Games of 2007: A New Way Forward
This isn’t going to include every game that is coming out in 2007, since there are over 150 games for the Xbox 360 alone that are coming out, but these are some of the most popular and well-known games of 2007 at this early stage of the year. There will also be many surprises being announced throughout the year that are only rumors at this point. All of the following games have been officially announced, and will most likely come out in 2007. These are the games 2007 will be remembered for.
Human snow pirates navigate Vital Suits (VS) through hostile ice-covered environments in Lost Planetâ„¢: Extreme Condition, fighting against the indigenous Akrid creatures for the precious thermal energy they need to survive. For one such pilot named Wayne, death almost seemed imminent until he was fortunately rescued.
However, he can only remember a few fragments of his past, including the slaying of his father by the monstrous beings. Yet under the veil of ice, a devious plan has been set into motion for the termination of all Akrid and snow pirates alike. What really happened to Wayne? Who is plotting the destructive scheme? Encounter valuable allies and dangerous enemies on Wayne’s search for the truth.
Crackdownâ„¢ pushes the action-driving hybrid genre into the next generation with the first ever truly 3-D playground. Enforce justice by any means necessary in Pacific City, a crime-ridden urban center primed to explode and ready for you to explore. Enter an interactive world where anything can be used as a weapon as you clean up the streets the only way you know how. Your way.
Developed by Scotland’s Real Time Worlds exclusively for Microsoft Game Studios and the Xbox 360™ console, Crackdown is the brainchild of Dave Jones, the creative genius behind many innovative game titles. Specially-marked packages of the game will get you a guaranteed spot into the Halo 3 beta this spring as well.
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
A year after its attempts to bring calm to the infighting in Mexico City, Ubisoft’s Ghosts are being deployed again in a rapid-fire sequel to 2006’s shooter hit Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter.
The game picks up the action from the end of the first game, with Mexico falling into ruin as the fight between warring Mexican factions spills over into the US. Don’t think you’re headed to New York though. The action is still largely confined to the barren terrain around the Mexico-United States border. You can expect to touch down in El Paso, Texas for a stint.
Guitar Hero II is the follow-up to 2005’s award-winning release, Guitar Hero, which rocked the game industry and garnered a stack of awards including: “Best Offline Multiplayer Game 2005†and “Music Game of the Year 2005†from IGN.com, “Best Soundtrack 2005†at the Spike TV Videogames Awards and five D.I.C.E. awards, including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming and Family Game of the Year. The Guitar Hero rhythm games have you rocking along with tunes on a guitar-like controller–think of it as Dance Dance Revolution for your fingers.
Armored Core®, the mech action game that defined the genre is back to take on next-generation platforms! Armored Core® 4 reinvigorates the brand by offering an all-new storyline, new environments, and online capability.
The 10th anniversary of this acclaimed franchise sees the leap to a next-generation platform, so prepare yourself for the ultimate in both gameplay and visual performance.
Assassin’s Creedâ„¢ is the next-generation game developed by Ubisoft Montreal that redefines the action genre. Assassin’s Creed merges technology, game design, theme, and emotions into a world where you instigate chaos and become a vulnerable, yet powerful, agent of change.
The setting is 1191 A.D. The Third Crusade is tearing the Holy Land apart. You, Altair, intend to stop the hostilities by suppressing both sides of the conflict.
You are an Assassin, a warrior shrouded in secrecy and feared for your ruthlessness. Your actions can throw your immediate environment into chaos, and your existence will shape events during this pivotal moment in history
Blending suspense, intense action, and the most responsive game environment ever created, Half-Life® 2 opens the door to a world where your presence affects everything around you.
In 1998 Valve Software released Half-Life, a groundbreaking experience that combined heart-pounding action with continuous, immersive storytelling. Valve’s debut title won more than 50 game-of-the-year awards on its way to being named “Best PC Game Ever†by PC Gamer.
In this eagerly anticipated sequel, once again pick up the crowbar of research scientist Gordon Freeman and rescue the world from the wrong you unleashed back at Black Mesa!
The next edition of NBA Street is set to ball in spring 2007. The game will continue the three-on-three gameplay familiar to the series, but not necessarily on the courts gamers are used to. So far, the game has been announced for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and an EA rep has confirmed that it will be on those platforms only.
“The power of the next-generation hardware gives us the horsepower to break new ground for consumers, making it the perfect stage for the next iteration of NBA Street,” said Wil Mozell, executive producer of the game.
FASA Studio, the creative minds behind MechWarrior and Crimson Skies®: High Road to Revenge™, are back with Shadowrun™, the new multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) based on the much beloved RPG franchise. Shadowrun propels team-based combat into a new dimension with a revolutionary blend of modern weaponry and ancient magic.
Up to 16 players battle for control of this new world through Windows Vista’s Xbox 360-to-Windows Vista online compatibility. In Shadowrun, vie for supremacy in a constantly evolving battlefield where advanced technology and ancient magic provide an unprecedented and high-velocity tactical action experience.
Battlestations: Midway is an immense action game that drops players into massive air, sea, and undersea battles from Pearl Harbor to Midway. Players command massive fleet attacks and take direct, real-time, control of every plane, battleship, and submarine in the battle. Battlestations: Midway blends intense 3rd-person action with epic, large-scale naval combat and brings to life the great Pacific battles of World War II. From the chaos of Pearl Harbor, through the Philippines, Java and the Coral Sea all the way to the epic Battle of Midway.
Famed game producer Hironobu Sakaguchi of Mistwalker and developer Artoon present the highly anticipated Xbox 360â„¢ exclusive Blue Dragon. Featuring the character design of Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball Z and music by Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon is an epic role-playing game that centers on a young boy named Shu and several of his friends.
These unlikely heroes possess the power to control phantom shadows that mirror the actions of their masters, giving Shu and his comrades miraculous strength and magical powers.
The warriors can create and develop their combat styles by utilizing different types of Shadow Change, including Sword, Assassin, and Power Magic. Shu and his friends must use the shadows as weapons and wield their skills to save their world from impending doom.
Encountering various people on a planet where numerous ancient ruins remain, the characters and their shadows travel through a world full of mysteries and illusions, where the slightest touch can cause reactions of unparalleled magnitude.
Lost Odyssey is a truly next-generation RPG created by acclaimed artists Takehiko Inoue (Japanese manga creator, made famous by Slam Dunk), Kiyoshi Shigematsu (a famous Japanese novelist) and Nobuo Uematsu (Japanese music composer, known for creating the music for the FINAL FANTASY series of games). The game is produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the original FINAL FANTASY series.
Lost Odyssey’s storyline takes the player through Kaim’s life, a man who has been sentenced to live for 1,000 years. He lives through multiple generations, becomes a part of many families, falls in and out of love and gets into conflicts. All this is set in a world that is on the verge of a mystical industrial revolution, where mankind has attained dark powers.
Starring Tobey McGuire and Kirsten Dunst as Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, respectively, Spider-Man 3 is Activision’s sequel to Spider-Man 2 and is exclusively based off of Sony Pictures’ film of the same name. Expect it in May of 2007.
Forza Motorsportâ„¢ 2, the sequel to Microsoft Game Studios’ award-winning, fully-customizable driving simulator Forza Motorsportâ„¢, speeds its way onto Xbox 360â„¢. Buckle up for authentic simulation physics, bone-jarring damage, and photo-realistic graphics, as well as licensed tuning and customization options.
Loaded with over 300 of the world’s hottest cars for you to collect, personalize, and race, Forza Motorsport 2 gives you the complete racing experience.
Based on the best-selling Top Cow comic book, The Darkness features a seamless and unique blend of modern crime drama and supernatural horror through first- and third-person, non-linear gameplay.
You are Jackie Estacado, a fearless Mafia hitman for the Franchetti crime family who is suddenly possessed by the terrifying and spectacular powers of The Darkness. Playing in single mode or in the online multiplayer environment, you must learn to control and harness The Darkness power in order to overthrow the vicious mob boss and fulfill your destiny.
The game starts with the player underwater following a plane crash in the ocean, surrounded by debris. No introductory cut scene is displayed explaining how this happened, leaving the player to decide for themselves why they were on the plane. Nearby, a lighthouse is sticking out of the water, in the middle of the ocean. Upon getting inside and traversing the internal stairwell, the player finds a bathysphere, with a corpse inside. Upon removing the corpse and descending in the bathysphere (having nowhere else to go), the player eventually reaches an underwater city on the ocean floor.
A plot unfolds involving the crumbling city, named Rapture, and the utopian society for which it was built. A man named Andrew Ryan, a former Soviet citizen, built the city in 1946, and the society was envisioned as the ultimate capitalistic and individualist paradise, with the elite achieving for themselves, rather than for the whole. Protected by a network of giant sea walls and consisting of a cluster of enormous skyscraper-shaped hive towers, Rapture was designed to be entirely self-supporting, with all of its electricity, food production, water purification and defense systems powered by the natural undersea currents of the ocean. At one point, it is learned that Rapture’s population numbered several thousand at its peak during the early 1960s, composed of those people Ryan viewed as the best examples of mankind. A large and tiered economy grew among the people, catering different quality products to different levels of the society. The city itself is inspired by Art Deco and has an appearance merging the futuristic and archaic.
