2013 Game Releases

[M.Steiner]

Since some of next years releases are actually only a few months away now I figured I'd start a discussion thread for 2013 releases already.

There's still Hitman Absolution, Assassin's Creed 3 & Far Cry 3 releasing on PC in the next 3 weeks (4 for FC3) and probably the last episode of the Walking Dead series too in and amongst those but that'll be it for me this year. Not too long for some of the 2013 releases mind, Ni no Kuni for example is only 2 months away now. Speaking of which is anyone else here looking forward to this one or just me? (For anime fans or those who haven't been following its development, it has gorgeous art done by Studio Ghibli! )

For me (In order of most anticipated. Will be playing all titles on PC unless otherwise stated):
Watch Dogs [Edit: Scheduled for 2014 release]
BioShock Infinite
The Last of Us (PS3)
Grand Theft Auto V (PS3 for day 1 release. PC upgrade if/when released)
Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PS3)
SimCity
WildStar [Edit: Scheduled for 2014 release]
The Wolf Among Us
Driveclub (PS4) [Edit: Scheduled for 2014 release]
Company of Heroes 2
Metro: Last Light
South Park: The Stick of Truth [Edit: Scheduled for 2014 release]
Rocksmith 2014
Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs
Tomb Raider
Rayman Legends (Wii U)
Saints Row IV
Killzone: Shadow Fall (PS4)
Knack (PS4)
Survarium [Edit: Scheduled for 2014 Western release]
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Batman: Arkham Origins
Dead Island: Riptide
The Cave
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified
Command & Conquer [Edit: Cancelled]
Crysis 3
Dead Space 3
Resident Evil 6
Star Wars 1313 [Edit: Cancelled]
(+ all the kickstarter games I've backed which are slated for 2013 releases. I won't go listing those but they wouldn't all be at the bottom here.)

No known release year / wishful thinking for 2013 release:
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain & Ground Zeroes (PS3)
Half-Life 3
Thief 4 [Edit: Scheduled for 2014 release]
The Last Guardian (PS3)
Telltale's The Walking Dead Season 2
Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3) [Edit: Now FFXV and a PS4 title]
World of Darkness
Zwei [Edit: Now known as The Evil Within, Scheduled for 2014 release]
Lords of the Fallen [Edit: Scheduled for 2014 release]
Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots
Beyond Good & Evil 2

I'm not particularly excited for either Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Crysis 3, Dead Space 3 or Resident Evil 6 (only just arriving to PC) tbh but I've played all the others from those series so I'll get these too and give them a try. I'll give the new C&C a chance too if they're adding a SP campaign after launch and maybe SW1313. Perhaps some of these will surprise me.
Like Dishonored has been for me since it was first announced, Watch Dogs is my #1 contender for GOTY next year and the one I'm most excited for. That would be followed by BioShock Infinite, The Last of Us, GTAV etc I would say. - I have added a smaller list with MGS etc too which includes titles which may release in 2013 as well but aren't guranteed.
Also I haven't included Cyberpunk 2077 from CDPR at all as this will be 2014 onwards I would think. Whichever year that releases though it will be my #1 too most likely hehe.

2012 hasn't been too bad for gaming, infact, if Hitman/AC3/FC3 turn out as well as expected it will have been pretty great actually but for Dishonored alone I am thankful. 2013 on the other hand is already looking incredibly exciting and I'm sure next years E3 will be very interesting too!


Which games will you guys be playing next year?

[Anubis]

Already? I haven't even given thought to 2013 yet

I'll have a trawl around at the weekend and see if I can put together a list. The only thing I can remember right now is WatchDogs, which will be an immediate buy for me.

[M.Steiner]

Already?

Sure why not?
We were discussing some of the 2012 releases some 9-10 months before they were due to release in the other thread. Ni no Kuni is out in Jan, Bioshock Infinite in Feb, SimCity in March etc. We're in November now so some of those 2013 games are literally just a few months away now. Not far away at all

[SL33PY]

nubis is just afraid of his next birthday

[M.Steiner]

I can't be the only person of this, you know.. gaming community, who will be gaming next year and is looking forward to more than just 1 game. Here I was thinking this would be a suitable topic to spark some discussion and get more people joining in!. Maybe I'm in the wrong place? lol

C'mon then
Which titles will peeps be getting next year? Any I haven't got on my list which I may have overlooked and should be aware of?, like Dishonored was for people in the 2012 thread until I pointed it out?
Which games in particular do you think look the most promising for 2013 or are currently your GOTY contenders?

