Summer is cooling off, and the big holiday game releases are right around the corner. While we won’t be seeing Starcraft 2 or Heavy Rain this year, and Beyond Good and Evil 2 has been shelved until further notice, there are still plenty of fantastic games coming out this year.

Drawn to Life: the Next Chapter (Nintendo DS/Nintendo Wii) – October 16th
While Drawn to Life seems a perfect property for the Nintendo DS, I can only hope that the on-screen drawing in the Wii version is better than that of the Wii remake of Okami, as drawing with the Wii remote can easily get wonky at times. If it works well, drawing your own character, and then drawing tools and weapons for him to use sounds like a lot of fun. You can see the Drawn to Life trailer here.

Grand Theft Auto IV: Ballad of Gay Tony (XBox 360) – October 29th
While I’ll admit to never having played a Grand Theft Auto game, Brandon suggested that I include this bit of DLC wherein you play as Luis Fernando Lopez, Gay Tony’s personal bodyguard. I can only imagine that hilarity (and perhaps some disco dancing) ensues. Here’s the trailer.

Alpha Protocol (XBox 360) – October 27th
After reading about Alpha Protocol, I’m sad that it’s an XBox 360 exclusive. There are a number of game mechanics that I’d really enjoy playing with.

The game focuses on Michael Thornton, a Jason Bourne clone who’s betrayed by the U.S. Government and ends up being hunted. Similar to Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, you can advance specific skill trees to make Michael more adept at gunplay, at hand-to-hand Kenpo fighting, or at stealth. Personally, I’d max out the stealth as soon as I could.

Conversations seem to be handled similarly to those in Indigo Prophecy, taking place in real time and allowing the player limited time to respond. The game’s developers have cited “The three J.B.’s” in determining attitudes during conversations, Jason Bourne being professional, James Bond being suave, and Jack Bauer being agressive.

Perhaps they’ll consider putting together a PC version a few months after the 360 version is released. I can always hope. In the meantime, you can watch the Alpha Protocol trailer here.

Dead Space: Extraction (Nintendo Wii) – September 29th
It’s tough to play a game where you know the story’s outcome before you begin. I’ve played through Dead Space, which takes place after Dead Space: Extraction, and I’ve seen the animated short “Dead Space: Downfall”. I know. EVERYONE DIES.

Dead Space: Extraction is an on-rails shooter, which is generally a minus, but Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles showed me that on-rail shooters aren’t necessarily all bad. Dead Space: Extraction promises branching pathways and puzzles. Puzzles? Interesting.

Another plus is that rotation of the plasma cutter in Dead Space: Extraction is done by actually rotating the Wiimote rather than hitting a button. Nice and intuitive. Hope it actually works well, because this trailer looks great.

Left 4 Dead 2 (PC) – November 17th
Aside from new campaign levels, Left 4 Dead 2 gives us two new special zombies, some “uncommon common” zombies like the hazmat suited zombies and mudmen, and also adrenaline shots and melee weapons for the humans. These are some nice add-ons, but I’m surprised that Valve is selling these as a new game rather than as add-ons for Left 4 Dead.

There’s been some contraversy over whether Left 4 Dead 2 is a true sequel or simply an add-on to the original game. There’s even a boycott out there, which complains about the release of Left 4 Dead 2 before the free add-on content Valve promised is released for the original Left 4 Dead. Personally, I can understand people being upset about the release of a “sequel” which seems more like add-on content, but a boycott seems like a bit much.

Personally, the reason I’ve never tried Left 4 Dead isn’t because I’m upset about anything – it’s because while I do enjoy shooters, I’ve learned that I’m absolutely horrible at them. This is a lesson I learned the hard way when playing Team Fortress 2. In any event, if you’d like to see the L4D2 trailer, here it is.

Assassin’s Creed 2 (PC, Playstation 3, XBox 360) – November 17th
I enjoyed the first Assassin’s Creed, but never finished it. I suppose my chief complaint was monotony. After completing the first four or five missions, the game didn’t seem to be going anywhere. This is the main thing that I hope the sequel fixes. This trailer looks cool, but one of the things that bugs me about Assassin’s Creed is that you remain hidden until your kill, and then are always seen. What about games like Tenchu, Thief, or Splinter Cell, where you can remain unseen despite dozens of kills? I like those better.

