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FEATURE

The Year Ahead: PC Games

Kris Graft's picture

By Kris Graft

January 9, 2009

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Rage
EA
id Software
U.S. Release Date: TBA
U.K. Release Date: TBA

The defining id games are the ones whose gameplay is driven primarily by technological advancement in hardware and software—when the studio has a lot of room to play, it excels. The idTech 5 engine, pioneered by John Carmack, has allowed the Doom house to step out of the corridors into the vast “megatextured” world of Rage, an exquisitely-detailed action shooting and driving game that some may consider a departure for id. The post-apocalyptic premise may be wearing thin with some gamers, but the developer appears to have added a style that is distinctively id.



APB
Realtime Worlds
Realtime Worlds
U.S. Release Date: TBA
U.K. Release Date: TBA

Realtime Worlds honed its open world development skills with the revered action game Crackdown, and now it’s assuredly bringing some of that know-how to the massively multiplayer online arena with the persistent cops-and-robbers clash APB, or All Points Bulletin. Led by creative director and CEO Dave Jones, the typically quiet studio has kept much of the game under wraps, but taking into consideration Realtime’s past work, Jones’ ambition and the mass market’s love of well-made virtual crime sprees, APB has a chance of leaving a major mark on the genre.



Demigod
Stardock (Atari in Europe)
Gas Powered Games
U.S. Release Date: February 2009
U.K. Release Date: March 2009

The partnership between Stardock and Gas Powered Games appears to be paying off as Demigod shapes up to be one of the more intriguing PC releases of 2009. The combining of action, RPG and RTS elements in a fighting game-inspired round-per-round structure make for a tactical, chaotic and ultimately strategic showpiece. It’s inspired by the popular Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients, and is based on Gas Powered’s Supreme Commander engine, giving the Demigods the convincing look of mighty behemoths.

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Mocib's picture
On January 9th Mocib said:

My additions to the list would be Risen from Piranha Bytes (the makers of Gothic 1-3), Mafia 2 from 2K Czech, Alan Wake from Remedy (the makers of Max Payne 1-2), The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena from Starbreeze, Mirror's Edge from DICE and Hydrophobia from Blade Interactive.

toadwarrior's picture
On January 9th toadwarrior said:

Aside from Rage and Battlefield Heroes, there isn't much I'm excited about....I assume Starcraft 2 will be delayed.

Having said that, the line up is still sweet and what PC gaming needs. Now let's hope it's not ruined with silly DRM rules.

I encourage developers to protect their art but not at the expense of my ability to play it.

OmegaVader's picture
On January 9th OmegaVader said:

looks better than 2008.

good to see obsidian is finally working on an original IP.

svtu1919's picture
On January 9th svtu1919 said:

Looks to be a good year.

grognard66's picture
On January 9th grognard66 said:

Quake live beta started this week too. Like Battlefield: Heroes, it is a free web-browser based game - a port of Quake III with improved graphics and full online integration (friends/leaderboards/etc.). Yeah, it's an old port but I'm impressed that it runs in a browser!
Looks like this might be a trend for pc gaming this year. Many PC games tend to slip under the radar since console dominates the news, so I expect we'll find many great PC games this year.

toadwarrior's picture
On January 9th toadwarrior said:

I've completely forgot about this. I can't wait for Quake live to be released.

I would have preferred to see Q1 or Q2 online play revived but Q3's style will do just fine.

gyak's picture
On January 9th gyak said:

No Braid? Apart from Demogod, I really looking forward to get my hands on it.