[Gamers] What Are You Looking Forward to Playing This Holiday Season?

I thought it was just me that was quietly looking forward to this game. It looks a little rough in spots, but I am intrigued by the setup for the game. It is kind of crazy seeing a Hellraiser-esque environment in a video game, with the visuals being up to the task of creating a horrifying world. I got my worries, but I like what they're doing.

Yeah, it is coming out in November IIRC.

This is not coming out soon though (in the US anyway) AFAIK. I think it is a early 2008 title, although I think it might release in Japan this year.

Well, GTA 4 is out (won't be out until February 2008 at the earliest...may even slip to holiday 2008), so maybe you can have enough time now.


My list will be a little long (with lots of details), but only a few of them are games that I'll probably spend a lot of time playing (probably the only games I'll buy, the rest will just be rented during Christmas break or something):

PS3:

Heavenly Sword - Practically already sold on the game, and I rarely am sold on a game that isn't called Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, or The Elder Scrolls. I've followed this game for almost 3 years I think, before I even knew it was a PS3 game or even a game that would actually be picked up for development by a publisher. The cinematics blow me away (love the world they created), and the demo put away any doubts I had about the gameplay (although I wish it was longer).

Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - The adventure aspects of the game intrigue me, and of course the visuals are amazing. I've only seen a few trailers, but I like the vibe I'm getting from the two main characters (seems almost like a Indiana Jones game actually). Need a demo to sell me on the game though, or else I'll just rent it first.

Warhawk - Looks like a great online game (kind of Battlefield-esque, which I loved...even though I could only play the offline versions of it), and there is a lot of value in the retail package they're putting together (may need a headset if I start playing games online). Waiting for reviews to sell me on the game though.

Unreal Tournament 3 - Debating whether to get this for my PC or PS3. Mouse support kind of pushes me to the PS3 version, especially since I don't have a large PC monitor. Might hold off on it depending on how good Warhawk is (want either this or Warhawk to play online...but might get both if they are each great).

Haze - Definitely a rental, unless reviews are really high (high 8s, low 9s). A rental isn't a bad thing since I really want to play it (interested in the story and gameplay mechanics), but I'm sure I can get through it in the few days I decide to rent it. Online probably won't be a factor since I'd rather play Resistance, UT3, or Warhawk, especially since I don't particularly care for online co-op (even with 4 players, or whatever).

Lair - Another rental, unless reviews are really high. Definitely going to give it a try since I like the visuals, the setup for the story, and the fact that it is a dragon game (miss the Panzer Dragoon games ). May take it back in 24 hours if the gameplay and framerate are gamekillers, but I definitely want to try it. Guess it could turn out to be special too though.

NBA 2K8 - Will rent, but probably won't buy right away unless it blows me away (2K7 didn't). I think I'll buy it a few months later, when the price drops start kicking in. I need to own a next-gen basketball game.

FolkLore - Probably will just rent it since it seems kind of short and not AAA. But I did enjoy the demo, especially the gameplay. Didn't think searching for monsters would be so fun, but the Sixaxis controls helped. Very interesting art design (especially the monsters), and the story might be OK, but I have my doubts it will be anything that great (won't help if it has crappy VAs). The user-generated content aspect of the game might be pretty cool though...I haven't seen enough about it yet.

Jericho - For reasons mentioned in my reply to Ziggy.

Hot Shots Golf 5 - Don't care for golf that much, but I loved the PS3 demo, despite how short it was. I doubt I'll spend full price on it, but it would be fun to check it out for a week or so, especially with some friends. Now I know why this franchise is so popular.

Mercenaries 2 - Missed out on the first one, which seemed like a bunch of fun. With next-gen physics, it seems like this one could be a lot more fun, so I don't really have any excuse not to at least rent the game.

Everyday Shooter - A PSN game that looks pretty interesting. Depends on the price, but I'll probably end up getting it.

Home & LittleBigPlanet Beta/Demo - Not really retail games being released, but I definitely want to check out Home, and I really want to get in the LBP beta or demo or whatever it is.