Bioshock 2: Sea of Dreams (PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3) – November 3rd
I was never the hugest fan of the original Bioshock. Maybe that’s why I’m not more excited for the sequel. And after watching the trailer, it doesn’t seem like Bioshock 2 has much that Bioshock 1 didn’t. Although it seems not to be a prequel, you play the first ever Big Daddy, who’s still alive. Being the Prototype, you’re better than all the other Big Daddies, although the Big Sister is now your main threat. There’s no real clue as to why the original Big Daddy is only now getting his first plasmids – I can only hope that the game explains this well rather than just leaving it as a giant loophole.

Demon’s Souls (Playstation 3) – October 6th
Demon’s Souls sounds damn cool. It’s a fantasy action RPG in which you battle dragons, demons, and all kinds of other nasties. Enemies in the game can be absolutely massive, such as giants or dragons, and gameplay differs depending on what kind of weaponry (or magic) you use. You gain experience by collecting the souls of the demons you defeat. Here’s a link to the trailer.

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles (Nintendo Wii) – November 17th
While I enjoyed Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, I was a bit disappointed in that it covered the events of Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil 1, and Resident Evil 3 – the games in the series in which I’m least interested. Darkside Chronicles covers my beloved Resident Evil 2, as well as Code Veronica. Basically, the good ones. Seems like they’ve also stepped up the graphics, which should be a nice change. I’m really looking forward to revisiting Raccoon City and the complex beneath RCPD. Take a look here.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Nintendo Wii) – September 8th
Muramasa is a beautifully hand-drawn sidescroller, and you don’t see many 2D sidescrolling games anymore. To me, that’s the primary appeal. When you add in the RPG elements, it starts to sound like what Castlevania did beginning with Symphony of the Night. I’m in. If you haven’t seen the trailer I posted recently, here it is.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Playstation 3) – October 13th
Although I played the first Uncharted game start to finish, I think I really didn’t appreciate it enough – it was a great game, and the use of the Sixaxis to control the angle of thrown grenades is probably the best use for it I’ve ever seen. This sequel is adding parkour-like wall-climbing and stealth sequences. Yay! It also proportedly has no loading screens, which is very nice. And the graphics look fantastic. I’ll definitely be picking this one up.

In the first game, Nathan Drake follows the trail of Sir Francis Drake in an attempt to find El Dorado. In this sequel, he follows the trail of Marco Polo in an attempt to find Shangri-La. My first impression of the series was that of an Indiana Jones ripoff, but whether or not that’s true, they seem to be making an excellent series out of the Nathan Drake IP.

As a longtime Farscape fan, I also love the fact that Claudia Black is voicing one of the game’s main characters. But if they’re going to have a villain in the game named Zorin, couldn’t they get Christopher Walken to do the voice? Here’s the trailer.

Borderlands (PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3) – October 20th
Of all the games on this list, Borderlands was the one I’d heard least about. Once I read up on the game for purposes of putting this article together, I started to get excited for it. An RPG inspired by Mad Max? Awesome. Beyond that, the randomization of weapons, environments, and enemies is like nothing I’ve ever seen. The estimates I’ve seen for how many weapons exist in the game run the range from a half million to over three million.

The premise for the game is a futuristic gold rush on an alien planet. Settlers move there and find that the planet actually has little to offer. The wealthy leave, and the remaining colonists find themselves in a wild west type of scenario. After seven Earth years, spring arrives and horrible creatures emerge from hibernation. The colonists’ only hope: alien technology. This chick says it doesn’t exist. Pretty, isn’t she? Oh wait – here’s a trailer that’s even better. Love that art style.

Scribblenauts (Nintendo DS) – September 15th
Scribblenauts is looking to be this year’s Portal – the game that everyone is talking about. It’s got a brilliantly innovative new mechanic, and the possibilities for creative play seem limitless. In Scribblenauts, you’re presented with a challenge, and you can write words – anything you can think to write down appears. A mongoose, a polo shirt, a station wagon, or a robot dinosaur – they’ll all appear and behave how you might expect them to. I’m gonna have fun with this one. My wife probably will as well. This trailer should give you a fair idea of exactly how kickass the game is.

Brutal Legend (Xbox 360, Playstation 3) – October 13th
A game created by the same guy that did Psychonauts, featuring Jack Black with a guitar battling demons with heavy metal music in the style of Tribute? Could this be the greatest and best video game in the world? It just might be. Too bad there’s no PC version.

This trailer shows Jack Black rocking some demons to death. I am so going to try to play as Limozeen in this game.

There’s no way I’ll be missing this one, although I’m not yet sure whether I’ll be able to get it on day one. To add to the winningness, Tim Curry does some voice acting in the game. Rock on!

