 You've got the Star Wars franchise, Batman, and Indiana Jones - all of them getting their own multiplatform Lego treatment for the past few years. And now, the torch may be passed to someone new. Ever since Warner Bros. (the same guys who are taking the Harry Potter series to the silver screen) bought Traveller's Tales, one of the biggest franchises on every body's mind to get the next Lego treatment is Harry Potter. And the last we heard from Warner about this is that infamous " no comment" response. Unfortunately, a source close to TT has already confirmed to Eurogamer that a Lego Harry Potter is definitely not coming out in 2009. (Too bad the source didn't confirm either if a Lego Harry Potter will indeed be released post-2009.) Meanwhile, Loz Doyle, producer at TT, hints that a previous Lego title might get another release. You never know. There's always the possibility that we would revisit a franchise. And you never know, it might not be the end of Star Wars, it might not be the end of Indy - we keep our options open. Here's a clincher though. Another producer, Nick Ricks this time, does confirm that "There will be a Lego game in 2009. And I think it's okay to say that you'll be a bit surprised." Now whether or not it's that rumored Rock Band Lego, we'll just have to wait and see.
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Via the press wire, Capcom has confirmed the European release dates (or at least, some release windows) for seven of their upcoming games during the first half of this year. Some of these have already been confirmed before, some of them are just being pegged now. But if you wanted an updated Capcom calendar, then here's your ticket: Aah, two zombie titles (three, if you consider Neopets as brainless zombie hordes) from Capcom - I can live with that. Unfortunately, they don't have any PSP titles listed. Don't worry, guys. I'm sure Monster Hunter Freedom Unite will eventually roll out. Last we heard, it's scheduled for a Spring 2009 release window. Strange that they didn't include it here. Hmm... Again, these are European release dates. Some of them, like RE5, will be released simultaneously in North America. Others, like Street Fighter IV, will be released a few days before or after Europe.
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Tired of keeping track of all your charging cables for your handhelds? Then trust my snarky, car-salesman - yet dulcet - voice and take a look at this 7-in-1 USB charging cable from Brando! It charges all three PSP models, all three DS models, and the Game Boy Advance. Brando's 7-in-1 USB Charging Cable is available for 7 bucks. Cheap, affordable, and pretty questionable, considering you have to charge via a USB Solt. I don't know what a USB Solt is, but it must pack quite a punch. Typos and dulcet voices aside, it's hard to put some solid faith in this third-party thingamajig, especially if that third-party's name sounds like a lounge magician. Convenient, yes. Safe? Well... consider the time-honored phrase: you get what you pay for. If you're willing to trust it with your various expensive gadgetries anyway, the Source Link shall be your guide.
Related Articles:  Sufferin' succotash, not another Lego rumor! (Yes, I mutter Looney Tunes curses when I hear facepalm rumors.) One of videogaming247's sources is claiming that another Lego game is in development. And not just any Lego game. A Rock Band Lego game! I hope we won't see any exploding Lego artists on stage now. VG247's source claims that the information is "100 percent correct.," though he didn't mention any other details. I would prefer Lego Halo though, too bad that was bunk. The leading Lego rumor making the rounds right now is Harry Potter, which is a more likely candidate. More chances for exploding Lego pieces to go flying everywhere.  Gino D:Best New IP: LittleBigPlanetRunner's Up: Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Patapon Comments: Of all the new IPs seen this year, you can't compete with LBP. It's been nothing but a phenomenon of late, with Sackboys invading the other forms of media and culture like crazy. As for Layton, it's an old IP in Japan, but for the west, it's getting cult status quicker than you can say " Studio Ghibli movie please".
Isaac C:Best New IP: LittleBigPlanet Runner's Up: Left 4 Dead, Mirror's Edge Comments: LittleBigPlanet wins hands down because my Sackboy will cry otherwise. I didn't particularly find Mirror's Edge engaging, but it deserves a vote.
Mabie A: Best New IP: Mirror's Edge Comments: Mirror's Edge also is winner, although I would have preferred for it to have an optional third person view instead of just the standard first person view. I mean, yeah, it's cool to see how it's like to leap off building rooftops and scale fire exits. but to just have that view all the time, it kinda takes away from the gameplay experience, cos I can't appreciate the stunts she's doing.
Glenn M:Best New IP: Mirror's Edge Comments: The runner isn't a runner-up.. the concept may not be unique, but it certainly carries the concept and owns it.. the first person pov simulates the feeling of actually doing all that jumping so well that I actually imagine myself jumping across office buildings through outdoor smoking areas..
