Slashdot Mirror
Discussing The Most Awaited Games Of 2004?
Thanks to 1UP for its end-of-year summary feature, in which the site editors discuss the most intriguing and perkiest gaming events of the year, but also "look ahead at the newborn trends of 2004." Next year's particularly lusted-after games include Psychonauts ("Double Fine's Xbox platformer has been delayed a lot now, which can sometimes spell trouble, but I have faith in them to deliver something amazing when they do get around to it"), Metal Gear Solid 3 ("After the talking-heads nightmare of Metal Gear Solid 2, I can't wait to just trot off into the jungle and start killing people"), and Halo 2 ("With a gun in each hand and the ability to hijack vehicles, this one has the potential to be as popular as the first one continues to be.") Which games are you particularly looking forward to in 2004?
Duke Nukem Forever! Woohoo!
They are:
Deus Ex 2 (still hasn't come out where I am yet)
Theif 3
System Shock 3
Freedom Force 2
Total Annihilation 2 or Chris Taylor's Version of it
Most of all I want to see a Lunar 3, they haven't made a true sequal for this game since 2 came out on the SegaCD.
Duke....Nukem....Forever.
What? Delayed until Two thousand and FIVE?
Well, hope springs eternal!
So, um, are we just pretending that HL2 came out in September and that it shattered our perception of what a FPS could be?
Ok, good. Now i can get on with my life.
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
Doom III, Half-Life 2, STALKER?
Ohe yeah, and DNF.
I mean, in this day and age, when the hype monster is birthed roughly at the same time as the project is green-lit for a full team - 'looking forward' to games is synonymous with 'setting yourself up for disappointment.'
;p
All you do is feed the downward spiral when you buy into any of the proprieters of 'exclusive previews' and 'preorders' of years-away games.
all that said, i can't help myself - Halo 2 has caught me. Halo delivered like Half-life delivered 5 years ago. Half-life 2 I am hungry for as well, the only difference being, i think Halo2 will be released first
But this excitement has nothing to do with marketing bullet-points or 'previews' or 'screen shots' from e3. it has to do with me still believing in a developer to deliver a good game.
let me clarify my whole position:
Fans looking ahead, making sites, getting excited -- this is fine.
But the selling of this excitement has gotten out of hand.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
Pffft, who cares about all these fancy-schmancy FPS games? I can't wait for Nintendo Puzzle Collection for Gamecube. Dr. Mario, here I come!
Half-Life 2
No question about it. I'm saving money to buy a new machine when Doom III is released, just to play it full quality...
DOOM3 & Half-Life 2, if I can have those two I don't care about the rest.
Worlds of Warcraft, and Half Life 2.
is Doom 3 as far as I am concerned.
Duke Nuken Forever is the most awaited game of 4002....
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
Late January.
Syntax error: loose != lose, affect != effect, then!=than
Definately want MGS3: Snake Eater and MGS: Twin Snakes. MGS1's story with the MGS2 engine and "reinvisionment"? I danced for joy everytime I see a video or screenie from Twin Snakes.
Doom 3, Half-Life 2, yadda yadda. Yes I'm still waiting for Duke Nukem Forever. Oh, and the sequel to GTA: Vice City. More 80s bubbbly goodness. Call of Cthulu looks cool..if it'll ever come out. Maybe Tribes 3 if the non-Dynamix crowd doesn't hose it.
But I don't know. 2003 was pretty lean on the games department, and '04 isn't shaping up to be much better. Oh well...here's to Hideo!
--Reverend Raven
Desperate days demand dire deeds.
There's only one I'm exited about: Thief III.
Of course, I'll have to check out DOOM III... it looks like it might be the first playable survival horror game, ever. It'll be nice to see if the id folks can make a good game (you know, with a plot and stuff) with their excellent engine... ;-)
Oh, and my Neverwinter Nights modules.
- chrish
What do these have in common? The period of anticipation is often more fun than the actuality. The problem is that if I have to wait too long (cough * Duke Nukem * cough * PC Halo *) I get anticipation fatigue and move on to something else.