Just 8 weeks left of 2012 and 11 weeks until Ni no Kuni's release for me ^^

[Anubis]

Watch Dogs
The Last of Us
South Park The Stick of Truth

Those are the main three that interest me right now (with Watch Dogs being my main interest), but I can honestly say I haven't even given a thought to next year beyond those (and those only because they were so prominent at E3). So for now, that's all I can give you I'm afraid.

It's not that I don't want to contribute, it's just that I really haven't paid any attention to the upcoming just yet

[M.Steiner]

No worries, just trying to spark some conversation hehe


These may be of interest to you too mate:

- The Cave - The Double Fine game from Ron Gilbert.
- Beyond: Two Souls (PS3) - If you enjoy Heavy Rain as much as I did you'll be pumped for David Cage's next game.
- Ni no Kuni (PS3) - Know you're not currently following this one as I asked on IRC but since it's a JRPG and it's co-developed by one of the greatest anime studio's I'd say it's worth a look at some point. I'm most excited for it.


I could try and flog the new Bioshock to you or some of the others but knowing the stuff you usually like I think the 3 above are a safe bet pretty much!

[Chimera]

I'll probably check out Bioshock Infinite if only because it seems to be based around the Progressive Era and because I'm a sucker for early 20th century Americana.

[M.Steiner]

Some of you may have read it already but the latest issue of GameInformer was released yesterday which features lots of first time revealed details on GTAV.
You need a subscription to read it all so I won't post any scans or game screenshots from it here so we don't get in trouble but I think it'll be ok to bulletpoint some of the details revealed instead?

• The world of GTAV (exterior and interiors combined) is bigger than RDR, San Andreas & GTAIV combined, with room to spare.
• 3 main protagonists, each with their own personality, motivations, skillset and fully fleshed-out story arc.
• Switch between each of the characters at the press of a button. Camera pulls away like Google Earth and zooms back into the character you selected.
• Characters will go about their shit when you're not controlling them.
• Gameworld includes a fully detailed & explorable ocean floor & Mt. Chiliad.
• Some hobbies are unique to a specific character, some are available to all. One if these is a full-on golf coarse game
• More side missions and random encounters have returned
• The addition of dynamic missions like RDR has
• Many of the game mechanics have been revamped. Included the cars which apparently feel more like a racing game this time.
• Heists are a big theme in the game
• No dating

Lots more too ofc.
All sounds very, very cool and it has shot up in my expectations from reading the full article. If they pull some of this off GTAV will be an incredible game.
PS3 & 360 are the only platforms it has been announced for so far and will be interesting to see just how they've managed some of this on current gen consoles. I don't doubt that it will come to PC eventually too like GTAIV did but how long that will be after its main release is anyones guess. In which case I'll be doing what I did with L.A. Noire when there was no PC version of that in-sight. Will buy on PS3 day of release and then upgrade to the superior PC version when it comes out as this will be a day 1 buy for me. Unless a PC version gets announced shortly and is due to release just a few months after the console release like Assassin's Creed III's schedule. Then I'll wait for PC. I expect I'll be playing the PS3 version first though.

[Anubis]

Further and further away from the great Vice City towards ruin

[M.Steiner]

Moving away from ripping well known movies off and being a little more original you mean?. Surely this is a good thing
Joking aside, you may actually like this mate:

New trailer came out 45 mins ago.

Definitely getting an old-school fun GTA vibe from this (both gameplay scenes/missions and the characters), and stuff like the driving (which I know you had issues with) have been revamped from the ground up for GTAV so they're not going to handle the same as they did in IV.
Spring seems so far away!. Be nice if they release it on my birthday like they did GTA IV

[M.Steiner]

Calling all JRPG & Studio Ghibli anime fans:
Don't think I'll be trying this myself as I already have my copy pre-ordered and would rather wait to play the full game but for those of you who aren't entirely sold on the game yet and own a PS3 - Ni no Kuni is receiving a demo this week if you fancy giving it a try. What better way to find out and see heh? It will be available tomorrow for the US and Wed for the EU PSN to be exact.

