High praise: 2008 was the best year for video games, ever.
As such, when game reviewers name their favorite games of 2008, they will make good cases — probably for the epics, “Grand Theft Auto IV,” “LittleBigPlanet,” “Rock Band 2” and “Fallout 3.”
But everything is personal. So here are my Top 10 games of 2008, based on: how much they made my heart race and how many hours I played them.
•“God of War: Chains of Olympus” by Sony for PSP. This is the best PSP game yet created. You play once more as Kratos, the killing muscle of mythical gods. Its cinematic sweep is breathtaking; screenshots could hang in galleries; the orchestral score hums. It’s a flawless masterpiece.
Downloadable content hasn’t traditionally been one of the main selling points for Activision’s Guitar Hero series. That stance has perceptibly changed with World Tour, due in part to the fact that Activision now has a studio whose professed purpose it is to create DLC for the rhythm-game franchise. Examples thus far released for World Tour include tracks from the likes of Jimi Hendrix, The Raconteurs, R.E.M., Boston, Foreigner, and Oasis.
Today, Activision laid out Guitar Hero World Tour’s DLC lineup for the month of December, injecting the game with a number of new songs from legendary rockers. Leading the show on December 4, The Smashing Pumpkins will reprise their on-disc performance of “Today” with “G.L.O.W.” from their new album, as well as “1979″ and “The Everlasting Gaze.”
The venerable Atari brand has fallen on hard times recently, although signs are starting to suggest the possibility of a comeback. Sony alumn Phil Harrison recently took the reins of the beleaguered publisher, hoping to help turn business around. The recently-released Alone in the Dark Inferno on PS3 is the first step in a company makeover aimed at restoring the high level of quality we expect from this 30-year-old brand.
The company today announced its lineup of games due this coming spring 2009. There are a variety of console and handheld titles on the menu, suggesting that Atari will retain a broad publishing focus going forward. We are particularly interested to see how The Chronicles of Riddick and Ghostbusters turn out, after Atari snapped these franchises up in the fallout of the Vivendi-Activision merger.
Even though the new “Call of Duty: World At War” is succeeding with consumers and critics by sticking to the successful adrenaline-fueled formula of its franchise predecessor, new downloadable content coming to the game in 2009 will represent a break from 2007’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.”
How much of a break from the “Modern Warfare” DLC will it be?
In a phone interview with MTV Multiplayer just before Thanksgiving, “World at War” executive producer Daniel Suarez confirmed that the game’s development team is working on downloadable content that will exceed the single multi-player map-pack offered for “Modern Warfare” earlier this year. “We want to do at least — the hope is — potentially two, maybe three packs out before we’re all said and done.”
Following in the footsteps of Nintendo’s popular “Wii Fit,” the video game publisher known for the “Madden” football games is jumping into fitness software targeted mostly at women.
Electronic Arts Inc. on Thursday announced a new line, EA Sports Active, that runs on the Nintendo Wii console and aims to complement, not compete with, Nintendo’s “Wii Fit” exercise title.
Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that Cabela’s Legendary Adventures is now available for PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, and Wii.
Cabela’s Legendary Adventures is the latest title in the popular Cabela’s franchise, where for the first time hunting enthusiasts get to relive the greatest hunting stories ever told. Players embark on epic hunting expeditions over the last century in search of legendary trophy animals in the world’s most celebrated hunting locations. Environments like the Yukon Territory and the Rocky Mountains are free-roaming and full of wild game – the hunter must adapt to the terrain, track animal behavior, and master precision firearms. The title focuses on ten big game species including White-Tailed Deer, Alaskan Brown Bear and Roosevelt Elk, but there is also a variety of species of small game, waterfowl, upland birds and turkey to hunt if you possess the expertise.
