Gran Turismo 5 Delayed... no surprise!

After being delayed for years, Gran  Turismo 5 was set to have an official release date that was promised to be real, on the 2nd of November 2010.

In a (not) surprising twist of events, Polyphony Digital announced that the game needs more work and that it's being delayed, but reassured the fans that it will still be released in 2010.

"Creator Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony Digital want to make certain they are creating the perfect racing experience, and we are confident that this ambitious game will exceed expectations when it launches." is all what they had to report.

On a personal note, I never was interested in this game. After all the delays, it sort of slipped under the "hyped" radar, and while they do promise the "best racing experience", but just like in politics, a promise remains a promise.

After all these delays that just won't end, this game better be the messiah of racing games, or else it will fail miserably. The more it gets delayed, the more it is being built up and hyped up.

Slowly, this is becoming "The Dark Knight" of video games in terms of anticipations and expectations, and one could argue that it will only hurt the game once it actually comes out. The critics will crucify it for the smallest mistakes, and the fans will be expecting entertainment for months, only to be disappointed. 

As we all know, no video game could ever live up to this kind of hype, which is why I fear that Gran Turismo 5 will have an amazing launch, but word of mouth and bad reviews will bury the game within two years.

I certainly would hope that I am wrong and that GT5 does live up to the hype, but I fear in the age we are living in, people will be looking more towards what makes this game bad and compare it to the lengthy amount of delays it got.

The Fallout of New Vegas

 

Fallout: New Vegas is set to be released worldwide on October 19 2010, for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Whether you are an RPG fan or not, whether you are an FPS gamer or not, you have undoubtedly heard of The Game of the Year for 2008: Fallout 3. 

The game takes RPG to its core with an unparalleled experienc, a fully customizable character and over 100 different ways to complete the game. Yes, there was a story that the RPG was headed towards, but the way to get there was kept to the player, who, if he chooses, can complete anything and everything except the main story. 

Although highly praised by the critics and players alike, Fallout 3 had to deal with a lot of negative media from the fans of previous fallout games, Fallout and Fallout 2, who, according to the fans, share nothing in common with Fallout 3. 

However, Fallout: New Vegas is set to change all that and win its old audience back along side their new one. 

2 words: Obsidian & Bethesda!

Many of us know that Fallout: New Vegas is not being published by Bethesda, it is being published by Obsidian. 

 

But SergioFX, who is Obsidian and why should I care? 

I hear you, fellow curious gamer, and to know that, we must take a trip back in time: 

The first two games, Fallout and Fallout 2 were published by a company called Black Isld Studios, who was a subsidiary of InterPlay. But in 2003, InterPlay had to cut costs, and Black Isld Studios was disbanded, and the Fallout franchise was sold to Bethesda.

Some staff members of Black Isld Studios stuck together and formed a new company, called Obsidian Ent.

Come 2007, Obsidian Ent. bought the rights of Fallout from Bethesda, but the deal was set in a way that Obsidian uses Bethesda's engine in Fallout: New Vegas. 

Because of that, we now have the best two parts of the Fallout franchise combine.

We have the amazing story from Fallout and Fallout 2, and we have the amazing engine of Fallout 3. Combined, they would make one hell of a game. It's like all of a sudden, both companies cut out their weaknesses and are using each others' strong points to make one of hell of a video game.

Fallout: New Vegas doesn't pick up where Fallout 3 left off, and apparently, doesn't have anything in common with Fallout 3,  other than the fact that it happens in the same country and in the same time period (post-apocalyptic USA). 

Now let's see where the game ranks on our Hyp-O-Meter:

 

The Assassin Within

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is set to be released worldwide on November 16 2010, and that date cannot come any closer. The game will be available on the Ps3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you would know that this Game of the Year contender is set immediately after the events of the second game, picking up where Ezio left off, and seeing him building a brotherhood of assassins unlike the world had ever seen.

I would consider this game as a 2.5 in the series and not the 3rd installement, because we have the same protagonist as the second game, and it is set in the same time period (the beautiful Renaissance Italy) as ACII.

That is not a bad thing if you ask me, because ACII was one of the best games of 2009, and the giant leap it took from ACI is phenomenal to say the least. It seemed as if ACI was just Ubisoft testing their new engine and seeing how it works in (then)next-gen games. 

2 words: Online Multiplayer! 

Ok, so there is a lenghty single player that is estimated at no less than 20 hrs, and yes, in a world where publishers are getting away with 6 to 8 hours game play time (Yes God of War III, I'm looking at you!) the folks at Ubisoft are being really generous. I mean this is a game released only one year after ACII, a game that needed no less than 30 hours to complete, and yet, it has a lengthy enough game time.

But if that's not enough, they decided to include a stealthy multilpayer that is guaranteed to change the way we play online games. Call of Duty, Killzone and Battlefield Bad Company better take a backseat, because AC: Brotherhood is introducing a whole new type of online gaming.

The game will require you to be the perfect assassin, as you roam Rome (Zing!) and look for your pre-specified target, all the while acting like an NPC, so that other players don't detect your "humanitism". 

I mean, you just can't come up with stuff like this! Imagine the nerve wrecking experience you'll be going through. 

But SergioFX, how would that fit into the overall story of Assassin Creed? 

I hear you, fellow curious gamer, but fear not, for I have cracked the story, and no, the multiplayer inclusion is not just Ubisoft showing off their skills. 

You see, with the story moving towards the present day to finally merge with the Last Assassin, Desmond Miles, Abstergo Industries is looking for a new breed of hired assassins that they can use to eliminate Desmond and co. And this is where YOU come in. Jacking-into Rome in multiplayer mode, you are auditioning for Abstergo to join their party and hunt down the last Pieces of Eden. It's sort of a training ground of everyone today to get into Assassin mode and be ready for when the time is right, in 2012, which is the release date of Assassin's Creed III, definitely relating to the Mayan Prophecy of the end of the world.  

Now let's see where the game ranks on our Hyp-O-Meter: