Happy New Year, get your controllers ready

Richard Mitchell — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:14:51 +0000

With 2010 finally upon us, gamers around the world have a lot to be excited about. Plenty of quality titles were released during the Fall of 2009, but the number was significantly smaller than what was originally projected this time last year. Many of the blockbuster titles that we expected to have already been playing met with delays, and others simply chose to steer clear of Modern Warfare 2, the largest impending videogame launch in history, and could you really blame them? For many, this shift in the release schedules was disappointing, but for others, like myself, seeing several triple-A titles move from Fall 2009 to the first quarter of 2010 was actually met with relief. The more balanced release schedule would give us more time to enjoy each individual game, instead of juggling four or five over the Holidays, and we’d no longer have to apply for a loan just to bankroll our gaming habits. Furthermore, the first quarter of the year is typically a gaming drought, with only one or two quality titles seeing release, so this means less cold Canadian nights watching reruns of Degrassi.

So just how awesome is this first quarter? Check out the release dates below.

01.05 – Bayonetta
01.05 – Darksiders
01.12 – Army of Two: The 40th Day
01.19 – Dark Void
01.26 – Mass Effect 2 (can’t.. wait.. much.. longer..)
01.26 – MAG (try the Beta now!)

02.09 – BioShock 2
02.09 – Dante’s Inferno
02.16 – Heavy Rain (so looking forward to this..)
02.16 – Aliens vs. Predator
02.23 – Splinter Cell: Conviction (our favourite game of X’09!)
02.23 – Lost Planet 2

03.02 – Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (I know Brad can’t wait for this one..)
03.09 – Final Fantasy XIII (..!)
03.16 – Command & Conquer 4
03.30 – Crysis 2
03.TBA – God of War III (..!!)
03.TBA – Gran Turismo 5 (..!!!)

Is it just me, or is March going to be one of the best months for gaming, ever? Additionally, there are games such as ModNation Racers and Super Mario Galaxy 2 that are projected to be released sometime in early 2010, which may yet land somewhere in the midst of the games listed above. If your New Years resolution was to play fewer games this year, good luck with that.

If there are any releases that we overlooked that you think deserves a mention in this article, let us know in the comments below!

E3 2009 – ‘Gran Turismo 5′ starts revving its engine with new trailer

Richard Mitchell — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 17:13:36 +0000

We’re in the third year of the PlayStation 3’s life cycle and we still have yet to see the release of a full-fledged Gran Turismo title, one of the platform’s defining franchises. Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has seen a great deal of success, even earning a place in the next wave of the PlayStation 3’s Greatest Hits line, but fans of the franchise are still yearning for a full-scale release. While Sony neglected to mention a release date for Gran Turismo 5 during their E3 press conference, they did show a trailer for Polyphony Digital’s much-anticipated driving simulator.

Featuring some obvious gameplay enhancements, like the inclusion of vehicle damage and NASCAR racing, the trailer is a feast for the eyes. It’s hard to tell how much of it is real-time footage, but with the pedigree of the Gran Turismo franchise, it would be easy to believe that it is all in real-time.

Click here to watch the video

gamenorth.ca » Gran Turismo 5

Happy New Year, get your controllers ready

E3 2009 – ‘Gran Turismo 5′ starts revving its engine with new trailer