This years one big game

[fish]

Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

It's a Zelda game, and it has fucking trains in it! Come on!

[Mr Do 71]

I have very high hopes for Halo ODST - some one at bungie has had some kind of epiphany and realised Halo 1 was actually a fucking fnatastic template and all the bollocks dropping off the franchise since the second need the rubber band treatment pronto.

Basically, Halo ODST looks like being the Halo 2 single player experience I and many others always wanted. And if it is, its game of the fucking decade.

wOOt!

[Stanley]

It's a stand alone game, but it's kind of a side story to Halo 3 I think.

But in order to play the new multiplayer maps that (apparently) come with it, will you need Halo 3, or is the multiplayer accessible to anyone who buys ODST?

[Mr Do 71]

It's a stand alone game, but it's kind of a side story to Halo 3 I think.

The game is set during the events of Halo 2 in the fictional city of New Mombasa.

[MK-1601]

Yeah, so it's £180 for the console + another £130 for Beatles Rock Band.

Huh? I meant 180 for Wii Sports. I wasn't being entirely serious, but that *is* the only way to get Wii Sports.

Presumably Beatles Rock Band is coming out on every electronic device with a screen, so you don't really have to factor in the cost of the console on top of the game, surely?

[Stanley]

What I meant was that you could figure in the cost of the console for any game but Rock Band is still above what I'd imagine most people are willing to pay for a game. You're right though it's coming out on the PSP isn't it, so it will no doubt appear on DS, ipod/phone too which will provide a more affordable way of playing it, if not exactly the experience the full peripheral versions offer.

[CrispinG]

Obscure? It was simultaneously at number one in the 360, PS3 and PC game charts.

There was a lot wrong with my argument but what you said was just daft.

I'm going to let you in on a retail secret: the ranking of the charts is paid for by publishers.

[dr_lha]

What I meant was that you could figure in the cost of the console for any game but Rock Band is still above what I'd imagine most people are willing to pay for a game. You're right though it's coming out on the PSP isn't it, so it will no doubt appear on DS, ipod/phone too which will provide a more affordable way of playing it, if not exactly the experience the full peripheral versions offer.

For those of us with the Rock Band instruments already, Beatles:Rock Band will be a regular purchase price, unless the new instruments add significant value. That said, I don't think the price of Rock Band (or Guitar Hero:WT) are too much, sales show that. Sure they may have fucked up Rock Band in Europe, but they recently announced they'd sold $1billion of Rock Band in the US alone, which is an incredible amount of money.

FYI: Beatles:Rock Band is currently my most anticipated game coming this year.

[choddo]

I'm not allowing that as any evidence of sales and nor should you. In an industry of artificial shortages I wouldn't even consider that as a measure of sales.

They both sold amazing numbers from what I can gather but I think numbers sold means fuck all. Look at Halo 2 - it sold amazing numbers but is looked back by most as a lot of shite. BIG game? In terms of numbers sold at the time, yes. In terms of doing anything wider than that, no. It was shite and should be forgotten about.

BIG? Big load of steaming cack.

GTA4 made ten times the splash that Fallout3 made. There can be no debate.

Also: cottem is wrong about COD4. Best shooter for years.

[moosegrinder]

Is Astilius drunked?

[ontwofronts]

Beatles Rockband has cross over potential like no game before it. It'll sell to those with instruments, those without even those without consoles. A Wii plus the Beatles band pack won't be much more than the cost of a PS3 on it's own. the cost is not insurmountable.

I think it'll sell by the bucketload and will get so much coverage in the mainstream media.

[Stanley]

Also: cottem is wrong about COD4. Best shooter for years.

It's certainly the BIGGEST, no doubt about that.

[moosegrinder]

Yeah, if EA decide to release the game and instruments together, or even on all the consoles at the same time MASSIVE FUCKING LOL WINKY. Fucking idiots, EA are. They handed the rhythm action market to Activision on a silver platter last Christmas.

[dr_lha]

Yeah, if EA decide to release the game and instruments together, or even on all the consoles at the same time MASSIVE FUCKING LOL WINKY. Fucking idiots, EA are. They handed the rhythm action market to Activision on a silver platter last Christmas.

Well so far the story is worldwide release, all platforms, on the same day. We'll see if they live up to that bargain. For now, lets just say I'm happy to be in the US.

[moosegrinder]

I saw this morning you can buy a second pedal that comes with a splitter so you can do double kick on Rock Band. Where the fuck is it over here? Gnnnnnnnnnn.

[Stanley]

Beatles Rockband has cross over potential like no game before it.

Nah. Gaming has grown and grown since New Nintendo, and Rock Band just isn't going to appeal their expanded audience. It will be popular but these games always have been, ever since Singstar. I don't think The Beatles alone have the pulling power that will take it into the stratosphere. Now Rock Band: Abba, that'd be a different story.

[dr_lha]

Nah. Gaming has grown and grown since New Nintendo, and Rock Band just isn't going to appeal their expanded audience. It will be popular but these games always have been, ever since Singstar. I don't think The Beatles alone have the pulling power that will take it into the stratosphere. Now Rock Band: Abba, that'd be a different story.

I think you underestimate the popularity of The Beatles, especially in the USA where they are still massive, get daily radio play on mainstream stations and have a big Vegas show keeping up the profile. I see people walking around in Beatles T-shirts here all the time.

FYI I picked up a copy of Singstar:Abba in the bargain bin of Target yesterday, with three price reductions stickers on it before I picked it up.

[chris on the moon]

Also: cottem is wrong about COD4. Best shooter for years.

I disagree!

astilius, did you ever play oblivion? fallout3 isn't really an achievement because it is basically oblivion. with nuclears.

