Our countdown of next year's most anticipated games continues! So far you've seen the Xbox 360 list, the PlayStation 3 list, and the Wii list -- today you'll get to see what Anthony and I are most looking forward to for the PC.
Almost every year in recent memory has been a year where people have declared that PC gaming is dead, and every year it continues to do just fine. With some major PC-exclusive releases coming up and Steam's continued success, it seems like 2010 is going to be another solid year for PC gamers.
Hit the jump to see what games have us excited for the new year.
Jonathan Ross:
StarCraft II:
I expect this is going to be on almost everyone's list, and for a good reason. I played the original StarCraft constantly through middle and high school, and having gotten my hands on with the sequel a couple times, I already know I'm going to be playing this one a ton too. Blizzard consistently makes incredible games, and StarCraft II isn't going to be any different.
Guild Wars II:
It's a bit strange -- I got the first Guild Wars the day it came out, but it didn't really do much for me. Part of the problem, I think, was that I didn't know anyone else who had the game. When Guild Wars II comes out next year, I know I'll have a ton of people to play with this time. Seeing the trailers and reading some of the developer interviews for the game have moved it from my "Maybe I'll Give It A Shot" category into the "Must Have" one.
Natural Selection 2:
What started out as a Half-Life mod is getting a full blown stand-alone sequel. A game that's been relatively under the radar for a lot of people, Natural Selection 2 appears to be an amalgamation of a few different genres with its own unique twist. It's got team based shooting, two leaders who play the game as an RTS, terrain transformation, and a whole bunch of unique classes that differ depending on whether you're playing as the Marines or the Aliens. This might be the shooter that replaces Team Fortress 2 as my staple game.
Cyclopean:
This is a game that was brought to my attention very recently, but I'm really glad I've heard about it. My token indie selection, Cyclopean is a turn-based RPG that draws from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Based on what's been released so far, it appears to be shaping up to be a game with some seriously kick-ass writing and an abandonment of tired RPG cliches. Like I said, it's an indie game, so you're not gonna be straining your SLIed 280s, but it won't really going to matter what the game looks like if the writing samples are reflective of the final game.
Final Fantasy XIV:
What can I say? Despite being disappointed by most Final Fantasy games since IX, I keep coming back for more. I know it's irrational, but I can't help myself. On the positive side, it sounds like Square is making some serious effort in fixing pretty much everything I didn't like about Final Fantasy XI, so I'm still holding out hope. Will I be surprised if I don't like it? Not particularly. Will I be buying it the day it comes out? Absolutely.
Anthony Burch:
Max Payne 3:
Yes, Max Payne 3 won't be a PC exclusive, but I will be god damned if I play the third part of Max Payne's gruff-talking, bullet-dodging, poor-exposition-delivering trilogy with anything other than a mouse and keyboard. As someone who is frightened of change in all its forms I harbor a healthy dose of fear regarding Max's new look and locale, but I simply enjoyed the first two games far too much not to find my fanboy senses going into overload for a chance to hang out with everyone's favorite sort-of-noir-but-not-really detective.
Mount and Blade: Warband:
The original Mount and Blade is still one of the deepest and most impressive indie games available today. That the Warband expansion looks to throw multiplayer into an already-satisfying experience is enough to get me excited. The strategic, realtime, large-scale battles of the first game seemed perfectly suited to multiplayer gameplay. Just imagine 64 players simultaneously hacking the shit out of one another with realistic damage and weapon physics, and you'll get the idea.
Aliens vs. Predator:
Again, not a PC exclusive, but the first two AvP games had a great community on the PC, and I expect the franchise reboot will be no different (not to mention, it'll have dedicated servers). AvP2 arguably suffered from species imbalances -- the Xenomorphs were undoubtedly the weakest of the three factions -- but in a world of constant patches and updates delivered automatically to your computer, the hopeful (read: stupid) part of my brain wants to believe that the new AvP's multiplayer will be an even more polished, balanced affair. The campaign stuff was pretty good fun in the previous games, but AvP games tend to really take off in multiplayer.
