Great games blog

It’s a confusing week for releases, though we have to wonder if such a thing is ever straightforward. There is some solid game material hitting shelves this week, and we’ve got a full breakdown for you.

First up is a turn-based strategy game set in the time of the American Civil War, and aptly titled American Civil War. Players become the head of either the Union or Confederate forces and lead them through battle on land or on sea through several key conflicts of the war, or through an all-encompassing campaign. With a group of historical experts having played a role in the development of the game, it threatens to almost be educational.

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In a surprise announcement today, Microsoft and Bungie both confirmed rumors that had been floating around for the past week, speculating that Bungie was seeking to become an independent game company once again. Since Monday, hints that Bungie, the creative mastermind behind the Halo series, was seeking to return to their old independent ways had been surfacing on the net. Without any evidence to back up those rumors though, the speculation was mostly dismissed.

Press releases issued today by both Microsoft and Bungie profess the two will continue their partnership with the Halo franchise, and expect to strengthen ties with future releases of new IP. Unfortunately, no details were provided on what this new IP might be. In Harold Ryan’s words: “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft’s platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through ‘Halo’ and beyond.”

Notice he uses the plural form of platform in that statement, possibly hinting at the Games for Windows initiative. I’m sure the question on PC gamers’ minds now must be, “how will this affect the PC port of Halo 3?” Only time will tell.

Harry Gregson-Williams is no stranger to writing music. Responsible for cinematic scores seen in movies such as Shrek (and its sequels), Phone Booth, Team America: World Police, and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Gregson-Williams recently had the opportunity to add Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat to his relatively small list of video game scores. Grant Collier of Infinity Ward recently said of the composer: “[he] was the perfect choice to craft an immersive and rich soundtrack that matches the heightened atmosphere and tension of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.”

It’s a bit of an obvious statement. Harry Gregson-Williams would probably be an ideal choice for most video games, after his practically legendary work scoring the music for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. For Call of Duty 4, Gregson-Williams worked with Stephen Barton (don’t worry, I’ve never heard of him either), who wrote the majority of the in-game music. The game’s soundtrack was performed by a full orchestra, primarily at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, England. All in all, it’s a winning combination that’ll give Call of Duty 4 another reason to be remembered a few years from now.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat is expected to roll into stores on November 5th.

Activision, one of the world’s oldest video game production companies, today announced 17 more tracks that will ship with Guitar Hero III on October 29th. Without further ado, here is the list in its entirety:

· Same Old Song and Dance (by Aerosmith)
· Helicopter (by Bloc Party)
· Stricken (by Disturbed)
· Monsters (by Matchbook Romance)
· Before I Forget (by Slipknot)
· Kool Thing (by Sonic Youth)
· When You Were Young (by The Killers)
· Devil Went Down to Georgia (as made famous by Charlie Daniels Band)
· Sunshine of Your Love (as made famous by Cream)
· Holiday in Cambodia (as made famous by Dead Kennedys)
· Cliffs of Dover (as made famous by Eric Johnson)
· Hit Me with Your Best Shot (as made famous by Pat Benetar)
· Black Magic Woman (as made famous by Santana)
· Story of My Life (as made famous by Social Distortion)
· Pride and Joy (as made famous by Stevie Ray Vaughn)
· The Seeker (as made famous by The Who)
· Black Sunshine (as made famous by White Zombie)

I can’t help but think we’ve already known about some of these tracks for a while now. Regardless, the most important question is: what platform will you be buying Guitar Hero III for?

The modeling world may still be debating whether thin is sexy, but when it comes to computers and technology, sexy is thin. Meet Sony’s fancy new piece of eye candy, the XEL-1 OLED TV. The screen is only 11″ across diagonally, but it’s also only 3mm thick; an impressive achievement that is impossible with today’s relatively bulky LCDs (who would have thought we’d be calling LCDs bulky!). The XEL-1 has an unimpressive 960 x 540 pixel resolution, though it will scale down any inputs up to 1080p. It also sports RJ-45 and USB ports, in addition to HDMI and standard cable inputs.

Don’t break out your checkbook just yet though. The XEL-1 is currently only available in Japan, and the built in digital tuner is only able to decode Japanese TV signals. Besides, at ¥200,000 (roughly $1,730 US), it just might be better to hold out until the technology has matured and dropped a little in price.

The real potential however, is what this means for the future of PC gaming. After all, if we put 4 of those XEL-1 panels together we get a 22″ display at 1920 x 1080 resolution. How long will it be before we see this technology in North America and Europe? My guess is the holiday season of 2008.

Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has reached Gold status - the game is finished and sent off to the presses - id Software and Activision announced today.

The game that has been lovingly labeled “The Battlefield Killer”, will be available in Europe and Australia on September 28 and in North American store shelves beginning October 2.

Todd Hollenshead, id Software CEO: “After months of testing, tweaking and balancing Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars, I’m pleased to finally be able to say ‘It’s Done!’ We’ve had a ton of fun getting the game ready for the masses and I’m looking forward to seeing the massive battle for the top of the online leaderboards begin!”

Paul Wedgwood, Splash Damage Owner and Creative Director: “The opportunity to develop Enemy Territory QUAKE Wars has been mind-blowingly cool! The passion and effort put in by our team at Splash Damage, combined with the amazing direction and mentoring we’ve received from id Software has lead to an award-winning game that we’re incredibly proud of.”

To date, ET:QW has won over 15 awards and has been heralded as one of the most anticipated new titles this year by nearly a dozen publications. Quake Wars will no doubt prove itself as one of the gems of the year for PC gamers.

Codemasters have released the first trailer from Operation Flashpoint 2, and seems to be purely designed to wet gamers appetites and leave us wanting more. And I’ll tell you, it absolutely achieves that goal.

Jump after the break for some informational snippets from the press release that came with it and a few quality screencaptures from the trailer. (more…)

The sequel to FarCry, one of the best single-player experiences ever made, has been officially announced by Ubisoft today. This wasn’t any big big surprise since some artwork marked FarCry2 were leaked some time ago but it sure is nice to have official confirmation.

What has me a bit concerned though is the fact that while the original FarCry was developed by the guys at CryTek (the company currently working on Crysis), FarCry2 is being made at Ubisoft’s Montreal studio. Hopefully they’ll keep FC2 true to the original.

John Parkes from Ubisoft: “Far Cry marked the beginning of a new era for shooters. An era of gorgeous graphics and of advanced artificial intelligence. We are confident that Far Cry 2 will have the same impact again on the FPS genre landscape.”

FarCry2 is currently scheduled for a Spring 2008 release for PC. No news on console versions.