[Majora]

I dunno why I'm still arguing this but the way I look at it, the type of game the OP is talking about has to have done more than sold a couple of million amongst core gamers and won some game of the year awards. It's a game that resonates with the wider public, gets loads of media hype and sells some of the biggest numbers of the generation. That's why I think GTA4 was the biggest game last year. That's why there's no way Fallout 3 was the biggest game of last year. It was a great game but mainly cared about by the type of people who post on boards like this. Its sales are decent but nothing special. GTA4 may have been disappointing but it was an event and resonated far beyond forum dwellers. That said, Wii Fit probably tops both of them in both sales and public consciousness. And it's still selling now.

[Stanley]

I think you underestimate the popularity of The Beatles, especially in the USA where they are still massive, get daily radio play on mainstream stations and have a big Vegas show keeping up the profile. I see people walking around in Beatles T-shirts here all the time.

Dude, I'm from Liverpool

[ontwofronts]

I don't think The Beatles alone have the pulling power that will take it into the stratosphere. Now Rock Band: Abba, that'd be a different story.

Beatles > Abba is just about every way measurable and by a huge difference. They are in their own league.

[ontwofronts]

Dude, I'm from Liverpool

And you think Abba are bigger than the Beatles

[Venice Cull]

Interesting one that, I was discussing with a chummy whether or not the Beatles were actually relevant to the current 16 - 25 year old music buying generation. The Beatles seem to come and go out of fashion, and I think they're in one of their 'dips' at the moment.

Abba, whilst very relevant at the moment, aren't really ideally suited for a 'band' game, beyond the obvious Karaoke genre.

[Soi]

But in order to play the new multiplayer maps that (apparently) come with it, will you need Halo 3, or is the multiplayer accessible to anyone who buys ODST?

From http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?ty...s&cid=17195

Halo 3: ODST

Just some minor housekeeping this week. We wanted to address an oft-asked, but pertinent question about the Halo 3 Multiplayer content that will ship with Halo 3: ODST this Fall. All twenty-four Halo 3 Multiplayer maps will be in the box. All shipping maps: The Heroic Map Pack, The Legendary Map Pack, Cold Storage, The Mythic Map Pack, and three brand new exclusive maps are included.

ODST will come packaged with Halo 3's multiplayer. So you can play H3 online either via the H3 disk or the ODST disc. I seriously doubt the three "brand new exclusive maps" (which have achievements mentioned in H3 right now) will stay exclusive to the ODST disc.

Basically, ODST looks like it will be new single player content on a new disc, with H3's multiplayer on the same disc.

H3's multiplayer is still very popular (there was a US tournament last weekend that had a couple of hundred teams of 4 entering and prize money of $20,000 to the top team -with the streaming webcast of the matches attracting about a million viewers). Releasing a new game would only dilute the audience (see the various iterations of CoD for this), and Bungie keep releasing new maps to keep it fresh.

[Stanley]

And you think Abba are bigger than the Beatles

I think they're more popular across a broader spectrum, yeah. You can thank Mama Mia of course for much of their current popularity. But yes, Abba is more about the singing than The Beatles, who are a 'proper' band.

edit. Thanks for that, Soi. Very helpful.

[BeeJay]

It really seems as though this year is wide open for the taking. Nothing is really getting people going at the moment.

I guess Resi 5 should have been the game of 2009.

That's the one everyone would have said 6 months ago.

I really can't think of anything which is obviously going to be the big game apart from FFXIII and that's not coming here this year.

Maybe the question should be:

Which game will get the biggest rllmuk thread in 2009?

I'm not sure I'd even be able to get anything in the top 5.

Can we do a database search to look for the biggest threads in discussion in 2008?

GTA4

little big planet

MGS4

Fifa?

gears 2?

[Roboplegic Wrongcock]

MW2 will the biggest game of the year that or the new Wii sports.

[Disgraced Toblerone]

The new wii sports. It seems so obvious to me, I don't get how anyone could think otherwise.

Edit : serves me right for not reading the first post properly. Apologies.

[footle]

Wii Sports Resort - but I seem to remember very few people being interested in it on here at Christmas during the things about 2009 thread.

Killzone 2 was the first contender, Resi the second.

[NecroMorrius]

Yeah, I played Oblivion. It was broken. It hated me and bucked me off.

I tried to love it but it was an abusive partner. I have a court order out against it now and it's not allowed within 150 yards of me and Fallout 3.

Fallout 3 might be the same engine and all that but it's a bazillion times better, a quadrillion times more immersive and realistic and at least three times browner.

Browner yes, but I disagree with the other statements, though we're only talking subjectively and I'm not trying to get at you. I felt like every aspect of Fallout 3 was undermined by another. The 'comedy' undermined the gravity of the situation and vice versa. VATS undermined the shooting and vice versa, and the open-ended nature was undermined by the sparse, unrewarding things you came across. Plus the ending undermined the whole game.

I've sat in cold, sweating Fear on a rooftop in Stalker, mad with panic at the prospect of being seen by the horrible creatures that just battered me to within an inch of my life. Clutching my gun with just a handful of bullets, I cowered in the corner and stared unflinchingly at the ladder-top, not knowing whether the creature could climb it or not. I sat here for the best part of 20 minutes, scared out of my mind, until a squad of enemy goons swept through the base, battling with the creatures as they went, and unwittingly clearing the area for me. I then realised I had to sneak my way out of the base without them seeing me, or face hiding on a roof for the rest of the night. Stalker is a completely broken game, but the unpredictable nature of it leads to situations which evoke emotion that Fallout can only dream of. The whole thing was made of paperboard, I found the wastelands and the inhabitants completely uninvolving. I might give it another go on PC though, Oblivion took me 3 or 4 attempts to get into, and I'm still playing my 150+ hour savegame now.