Star Wars: The Old Republic:
Everything I have heard about TOR seems to imply that it's an MMO for people who do not, traditionally, enjoy MMOs. An actual storyline? Permanent choices? Combat that doesn't involve killing rats for eight hours? If the game is what BioWare promises it to be, it may well be the first MMO I ever pay a monthly fee for.
StarCraft II:
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Contest:
6:00 PM on 12.31.2009
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I didn't know FF14 was PC, but I guess that would make sense.
IF I played PC games FFXIV, Starcraft 2, and blind hope for Half-Life: Episode 3 and Portal 2 would top my list.
You're serious aren't you? While I love entirely original IPs as much as the next guy there's nothing to imply sequels can't be original in their own right.
/Facepalm
Oh yes. Those games look good. If I had extra money to waste I wouldnt mind playing FFXIV. Ive never had a problem with anything Final Fantasy. Although I never tried XI.
That Natural Selection 2 sounds great. I loved those multi-genre HL mods.
Actually AvP looks pretty interesting, so does Cyclopean.
And a great resource, for those who are interested: http://adrianwerner.wordpress.com/games-of-2010/
I have now. Excellent read. I saw your post when it first went up and kinda skipped over it but thank you for bringing me back to it.
I feel the same way about Max Payne 3 and the keyboard and mouse.
I've heard about Natural Selection, but never bothered. And replacing TF2, Mr. Ross? That's saying alot. Sounds awesome though.
Mass Effect 2 and other huge games will be better on PC as well though, so it's all good.
Tonight is my last night on FFXI and its kinda sad to part with it, but that can be said with any MMO you've put more than a couple years into. I'm hoping that one day SE will have a single player revisioning of FFXI or a single player spin-off title, just so others can see what that world was like and I can revisit it. Vana'diel was one of my favorite worlds to explore and I'll miss it, but deep down I know once FFXIV comes, I wouldn't look back at it most likely.
Please. That has got to be one of the worst but most-played MMOs that has ever existed. Ever.
That said, Starcraft looks alright. IMO, Supreme Commander made this type of RTS obsolete, but still (SC2 is an entirely different story). Good for the nostalgia, I guess.
If the game were so terrible, then why would anyone be playing it? It doesn't matter how much you dislike it, you can't deny that Blizzard did something right when it created the biggest, most successful MMORPG ever and boasted enough players to populate a nation.
Wasn't that the excuse they used for cutting parts out of Assassin's Creed 2 and repackaging it as DLC? Something about too much to do? If that's something you actually buy into, I've got a lovely bridge for sale on eBay.
A boy can dream...
:(
"If the game were so terrible, then why would anyone be playing it?"
That's a good question. It's possible that it's because it has a social aspect and runs reasonably on PCs with very low specs---for those who are too dumb to know how to upgrade their graphics card drivers on their brand new Best Buy PC.
For those with bad reading comprehension: I'm not saying WoW is bad because of its visuals. I'm saying WoW's a bad game.
I don't think Blizzard did anything right. They got lucky. WoW's just an average MMO that somehow managed to become a fad. Shit happens, and WoW's a sterling example.
The games still awesome at least.
UPGRAYD!
Starcraft 2
SW:TOR (though only if a limited demo will be available, and even then I can't really see myself shelling out cash for any MMORPG)
Deus Ex 3 (well, only PC announced so far)
Napoleon: Total War
Amnesia: The Dark Descent (though I do hope they polish it more than the previous games)
Culpa Innata 2
rFactor 2
Other interesting non-exlusives:
Supreme Commander 2
RAGE
MGS: Rising
Brink
Mafia II
Mass Effect 2
Aliens vs Predator
Max Payne 3
Splinter Cell Conviction
Bioshock II
Metro 2033
Batman: AA 2
Alpha Protocol
Just Cause 2
And a few others. Seeing how I plan to catch up on a few games, there is no way I'll play even half of them. I guess the market is oversaturated.