This was one of the main exclusives I bought a PS3 for actually so I'm quite looking forward to it playing it even if it is on a crappy console. Whilst I am not too familiar with Level-5 I am a big fan of Ghibli's work. I mean, who doesn't like anime movies such as Laputa, Nausicaa, Grave of the Fireflies, Mononoke etc? Classics. So if any of you decide to give the demo a try I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts on it
Full game is due for release next month so not far away now

[Kon]

Lots of great games for what I assume will be the PS3's last year. I hope some of these make it to PC eventually.

I'm looking forward to Bioshock, and I am hoping that Rainbow Six can surprise me with a good game. I might take a look at South Park when the reviews hit.
No doubt most of my 2013 gaming will be spent playing the best of 2011 and 2012.

[M.Steiner]

Lots of great games for what I assume will be the PS3's last year. I hope some of these make it to PC eventually.

I seriously doubt it unfortunately (re: the latter).
- Naughty Dog are a Sony owned studio so there's no chance you'll see The Last of Us on any other system but Playstation, just like their Uncharted series.
- Sony are publishing Beyond: Two Souls so that won't come to PC or Xbox either. Same as Heavy Rain.
- Level-5 have never released games on the PC platform so I don't see that changing with Ni no Kuni.
- Team Ico are part of Sony too I believe so The Last Guardian will stay exclusive to PS3 just like Ico & Shadow of the Colossus have.
- Versus 13 heh. Putting the MMO's aside (11 & 14), which were the last games from the main Final Fantasy series to release on PC? FFVII & VIII over 10 years ago. Never gonna happen.
- Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. Quite similar to the above really. The demo they showed of this was running on a PS3 specced PC apparently but I don't see it releasing on any other platform but consoles.
- The GTA series started on PC and all of the main games from the franchise have released on this platform. GTAV will most likely see a PC release too but probably not until several months after the console version has been released. If that's the case I'll play it on PS3 first and then upgrade to a PC copy when it comes.


Can quote me if I'm wrong but GTAV is the only game from that list which will likely see a PC release. Only reason I bought a PS3 was so I could play stuff like Uncharted, MGS etc which I otherwise had to miss out on. - Everything else from my first post will be on PC thankfully.
We are sure to get some next-gen announcements at next years E3 too which will be welcoming news. We're at the end of a console cycle now so all they're managing to do atm is hold the PC back from what its capable of because of their shitty out-dated specs. Bout time we saw something new

[M.Steiner]

Going to post this here as release info is unknown at this time. Website has PS3/360 logos so mebbe we'll see it before next-gen stuff?

MGSV baby!
<censored> yeah!

[Anubis]

Looks somewhat more interesting than the other MGS games have for me!

This looks better though

[M.Steiner]

As great as it may be I just can't imagine a South Park game getting called one of the greatest games of all time in some years to come, like some of the Metal Gear games have and still do lol
It does look fantastic though and a lot of fun. It's a good thing that Trey & Matt are not only overseeing the development of it with Obsidian and doing the voice-overs as you'd expect but doing the writing for the game too. With their imput it should turn out very well and true to what you'd expect from watching their show. Would have turned out very different otherwise but from the bits we've seen they all look to be doing a great job

[M.Steiner]

2013 is gonna be so damn good for gaming even if some of these titles will only be playable on consoles

Naughty Dog ftw!
Can't wait, the week after my birthday too.

[Anubis]

Ah yes, dated at last. That one is one I'm *really* looking forward to

[SL33PY]

What worries me with 'the last of us' is that the girl protagonist was supposed to be a teen (about 17yo). They then changed her into the little girl (age 12 abouts). In the parts of gameplay shown they switched the bodies of the protagonist to reflect the age, unfortunately they didn't update the conversations, and I'm afraid they won't change any of her lines.

It broke the whole experience for me, because the language usage was not fitting for the protagonist anymore, the illusion that was created by the game was broken.

That's why I notched down my expectations for this game downwards. I really hope they polish those things out, but I'm afraid they wont.

[M.Steiner]

What worries me with 'the last of us' is that the girl protagonist was supposed to be a teen (about 17yo). They then changed her into the little girl (age 12 abouts). In the parts of gameplay shown they switched the bodies of the protagonist to reflect the age, unfortunately they didn't update the conversations, and I'm afraid they won't change any of her lines.

It broke the whole experience for me, because the language usage was not fitting for the protagonist anymore, the illusion that was created by the game was broken.

That's why I notched down my expectations for this game downwards. I really hope they polish those things out, but I'm afraid they wont.