A scientific discovery upset the balance of the society. Two scientists studying ocean-floor dwelling creatures discovered a species of sea slug that secretes pure stem cells. These could be used to enhance one’s body, improving physical or mental capabilities, curing diseases and healing injuries. A young entrepreneur named Fontaine invested early on in the research to gain control over the material. The substance, dubbed “Adam”, became so sought after in the society, that it became the dominant currency of the city. A “full-scale genetic arms race” broke out between Ryan and Fontaine as Fontaine’s monopoly on Adam threatened the current social structure. Ryan eventually won, but everyone in the city was permanently changed. During the war, it was discovered that Adam could be used to modify one’s body, combining technology and mutations to adapt and survive the conflict, but losing their humanity in the process. During the conflict, all natural sources of Adam were destroyed, which eventually resulted in a major shift in the “ecology” of the city, as all inhabitants had become biologically dependent on Adam to survive.
Mass Effect™ is a sci-fi action RPG created by BioWare, the commercially and critically acclaimed developer of Jade Empire™ and Star Wars®: Knights of the Old Republic™. Mass Effect delivers an immersive, story-driven experience coupled with awe-inspiring visuals, delivered exclusively to the Xbox 360™.
As one of the first human beings to step onto the galactic stage, you face a grave threat that may destroy all of civilization. Your job is complicated by the fact that no one believes that there is any threat at all. Travel across an expansive universe, exploring the uncharted corners of the galaxy, searching for pieces of the truth in order to discover how to defeat the coming destruction.
A sequel to the enchanting and engrossing RPG Fable. Not much is known about Fable 2, but there should be more information after the Game Developers Conference in March. Peter Molyneux, the man behind Fable and its upcoming sequel, Fable 2. Molyneux will be at the conference to perform a lecture entitled, “Innovations in Fable 2.” The lecture will discuss how elements from Fable have been changed and made better for Fable 2. Furthermore, Molyneux promises to reveal a new and “totally unexpected” feature in the game.
Aside from Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie represents Rare’s most popular original characters and harken back to an older time in videogames when 3D platformers were on the rise, thanks to Nintendo’s Super Mario 64.
Step into the world of Too Human, the epic action-game for Xbox 360™ from famed developer Silicon Knights®. As the Cybernetic God Baldur, you get thrust into the midst of an ongoing battle that threatens the existence of mankind.
An ancient machine presence has forced the God’s hand. In the first of a three part trilogy, Baldur is charged with defending mankind from an onslaught of monstrous war machines bent on eradication of human life.
Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars
Xbox 360 Exclusives - From online game modes like Capture the Flag and Siege to AI battles in Multiplayer to a user interface built from the ground up with the console gamer in mind, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars on Xbox 360 is the ultimate way to experience Command & Conquer on the console.
See the Enemy Before You Crush Them - Using Xbox 360’s revolutionary VisionCam technology you can now literally see the face of your opponent while you decimate him in Xbox Live battles. Plus, for the winner, the Spotlight cam gives you an unchallenged ten seconds of fame to let your enemy know exactly how you feel about your victory.
If you haven’t begun reading up on the massive RPG that is Two Worlds, then you’ll have plenty to keep you busy this holiday season thanks to the newly updated official website. Along with new media, the site offers an encyclopedia of knowledge on monsters, characters, local geography, and the races of beings that inhabit Antaloor.
Two Worlds is an RPG that will feel familiar to fans of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. It is due to release in 2007 for both Xbox 360 and PC. Look for more coverage of this game from IGN in the near future.
Developed by Free Radical, HAZE is an innovative FPS game based on new intellectual property. Free Radical contains members from the development team behind both Goldeneye and Perfect Dark.
“Burnout 5 is a complete reinvention of the series, built from the ground up for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360,†said Alex Ward, director of game design at Criterion Games. “To create truly next-generation gameplay, we needed to create a truly next-generation game, from top to bottom.â€Â
Burnout 5 also delivers the next level of speed and destruction, with brand new next-generation technology allowing gamers to literally rip their cars in half, in the most explosive pile-ups in the series’ history.
Burnout 5 will ship in 2007 under the EAâ„¢ brand and was developed by Criterion Games in Guildford, UK.
A flawed mercenary and a medicated psychopath forced together on a violent and chaotic path seeking redemption and revenge. No means are too harsh as the volatile partnership is pushed beyond reason in this brutally realistic, character-driven third person action shooter from IO Interactive, the creators of Hitman.
Huxley is a MMOFPS that uses Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3, AGEIA’s Novodex Physics API, WebZen’s networking technology to take gamers to a post-apocalyptic world inspired Aldous Huxley’s most enduring masterpiece: Brave New World. In Huxley, humans have mutated into two opposing races: Sapiens and Alternatives. There is another tribe called Hybrid, a half-breed of Spiens and Alternative. Hybrid opposes everyone but themselves. Species fight for control of the world and its resources.
