Last weekend, the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East, the largest video game convention on the East Coast, took place in Boston. Publishing and developing giants such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo announced many new and interesting upcoming projects at the Expo. After sifting through dozens of announcements, here are some trends and games that video game enthusiasts should watch out for in the coming year.

Sony goes wireless
Sony introduced a playable demo of its new add-on for the PlayStation platform, the Move. The Move operates like a superior form of Nintendo’s Wiimote for the Wii gaming system. The Move uses a camera to track the movement of the player’s body while simultaneously tracking the motion of the gaming wand. Unfortunately, Sony only showed ‘Wii Sports’ knockoff games at PAX, though it should be noted that Sony’s efforts looked like a vast improvement to the Wii wireless technology. Sony officials plan to get mainstream games to work with this new technology to compete against the Wii. The Move will be hitting stores this fall.

Downloading …
Many video game publishers offered cheap downloadable games, a clear trend at PAX. Upcoming games like ‘Shank,’ ‘Joe Danger’ and ‘Comic Zone’ will be released later this year exclusively for online downloading through the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live platforms. These games don’t have the same budget as games like ‘Modern Warfare 2,’ or the latest ‘Madden’ release. Instead of spending a massive budget on developing these games, design teams chose to build them on smaller budgets, allowing enjoyable, bite-sized gaming.
Sony and Microsoft plan to release ‘Joe Danger’ for the PlayStation Network, ‘Comic Zone’ for Xbox Live Arcade and ‘Shank’ for both platforms by the end of year.

Games to look out for this fall
‘Crackdown 2’: ‘Crackdown 2’ will hopefully live up to the promises made by the original, as 2007’s ‘Crackdown’ felt more like a cartoon version of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ than an intense third-person shooter game. A new development team behind the sequel makes everything about the game already feels better. With six high-profile, open-world games to be released, this game should stand strong when compared with other contenders in the genre. Be sure to keep an eye on ‘Crackdown 2,’ as it could end up surprising a few gamers.

‘ModNation Racers’: This new game combines ‘Mario Kart’ and user-created content. Over the course of 10 minutes, a player can create his or her own character from scratch, design a track and start racing. If the player doesn’t like the final product, he or she can edit it. The character-creation process allows for large amounts of user freedom, which means racer likeliness can range from the players themselves to their favorite superheroes. The track editor’s simplicity also makes the game easy to use. Look for ‘ModNation Racers’ to be released late this fall.

‘Alpha Protocol’: One part ‘Mass Effect,’ one part ‘Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’ and one part ‘James Bond’ create ‘Alpha Protocol.’ It takes the best aspects of each to create a terrific new game. A role-playing game with tons of shooting, ‘Alpha Protocol’ could be a perfect entry point into a new genre for fans of the ‘Modern Warfare’ franchise. Missions can be played in different ways, each one emulating one of the game’s different action characters. From Jack Bauer to John McClane and James Bond, every action in this game makes players feel like they are inside the game. Overall, ‘Alpha Protocol’ feels like a strong game and will be a thrill to play later this year.

vhemsley@syr.edu

 

Published on March 30, 2010 at 12:00 pm