What are the big PC games coming out this quarter? Just like the movies, gaming goes pretty much dead after the holiday season, but there are still some titles coming out in the next few months worth keeping an eye on. Look for these titles to sell big– or fail spectacularly
Sam & Max: If you go back a few years to when LucasArts was the king of the adventure game and all was right in the world, you wouldn’t be that surprised to hear about a Sam & Max sequel, but that was a long time ago. The Sam & Max franchise was thought to be dead after it was revived and canceled a few times, but then Telltale Games picked it up and have been releasing installments in chapters via their website. More than likely, the people who will remember Sam & Max and were fans will definitely buy these installments, but it doesn’t have huge market penetration and won’t really be drawing in new gamers. Though Sam & Max is a brilliant franchise with great writing, that doesn’t always sell.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Here we have an odd choice. When S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was shown at E3, it blew everyone away, which is a really good thing… unless that E3 is 2004 and your game is coming out in 2007. Based in the ruins of Chernobyl after a second disaster, you’re a scavenger who is exploring the disaster site and trying to work out what went wrong. Though it has been a while in development, it looks like we’re going to finally see S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in stores, and it looks pretty good. Though not exactly the most current news, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is hoping to manage decent sales and is capable of it based off of its interesting concept and design decisions. If this game hits the market and gets some attention, we could be looking at a huge hit, but it’s going to be an uphill battle. Because of its long development time, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is almost a joke, and that’s not the position you want to find your game.
Supreme Commander: Chris Taylor, designer of the super-popular Total Annihilation, and Gas Powered Games, comes Supreme Commander. What’s so special about this release, to those of you who aren’t huge Real Time Strategy (RTS) fans, is that Total Annihilation is the holy grail of RTS games and Chris Taylor has called Supreme Commander the spiritual successor to Total Annihilation, and that means big sales. This is one to definitely keep an eye on.
Resident Evil 4: Though I may be cheating a touch since this one is released in April, I couldn’t help but throw this one in. Resident Evil 4 is one of the better console games to be released in quite some time. Changing the formula for the Resident Evil games by taking out the fixed cameras and adding more action was a brilliant move and has completely revitalized the series. Capcom reported that, as of January 2006, Resident Evil 4 had shipped over 3 million copies worldwide, with 1.8 million being sold on the PS2 as according to statistics from last May. This is a very good indication that RE4 should do ok on the PC as well. I heartily suggest this game to any PC fans out there.
Vanguard: Brad McQuaid, the lead designer behind the hit MMO EverQuest, left Sony and started work on another game. During his EQ days, McQuaid fought against making the game easier for players, wanting severe experience penalties for death and making the level curve harder and harder to climb. A lot has changed since then, and we’re now in the days of World of Warcraft, where there’s no penalties for dying other than a small fee for equipment repair, and if you play hard enough, you can hit the top in a week or two. So, what makes McQuaid think he can take on the giant? He’s betting on nostalgia and people who find WoW boring. Though Vanguard has already been released, it’s still not ready. Some MMOs come out and just aren’t ready and they need work: this is one of them. This game can be great, and pick up plenty of players, but it could just as easily fail. In order to determine if this game is going to be a success we need to figure out if they’re going to be able to tackle the technical problems that has plagued it early on. Though it won’t likely challenge World of Warcraft, it could end up being a sanctuary for the ex-WoW player.
Hopefully those titles will keep PC fans entertained for the first few months of the year. This, of course, is a very limited list and if we missed anything, please point it out to us in the comments. Stay tuned for our handheld and portable write-up.
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