PC:

BioShock - A purchase depends on a couple of things, such as how well it runs on my PC, whether a PS3 port is officially announced, and how busy I am with other games or stuff. I will probably end up picking it up next year at the very least though, unless my PC really can't handle it (pretty much impossible for that to happen though...if I could get Doom 3 running on my older PC, this will definitely run well enough on my current PC).

Crysis - Yeah, this one may not play so well on my PC. Depending on reviews, I may just check out the demo if they put one out. I mostly just want to check out those visuals running in real-time in front of my own eyes...even if it does look like a slideshow.

PSP:

God of War Demo - Signed up for this a while back, and it might be the PSP game I am looking forward to the most, even though it is just a demo.

Jeanne d'Arc - I love my strategy RPGs. Need some more of these on my PSP...especially those that aren't ports of games I've already played quite a bit of (like FFT and Disgaea).

Silent Hill Origins - Doubt I'll actually pick it up this year with all the other games coming out, but I definitely want to give it a shot as long as it doesn't suck (was worried it would, but recent videos started to change my mind).

PS2:

Persona 3 - Early impressions and reviews make it sound great, and with the lack of any great RPGs on the PS3 (or any of the major 3), I might give this game some playtime before the year is out, even though there are plenty of other games out there to keep me preoccupied.


360:

Mass Effect - Don't have a 360, but if I have the time and the friends with "connections," I'd like to play this game some. Still a little iffy on the actual gameplay portions of the game, but the rest of it looks really awesome.



There are some games I might consider after a demo, like Ratchet and Clank (tried platformers before, but I don't really care for them), as well as some games that I would really enjoy a demo of (but I won't pay for at all ). And if we're including games coming out in 2008 like StarCraft 2 and Fallout 3, my list would be WAY longer.

 

It would have to be a movie from your HDD and not something running from the disc drive AFAIK. Plus, I think it might be limited to being played on one of the TV screens in Home, so unless they have a view point that zooms in, the video quality may not be the best (not like watching a movie directly on your PS3, with voice chat enabled). You can watch "movies" in a movie theater style room, which provides a better view point for watching movies, and you can still chat amongst your friends in Home; these would probably be movies provided by Sony or some other party, and not necessarily something in your possession (and this "movie" may simply be a trailer for The Green Hornet or something).

I have no idea if this will launch with the service, or if it will need some time to work out the bugs. It is just something they demonstrated at GDC (being able to stream music and videos in your apartment, and watching movies at different places with your friends in a movie theater). If I was in the Beta, I guess I would at least know if it is working now. But since I'm not, and the info is under a NDA IIRC, guess I don't have a good answer. Of course, if I was in the Beta, I couldn't really tell you what was or wasn't working.

Doubt it. Certainly not right away...mostly because the tuner probably won't even be available right away. Once the service launches (or the media streaming capabilities anyway), I suppose someone could try streaming something like a radio podcast from the Internet to other people in their Home since this would be doing almost the same thing I think (only with audio instead...though I guess you could also use video streaming from the Web). On that note, someone could obviously give play-by-play to people in their Home, but that's certainly not a big deal and might even be better done via some other medium. Though I guess if you're already using Home...

There might be some tools available to people that work with Sony on creating Home spaces that might allow for this possibility (basically giving them enough access to make drastic changes to how things work). I think someone could create a program that would allow them to then stream the content as they would in someone's apartment. Keep in mind it would be a lot harder to setup one of these spaces (it would cost money for one, and at least some learning curve for creating things in Home), and unlike apartments, they would probably be monitored by Sony (so if the NBA had a problem with this, we'll be getting some unfriendly letters). I'm assuming that Sony won't be giving us this type of control in our normal apartments. And now that I think about it, I'm not even sure a PS3 could do both things at once.

Of course, it would be no big deal watching the game once if you recorded it to your HDD, or so I would think. I think this stuff is all more than possible, but probably a little beyond what will end up being implemented.