There are several game modes: single-player story driven mission, various types of PvP missions, Al squad lead type missions, etc. Players can play different roles in up to 100 hundred simultaneous battles with 5,000 players per server. There are virtual online cities where you can socialize with others and decide which campaign you will play. The game also features a RPG element; characters are continuously growing. New skills, weapons and vehicles need new strategies.
Announced at E3 2006 by Peter Moore, along with a release date of October 16th, 2007, we have yet to see a single image of the new GTA. The Xbox 360 version will also have two exclusive downloadable epic episodes via Xbox Live. Each episode will include “hours of entirely new gameplay exclusively for Xbox 360.”
Look for more on this game in the spring/summer.
The epic saga continues with Halo® 3, the hugely anticipated third chapter in the highly successful and critically acclaimed Halo franchise. Master Chief returns to finish the fight, bringing the epic conflict between the Covenant, the Flood, and the entire human race to a dramatic, pulse-pounding climax.
Halo 3 represents the third chapter in the Halo trilogyâ€â€an international award-winning action series that grew into a global entertainment phenomenon, selling more than 14.5 million units worldwide, logging more than 650 million hours of multiplayer action on Xbox Live®, and spawning action figures, books, a graphic novel, apparel, an upcoming film adaptation, and more.
- Next-gen advantage: Taking full advantage of the power of Xbox 360â„¢, Halo 3 expands on everything that has made the Halo franchise great, adding a wealth of technical and gameplay advancements.
- Evolution of design: Next-generation high-definition visuals, enhanced A.I., an advanced real-time lighting engine, and new weapons, characters, and challenges are just a few examples of Halo 3’s evolution of design and technology.
- Unparalleled experience: Ultimately, these improvements provide gamers with an unparalleled experience and, in the end, tell an even more compelling and engrossing story.
- Online multiplayer: Working in concert with Xbox Live® on Xbox 360, Halo 3 builds upon the unique social multiplayer experience and innovative, evolving online gameplay of Halo® 2.
Halo 3 Links:
- Announcement Trailer
- Documentary on E32006 Announcement Trailer
- December 4th CGI Commercial
- Brute Video Documentary
- TheHalography.com
- Halo3.com
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Ciick to Digg this entry!
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What games are you going to get?
January 10th, 2007 at 10:45 am
This is going to be my most anticipated year in gamming. More AAA titles than I know what to do with. I don’t even know if careful budgeting will help me, that list is a great eye opener for what’s to come. Thanks for throwing it up there…07′ is going to dominate.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:48 am
It sure is. I wanted to spend a few hours making this post just for something to refer to for myself and others, to show them what the Xbox 360 has coming in just this next year. 2008 will already have games like Halo Wars, Resident Evil 5, and most likely, Silent Hill 5.
January 10th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Man I’m dropping a grand on games easy this year. Great selection!
January 10th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Definitely buying Guitar Hero and Halo 3. The others will likely become subject to a gameznflix rental. Good writeup as always.
January 10th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I’ll be listening to your blogcast tonight at work Matt, looking forward to hearing you guys talk about the self-awarded Emmy that Sony got.
January 10th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
It’s gonna be a great year indeed. Digg’d.
January 10th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
“What games are you going to get?”
As many as my wallet will allow. Dug’d.
January 10th, 2007 at 5:46 pm
Geez the 360 is gonna have alot of kickass games this year. Im gonna need a job.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Holy jesus! I knew 360 had a lot of great 360 titles, but I didn’t know this that there were this many.
Great post Cleric.
January 11th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Holy freakin’ crap. I just dropped $700 on textbooks for the semester, so that might cut into my entertainment spending a bit.
I think these book publishers have as bad of a racket going as certain other companies we discuss regularly. At least my credit card earns rewards for all this junk.
January 11th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Sweet merciful jeebus,
I knew this year was going to be good for the 360 but gorramn!!!! I think the question is what am I not going to be getting. Now the ones I will be in line for will be Halo 3, Guitar Hero, Fable 2, Half Life 2…aww heck just mostly all of them. But seriously I am curious about Blue Dragon and Shadowrun, I want to like Blue Dragon but I am hoping it wont be to “kiddie”. And I have known Shadowrun for a while and I dont understand why they are turning it into a FPS but we will see how that goes over. And i thought I heard a few post back that things arent looking well for Crackdown so far, so I will see what everyone has to say about it as well.
January 11th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Damn SH1SNO, I hope I don’t have to pay that much on Monday! That’s rediculous. Is that multiple books for each class or something? Are any used or are they forcing you into a new edition?
January 11th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
4 new, 1 used. 3 new editions. 1/class. All three EE books were over $100. Thank God for scholarships.
January 12th, 2007 at 11:39 am
Last year before my finical aid went through I went and priced my books and even with used for the bulk of them was still close to 900 bucks. Gawd!!!