investigation was Microsoft identifying a number of factors which may be the culprit of the failures indicated by the three red flashing lights on the console, also known as the Red Ring of Death.

In a move that shows Microsoft’s desire to do the right thing, Microsoft has extended the warranty coverage for any console affected by the Red Ring of Death to 3 years from the date of purchase. The repairs will be done free of charge to the consumer, that includes shipping costs.

Reimbursements are also being issued for any customer that previously paid to have their console repaired due to the Red Ring of Death.

I, for one, applaud Microsoft’s efforts to deliver a high quality product at any cost. You know these repairs are costing them tons of money, but they are doing a great job appeasing customers that are having trouble with their consoles.

Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon

July 5, 2007

PSP / Reviews / by Chris Massey Make a comment! / Tweet it!

For the past ten years, the Harvest Moon series has somehow managed to make the chore-like nature of planting tomatoes and cutting grass seem fun. How it has achieved this sorcery is a pure mystery. Regardless, it seems that the creators have decided to give the series a futuristic facelift in Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon. Unfortunately, while most other titles in the series give off a distinctive and quaint charm, Innocent Life seems completely out of place with other Harvest Moon titles. It could be the generic futuristic setting, or it could be the dull-as-dirt pacing and little to do, but in the end, Innocent Life is painfully forgettable, even for the biggest Harvest Moon fan.

Innocent Life takes place in the far-off and totally futuristic year of 2022. On the Island of Heartflame, which coincidentally looks like a big heart, most of the old agricultural practices have been outdated by automated processes, which have led to a pretty easy life. Unfortunately, this has also angered the spirits of the island, who have punished humanity by locking off land and threatening to erupt the nearby volcano. In a last ditch effort, the sickeningly named Dr. Hope creates you, a robot boy, to tend to the farmlands and bring back the old farming methods. That’s right, he’s solving the problem by making robots do the work instead. That’s progress.

Unlike most other Harvest Moon titles, instead of working on the usual farm, all of the farmland resides on top of a set of ancient ruins. It’s a different feeling, although for the most part, the mechanics are mostly the same. What is different is that you only have access to a small bit of the actual ruins at first, with the rest being unlocked as you complete your robotly tasks. These tasks will eventually unlock a lot more content than you’re originally given at the start, which is great if you can tread through to get to it all. The keyword here is A

Pocket Pool

July 5, 2007

PSP / Reviews / by Graham Russell Make a comment! / Tweet it!

In Pocket Pool, a PSP title from Eidos and developer Hyper-Devbox, players take on opponents in various games of pool in order to unlock racy pictures and videos. Sure, there are a lot of ways to customize the experience: many rooms, tables, balls and cues can be unlocked, but it doesn’t affect anything with the gameplay. This is sad, because there was some room for improvement.

The A.I. starts out grossly incompetent, but skips all reasonable skill levels and goes straight to nearly-invincible. Players are given the choice of different camera angles, but in all but one the cue position and angle makes it difficult to hit anything, and the last is an overhead view that makes aiming the simple task of lining up a circle.

The obvious focus of this game was the inclusion of pictures and videos of scantily-clad models. While this certainly fits the PSP’s demographic of young men, it still doesn’t make it enough to sell a game. The number of images and clips isn’t overwhelming, nor is the quality. It’s sad that this game exists, really. Eidos obviously thought there were people out there so desperate for this content that they’d pay for and play through a bad billiards title, and even if there were, those sad souls have most likely discovered the Internet.

Pocket Pool, as a product, makes no sense. It aims for pool fans, but ones that don’t care about accurate physics or taking the game seriously. It appeals to sad, perverted teenagers, but only those with extra cash and no access to the Internet. Finally, the title was for those who want an entertaining game, yet don’t mind bad controls and cameras. Who fits into all these categories?

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