Dragon Age: Origins (PC, XBox 360, Playstation 3) – November 3rd
Finally, the game I’m looking forward to most: Dragon Age: Origins. I’ll certainly be getting the PC version, as I’m looking forward to some amazing commmunity mods. Personally, I think it’s excellent that the game will be released on so many different platforms, since games like this had previously been PC only.

To me, the biggest thing that Dragon Age has going for it is its comparison to the original Baldur’s Gate series. I’ve been trying hard to avoid previews and trailers, and trying not to let my expectations get too high, since I’ve found that overly high expectations can ruin an experience. But the ability to control your entire party and to pause the game to issue commands has me pretty excited. Who will be the 21st Century’s Minsc? I know that Tim Curry is playing some kind of “calculating villain” in this game, perhaps he’ll be the new kickass character. Is Tim Curry in every 2009 game or what?

So which games will I be buying on day one? It’s a tough call given that I really want to finish Prototype, get some more achievements on Street Fighter 4 and Pixeljunk Monsters, and I’m dying to play Trine with my wife. I’d wanted to try Punch-Out, House of the Dead: Overkill, and The Conduit for the Wii, Henry Hatsworth and the new Professor Layton game on the DS, and The Chronicles of Ridick: Assault on Dark Athena on the PC, but given the imminent rush of new games, they may have to wait.

I pre-purchased Dragon Age: Origins many months ago, so I’ll be playing that as soon as it’s out. Likewise, I’ll be getting my hands on Scribblenauts as soon as humanly possible. Depending on the piggybank, I may get Muramasa when it drops, since it’s the first one out. As far as Uncharted, Brutal Legend, and Borderlands, I’ll check out the Metacritic ratings and probably pick one of the three that has the best ratings and reviews. Bioshock 2 sounds promising, but I likely won’t be buying it until 2010, when I can get a used copy on the cheap through EBay.

I didn’t know about this game until very recently. Now, I want.

It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

I had a lot of fun with Fragger. I played it through the last level, pictured above. It’s a nice puzzle game in which you’ve got to blow up all the guys on the screen, who are often in bunkers.

Play Fragger

Keepers is a weekly segment in which I discuss games I’ve played that I’ve seen fit to keep after playing. I generally sell a game that I’ve finished, so the only reason I keep one is because I plan to replay the game some day. Classifying a game as a “keeper” is generally a badge of merit.

I’ll admit: I didn’t like the Aurora Engine games (Neverwinter Nights) as much as I liked the older Infinity Engine Games (Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale) but I did play all the way through Neverwinter Nights, and afterwards I spent a solid year working on a module for the game for which I coded some pretty slick custom systems. In fact, reading through my notes about the game now, I find myself strongly motivated to reinstall so that I can check out the adventure I spent so many hours building back then. It’s been five years, and I’ve forgotten most of it.

Neverwinter Nights uses a very solid adaptation of the 3.0 Dungeons and Dragons ruleset, and has some amazing scripting tools. If you’re interesting in getting a copy of the adventure I wrote for NWN, send me a note or leave a comment.

Before I begin, let me make one thing clear: I am not a Playstation fanboy. I may have been a bit of a fanboy with the Playstation 2, as it was a console that absolutely dominated the market and carried nearly every game of the era that I was interested in playing. But the Playstation 3 doesn’t fill its daddy’s shoes. And besides, I’ve always been primarily a PC gamer.

Last week, Sony announced their new PS3 Slim model. It costs $100 less than the previous model – $299 for the 120gB PS3 slim. Considering that I paid $399 for my 40gB PS3 phat a few years ago, it seems like a pretty good deal. Shortly thereafter, Brandon wrote on Twitter “That PS3 slim is tempting. When I look at it though, all I see is my PSP. It gets no love because I ain’t down with the games for it.” I feel obliged to respond, not specifically to Brandon, but to all those of a similar opinion.

I own a PS3, and I’m very happy with it. I think that there are actually a lot of really good PS3-only titles, but I’ll get to those in a minute. First, if you’ve got a high-definition TV, your options for watching high def video have gotten better over the past couple years than they were when I first bought the PS3. But you’ll still be spending between $200 and $500, and you need to be sure that your player can accept firmware updates, or you risk not being able to watch newer movies. To me, having a Sony branded player seems the best way to avoid these hassles. And if you’re spending that much on a player anyway, why not get one that does more than play movies? We’ve been using our PS3 as a media center for years. When we want to listen to music, we don’t pop in a CD, we turn on the PS3 and locate the music on our server, then play it through our stereo speakers. We can also watch .avi movies that way, and subject visitors to our vacation photos. The PS3 also does a really good job of upscaling DVDs to 1080p.

