For all of the people who like to bleat "THE PC IS
DYING," well, they're just plain misinformed. Not only will the PC be
seeing some strong multiplatform releases (hello there BioShock 2, Mass
Effect 2, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2!), but there's also a host of
damn fine PC-only titles. Games like the Blizzard Blast of StarCraft 2
and World of WarCraft: Cataclysm, the two science-fiction MMO behemoths
(Star Wars: The Old Republic and Star Trek Online), and APB in addition
to the numerous smaller titles help keep the PC relevant. Also, if we
could make this a list of 11 or 12 or even 13 games, then we'd also be
adding titles like Command & Conquer 4, Supreme Commander 2, and even the slim hope of some version of Diablo 3 (a beta, please?!?!).
StarCraft 2
Dev: Blizzard | Pub: Blizzard
The game that just can't get here soon enough and proof positive
that Blizzard still sticks by its "the game ships when it's finished"
adage. There's a ton of us around the office who still play the
ten-plus year old original game,
and it's still great -- so a improved version with modern visuals is
okay with us. While a lot of people (we're looking at you, Korea) are
looking forward to the online play most, some of us are story-nuts and
want to see what Kerrigan has cooking or if there's an even bigger
threat to the galaxy than the Zerg. Come this summer (that's our
informal guess), we'll all have a chance to find out.
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Dev: Bioware | Pub: LucasArts
The Star Wars name already commands an amazingly large fan base.
Couple that with BioWare's much-respected role-playing game cred and
know-how, and you've got a recipe for mouth-lathering anticipation.
Now, toss that all into the online world of MMOs and our loved ones
have already begun to steel themselves against our eventual departure
from this world to a galaxy far, far away. Could this be the game to
carve out a spot next to the ubiquitous genre leader, World of Warcraft?
Star Trek Online
Dev: Cryptic Studios | Pub: Atari
Whether you have signed copies of every edition of the Starfleet
technical manual or just happened to stop to watch whenever one of the
old shows was on in reruns, chances are you've at least once fantasized
about captaining a starship and blasting the hell out of some alien
jerks with a funny noses (and, who knows, maybe peacefully exploring
the galaxy or something). STO looks like it might be the closest we'll
ever come to that dream, and even affords the opportunity to design our
own funny-nosed aliens.
BioShock 2
Dev: 2K Marin | Pub: 2K Games
Though it no longer carries the subtitle "Sea of Dreams," one gets
the feeling that this sequel to 2K's smash-hit shooter will still deal
in utopian/dystopian themes and ultimately corruption. A bit of the
story has been revealed, and here's a quick rundown of we know so far:
It's 10 years after the first game;
you play as the first Big Daddy (complete with new weapons and plasmid
powers); new splicer types and Big Sisters attack you; and a cult-like
society run by one Sophia Lamb (and her crazy butterfly imagery) is the
new Big Bad. You can see why we're eager to figure out how it all fits
together when the game releases in February.
APB
Dev: RealTime Worlds | Pub: Electronic Arts
If there was anything lacking from the GTA
series, it was the fact that its expansive, screw-withable cities had a
player population of one. It's hard not to wonder what a world like
that would be if its cops, criminals, bounty hunters, and arsonists
were other human players all out to shoot each other. And maybe in
between they could assemble their own gangs with their own personalized
tags and tattoos. Yeah, that'd be cool.