Ang Cheng WeiThe Spike VideoGame Awards have recently been a favourite of videogame developers to announce new games, and the 2010 edition was no different.
The UrbanWire rounds up the most important announcements of the show. Slight spoilers below.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Mass Effect 3
Uncharted: Drake’s Deception
Resistance 3
inSane
Prototype 2
Batman: Arkham City
Other News
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
What it is:
The sequel to 2006’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, it’s only the natural choice for Bethesda Game Studios to follow up on after their stellar work on revamping the Fallout series (Fallout 3) for a new generation of audiences.
What was revealed:
The fifth entry in the venerable series was revealed by a short trailer, with a release date of November 11 next year given.
Specific platforms were not announced.
Why we’re excited:
The trailer has DRAGONS. Anything with dragons in it gets an automatic plus point.
For us, we’re just really stoked to get into the fantasy world of The Elder Scrolls again. The Maryland-based company has likely learnt a whole lot after making Fallout 3, and it’ll be exciting to see the improvements (more entertaining quests, better graphics, better voice actors, etc) in Skyrim.
The trailer also references the ending of Oblivion, with Skyrim likely being a direct sequel to it.
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Mass Effect 3
What it is:
The third and final part in the Mass Effect trilogy, this game isn’t much of a secret since BioWare has always maintained that the Mass Effect series was built as a trilogy.
What was revealed:
Canadian developer BioWare finally confirmed the existence of Mass Effect 3and revealed new story details, despite having the unveiling deflated a little by an untimely store listing a day ago by EA’s online store.
Commander Shepard will be heading to Earth after saving the world from Reapers in Mass Effect 2. As you may recall from the final scene of Mass Effect 2, an army of Reapers have descended upon the Milky Way, ready to unleash destruction on the unsuspecting races.
Scheduled to release in 2011’s holiday season, Commander Shepard must rally the Citadel races to take back Earth from the Reapers and send the machine race and their Collector minions back to Deep Space where they belong.
Why we’re excited:
The Star Wars of the video-gaming world, we’ve been itching at the bit to finish the fight ever since Mass Effect 2’s end. Despite BioWare trickling DLC (downloadable content) to us on a regular basis, we’d much rather prefer they concentrate their efforts on finishing Mass Effect 3 as quickly as possible.
Trying to perfect the combination of role-playing and shooter games, Mass Effect 2 was streamlined with more entertaining shootouts and quests, and we’re interested in seeing what BioWare will come up with next to improve the combat in the final game in the trilogy.
Also, we really want to see what Earth looks like 200 years later in the Mass Effect universe.
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Uncharted: Drake’s Deception
What it is:
The video-game world equivalent of Indiana Jones, Nathan Drake heads back into his adventures after 2 previous outings on the PlayStation 3.
After the lush tropical jungles and freezing Borneo mountains of Uncharted 1 and 2 respectively, comes the blinding sands of the desert for Uncharted: Drake’s Deception.
What was revealed:
Naughty Dog released an extended trailer for Uncharted: Drake’s Deception, with a release date of November 1 next year. A short snippet of gameplay was shown in the ending of the trailer.
Why we’re excited:
Apparently inspired by the tales of Lawrence of Arabia, it’ll be interesting to see how the shifting sands will create different problems for Drake to solve in his adventures. There’s been a dearth of video games featuring sand as a main environment, and we’re curious to see how Naughty Dog’s technical wizards will create an convincing and interact-able sand environment for Drake.
With 2K Games’ Spec Ops: The Line also releasing in 2011 and featuring treacherous sandstorms in Dubai that affects gameplay, it’ll be a fight to see who can program the most realistic sand next year.
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Resistance 3
What it is:
One of Sony’s worst kept secrets, the existence of Resistance 3 has been known since 2009, when a promotional billboard was spotted on the set of an upcoming movie, Battle: Los Angeles.
The third game in the series (discounting last year’s PlayStation Portable spin-off Resistance: Retribution), Resistance 3 takes place 4 years after Resistance 2’s events and switches main characters from Nathan Hale to Joseph Capelli.
What was revealed:
Insomniac Games offered a sneak peek at gameplay footage and a release date of September 6, 2011 was announced for the PlayStation 3 exclusive.
Why we’re excited:
Following up superbly with bigger action, better combat and smoother pacing, we can’t wait to see how Insomniac can top Resistance 2.
Furthermore, who wouldn’t want to take up arms against an invading alien army and help save Earth?
https://youtu.be/9PQdAtzslmc
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inSane
What it is:
A game collaboration by acclaimed Hollywood director Guillermo del Toro with THQ, we don’t know too much about this game yet, only that we can probably expect it to be horrifying, seeing from the trailer.
What was revealed:
Guillermo del Toro has teased us for a long time with this collaboration. inSane was finally announced with a trailer, scheduled to be released sometime in 2013.
Why we’re excited:
It’s Guillermo del Toro!
Director of Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy II: The Golden Army, the Mexican director has been behind some of the most original, creepiest and realistic monster designs to ever grace the silver screen.
Just the sight of the eyeball guy from Pan’s Labyrinth is enough to give us nightmares all over again, not to mention his excellent designs for the various denizens of Hellboy II.
https://youtu.be/Z53NPDx_LyQ
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Prototype 2
What it is:
A sequel for last year’s open world murder romp around New York City. Prototype was an unexpected success for publisher Activision and naturally, a sequel was commissioned.
Prototype 2 will see you taking the lead of a new character, Sergeant James Allen, on his quest to kill Alex Mercer, the protagonist from the first game.
What was revealed:
It was officially announced and given a release date of 2012, putting an end to the speculation of the whole ‘Murder Your Maker’ viral campaign.
Why we’re excited:
Crashing everywhere and destroying everyone in New York City was insanely fun, with roaming around the Big Apple exhilarating in its own way.
Adding environmental destruction, more focused gameplay and prettier graphics could very well propel Prototype 2 to one of the best games of the year in 2012.
https://youtu.be/iR-CqAg4QhU
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Batman Arkham City
What it is:
The sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum, which was a surprise hit which caught everyone off-guard with its pure quality, rightfully earning the title of the best Batman game out there.
British developers Rocksteady Studios are promising a game 5 times the size of the first.
With Joker as the main villain in the previous game, it’s one tough act to follow up on.
What was revealed:
A new trailer for a major villain for the sequel, Hugo Strange.
Why we’re excited:
We love being Batman. Everyone loves being Batman. Sneaking in the shadows, with pure power in your fingertips, Batman is the predator, while bad guys are the prey.
However, from the new trailer released, it seems that Hugo Strange knows Batman’s true identity.
Will the hunter become the hunted? It’s certainly an exciting turn of events and one game we can’t wait to play.
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In other news…
In other news, Valve released a new trailer for Portal 2 and an announcement regarding the Gears of War series was delayed till 2011.
https://youtu.be/3GVBXVpzEdU
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There it all is, sequels for most of the major titles out there. Looks like 2011‘s holiday season will be a busy season for us.