Syntax error: loose != lose, affect != effect, then!=than
Any game that's been in production for ten years just has to be able to live up to expectations!
My copy of Prologue should be in my grubby little hands this week, so after playing what is admittedly a rushed-and-defective demo disc, I'm going to be salivating at the thought of what will happen dev-wise in the next six months before its full release.
Also, Baldur's Gate II, Project Gotham 2, Perfect Dark 0, Kingdom Hearts 2...
GTRacer
- Long live the Sequels!
Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
Gran Turismo 4. Oh, I guess that's 3 words. But anyway... this game is the only reason I will be purchasing a PS2 next year.
-Guns kill people like spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat-
How in the hell is this Insightful? Me taking a dump on my monitor at work would be more insightful...though I doubt my co-workers would think so...well maybe one of them...
I so agree.
Halo is such an overhyped, overrated piece of crap game which is only famous because it was marketed so well to all the newbie gamers who never played a proper first-person-shooter before!
Older FPS games such as Counter-Strike, Unreal / UT and Quake (1/2/3) own Halo's ass any day.
Alright, Halo has vehicles and a fairly nice engine on the XBox (on the PC, it fails to run smoothly, thus it sucks), but that doesn't make it worthy of all the attention it's getting by the media.
Have you guys evere compared Halo's singleplayer game with games like Max Payne, Half-Life or Deus Ex 1? Halo's singleplayer campaign is fucking miserable!
Doom III, cause id software never fails to make the best FPS games.
:P
Half-Life 2, even though I hate Valve for continuously bullshitting their fans.
Unreal Tournament 2004, because I like first-person-shooter games with lots of interesting extra stuff, such as vehicles and mission objectives.
Worlds of WarCraft, because I like MMORPGs when I have lots of spare time and Blizzard is the only company I know who seems to be able to make fun RPG systems.
Gran Turismo 4 'cause it'll be the best racing simulation.
Battlefield Vietnam because I'm a fan of BF1942.
I'm sure there will be tons of other great games in the year 2004, but either I can't remember themn off the top of my head, or I haven't heard about 'em yet.
At the game store at the mall, they're selling empty Doom 3 boxes for $5.00. Of course it's a preorder, but there's an arrival date of 4/15/04, and a price of $50.
Unfortunately the box has no hardware requirements listed.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
I usually find new games way too expensive so I patiently wait until they get cheaper. That means the games I'm looking out for are games that were new last year or even longer ago, like Uru, Post Mortem, The Sims... Yes I'm an adventure player. I'm very curious about Syberia II but I gues I'll have to wait until 2005 before I buy that game.
-- Cheers!
Your ass, and keyboard, are full of it.
I probably owned your dad back in the day on NTShadow.net.
Max Payne? Boring tap-tap-ness. If I wanted that girly crap I'd be down at the arcade playing tekken with the other glow-stick twirling honda supe-ing rave monkeys. Yeah, the animations are cool. ONCE. Then it's another boring shoot out in a club with more gangsters than Rush'n Attack has Russians. Aside from the 3d engine those two games have a lot in common. And the gay ass hand to hand levels. Final Fight was more fun and more plausible!
Halo is great. Simple, intuitive and robust. It does a good job creating suspence, presenting a reasonable challenge that holds up across many replays (saving more marines, more head shots etc), and it even goes so far as to profide a sensible explanation for the endless flood of enemies. A true rarity in many games. It's fine for some, but would you really want every action movie to be John Woo's A Better Tomorrow II?
I eagerly awaited Ultima IX year after year, delay after delay. I was awed by what I saw was going in to it, and struck by the real beauty of it. It came out, I rushed out and bought it, and installed it.
... I couldn't take it, and I wiped it off in disgust before getting any real distance into the game. I stopped getting excited about upcoming titles after that.
