I thought this week I’d talk about upcoming games because New Era Games Day on Tuesday got me excited over many titles.

New Era, as we all know, is a large distributer of games (and other software) in the region. Very large.

There are babes also. Navigate to them through the table of contents, which I’m sure nobody ever uses because you all love GGF and read every word from top to bottom.

Right??

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Table of Contents

1. Scribblenauts
2. F1 2009
3. Risen
4. CSI: Deadly Intent
5. Tropico 3
6. DJ Hero
7. Assassin’s Creed II
8. Tony Hawk: Ride
9. New Era babes (and hunk)
10. Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger

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Scribblenauts

Platform: DS
Developer: 5th Cell
Publisher: Warner Bros
Genre: Puzzle, Action
Release Date: Sep 15, 2009

Every once in a while, a game comes along and redefines the way we play videogames. I think Scribblenauts is one such.

The gist of it is that you have obstacles between you and your goal, so you type out any number of items you think could help you, and the game gives the items to you. As the tagline says, you can “Write Anything. Solve Everything”.

If you don’t watch any more videos for the rest of the year, you must watch this demo.

A shotgun-wielding, skateboard-riding God! Anything is possible, apparently.

It wonder what the game will do if you can’t spell.

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F1 2009

Platform: PS3, PSP, Wii
Developer: Sumo Digital
Publisher: Codemasters
Genre: Racing
Release Date: Sep 25, 2009

I’m not really into racing games but since Singapore is hosting F1, the game becomes kinda special, I guess. You’ll get to see the Singapore skyline in the Marina Bay Street Circuit.

Other than that, I don’t really have anything else to say about it.

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Risen

Platform: Xbox 360, PC
Developer: Piranha Bytes
Publisher: Deep Silver
Genre: Action RPG
Release Date: Oct 2, 2009

I’m interested in this game because there’s mystery, ancient temples and tough choices. You’re shipwrecked on a mysterious medieval island which you realise you can’t escape from because the ruling Inquisition forbids anyone from leaving. Spooky.

Risen has been in the news for quite a bit. For one, some famous names have been roped in to provide voiceovers, the most notable being Andy Serkis (Gollum in Lord of the Rings) and John Rhys Davies (Indiana Jones).

For another, the game has been banned in Australia for “sexual activity and drug use related to incentives or rewards”.

The graphics looks pretty good, too.

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CSI: Deadly Intent

Platform: Xbox 360, PC, Wii, DS
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: Oct 13, 2009 (Xbox 360, PC) Oct 20 (Wii, DS)

I’ve never played any CSI games, nor have I watched a single episode of CSI. But I’m very interested in them. I just never had the time to watch or play them.

This installment of the game features the cast of CSI Season 9 and allows you to play detective, finding and analysing evidence.

The DS version (titled CSI: Deadly Intent – The Hidden Cases), will include additional cases that makes interesting use of the touch capabilities of the handheld.

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Tropico 3

Platform: Xbox 360, PC
Developer: Haemimont Games
Publisher: Kalypso Media
Genre: Simulation
Release Date: Sep 24 (PC) Oct 16 (Xbox 360)

I was bored to death watching the teaser video for this game because it just featured an endless montage of cartoon people enjoying idyllic holiday destinations.

But I think I might still give the game a chance because, after all, Tropico 1 and 2 were pretty successful and the gameplay is really more interesting than simply watching families play ball at the beach.

It’s basically a simulation game where you play a dictator of a sunshine island, building the city for your people’s enjoyment. There is also humour in the game, which is always nice!

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DJ Hero

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii
Developer: FreeStyleGames
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Music
Release Date: Oct 27

I was really, really, really excited about DJ Hero. And then I saw the video and I became really, really, really fearful.

It’s look really hard! I suppose, with practice, anyone could get into it (Easy Mode, at the very least), but it still looks a lot harder than any other music games I’ve seen (and I play a lot of them).

Here’s the video. The producer of DJ Hero (Will Townsend) demos the game on Easy, Medium and Hard modes.

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Assassin’s Creed II

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, iPhone
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Action Adventure
Release Date: Nov 17

Following the wild success of the first Assassin’s Creed based on Knights Templar legends, this sequel has as its central character another ancestor of the captured bartender, Desmond Miles. The new character is Ezio, who is a descendant of the previous character, Altair.

Of course, this won’t make sense to you unless you’ve played the first game, which I recommend you start with because it’s a great game with a great storyline.

AC2 features an open world with nonlinear gameplay, as well as the added ability to drive small boats and drown city guards. Your character will even meet Leonardo da Vinci and get the chance to ride in his flying machine.

Nice!

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Tony Hawk: Ride

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii
Developer: Robomodo / Buzz Monkey
Publisher: Activision
Genre: Extreme Sports
Release Date: Nov 17

I don’t play sports games but I thought I’d mention this one because it comes with an interesting controller — an actual skateboard!

Okay, it’s not a real skateboard. It’s just a thing that looks like a skateboard with has infrared sensors that detect your movement on it. You can apparently turn, leap and hop on it.

With the way things are developing in the gaming world, we’re all going to find ourselves listing the top priority in house shopping as “having a very large living room”.

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New Era babes (and hunk)

Once every quarter, the media is invited to New Era Games Day to check out upcoming game titles. Invariably, there will be four cosplayers, each dressed in a costume representative of one game.

It’s kinda cool!

(Left to right)
Cosplayer: Michael, Jasmin, Chloe, Kit

Can you guess what upcoming game each player represents? That’s kinda part of the fun, isn’t it?

Okay, here are a bunch of photos. I’ll tell you the answer at the end.

Michael has a dagger hidden on the underside of his forearm. I like!

Okay, that’s all!

And the answer…

(Left to right)
Assassin’s Creed II, Modern Warfare 2, Football Manager 2010, Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes

How many did you get right?

Oh, here’s one last photo with one additional cosplayer…

… cosplaying Sheylara!

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Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger

This RTS-FPS hybrid has received really bad reviews on multiple gaming websites. In fact, it’s really hard to find a good review, so I’m going to give you one, here.

Seriously.

I made the Goonfather review this game for me because it’s his kind of game and, surprisingly, he loved it. So, here’s what he said:

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My first impression of the game was good because the screenshots reminded me of one of my favorite games, Frontlines: Fuel of War. Then, I read that it was a combination of FPS and RTS and my enthusiasm dropped. I have never liked RTS.

By the way, It took me some time to understand how to work the controls because I skipped the tutorial. Tip: Don’t skip the tutorial mission.

Raven Squad allows you to switch between FPS and RTS modes at any time. Understandably, I played through the missions in FPS mode more than 70% of the time. I didn’t enjoy RTS mode until I realised at later missions that it’s useful in getting your squads strategically positioned, especially when you’re controlling more than one squad.

Also, you get a bird’s-eye view of your objective and enemy positions, which makes you start to appreciate the mode.

Achievements (on Xbox 360) are easily attained in this game. Every mission completed gives you one achievement, at least. Helps to keep achievement whores motivated.

I was enjoying Wolfenstein before playing this and was always disappointed at how completing missions didn’t give me any achievements.

Ok, no more time for stupid reviews. Go get a copy and try the game.

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*groan*

I think he likes the game primarily for the ease of earning achievement points.

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

For me, when I tried the game, I actually played through most of it in RTS mode because I really don’t like FPS. I find it a bore sneaking behind conveniently-placed barrels and aiming the stupid crosshair at enemies while at the same time trying to avoid getting shot at.

RTS is so simple. Just click on the enemy and your people will do the boring stuff of aiming and firing.

In any case, I did find Raven Squad pretty fun in the few missions I played of it.

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By the way, if you like racing games, Forza Motorsport 3 is coming! I’ve uploaded some new videos which look really, really sweet. Watch them here!

Next week, I have a problem on my hands.

Games Convention Asia will be happening and I will be there to cover an event, which means I’ll have something to share on GGF next week.

But since I’m going to be busy being there, where am I going to find time to write GGF?

I need some clones!