If I ever get jaded about video games, somebody please slap me...hard. This year's installment of the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles is winding down and there's enough exciting stuff on the way to keep you crossing out calendar days in red Sharpie from now till eternity. When Bethesda Softworks' post-apocalyptic epic Fallout 3 (pictured above) arrives this fall, I will be calling in sick every day until I a) get fired for lying, or 2) get sick for real and still get fired. Or maybe I'll just do what I did with Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: play until the birds outside start getting chatty, then jump in bed for a quick nap before work. I talked to Bethesda's Creative Lead, Todd Howard, for a few minutes this afternoon and he doesn't seem to be getting much sleep either. He arrives to the office when it's dark, leaves when it's dark. Goes home, goes to sleep, goes to work, goes home. His dedication is pretty inspiring, actually. "I don't take it lightly that people would pay $60 for our game," he said. "That's a lot of money for a piece of entertainment. I want to make Fallout 3 worth the investment." Check out the trailer below before moving on to the highlights from the rest of the week:
10 other things that have excited me so far this week:
1) Gears of War 2 looks amazing. There's a majesty to the battered landscape in this sequel that wasn't quite as epic in the first installment. The smoke trails winding up into the sky from some smoldering wreckage far away as you and your fellow soldiers battle the menacing Locust hordes. The action feels more dynamic this time as well. During the Microsoft media briefing, lead designer Cliffy B demoed a sequence in the game where you're in the elevator of a toppled building as it gets pulled along on its side, alien hordes snarling at you as the door opens and you send a cloud of bullets spraying. Exciting stuff.
2) Fable II from legendary RPG designer Peter Molyneux is also coming this fall. In addition to being a questing hero, you can get married, have kids, buy a house in the country. The realism is shocking. If you're gone from home too long, your wife pouts upon your return and your kids tell you not to go away again. That's right, guilt is coming to an Xbox 360 console near you this holiday season. Also exciting is the breakthrough co-op experience. If your friend on the West Coast is on Xbox Live and playing at the same time as you, having her join your game is as easy as walking your character up to her and asking her to join your adventure. Friends can drop in and drop out of your game on a whim.
3) One of the interesting developments that seems to be happening in RPGs is the AI dog sidekick. Game makers seem to be realizing the emotional bond between pets and their owners and the potential for bringing that into the virtual space. In Fable II, your dog runs devotedly alongside you, nipping excitedly, occasionally running off the trail when it catches the scent of a treasure chest. It will start barking uncontrollably at an enemy threat lurking around the corner. In Fallout 3, you meet a furry canine friend that you name Dogmeat (I know, perfect).
4) Even though you're sick of hearing about RPGs, the most exciting announcement of the Microsoft media briefing was the news that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360. There are a lot of 360 owners out there who were finally ready to cave and get a Playstation 3. Now it's likely they'll spend that $399 on a tank of gas, instead.
5) Microsoft has partnered with Netflix so Xbox Live users who already subscribe to the mail rental service will now be able to download and watch on-demand movies from their console. Nice. No additional cost. Very nice.
6) Sequel to Galaga. It's called Galaga Legions and is being developed by Namco Bandai. It's about time.
7) While we're talking sequels, Portal: Still Alive is on the way.
8) Microsoft is getting ready to launch a karaoke game called Lips. Looks pretty fun. Most exciting feature is that you'll be able to plug in your iPod and do karaoke from your own music collection. Not sure if you'll get lyrics to follow along with onscreen when you do.
9) The war between Guitar Hero and Rock Band is heating up. Guitar Hero: World Tour will feature a drum kit (including cymbals), a full-band approach, even a little Pro Tools kind of interface where you can make your own original multi-tracked music and share it with friends. Rock Band 2 boasts a master track from the forthcoming Chinese Democracy. They're also the first to convince Dylan to license one of his songs to a video game so get ready to play "Tangled Up In Blue" off Blood On The Tracks.
10) Electronic Arts had some exciting news to share at its media briefing. Their survival-horror title Dead Space looks thrilling. The trailer had this freaky rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" playing over images of soldiers getting ripped apart by grotesque aliens aboard some space station. If you wet your pants easily, don't view the following trailer:
NBA Live '09 will feature something called Dynamic DNA where the game will update "player tendencies" daily from what's going on in the real-life league. If your point-guard's free-throw percentage drops off mid-season, you'll have a harder time sinking free throws in the game.