What a turd. Took days to get my system to run the damn thing, then it got about 5 FPS. The music might have been nice, but the "environmental sound" sounded like I was tromping through the marble clad city hall in hobnailed boots. The avatar's voice acting sounded like someone who walked in hung over, rattled off some lines, then walked out with their check. Lord British sends you on your quest like he was asking you to pick up some balogna at 7-11. But the bugs, bugs, bugs, the jerkiness, the slowness
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Personally I very much hope to see a 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic' sequel sometime next year. That game was excellent and a definite 'Game of the Year' in my book.
I'm also hoping that Thief III doesn't get the Deus Ex: Invisible War treatment. Ion Storm already butchered one franchise with their oversimplified garbage.
Doom 3 and Ninja Gaiden for the xbox.
IF it comes out Half life 2
Curiously enough Im not excited at all about Halo 2, I guess Im too happy playing Halo 1 and Kotor (on the pc too).
Merry Xmas everyone
Stalker looks very cool.
Holy christ. I'm afraid and excited that it might be better than Half-Life2.
Of course, I'm also afriad that it might suck.
I have misplaced my pants.
I was waiting for that damned game for soooooo long, and THEN Microsoft bought them for the XBOX.
I have never seen a game on a console that can have any where near the depth and JUSTICE that a PC game could have. I had such high hopes for it, and then my hopes were smashed to the ground.
Of course, they may have been going for that same, stupid "Run around shooting at anything that moves" strategy originally for the PC, but that would have been such an underachievment. Too bad it's the cream of the crop gameplay for a console.
I am royally pissed that they ruined the possability of a ringworld environment for a more contemplative, adventure based FPS like Half-Life. How likely is it that someone else will use a ringworld now?
Sigh....
Anybody else noting a trend in almost everyone's responses?
THEY'RE ALL SEQUELS! They all end in a freakin' number. Looks like '04 is shaping up to be the year of rehashing and revamping. =/
If you can't beat your computer at chess, try kick-boxing.
I disagree, Halo was uninnovative, extremely repetitive, and ultimately boring. It survived on Xbox because it was made with the retardedness of console FPSes in mind, and all the Xbox fanboys had nothing better to buy. When it came out on PC and was put to the test against the best of the genre (Quake series, Half-life series) it flopped, and real FPS gamers saw it immediately for what it was: overhyped, hacked-up shit. Without a doubt Halo is probably the most overrated game of the last 5 years.
That argument is a point of view I've seen before however I don't think it can hold up. Even now, Halo is still on the best selling lists. No price break for a Platinum hit or what have you. Yet you claim once it was ported to PC it flopped and real FPS gamers saw it for what it was? I would counter that real FPS gamers are people who play on multi platform and judge each on its own merits. Console FPS != PC FPS and vice versa. (Just look at the Counter Strike Port to XBOX). I haven't played the PC Halo, but can see why it would be 'overhyped hacked-up shit'. That said, Halo is probably the only FPS game I ever liked. (other than HL) While I don't put a great deal of value on gaming magazine ratings, most if not all of them rate it as one of the best games of the XBOX ever. That included current releases, a game like Halo will carry on in the XBOX gaming halls of glory much like HL does for PC. Different systems, different styles of games and different meter sticks by which you should judge. Whee!
Add the fact that it plays lousy in probably every system ine existance right now. Check all the videocard review sites and in even the most top-of-the-line systems, you rarely get more than 30-40 fps on it. Thats a big dissapointment, specially for all the time they have been working on it.
I agree completely, I played halo for about an hour on the PC, what a joke. Between Halo and Serious Sam, I think Serious Sam would win. Serious Sam is somewhere below X-Com: Enforcer as a FPS too.
Those games were all flops on PC.. partially because most players want a lot of scripting (explosions etc). I don't mind a lack of scripting (its fluff) if the game just included Co-Op. Co-Op alone made X-Com: Enforcer and Serious Sam worth playing. Halo(PC) didn't have the scripting or the co-op, and it had a simple but very repetitve gameplay.
I can't see what made Halo not plain crap, can someone explain it to me?
You can't argue preference.
some people like some stuff, some don't.
Halo on the PC wasn't particularly well received by the hardcore because it was 3 years behind PC fps, there wasn't coop in the PC port, and the PC market is overly concerned with multiplayer deathmatch, whereas console gaming (at the point of HALO's release) adds deathmatch only as an afterthought.