Chris C:Best New IP: Dead Space Runner's Up: LittleBigPlanet, Mirror's Edge. Comments: High production values, slick presentation and a gripping story mean I can't wait for the inevitable follow up to Dead Space. 
For over a year now, it's been the same old story in Famitsu's Most Wanted list: Japanese gamers who took part in their polls voted Final Fantasy XIII as the most anticipated title. It's claimed the throne for over twelve months already, but that's changed now. What are Japanese gamers looking forward to the most these days? Dragon Quest IX for the DS. Yeah, leave it to the Japanese gamers to replace an RPG with another RPG - another Square Enix RPG, for that matter - on their most wanted list. - Dragon Quest IX (NDS, Square Enix)
- Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
- Biohazard 5 (PS3, Capcom)
- Monster Hunter 3 (Wii, Capcom)
- Dragon Quest VI (NDS, Square Enix)
- Amagami (PS2, Enterbrain)
- Star Ocean: The Last Hope (360, Square Enix)
- Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3, Square Enix)
- The Last Remnant (PS3, Square Enix)
- Ryuga Gotoku 3 (PS3, Sega)
- Street Fighter IV (PS3, Capcom)
- Seventh Dragon (NDS, Sega)
- Ninokuni: The Another World (NDS, Level 5)
- Gyakuten Kenji (NDS, Capcom)
- Final Fantasy Agito XIII (PSP, Square Enix)
Total tally of games on Top 15 (by platform): - PS3: 6
- NDS: 5
- Wii: 1
- PS2: 1
- 360: 1
- PSP: 1
Total tally of games on Top 15 (by publisher/developer): - Square Enix: 7
- Capcom: 4
- Sega: 2:
- Enterbrain: 1
- Level 5: 1
And what's the total tally of games on the Top 15 which were promised to be released last year, 2008? Oh, I don't know. Most of them? You'd think that the Japanese market would lose interest what with all those delays. Then again, that's J-RPG for ya.
Related articles:  Gino D:Most Innovative: Wii Fit Runner's Up: Patapon, de Blob Comments: It sure wasn't Nintendo's year, but Wii Fit remains as one strong contender in changing the way people see games. It's gotten critical acclaim, invading even the non-gaming market with its yoga exercises.
Isaac C:Most Innovative: World of Goo Runner's Up: LittleBigPlanet, Mirror's Edge Comments: World of Goo is not only aesthetically innovative, but gameplay is also brilliant.
Mabie A:Most Innovative: LittleBigPlanet Comments: When I first saw Sackboy back in 2006, I was like, "dude, what the hell, that's ugly!" Yeah, dolls made out of sack aren't exactly that enticing, the animated ones especially. They're like what your halloween toy nightmares are made of. Sort of like Chucky the pervert evil doll. But after two years of painstaking development, voila. they've bloomed into the beautiful, adorable Sackpeople that they are now. No doubt about it, though, what made this special is the fact that it gives you the creative power to create your own games/levels. Sorta like TRL, but that's been pulled out from MTV now, so, yeah.
Karl B:Most Innovative: Left 4 Dead Comments: Left 4 Dead - Yeah, co-op isn't new, but what I like about Left 4 Dead is that it really forces you to cooperate with your teammates. If you go Halo-style in this game, you're nothing but zombie food.
Glenn M:Most Innovative: LittleBigPlanet Comments: Spearheading an entirely new gaming genre, LittleBigPlanet is hands down the most innovative game of the year.. the idea is simply inspired, and it's just amazing how far one can take one's creativity and applying it into a game. I remember seeing this littlebiggradius video - completely blew me away.. never saw a game like this coming...
Chris C: Most Innovative: LittleBigPlanet Runners Up: The World Ends With You, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Comments: Awarding the top spot in this category to anything other than LBP would be criminal, there's simply never, ever been a game quite like it. When Phil showed this off at GDC, it felt like gaming had changed forever. 
 From us all at QJ. We love you guys, and no, that's not the booze talking. Thanks for seeing us through another year, we hope you folks are having a ball, or at least are recovering well from a ball, and here's to a wonderful 2009. Cheers, Team QJ.  Gino D:Biggest Disappointment: NintendoRunner's Up: Too Human, Spore. Comments: Well, I could easily give away a game as the biggest flop this year (Too Human, I'm looking at you!), but generally speaking, Nintendo not releasing more first-party titles this year is the biggest disappointment of all. Don't get me wrong, Mario Kart Wii and Brawl are pretty much up there, but I was expecting Nintendo to roll out a bigger and more substantial library for the Wii and DS to compete with other first-party titles of the other major players.
