Is that turkey I smell? Another holiday is right around the corner and the jolly fat man in a red suit with a sackful of credit card bills is next in line. With roughly 400 video games and a new game system dropping this holiday season, Christmas lists will be rather lengthy this year. This week saw the release of a new Nintendo portable complete with launch titles, Sony bites back with an exclusive fighter, 47 takes a babysitting gig, Dreamworks saves Christmas so they can ruin it themselves, Persona leaves the arena, and PC gamers play catch up.
Nintendo
Wii U
Nintendo reminds players that it pioneered post-Atari console gaming. The Wii U dropped on Sunday and will be the hottest piece of hardware on your Christmas list. The distinguishing feature of the Wii U is not the horsepower, graphical acuity, or processing speed: it’s the controller. Nintendo has developed a very high-tech controller, complete with capabilities borrowed from its portable line, like touch screen, and incorporated it into a new console. One of the cooler features of the Wii U is the ability to keep playing on the controller even if dad takes over the tv to watch the Cowboys try to play football. The price of admission for the Wii U is $299.99. Three bills will buy you the console, 8 gigs of internal storage, the controller, sensor bars, AC adapter, and HDMI cables. Throw in an extra $50 and Nintendo bumps your storage to 32 GB, provides a cradle for charging the controller, and a stand for the tablet, and a copy of Nintendo Land. Time to ask the boss for a raise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e3qaPg_keg
It wouldn’t be a proper console without software so here is a list of launch titles for the Wii U:
Assassin’s Creed III
Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Darksiders 2
Disney’s Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
ESPN Sports Connection
Funky Barn
Game Party Champions
Just Dance 4
Madden NFL 13
Marvel Avengers: Battle For Earth
Mass Effect 3: Special Edition
NBA 2K13
New Super Mario Bros
Nintendo Land
Rabbids Land
Rayman Legends
Scribblenauts Unlimited
Skylanders Giants
Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed
Transformers Prime
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper
Wipeout 3
ZombiU
Nintendo will be dropping Wii U titles by the truckload from now until Christmas and beyond. Expect Aliens: Colonial Marines, 007 Legends, Bayonetta 2, and many more games very soon.
Sony
Playstation All Stars Battle Royale
Perhaps taking a cue from Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros, Sony has taken some of their more prominent game characters and pitted them against each other Marvel vs Capcom style. Pit Metal Gear’s Raiden against Big Daddy from Bioshock. Have Kratos kick the living shit out of Sackboy. Roll over Nathan Drake with Sweet Tooth. 22 characters will be available at launch with DLC additions likely. PS3 and Vita compatibility is featured on this title, which drops November 20.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq-Yqt52w48&feature=relmfu
Persona 4 Golden
The latest installment of Japanese RPG meets avatar fighter is here. Players bravely clear dungeons using their inner “personas” to do the dirty work. Available November 20 on the PS Vita.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnwXbSYcywg
PC
Assassin’s Creed 3
The war between the Templars and Assassins continues against the backdrop of the Revolutionary War. Ezio’s time is gone and the game focuses on a new protagonist named Connor Kenway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph9jn5kRo9k
Darkfall Unholy Wars
Bumped to December...
Multiplatform
Hitman Absolution
Agent 47 is back and appears to be at the top of his game. A new instinct feature highlights items and people of interest, which effectively eliminates the radar-watching of previous games. Players can choose the sneaky route or roll in guns blazing Matrix-style. The story centers around 47’s promise to watch after a girl, a deal which apparently goes sour. He’s a great assassin, not so great at babysitting. The sitter gig goes south and turns into a reclamation and revenge story...hell yeah! Every trailer I have seen indicated that 47 is very pissed off: he’s leaner, meaner, and his facial features are a bit darker than in previous offerings...mood lighting, gotta love it. Start your killing spree November 20 on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6gkVIwBHGI
Rise of the Guardians
This is the video game tie-in of the Dreamworks movie. Unless it’s different than every other movie tie-in title, I would expect poor quality, low immersion, non-existent replay, and that ol’ rushed into production feel. I could be wrong about this one...but I’m not. Drops like a turd on the PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 20. The trailer for the movie was 2 1/2 minutes, the video game trailer was 37 seconds long. On the bright side, the movie comes out Wednesday and it looks pretty good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ3UqjkqaE0
