Ben-DutkaMerry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to all! Let's ring in the happiest time of the year with some news reflection and commentary, shall we? 🙂
So…Burnout Paradise is big
Just take a look at this map of Paradise City from Burnout Paradise . It might be tough to discern the scale, but it really appears enormous . What can we really expect, here? I did just recently play a racing game that used a relatively open world – Cars: Mater-National – but it's hardly to the level of what we see in Paradise . I'm just wondering how dynamic this world will be; are we looking at something like GTA, or is this more of a limited reality interaction thing? In other words, will there be pedestrians and other facets of real life, or is it just an empty city to explore, seeking out events? I think it'd be weird to have such a huge town without any signs of life, so I have to assume the developers implemented humans and other aspects of a normal city. On the other hand…I have no idea what purpose that would serve. I've always loved this franchise – even though I've never actually finished a single Burnout , they're still a blast to play – so I will get this next entry.
But I do have questions. For maybe the first time ever, I have no idea what to expect from a racing game. Usually, that's a fairly straightforward thing, but these guys are taking things up a notch. Well, kudos to them, but I remain both psyched and a touch confused.
I want God of War III. Now.
We all want things we can't have, and this is one of them for me. The first two were a couple of the finest gaming experiences I've ever had in the past 23 years, and that's not an exaggeration. I know it's not necessary, but I'm almost considering making the Amazon pre-purchase . At the very least, it'll make me feel like I did something; like the game is more…tangible, somehow. Obviously, I have no illusions regarding that posted release date of November 15, 2008, because Sony hasn't issued an official date just yet. I asked Sony myself, and they have "no news to report at this time." Furthermore, the game's composer "confirmed" this game for 2009, and I'm inclined to believe him. November 15 is just a placeholder date so as to generate as many pre-orders as possible, which I completely understand. The only thing stopping me from pre-purchasing is because I'm just morally opposed to pre-ordering a game that doesn't have a release date. I almost never do that. But…this is GoWIII we're talking about, here. Exceptions can be made…
By the way, I know I said before I'm a little concerned that David Jaffe isn't directly involved in the making of this new installment, but I'm past that. I have complete faith in the Santa Monica team. I swear.
Duke Nukem Forever coming to consoles. …yippee.
I really want to be more excited about this news , but it's tough. We're looking at a title that has experienced countless delays over the past 10 years, and at this point, it's the very definition of "vaporware." Hell, I think that term exists because of 3D Realms. As much as I want a new Duke and as much as I'd like to think the game will rock, I'm not enthusiastic about stepping aboard the delay train. What, now we console owners have to follow along with this ongoing saga, too? Well, I don't wanna. Just tell us when it's done, guys, and don't bother hyping it before you're 100% convinced it's coming on the date you provide. I almost want to ignore any release rumors entirely, just because I'm a big fan of looking at history as an indicator of the future. Besides, if you hadn't noticed, we've got a horde of awesome FPSs out there (with many more to come), so it's not like we're hurting in that particular category. This generation really doesn't need any more of those, to be perfectly honest.
Let's just hope for a great game that might actually arrive in our lifetimes. I won't go any further than that for now.