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Ah January, you fickle mistress. You bring us optimism for the New Year and dump lousy movies on us. You remind us of tax time, raise our spirits with resolutions soon to fail, and bring us another step closer to Duke Nukem Forever. Anyway, here are the games the staff at Game Couch are eagerly awaiting.
Amanda
Spore (PC) — because of the ultimate engrossing sandbox/worldbuilding it promises.
The Sims 2: Seasons expansion pack (PC) — because I am addicted and will buy anything with the word “Sims” on it.
BioShock (360) — because it looks like it doesn’t skimp in any area (solid characters, good voice actors, unusual setting, great animation). Here’s hoping it doesn’t have some embarrassing tragic flaw.
Oblivion: Shivering Isles (PC) — Pretty please? I held off on completing the main quest for as long as I could. Doing Fighter’s Guild quests and playing with the Knights of the Nine EP are only going to tide me over for so long.
Aramis
WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii) — I love the ADD style gameplay and the “Bwah?” factor of all the Warioware titles. The Wii will make this a must for every drunken party.
Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice for All (DS)
I’m still not through the original (curse you Cooking Mama!) but a compelling plot and fun logic/detective minigames have got me anxious for the next installment.
Spore (PC)
C’mon man, it’s freaking Spore! Who hasn’t wanted to make a universe in the own image, just to see how fucked up that would be?
World Of Warcraft Expansion: Burning Crusade (PC) / The Sims 2: Seasons (PC)
The last two titles on my list are games that defeat me every time. I’ve yet to enjoy an MMORPG or Sims title for any extended amount of time. They’re always really fun for a while and then I get bored because they’re just too open ended. My brain shuts down from the sheer number of options and “limitless” play and replayability. And yet I hunger for and continue to buy them… *sigh*
Anthony
Unreal Tournament 2007 (Mac) — Based on Unreal Engine 3 –also used by Gears of War– UT2007 should be amazing. The new visuals and physics look very interesting and hopefully there will be a Deathball mod right around the corner.
Jamie
Pokemon Diamond & Pearl (DS) — Given that I’ve bought too many of these games to quit now, It’d be interesting to see how the DS screen is used for these games.
SimCity DS (DS) — This is a perfect example of a killer app. With a touchscreen, building towns will likely be way easier than with a keyboard and mouse. And I’d like to see that green-haired goof come back from the Super Nintendo.
WarioWare Smooth Moves (Wii) — I’ve been a longtime fan of this series, and with the Wiimote, it can only get better.
Pat Sajak’s Lucky Letters (Online) — Any game involving Pat Sajak has to be hilarious, or hilariously bad.
Sonic & The Secret Rings (Wii) — I think Sega is going for more of a classic feel with this game, but in 3D. Which would be good, as Sega has kinda ruined these games with the whole “human interaction” thing.
Steve
Rogue Galaxy (PS2) — I honestly don’t know too much about the game except it deals with pirates. In space. And it’s made by Level 5, who made the Dark Cloud games, as well as worked on Dragon Quest 8 (which I sadly have not yet played). I haven’t played an RPG on my PS2 in a long time; this game may be a good reason to play one again.
WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii) — This one comes out in a few weeks, and it looks like it’ll be amazing. I think it’ll be another great game that takes advantage of the Wii remote controller.
Metroid Prime 3 (Wii) — I have no idea when this is coming out, but I loved the first Metroid Prime. I still need to play through the second one, and I’ll probably have enough time to do so before this one gets released. Even though I am sure I’ll prefer to lock onto enemies rather than solely rely on free-aiming with the Wii remote, I’ll welcome the new control style. I hope I find it as immersive as the first game – it was one of the few games in recent years I’ve played through twice and did everything that could be done.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC) — Blizzard hooked me with WoW when I first played a closed beta of the game over 2 years ago. I’d never played an MMO before and scoffed at the idea of paying a subscription fee to play a game. I took a few breaks from the game between the original launch day and now, but the fact is that I kept coming back to Azeroth. The Burning Crusade will likely breathe new life into the game for me. I look forward to creating both Blood Elf and Draenei characters and exploring their new zones. I’m sure I’ll also revisit a few of my old characters to explore Outland.
Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC) — This is more hope than anything. The last Command & Conquer game I played all the way through was the original back in 1995. Since it was one of the first real-time strategy games, it blew me away (“It’s like Dune 2, but *better*!”) and the cutscenes were often hilarious (especially with Kane). Since Command & Conquer 3 focuses on the same timeline as the original game and Tiberian Sun, there is a good chance the story and cutscenes will at least be good. Hopefully the rest of the game is impressive.
Terry
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (PC) — okay the title’s unwieldy, it’s long in development, and rumors say that it has been scaled back, but the idea of scavenging in Chernobyl’s post-apocalyptic setting while fighting mutants rocks.
BioShock (360) — System Shock‘s spiritual descendant has a fantastic underwater setting and art deco designs. The trailer promises messy, creepy fun. Damn, is too early to preorder this?
Anchorhead: Special Edition (PC) — the original Anchorhead brought me back to interactive fiction. I can’t wait to see what Gentry’s I7 powered nightmare brings.
They Hunger: Lost Souls (PC) — the “They Hunger” mods for Half-Life were pure zombie goodness. On January 4, Black Widow announced that a Source-powered stand alone is in its “final stages”–although in Oct 2006 they said that it was “very close to release” and in October 2005 they were 75% done. Regardless, this is worth waiting for.
Something — that’s right, I just want to see something about LucasArts’ rumored Vader game (other than concept art and a tech demo) and Bethesda‘s take on Fallout 3.