Isaac C:Biggest Disappointment: PlayStation Home Runner's Up: Haze, Wii Music Comments: Home isn't a game, but it's so disappointing that I'm putting it in here anyway. Boohoo for you, but it's true. I'm sure it has a bright future ahead of it, but its launch is purely dismal.
Karl B:Biggest Disappointment: Fallout 3 Runner Up: Sadness Comments: Fallout 3 - It's a good enough game if you judge it on its own merits, but I wanted a true Fallout 3 sequel dammit, not a glorified Oblivion mod. Sadness - STILL no gameplay footage. What the hell, Nibris?
Glenn M:Biggest Disappointment: Chrono Trigger DS Comments: Chrono Trigger DS is hardly any different from the PS1 remake... seeing the 3D look in the trailers got me thinking that it might have a few scenes in 3D, but no..why go hyping it up when all we're gonna get is the same game on a different platform? If it's to have Chrono Trigger on mobile, emulators would've done the job a long time ago - and for free..
Chris C:Biggest Disappointment: Resistance 2 Runner Up: Age of Conan Comments: Understand that Resistance 2 is by no means a bad game, not even an average game, it's just not what I was hoping for. The multiplayer and co-op aspects are brilliantly put together but the single player game just feels... bland, like an afterthought. Explosions erupt all around you, chaos ensues, aliens, humans engaged in epic combat on a massive scale, it's mad and it looks gorgeous... but it never really comes alive. As far as Age of Conan goes, it's actually a pretty damn good MMO now, but for months after launch it was a challenge just to play for any period of time without a crash to desktop. So much potential. Please Lord, let Star Trek Online be perfect. 
What say you guyses?
If you look at some of the upcoming games, most of them seem to be sequels, prequels, or spinoffs of already established franchises: Uncharted 2, God of War 3, Patapon 2, BioShock 2, Resident Evil 5... the list goes on. And I've heard too many complaints out there saying that devs seem to be getting less creative and are opting for the tried-and-tested approach. Guess what though? It's not so much as going the safe route, but to a developer, it's about making the most of your assets and changing the playing field among their competitors. The best explanation I could find of this "why are there so many sequels all of a sudden?" phenomenon comes from Insomniac Games' Ted Price: "Developers can hit the ground running with sequels. The game's story and art style have a solid base, the tech and tools are stable and the basic gameplay mechanics have gone through plenty of tuning in the first game. It's certainly a liberating experience when you're no longer arguing over the main character's name, or waiting for basic systems to be implemented. The end result is usually a game that's bigger, more polished and has more innovative features than the original game." [ Full Article] And sequels aren't a bad thing either. If you look at how sequels have been for the past year ( MGS4, GTA4, CoD4, Gears of War 2, etc.), they've more than proven that not all sequels suck donkey balls - given that the devs deliver in their promise to bring a game that's "bigger, more polished, and has more innovative features than the original game," to quote Price again. So... if this trend of actually upping the ante with a sequel continues into 2009 and beyond, then by gods!, can you imagine how so much cooler something like God of War 3 would be? Now if sequels aren't your thing, there are still a handful of new IPs to look out for too: Heavy Rain and Hydrophobia are just two games that I personally want to keep close tabs on. But in short, to answer my own question: no, I don't think new IPs are a dying breed. It just seems like it because most of the popular games this year have been sequels, with some of the new IPs (I'm not saying all) having to follow in the shadow of the bigger sequels: MGS4, GTA4, Fallout 3, and a handful of others on the GotY lists. Here's a thought I want to leave you with though: isn't it strange that most of the good new IPs out there are coming from small studios and independent devs? Look at de Blob and Braid. And then there's LittleBigPlanet - their team in Media Molecule started out so small, it's quite surprising how they managed to pull off the entire LBP phenomenon. Seemingly, this is where the playing field now lies: if you want good sequels, look to the established devs and major players in the publishing biz: Konami, EA, Capcom, Square Enix, Sony, Microsoft, OK fine, maybe even Nintendo despite their skimpy first-party library in 2008. But for new IPs that will make an impact? Look to the indie devs and small studios for those diamonds in the rough.  |