Now lets talk about games. There’s a ton of overlap between PS3 and XBox 360 games. You can play Fallout 3, Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, or Ghostbusters on either platform with no noticable difference. But as far as exclusives, I find that there are very few XBox 360 exclusives that I really want to play. Fable 2? Certainly. Shadow Complex? Dead Rising? Crackdown? I guess I’d like to try them. But what else does the 360 have that I should want to play? Gears of War and Halo don’t interest me very much. Alan Wake sounds fantastic, but it’s still not 100% certain if it will be XBox 360 exclusive.

Now let’s take a look at what the PS3 has. First, we’ve got Heavy Rain, the new-school adventure game from Quantic Dream – the same team that brought us the delightfully out-of-the-box Indigo Prophecy. While the story got progressively more bizaree, Indigo Prophecy had some amazing gameplay mechanics. I look forward to seeing what Quantic Dream has done with Heavy Rain.

We’ve also got The Last Guardian, Team Ico’s new project. While we know little about the game as of yet, the stealth gameplay is a big plus for me. The weird feathered dragon puppy thing has potential too, especially if they’re able to form the same kind of bond as they did with Agro in Shadow of the Colossus. Be honest – did you cry near the end of Shadow of the Colossus? Okay. Me either.

Fat Princess is a fairly new PSN release, and while I generally avoid online multiplayer games, this one looks so interesting and unique that I may have to try it. Capture the Flag, except the flag is a princess. A team can feed their princess and make her fatter to make her harder to move. And there are multiple character classes, which adds some complexity.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was a pretty good game, even if it was an Indiana Jones knockoff. I particularly liked using the sixaxis to control the angle of the grenades you threw. The sequel looks to be even better. And although it’s hard to imagine where Kraatos’s story will go from here, God of War 3 should be coming out before long, and that franchise still has some life in it. Heavenly Sword is another title with a lot of similarity to God of War, and although I haven’t yet played it, I’ve heard some very good things.

Demon’s Souls is an upcoming Playstation exclulsive that I’ve been following. You play a warrior in this action RPG who must battle the demons plaguing the land, and take their souls to gain experience and upgrade your skills. From all the descriptions, the game sounds punishingly difficult, but interesting.

inFamous seems a heck of a lot like Prototype, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s another game that I haven’t yet tried, but likely will at some point. LittleBigPlanet was obviously a big release, and I’m at a loss for why I haven’t tried it out yet. Likewise, Metal Gear Solid 4 was huge, and the main reason I haven’t yet played it is because I’ve never played Metal Gear Solid 3. I liked the second game, so I’m hoping to go back and play the third. And while I’ve never been into the Ratchet and Clank series, it’s a popular Playstation franchise that can’t be ignored.

As an honorable mention, I feel compelled to state that Pixeljunk Monsters is another favorite of mine, available only on the Playstation 3. Not a week goes by that I don’t play this game.

So there you have it – my personal perspective on the whole XBox 360 versus Playstation thing. The PS3 has built-in wifi, no fees for online play, a great media center, and it doesn’t have the 54% failure rate of the XBox 360.

Honestly, I do understand not wanting to own every console out there. Trying to keep up with every good game released for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and Sony PSP (and perhaps the PC) would be a bit much. But the PS3 really does have some good games.

For all the new stuff that’s been thrown into Street Fighter 4, there are only four new characters if you overlook the unlockable and boss characters. And I am overlooking the unlockable and boss characters. So that leaves us looking at Abel, Crimson Viper, El Fuerte, and Rufus.

Abel isn’t a bad character, and he isn’t half as cheap as I’d first surmised. Sure – the computer loves to roll in and throw you, but once you realize that Abel can be thrown out of his roll, it becomes easy to win against a computer Abel by just moving back until he rolls forward and then moving in to throw him before his roll is complete. I really like the idea of a MMA fighter in Street Fighter who’s focused on grappling, but some of Abel’s moves come off a bit stupid. Grabbing you and swirling you around twice? Kind of lame. Instead, his special throw should take you down and have a 2-second animation of a ground move. The move isn’t cheap though – it’s very much like E.Honda’s buttslam throw. Not nearly as cheap as Zangief’s throws. I like Abel’s move that grabs opponents out of the air while he’s still on the ground, and I like his multistep rush attack that ends in a throw. It reminds me of Fei Long’s triple punch. I don’t use Abel often, but I would. He’s not a bad character.

Crimson Viper is the last character (besides Cammy) with whom I tried to beat the game. I was wise to wait, because as soon as I tried her, she officially became my least favorite character in Street Fighter 4. Not only did I have trouble beating the game with her, I had trouble even getting up to her rival character. Crimson Viper is a bad, bad character. Me no likey.