Actually, whilst the new version of her is a a bit younger the reason they redesigned Ellie was so she closer resembled her voice actress' appearance and personality. I think this is a good move as her voice, lines & personality will fit her character much better than it did before. If they think the younger look fits the story better too I'm sure they've made the right choice. Afterall we've seen very little of it so far.

“With Ellie, I know she’s 14 but because this is the only world she’s ever known. Every day, you have to survive. It’s not like she thinks, “Oh, I wake up, what am I going to have for breakfast or who am I going to hang out with today?’

“She’s not a normal 14-year-old girl. When I first got the audition and saw the scenes, I could tell she was wise beyond her years and not your average teen. I didn’t think the whole time we were shooting it, ‘I’m 14, I’m 14′. I honestly haven’t been thinking about age.

Plus the original model looked way too similar to Ellen Page anyway. Keeping her appearance like that would have just been weird when the real Page is playing the main character of Beyond: Two Souls.
I trust em anyway. Uncharted 2 is one of my favourite games of recent years and The Last of Us continues to look amazing with each bit of footage we're shown



Also since nobody else seems to have shown much interest in trying the demo of Ni no Kuni anytime soon I decided to try it myself rather than wait for impressions.
For starters I'm going to leave any judging of the story until I play the full game as demos of RPGs are not really a good mix where this is concerned. I will comment further on this next month when it releases though ofc.

The game is beautifully presented though. The art is gorgeous as I was expecting from the likes of Studio Ghibli but the Ghibli links don't end there, Joe Hisaishi is doing the music for the game as well - Anime watchers here should be very familiar with this guys work (shame on you if not!). He composed the soundtracks for classics such as Princess Mononoke, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind & Castle in the Sky just to name a few. Yeah, pretty awesome ^^

Combat is turn-based but you get to move around the battle area rather than being glued to the spot. This can help for dodging some attacks and positioning yourself behind the enemy to attack from behind for example. HP/MP, provisions which are your HP/MP potions basically. All that stuff. The demo has a couple of boss battles to try out too.
World map like the old days of FF! (and random encounters)
The Japanese audio is selectable in the demo too which I was glad to see. Have said before but this will be available in the full release too which is great as it's quite often just the english dub we get.

Really pleased from the demo though so I'm definitely keeping my pre-order. If the story holds up it'll be like playing an interactive Ghibli movie
Hopefully some more of you will be playing it next month too as I'm quite surprised to see I'm the only one who has posted about it tbh. Give the demo a try though since it'll give you a short, free taster of what to expect. This is the next game to release for me (25th Jan)

[Kon]

Actually, whilst the new version of her is a a bit younger the reason they redesigned Ellie was so she closer resembled her voice actress' appearance and personality. I think this is a good move as her voice, lines & personality will fit her character much better than it did before.

Bullshit. The voice actress is 30 years old and looks like this:

Plus the original model looked way too similar to Ellen Page anyway. Keeping her appearance like that would have just been weird when the real Page is playing the main character of Beyond: Two Souls.

Yeah, here's your real reason. They didn't want to get sued into oblivion. Please don't regurgitate the press release again.

[M.Steiner]

I've been following the game since it was first announced this time last year. I know what her voice actress looks like without you posting pictures.
I'm sure the redesign wasn't just a coincidence when Page was announced to be staring in Beyond either (I never said otherwise) but the new look Ellie has a closer likeness to Ashley now than she did before even if the character she is voicing and doing the motion capture for is meant to be 14. Not the spitting image of her, no. That wouldn't work.
If you think what they've said is all bullshit then fair enough, call them on it not me. I'd say it was likely a bit of the two and that both played a part in the redesigning (probably triggered by EP staring in Beyond) but this is just my opinion as that is yours

Also she is 29 not 30. I can google too

[M.Steiner]

3 more weeks!

[SL33PY]

Watchdogs... nr 1!
sim city is on my list

gta V if pc it's on the top if not... i'll buy it for ps3

as for rainbow six... A certain Ulrich Haar is working on it.. for those that don't remember or recognize the name, he's a former colleague of mine from reakktor media
So I hope the game will do very good, alas it is not my cup of tea.

and for all the other titles, it will depend on how psyched I am about the title, else I'll buy on heavy discount in the future.

I still have a lot of great games to play that were released in 2012 or even 2011, next to that I dump a lot of free time in EVE and since short CS:GO because a bunch of old classmates want to lan again and I want to be ready for them