Games to Watch in 2008

Something…um, else

So, there’s new franchises being bought to the market and there are plenty of sequels too, but is there any other type of game to look at? Damn right there is – we need say only one word.

Vapourware.

Vapourware is one of the lesser talked-of kinds of, um, ware – at least in polite company it is. It’s usually OK to say “Hey man, sorry your game got warezed” or “Hey, you gave up the license and made your game abandonware? Cool!”

It’s much less polite to say “Dude, your game was announced a decade ago and we still haven’t seen a screenshot. Face it, it’s vapourware!”

Thankfully, we at bit-tech don’t care about being polite or nice – like Hugh Laurie on a Vicodin binge, we only care about Jennifer Morrison the truth! So, below we’ve got a list of games which are aiming for the 2008 release period but which many think may have gone the way of impolite conversation long ago.

Duke Nukem Forever

Platform: Wherever the Duke parks his bricks!
Release Date: When it’s done!

The obvious choice for poking fun at is often the best choice. Duke Nukem Forever was originally announced straight after the release of Duke Nukem 3D and officially entered development in April 1997 – meaning it really has been a decade since the game was first announced.

Despite repeated engine changes, publisher conflicts and complete script re-writes, work on Duke Nukem Forever has ploughed on since the first announcement and it’s still hoped the game could see a commercial release sometime soon. In fact, speculation of a 2008 release has increased lately after the release of a new teaser trailer which shows the latest build of the game, put together in a heavily modified Unreal II engine.

At the same time as the new trailer was released it was also announced that a new composer had been bought on-board the title, namely Jeremy Soule who has worked on Knights of the Old Republic and Prey.

With 3D Realms promising that new trailers will be available in the coming months as the game continues to take shape, along with news of a 2008 release from industry insiders, it looks like 2008 could see the return of the Duke after all.

Let’s face it – it’s now or forever!

Spore

Platform: PC, Nintendo DS
Release Date: TBA

It breaks my heart to put Spore in this category, but the reality is that Will Wright, creator of all things Sim, may never actually finish his opus if current reports are to be believed.

Spore is the simulation game to end all simulation games and lets players play the god of a single race which they create and rule over from start to finish – literally designing the race at a cellular level at the start, guiding them through evolution and ending involvement when the race leaves the planet.

Obviously, that’s not a task to be accomplished easily or lightly – Will Wright originally started work on the project when it was known as Sim Everything, setting out with the aim to create a ‘toy’ which would inspire long-term thinking in children and adults. Spore is Will Wright’s attempt to change the world.

However, the development has been fraught with delays and the current release date puts it as not being included in EA’s financial plan for this fiscal year. That basically means that the EA honchos don’t think it will see a release before March 2008. Will Wright remains more chipper and positive though, telling Joystiq that that the game will be finished just after April, 2008.

Whether or not Will is being realistic in that aim, given that the designer has pledged and broken three previous release dates, remains to be seen – the only thing we know for sure is that Spore will be worth the wait.

The Year To Come

This is admittedly only a smattering of the exciting titles for the year ahead – we’ve not even mentioned Metal Gear Solid 4, Splinter Cell: Conviction or Left4Dead! Still, it should serve as a semi-palatable taste of the year to come.

2007 was pretty much the best year in games since Doom first went on sale, so 2008 is unlikely to beat it in terms of the number of triple A titles to play. It seems to be having a good crack at it though, doling out new comedy, action, and psychological horror in just the few titles we’ve seen here.

Some of these games *cough*DNF*cough* will probably be delayed and pushed back to a later release date, while others will fail to live up to the enormous hype which has built up around them. Some though will manage to make it through, gaining acclaim and recognition as an excellent way for people to have fun, because that’s what games are all about.

Who knows, some of them could even make it on to our Top 10 Games of the Year list. There’s only one way to find out about that though – so we look forward to telling you about these new and exciting games over the next year.