The 50 Hottest Things in Gaming in 2009

Here's the ultimate list of things to look forward to in your 2009 gaming calendar. This massive preview of the year includes E3 2009, The Reinvention of Atari, the Return of Itagaki, Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, Half-Life Episode Three, Modern Warfare 2, Bioshock 2, Rare and loads more.

Page: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 

Page 5

The Reinvention of Atari
2009 and Beyond

The Atari Live event held in London at the start of December 2008 was pretty convincing. Right there in front of our eyes, we saw a publisher transform itself from barely-on-our-journalist-radar to a serious, major publisher of interest, and it's a long time (perhaps even the first time) anyone felt that way about Infrogrames to be quite blunt. The details concerning ownership, branding and corporate structure of this organisation are hideously complicated, but the bottom line is that now, they mean business - and the promise of their new strategy and leadership sounds a lot more worthy of the Atari brand name than, say, Driv3r. To have appointed David Gardner as CEO, and then nabbed Phil Harrison as president, tells you a lot about the intentions here. In the short term, the company has a roster of potentially AAA titles to keep on your wish list, like Race Pro, Afro Samurai, Ghostbusters and Riddick. And a little further down the line, they've got some very interesting stuff coming, including a major collaboration with Tetsuya Mizuguchi (see our separate entry in this feature for more on that). -AD

Brütal Legend
Q3 2009 (Xbox 360, PS3)

Double Fine Productions' second game is as loopy as its first, the award-winning Psychonauts: Eddie Riggs, a Heavy Metal band roadie voiced by Jack Black, accidentally bleeds on a cursed belt buckle and is transported to a demonic alternative reality inspired by Norse fantasy. During his time there he carves up Goth kids with a giant battleaxe, casts magic spells by way of a Flying V guitar, and commands armies of Harley-mounted Fire Barons with taps of the D-pad. Yes, it's yet another excuse for Black to do his trademark rock freak act, but with Tim "Monkey Island" Schafer at the reins you know the wisecracks will be worth it. -EET

Aliens: Colonial Marines
2009 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3)

Hey, who spilled Brothers in Arms on my Alien FPS? Brothers in Arms developer Gearbox, that's who, and the results could be the first videogame to recapture the sweaty claustrophobia of the films since Alien Versus Predator. As leader of a four-man squad, you'll be exploring off-world facilities and derelict craft in search of the many-jawed Xenomorphs, ordering your men to fall the hell back with the developer's tried-and-true context sensitive commands. Think of it as Dead Space with four terrified, squashy pink bipeds instead of one. If you find the idea of beating off Facehuggers and the like on your lonesome upsetting, there's online and offline co-op. As Hudson would say: stop your grinnin' and drop your linen! -EET

Dragon Age: Origins
Q1 2009 (PC), Q4 2009 (all other versions) (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

Now that its little sci-fi experiment is over and done with, it's time for BioWare to get back to what BioWare does best: cavernous Dungeons and Dragons rip-offs filled with pointy-eared waifs and hairy dwarves reeling out tomes of morally weighted dialogue. The first in a trilogy, Origins is a "spiritual successor" to the developer's reputation-making Baldur's Gate titles: you form a character from an ocean of attributes, and plonk him or her down in the middle of a war between humanity and [insert Orc variant here]. One of the more touted draws is your "origin story", which determines where your character starts life and how certain aspects of the main campaign unfold. -EET

inFamous
Spring 2009 (PS3)

Sly Cooper developer Sucker Punch Productions was one of three firms who secured PlayStation as the home of quality action platforming last generation. This time round the competition is stiffer, but Insomniac's Ratchet & Clank and Naughty Dog's Uncharted have exceeded expectations, and Sucker Punch's inFamous, a dark superhero tale set in a devastated near-future metropolis, could be the decisive blow. The protagonist, Cole, becomes able to manipulate electricity during a mysterious explosion, and promptly sets out to rid his hometown of scum and villainy, scaling rooftops and calling down lightning storms with a flick of the wrist. The catch? Guns explode in his hands. This being a sandbox title, there should be plenty to do by the wayside. -EET

Page: 1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10 

NEXT PAGE >>