El Fuerte isn’t an overpowered character, but playing against an opponent who knows how to play El Fuerte well can be really frustrating. His dash can end in a (low attack) slide, a (high attack) jumping tackle, or a jumping throw. If the El Fuerte player is good at rock-paper-scissors, he can pull this move over and over and win using nothing else. Plus, his ultra is the easiest to execute of any character in the game, and it does a good bit of damage. if it weren’t for the fact that most of El Fuerte’s other attacks don’t do tons of damage, he might be a seriously overpowered character.

Lastly, Rufus. I hate Rufus. He looks stupid, he’s difficult to play, and when the computer plays him he can be very hard to beat. Finishing the game with Rufus was a serious challenge, because I didn’t find his special moves very useful. I mostly used his standing fierce punch, his leg sweep, and a throw. Rufus’s only real redeeming quality is that he’s humorously written. His cutscene with Dhalsim is hilarious, and his victory text after many battles has him mistaking just about everyone for Ken Masters. He thinks Guile is Ken, he thinks Ryu is Ken, and he even thinks that Cammy is Ken.

Next time, I’ll be looking at the unlockable characters, which will include my favorite two in the game.

I must now direct your attention to the excellent trailer for the upcoming Nintendo Wii game Tower of Shadow. Really interesting gameplay, since you play as an actual shadow and can only platform on objects’ shadows. Check it out. And don’t mind the German.

I’m done with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. I can sum up the bulk of my frustrations in two words: Bad Platforming.

It’s funny – I don’t remember quite so many bottomless pits in any of the Star Wars movies. Sure, there was the part in Empire Strikes Back where Luke lost his hand and fell, and there’s always the Pit of Carcoon and the place where the Emperor fell to his death, then there’s the one Luke and Leia swung across in New Hope and the place where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fought Darth Maul… okay, maybe Star Wars is actually about bottomless pits. But I’d never really had that feeling before playing Force Unleashed.

I died a lot. And it was nearly always while falling into a bottomless pit. Generally the same one at least 5-6 times. This gets old quickly, especially when you’ve got to wait about 60 seconds while the game reloads your last checkpoint.

Let’s look at one example: I was fighting two junk guardians. I picked one up with The Force and threw him, then carved the other one up with my lightsaber. Jumping up to a platform, I found two more. While I was fighting one, the other hit me. Once. This knocked me back a bit and pushed me over the edge into a bottomless pit. Although I can double jump, I apparently can’t jump in mid-air while beginning to fall into the pit. So I died.

…a minute or two later…

I’m fighting the junk guardians again. This time I defeat them all before falling to my own death. The next jump is a big one, onto a small platform. I get ready, positioning the camera just right, then jump. But while I’m up in the air, I can’t look down – only forward – so it’s hard to see where I’m going to land. I fall into the pit, missing the platform by inches.

…a minute or two later…

Fighting those damned junk guardians. This is the last one, and I’m kicking his butt. While attempting to hit the targeting trigger, I accidentally hit the “dash” trigger and dash over the edge into the pit.

…a minute or two later…

I kill all the junk guardians easily, making sure to stay FAR from the edge. This time, I carefully prepare for the jump, and once again fall to my death because I can’t tell where I’m going to land.

…a minute or two later…

I’m playing Pixeljunk Monsters, having resolved to sell Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on Ebay.

I didn’t expect much before I’d played this flash game version of my old arcade favorite. But other than the fact that you’ve got to play with a keyboard, it’s a really perfect emulation of the original. Check it out!

Play Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition

Keepers is a weekly segment in which I discuss games I’ve played that I’ve seen fit to keep after playing. I generally sell a game that I’ve finished, so the only reason I keep one is because I plan to replay the game some day. Classifying a game as a “keeper” is generally a badge of merit.

With all the hype the past year or so surrounding Fallout 3 and its successive add-on content, it seems like people have forgotten the original Fallout games, which in my opinion were superior. Sure, they didn’t have 3D graphics, and of course they look terrible by today’s standards. But the humor was far better and the difficulty of gameplay seemed less random to me.

While many people disliked Fallout: Tactics, since there was less story, the added strategic elements really appealed to me. Being able to control an entire squad allowed for some really cool strategic combat, and the added stand/kneel/crawl mechanic allowed you to take cover against gunfire. Also, stealth became a very valuable option. Sneaking up to a foe and unleashing a point blank automatic shotgun burst was nearly always an instant kill.

I love the Fallout games. I won’t be letting mine go any time soon.