January 1, 2008 -
Grand Theft Auto IV... Spore... Little Big Planet... Saints Row 2... Wii Fit... Metal Gear Solid 4...TheStreet.com's Priya Ganapti looks into her crystal ball and ranks these six games among key titles for 2008. Ganapati writes:
The stakes are huge. THQ... is pinning its hopes on the release of Saints Row 2. And Nintendo hopes its new fitness game will provide a successful template for its best-selling console.
Of GTV IV, Ganapati said:
The release of Grand Theft Auto IV, which was moved from October this year to early 2008, could change [Take Two's] fortunes...
Strong initial sales of Grand Theft Auto IV... could bring back the feel-good factor around Take-Two and offer the stock a short-term pop.
PC gamers have been drooling over Will Wright's Spore since 2005, but the game is not a sure thing, according to Ganapati, who quotes analyst Jesse Divnich of The simExchange:
Spore will have to prove itself in the market unlike a Halo which will sell well irrespective of what the reviews are.
Of Wii Fit and the much-discussed Wii Balance Board peripheral, Divnich told Ganapati:
Nintendo does some very creative stuff that's a complete hit or miss. The Wii Fit is being targeted towards the whole family so it will be interesting to see how the U.S. market takes to it.
A pair of PS3 exclusives (and how often do you hear those words used together in the same sentence?) may hold the key to the future of Sony's console. Joystiq's Kyle Orland spoke of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Little Big Planet:
2008 is going to be the year when PS3 proves itself or falls down. So far they have just about kept themselves in the game but next year is when they have to go for the kill. With releases such as Metal Gear Solid IV Sony has given itself a chance at success.
With Little Big Planet, the idea was not to put big developer resources into it. You are counting on the people playing it to make the game good and that's a trend we could see more of in 2008.
Comments
Anyway, i'm personally looking forward (A long way forward) to Fallout 3. Bethesda are good at making Epic Win stuff.
Anyway, if they manage to turn this one in some pure winnage, it should be fun.
I agree, looking forward to both of those titles myself.
The top titles next year are Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Final Fantasy 13, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Spore.
Yes, that's basically what i'm waiting for. A game called Fallout 3. The writing will be good, after all this IS Bethesda. It just won't be the stuff you loved from the last.. Four games?
Theres only 2 fallout games and Oblivion is the pits as far as TES goes.
So FO3 has a good 60% chance to fail.
Oblivion and Bioshock are widely regarded as two of the best games ever made. Care to elaborate on those sentiments?
As for the Oblivion and Bioshock things, nice graphics, very atmospheric, however, I'm not so certain about best, I'm sure there are 'better' RPG games out there than Out-of-the-box Oblivion, with the auto monster levelling etc, Morrorwind, as an RPG was 'better' in a lot of ways, but it wasn't nearly as pretty of atmospheric. Bioshock, I'm in two minds about, incredibly well made, beautiful models and shaders, some of the most atmospheric scenarios I've ever seen. Except..... Once I completed it, it ran out of appeal, there's very little 'return' value for the game, for all its beauty.
Good points, but I think you'll agree that my description is a bit closer to home than "the pits" and "trash".
Agreed, they are certainly a long way from 'Trash', Oblivion, in particular, absolutely blew me away when I first played it, I could just wander for hours from dungeon to dungeon, and Bioshock is probably one of the most atmospheric looking games I have ever played. They aren't, in my opinion, the 'best' of their genre, but they are a long long way from being the worst :)
If all else fails, I can always buy an Xbox :)
And I think that is what the Wii is all about in the first place, let go of the current console gamers (that are really budget PC gamers now) and see if there is enough life left in gaming to recruit the next gen of gamers.
On the traditional gaming titles, yeah SSBB is THE anticipated game for the Wii among other traditional Nintendo title rehashes (Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, etc)