Frankly, i can still play halo over and over again because the vehicles, the lack of load times, the excellent coop story, and the AI being so much better than the FPS that have come before (AI debatable re: half-life's human enemies).
the deathmatch modes were a bit uninspired, mostly because contemporary multiplayer modes weren't in demand at its release. but again, the vehicles make for great replayability if you could get yourself a LAN party with a couple xboxs.
and co-op story mode is an absolute necessity for replayable FPS. deathmatch has its place, and I have UT for that. but for a single player experience, no fps save deus ex or half-life is even close.
HALO -is- the best FPS the console world has to offer. and yes, its multiplayer modes are not at all comparable to what is available for the PC due to its design focus.
So it all depends on which camp you're judging it from. oh, and HALO being on the top 10 PC sales charts since it was released kinda conflicts with your estimation that it 'flopped'. it may not be the most popular, but gamers are snapping it up.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
Metroid Prime 2 and Metroid Zero Mission. This generation of consoles has been very good for Metroid fans.
I'd say the next Zelda, but I have a feeling it only stands a chance of a 2004 release for Japan.
Well, first of all it won't be any suprise coming from an Xbox owner : Halo 2. The first one was outstanding, and I'm still playing ti regularly even though I've bought 5 other games wince I bought my Xbox and none of these game were crappy (MechAssault, Splinter Cell, Soul Calibur 2, KOTOR and Amped). Halo is just that good.
Another game that doesn't seem to be getting a lot of online press these days is Sudeki. Gigantic 3D worlds with zero loading time, an action-RPG with 3 whole overlapping worlds to explore, every voice being recorded, none of that "Hi, I am Guyen the castle guard" crap we've seen too often if other RPGs **cough**Final Fantasy**cough** and just a whole lot of other things which if pulled of correctly will make for one hell of an RPG (which the big X needs badly).
And there there's Ninja Gaiden (also exclusive), Starcraft : Ghost and X-Files : Resist of Serve (I'm sure it'll be at most an ok game, but I'm an XFiles fan boy, so I can't just shrug it off).
2004 will be a great year for an Xbox owner.
Kingdom Hearts 2
Doom 3
Metal Gear Solid 3
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
That about sums up my 2004 must buys
GPL Deconstructed
The party is over, slackers
Half-Life 2 shows an excellent example of the power of DirectX9. Shaders 2.0 loops allow truly realistic effects on key map materials like water and clouds. Before, my gun smoke, clouds, steam and nerve gas all looked identical on my monitor. Now each one of these will have the unique features that distinguish them in the real world.
Dynamic lighting, whose implementation hasn't changed since Quake3, will now be carefully applied with attention paid to the textures underneath and the shiny properties of the bump maps. A big crab in HL2 is a work of art to look at, mainly because of the way his texture isn't shiny while his exoskeleton is--creating a stunningly realist effect
I'm excited to be gamer in 2004. Lame uninventive sequels, franchises, or console ports to x86 will no longer suffice. The real game developers are coming to town, and they are bringing with them all the good stuff.
Just finished MP1 and started playing through Zelda, yet.
BTW.. yes, I love Nintendo.
The worlds first super hero MORPG!!
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
...with new secrets, features and updates.
Secret Weapons over Normandy...
If it's as good as SWOTL (but w; 2004 graphics) then I guess it's going to rock big time...
Also The Sims 2
how long until
Personally, I'm looking forward to:
:) Call me a fanboy, but I for one don't mind playing sequels of my favorite titles, as long as they keep getting better.
Starcraft Ghost
Metroid Prime 2
Everquest 2
Two of those I'll be able to play right away, one is gonna take some cash on a new system.
Some of you were complaining that it is going to be a year of sequels. Well guess what, it's all been done before and it's no different from any of the other entertainment mediums: tv, movies, books. Get used to the feeling, it's called getting older.