The simple fact is they wanted a campaign for each race that is as long and as in-depth as a full game. Similar to how Dawn of War 2 only has a campaign for the Space Marines. It all comes down to having a great story arc and 30 great missions.
The second two campaigns are going to be expansions and expansions are good. I don't see the issue.
@StingingVelvet, do you think The Witcher 2 might release 2010? I haven't seen much media on it, but wouldn't that make a 2.5-3 year development cycle if they did release it? A while back I saw a video of a monitor playing what supposedly was the game so it might not be too far off. That'd definitely make 2010 a great year for gaming.
I am worried about The Witcher 2 because of CD Projekt's obvious financial issues. I think we need to cross our fingers for a 2010 release. I am also worried if the game comes to consoles it will be neutered in some way (no offense console folk).
Seems like everyone that makes and MMO for the first time underestimates what players are going to do. Except WoW, they had Battle.net years before they got to doing an MMO, so they knew people were gonna be douchebags when given the opportunity. Granted they still don't have a 100% effective method for dealing with them, but that's because douchebags are resilient creatures just like CGFs. Blizzard does what they can, though.
Star Trek online might actually be CGF-proof. No currency in the Star Trek world, just resources. I think anyone that lays claim to a planet's resources and sell them for money will probably receive some terse hails than a barrage of photon torpedoes.
But Bioware is hyping story and lolDialog Branches so much I have to wonder if they realize they need quests and instances and endgame content to keep that thing going. There's gonna be a point where all decisions are made and there's no story left to grow through.
Holy shit. Somehow I not only knew after clicking "comments" that yours would be one of the first 3 comments, but I also knew it'd be some snarky, idiotic comment about how you (I guess you're somebody special? You act like you're supposed to be, so I italicized it) don't like PC gaming. Then you go and name off some of the most mainstream games that even my 1 year old could have thought of. I guess your posts are just tiring to my weary eyes.
So to sum it up for you, you're missing out on all that PC gaming has to offer. So you've decided to shut your mind off to this magnificent platform that's been running for 40 odd years now. So what? What do you want people to do about it? Make you a monument to the sadness which is your existence? I get it. You don't like gaming on a personal computer. Guess what? I actually am an avid video game fan. I enjoy games on any and all platforms. You should try opening that tiny pin shaped head of yours and maybe let a little free flowing information inside and just.. I don't know... see what happens. It may be the most liberating thing you'll ever do.
Ok, I think I'm done with you now. Thanks for your attention.
Anyway.. I'm going to say that most of these games look pretty good so far. I would also add Napoleon Total War and Mass Effect 2 for early 2010. But that list sounds pretty sweet so far. Aliens Vs. Predator is probably one of my most anticipated releases.
"Cyclopean is a turn-based RPG that draws from the works of H.P. Lovecraft."
SOLD.
Abusive players in MMORPGs is common knowledge and has nothing to do with each company. The only game that really had trouble with this was the first major MMORPG, UO. It was new for UO, past that it became common knowledge.
No. It has more to do with how many bugs are in the game, so how polished it is. Even in WoW you have stuff like the ZG virus that took over the game because people could abuse it (and good on them) which was probably the biggest abused bug in gaming history. So there goes your 'Blizzard knows best' BS you came up with.
FYI, MMORPGs are not RTS games when it comes to online, so no... Even if it wasn't common knowledge that players abuse what they can, Blizzard wouldn't have known because you CANNOT abuse those things in other genres.
Also, this Cyclopean game sounds great.
Also, Mass Effect 2.
When did I say I didn't like PC gaming? I wish I played PC games.
Geez. If you're commenting on my "Oh yes PCs play games too," that was sarcasm. I really can not believe you're taking that seriously. Sorry if I come off as snarky but I never meant anything negative.
You don't have to accept my apology but I'm sincerely sorry if I ticked you off. I really didn't think anyone could take that seriously.
Agree with all of them