New Year’s 2048x1152

With the Steam sales now over, it’s officially the start of the 2013 gaming calendar. Even before I got to mark ten days on my pin-up calendar of Alyx ‘Miss January’ Vance, there’s news that blows away the cobwebs of 2012. As it’s exam time, I’m gonna be light on your mind and not hide any secret messages in the article this time (No, really. Go and look back at the old article titles and find where I’ve hidden the Declaration of Independence). So, here’s a low-down on what you should be paying attention to – a 2013 menu, if you will. Some things may have gone off by the time they arrive at your table, some things may have been left out for too long, making them bland and rubbery, whilst other options may have been burnt beyond recognition, leaving a horrible taste in your mouth. Bear in mind, I’m only picking out a few choice selections here – I can’t mention everything that should be a good show. Bon appétit.

Project SHIELD

Hot off the press, is news of Nvidia’s pet project of 2013 – Project SHIELD – a handheld console. I can’t fault them for wanting to try; a games-focussed hardware giant has a good chance of stealing some of the love that sits solely within the bank accounts of Nintendo. Yet, the images we’ve seen so far, look like an Alienware-branded console, which probably doesn’t mean they’re aiming it at the younger audience. One problem I can see, is that the older audience that’ll be prime for playing this, already have a variety of ways to play games – from fully-fledged consoles, to smartphones. Looking back to the slow sales of the PS Vita, this might not be the right choice for this normally behind-the-scenes company, but time will tell. As will sales. (As an aside, I hope this thing has amazing ventilation – I don’t like the idea of holding a radiator.) Paired with SHIELD is GRID – a graphics cloud. It’s powerful on paper, and people are touting it as a great way to compete with desktop computers, with the ability to stream gameplay to handheld devices. Does anyone else remember what happened to OnLive, or is it just me?

Watch Dogs

First seen at E3 2012, Watch Dogs is an open-world game, set in a world slightly more technologically dependent than ours. Gameplay revolves around hacking and gadgets, but it still keeps trueto the current style of open-world games, incorporating third-person shooter elements, along with the stealth and parkour aspects of the Assassin’s Creed series. I personally think the game will be quite a hit, probably with a large viral marketing or tech-based advertising scheme. It currently looks as serious a game as GTA4 (ignoring anything that involved Roman and his love of big American tee-tees), but with any luck, there will be the opportunity to add some Saint’s Row madness (maybe not going as far as Whored mode, but still).

Wasteland 2

My first foray into the world of Kickstarter – Wasteland 2. There’s a bit of a history here -–Wasteland 2 is the sequel (well, duh-doi) to Wasteland, the grand-father of all post-apocalyptic role-playing games, such as the Fallout franchise. The development team is made up of inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment, groups created after the dissolution of the original Fallout development teams, and who are also responsible for the ageless Neverwinter Nights 2 and Fallout: New Vegas. Obsidian Entertainment is practically Black Isle Studios 2.0 – Black Isle Studios was responsible for Fallout 2. Considering their credentials, and the progress we’ve already seen, Wasteland 2 should be great – a harkening back to the olden days of the role-playing genre. Except with better graphics. And probably more bugs.

Pokémon X & Y

You can tell what social circles you’re in by the number of Facebook posts mentioning the reveal of Pokémon X & Y on your feed. Everyone’s so excited, it’s as if they’ve seen an Oasis vending machine in the middle of the desert, despite the latest Pokémon games coming out less than three months ago. I watchedthe CES reveal and to be honest, these editions do look good. The 3DS and its offspring seem ideal for the first handheld 3d Pokémon foray and to be fair, there’s a predicted worldwide release (in other words, we all get the game at the same time) for October this year, so there’s plenty of time to fill up that Pokédex with flips pages the 649 current Pokémon. I feel old.

Star Wars 1313

I loved Star Wars Bounty Hunter. That feeling of being the bad-ass Jango Fett, and flying throughout the galaxy to capture your unwitting targets was great. Star Wars 1313 is a return to bounty-hunting bad-assery, now set during the rise of the Galactic Empire. You’re going to be hunting your prey on Level 1313 of Coruscant, so be prepared for murder, treachery and awesomeness.