Hecubas
It failed on PC becuase it had ridiculous requirements for a 3 year old game and the conversion from controller to keyboard lost a lot. On top of that, it's most ambitious feat was to add multiplayer, you can't take that away easily. Look at games like Battlefield 1942 that struggle to take the foothold a 4-5 year old game (half life) has on the online multiplayer. Battlefield is good, and doing well, but that's because it's simple and the team that developed it knew what they were doing, but it's an example of how it's hard for a new game to cut in on the hardcore FPS fans who are still playing Quake and CounterStrike. Halo never had a chance in the PC market.
MGS3: Snake Eater
MGS: Twin Snakes
CY Girls
Gran Turismo 4
Starcraft: Ghost
These games are all due out soon... i'm not even thinking about end of 2004 yet, as that's too far away (nearly an eternity in the gaming world, as so much can change)
Psyvariar 2: The Will to Fabricatea r2/ )
( http://www.success-corp.co.jp/software/dc/psyvari
Now, let's hope the rumor about Castle of Shikigami 2 is confirmed as well! ^_^
Circumcision is child abuse.
I have heard that the board is three dee, just like the one we had as a kid only simulated. All my favorite pieces are back, even the king. I just love games where a miniscule minor piece can rise to power. Then of course there is the return of the "must take your jump rule", only in the new version you "really" have to take your jumps.
Jeoin
It was supposed to have released November 2003, delayed until "January 2004" or "1st Quarter 2004" depending on your source of information.
That's a long wait for my pre-purchase that was given to me for my Birthday in August!
Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance is the best multiplayer PS2 game there is, I am expecting the second version to be as good if not better.
You can lose something that is loose, so tighten the loose item so you don't lose it.
Patch that IIS server!!!
Just not a very good RPG. I feel really sorry for those guys who spent $50 on an oversimplified version of Nethack.
Rob
I'm still hoping it's all a bad dream :(
I suck down a couple of rad-aways and head towards Interplay's tac-nuked headquarters, searching for remains...
Phantom Brave (new title from the makers of Disgaea)
La Pucelle (old title finally seeing a release, from Nippon Ichi)
Metroid Prime 2
Metroid: Zero Mission
Final Fantasy 12 (I wasn't going to get excited about it, but the ties to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance make it sound quite sweet)
Donkey Konga (hope they leave the songs the same for the U.S., but I doubt it)
Dragon Wuest 8 and/or 5 depending on what SquareEnix's release schedule looks like
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
Easilly... The Fool and his Money.
Announcing the most-awaited games of 2004 *fanfare*...
Duke Nukem Forever and Half-Life 2! Ladies and gentlemen, what a surprise!
And announcing the most-awaited games of 2005 *drum roll*...ibid.
Aaand the most-awaited games of 2006 *cough* *wheeze*...ibid.
Aaaaaand the..oh buggrit.
Cole's Law: Thinly sliced cabbage
Far Cry.
The game offers, technologically, all the features expected from a new fps (dynamic lighting using bumbmaps, realistic physics and such) and a feature most games don't apply (except maybe Serious Sam): huge enviroments. You have a field of view to miles away, real-time rendered.
You find yourself in an island full of people that want you dead. You can go wherever you want in a huge and very detailed landscape.
Instead of talking just check out the tech demo movie and the new trailer.
It can speak for itself.
^_^
Clicky
Middle Earth (MMORPG)
Worlds of Warcraft (MMORPG)
Everquest 2 (MMORPG)
Syberia 2 (Adventure)
Longest Journey 2 (Adventure)
Jane Jensen's next game (Adventure)
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (RPG)
In Metal Gear Solid 3? Knowing Hideo Kojima, it's probably "Trot off into the jungle and learn to write poetry."
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
I'm looking forward to the Slashdot story about the guys from Black Isle getting back together on another game project. Well, I can hope.
Also, some updates on the mythical Elite 4 would be welcome. That thing has been weapons grade vapourware for years now.
"Proudly Posting Without Reading The Article"
www.lineage2.com
Beware of those who profit off the docile and persecute the unbelievers.