Spore is looking to be every bit the revelation we imagined it might be with Sims mastermind Will Wright at the helm. In the trailer shown at the press conference, it actually managed to sidestep the controversy of its evolution content by subtly highlighting the fact that the cute little blob onscreen with 14 eyeballs and a big purple flagella is being controlled by a higher being. In the case of the game, you. It'll be fascinating to see how proponents of intelligent design attempt to take this one on. After all, the process ain't haphazard when there's a person holding a controller.
1) Gears of War 2 looks amazing. There's a majesty to the battered landscape in this sequel that wasn't quite as epic in the first installment. The smoke trails winding up into the sky from some smoldering wreckage far away as you and your fellow soldiers battle the menacing Locust hordes. The action feels more dynamic this time as well. During the Microsoft media briefing, lead designer Cliffy B demoed a sequence in the game where you're in the elevator of a toppled building as it gets pulled along on its side, alien hordes snarling at you as the door opens and you send a cloud of bullets spraying. Exciting stuff.
2) Fable II from legendary RPG designer Peter Molyneux is also coming this fall. In addition to being a questing hero, you can get married, have kids, buy a house in the country. The realism is shocking. If you're gone from home too long, your wife pouts upon your return and your kids tell you not to go away again. That's right, guilt is coming to an Xbox 360 console near you this holiday season. Also exciting is the breakthrough co-op experience. If your friend on the West Coast is on Xbox Live and playing at the same time as you, having her join your game is as easy as walking your character up to her and asking her to join your adventure. Friends can drop in and drop out of your game on a whim.
3) One of the interesting developments that seems to be happening in RPGs is the AI dog sidekick. Game makers seem to be realizing the emotional bond between pets and their owners and the potential for bringing that into the virtual space. In Fable II, your dog runs devotedly alongside you, nipping excitedly, occasionally running off the trail when it catches the scent of a treasure chest. It will start barking uncontrollably at an enemy threat lurking around the corner. In Fallout 3, you meet a furry canine friend that you name Dogmeat (I know, perfect).
4) Even though you're sick of hearing about RPGs, the most exciting announcement of the Microsoft media briefing was the news that Final Fantasy XIII is coming to the Xbox 360. There are a lot of 360 owners out there who were finally ready to cave and get a Playstation 3. Now it's likely they'll spend that $399 on a tank of gas, instead.
5) Microsoft has partnered with Netflix so Xbox Live users who already subscribe to the mail rental service will now be able to download and watch on-demand movies from their console. Nice. No additional cost. Very nice.
6) Sequel to Galaga. It's called Galaga Legions and is being developed by Namco Bandai. It's about time.
7) While we're talking sequels, Portal: Still Alive is on the way.
8) Microsoft is getting ready to launch a karaoke game called Lips. Looks pretty fun. Most exciting feature is that you'll be able to plug in your iPod and do karaoke from your own music collection. Not sure if you'll get lyrics to follow along with onscreen when you do.
9) The war between Guitar Hero and Rock Band is heating up. Guitar Hero: World Tour will feature a drum kit (including cymbals), a full-band approach, even a little Pro Tools kind of interface where you can make your own original multi-tracked music and share it with friends. Rock Band 2 boasts a master track from the forthcoming Chinese Democracy. They're also the first to convince Dylan to license one of his songs to a video game so get ready to play "Tangled Up In Blue" off Blood On The Tracks.
10) Electronic Arts had some exciting news to share at its media briefing. Their survival-horror title Dead Space looks thrilling. The trailer had this freaky rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" playing over images of soldiers getting ripped apart by grotesque aliens aboard some space station. If you wet your pants easily, don't view the following trailer:
NBA Live '09 will feature something called Dynamic DNA where the game will update "player tendencies" daily from what's going on in the real-life league. If your point-guard's free-throw percentage drops off mid-season, you'll have a harder time sinking free throws in the game.
Spore is looking to be every bit the revelation we imagined it might be with Sims mastermind Will Wright at the helm. In the trailer shown at the press conference, it actually managed to sidestep the controversy of its evolution content by subtly highlighting the fact that the cute little blob onscreen with 14 eyeballs and a big purple flagella is being controlled by a higher being. In the case of the game, you. It'll be fascinating to see how proponents of intelligent design attempt to take this one on. After all, the process ain't haphazard when there's a person holding a controller.
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Well Fallout 3 is going to be the reason for me to get up everyday for a long time.... I wonder if we'll ever get awesome games like this on our cell phones? I mean the technology is there, combine the Wii control with cell phone technology like the Motorokr and we got some powerful stuff!