I hear part of Halo 2 is set on Earth, after a Covenant laser bombardment... I'm going to be interested in seeing that. Starcraft Ghost is a nice upcoming one too. And as the Pokemon freak I am, Pokemon Colosseum is coming up in March, I believe.
qntm.org
Thief 3 (that doesn't have have the Ion Storm SUCK factor that Deus Ex 2 has) DOOM 3 HalfLife 2 -and finally- A Tomb Raider sequel that doesn't stink.
Battlefield Vietnam because I'm a fan of BF1942.
I too am looking forward to Battlefield Vietnam, but not necessarily to play it. Rather, I'm more interested in what (if any) the response will consist of, not only from the gaming community but also American society at large. While there was some dissent to WWII, it was highly isolated at the time and since, with retrospect, largely diminished to nothing (save the atomic bombing). Vietnam is a whole other story.
I've played BF:1942 extensively and love the game. But I have this nagging remainder in the back of my head that I'm making a fun playtime game out of something that was a living hell for someone else; something quite sacred and reserved into an entertaining diversion. This, I believe, will be amplified by BF: Vietnam, which is why I personally believe it inappropriate to play it. In fact, I'm surprised not only that a gaming corporate giant like EA green lit this game, but also that I haven't read one bit of protest from gamers at all to the idea of a Battlefield Vietnam. There should be at least some, I think. That there isn't is, and that a game can be made without thought of its contribution to the perception of cultural history, is, in my opinion, a sad commentary on how far gaming really is from being a viable means of communicating abstract ideas in the ilk of books, film, and music. A book or movie making as much light of Vietnam as BF: Vietnam seems to be doing would never make it past the brainstorming whiteboard.
I guess my big question is: will BF: Vietnam have a My Lai map?
Before my Radeon 9800 is too slow to play anything and i need a new gfx card.
I see there was no mention of Live For Speed, what I consider to be the best racing sim out there at the moment. Still with a long ways to go, but with an excellent friendly dev team, unparalleled online racing and a great community.
http://www.liveforspeed.net
I just want to see more of Laura Croft's pixelated butt 'cause when I was twelve it made part of me swell up.
- - - If the sun is a star, why can't I see it at night?
All those listed are console exclusives!! Metal Gear Solid is PS2 and Halo2 is X-Box (at least for 2 years if the past carries to the future) If it won't play on the PC and it doesn't have a linux dedicated server I ain't interested.
Personally I am waiting for
UT2004
Half Life 2
Doom3 (no linux dedicated but I'll let that slide for this one)
Last and only console I owned (and still have) was a Telstar pong console. That was bought only because loading a game off of tape onto a TRS80 just took to long!
This is the very reason I haven't upgraded my PC yet. I'm revolving my next major upgrade for Doom III, most likely all games afterwards will use that engine to make more games as well.
Sad, that I refuse to upgrade, but it's like sitting down and watching all the technology fly by. You get to see the bad upgrades to new innovations. A chance to sit down and smell the flowers.
"After the talking-heads nightmare of Metal Gear Solid 2, I can't wait to just trot off into the jungle and start killing people"
MGS2, nightmare? Moron. Just running around and killing people? You don't need no MGS3, there's already tones of such idiotic games in stores.
Suggestion to you dumbass: "State Of Emergency" is your type of game.
Well i understand gamers who are angry because games releases are put off several times. Just let's say it's even worse for the developers working on 'em. It's close to impossible to plan something you haven't done before - nevertheless you have to try to raise the level in each new game to be competitive. Most people in game industry are very young (you get some newbies in every project), but even experienced people will often needs several months more than planned. And each time you realize you won't keep the deadline it get's harder, because you know one time too much and the game gets cancelled.
I hope this time i get at least that far that i can be proud of the work i put into the game. In another commpany i had to live with a release which had to be done because the company needed the money (we needed about 12 months instead of the 10 which were planned). Released and you know you're not finished - worst experience i had so far (like most members of the team i quit the job after that).
Call me a sissy for the rant if you want.
I can't wait to see what Trusted 64-bit IPv6 Hearts is like.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.