The PlayStation 3 boasts a strong software lineup for 2007, but will supply issues, the loss of key exclusives and the price barrier mar the system’s potential in the year ahead? Next-Gen takes a look at the PS3’s most anticipated titles of ’07…
Although the PS3 launched with only about a month-and-a-half left in 2006, buzz related to Sony’s new console permeated throughout the entire year.
There was just a bit of negative press regarding the system, if you recall.
Whether it was blue laser diode shortages, launch quantity reductions, a European delay, accusations of executive “arrogance,” day-one shipment shortfalls, pricing criticisms, eBay gouging or slams from major news publications, you have to acknowledge that the PS3 was choking on its umbilical cord on its way out of the birth canal in ’06.
But that’s ancient history, right? Not so fast. Some of the more superficial issues that plagued Sony will certainly blow over in 2007, but it remains to be seen if the average interactive entertainment consumer will follow the lead of early adopters and pick up the $500-$600 console this year.
There’s also still a big question mark regarding when PS3 supply issues will truly be sorted out. The company insisted that it would have 1 million consoles “in the pipeline” for North America by the end of 2006, and has stuck to its goal of 6 million shipped worldwide by the end of March 2007. Meanwhile, Xbox 360 continues solid sales and the Wii powers on.
Sony went as far to say last month that manufacturing issues were “resolved,” but should Sony and third-party publishers wipe their brows quite yet?
Throughout the seemingly endless criticisms of Sony (some of which have come from this very website), the company has swatted away naysayers, as its game studios and development partners bury their noses in their work—work that will define the first full calendar year of the PS3’s existence.
Action > General ass-kicking
Xbox 360 owners have thus far been the ones basking in the next-gen love of Capcom. Dead Rising and the upcoming Lost Planet: Extreme Condition are two notable titles for Microsoft’s white box. But with the currently PS3-exclusive Devil May Cry 4 (2007), Xbox-ers may turn the same shade as the green Ring of Light. The gun-toting goth series from Capcom trades the familiar protagonist Dante with Nero, and all hell is literally breaking loose. The return of a slick fighting engine with a focus on big combos should at least pique the interest of the 1.5 million-plus gamers who bought DMC3.
Another entry for fans of stylized fighting comes in the form of Heavenly Sword (3/6/07), a beat-‘em-up from developer Ninja Theory. While the PS3 overall had a lackluster showing at E3 2006, Heavenly Sword shone as one of the most impressive titles on display (Next-Gen actually named the game as E3 2006’s top playable title). Featuring a hot redhead killer/hand-to-hand combat whiz, the E3 demo put players in the driver’s seat of an already smooth combat system. We’re keeping a close eye on this one.
No longer considered a PS3 exclusive, Sega’s Virtua Fighter 5 (2/20/07) will still be hitting Sony’s console a few months before it lands on Xbox 360. Many fighting game fanatics regard Virtua Fighter as the deepest, most engaging 3D fighting franchise available. It’s not as flashy as Namco’s Tekken series, but regardless, 2002’s Virtua Fighter 4 and the subsequent upgrade Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution sold enough to land the game at the top of PS2 sales charts and reach Greatest Hits status.
Speaking of Tekken, we’re expecting Tekken 6 (2007) to arrive sometime next year. More flashy than Virtua Fighter, Tekken 6 drew attention at E3 2006 with a five-minute trailer that whet the press’ appetite for the popular fighter. Originally launched on the PlayStation in 1995, the series has rarely disappointed in terms of quality or sales, which have reached over 20 million units worldwide. The franchise also has a way of attracting both the casual and hardcore fighting game fan—but with unconfirmed rumors of an Xbox 360 version on the way, the PS3 may be in to lose another big exclusive.
Other 2007 up-close-and personal beat-downs to watch on PS3 include Def Jam: Icon (EA, March 2007), WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 (THQ, Q4 2007) and Ninja Gaiden Sigma (Tecmo, 2007).
Up in the sky…
This foot-based fisticuff action is all well and good, but we wait with bated breath to take Warhawk (June 2007) to the skies and deal out some futuristic death from above, just as Wilbur and Orville intended. Developer Incognito is working to bring this PS3 exclusive title up to date nearly a dozen years after the original debuted on PlayStation in 1995. The current poster child of Sixaxis tilt control, Warhawk had a rough-yet-promising E3 2006 showing, which was eclipsed by improvements touted at 2006’s Tokyo Game Show. Sony’s putting this one on the frontline of its mid-2007 lineup and it has good pre-release visibility with six months left before release.
Gamers more keen on flying on the back of a (virtual) living organism have the option of picking up Lair (2007) from SCEA and Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II dev Factor 5. In Lair, gamers ride on the backs of impressive-looking dragons, and like Warhawk, Sixaxis tilt control will be key. Factor 5 has gone on record to say that it’s shooting for completion of the game this year. With living “vehicles” that have a personality, the dragons themselves might become selling points. Hopefully it’ll have the gameplay to match.
Let’s race
In the racing category, one of the biggest titles is MotorStorm (2/27/07) from SCEA and Evolution Studios, the house behind the World Rally Championship series. With an entertaining demo available on the online PlayStation Store and graphics and gameplay that aren’t too far off from those indicated in the original E3 2005 trailer, gamers and press are eyeing the PS3-exclusive MotorStorm intently. The over-the-top rally racing action is heavy on the physics, with morphing terrain that affects the handling of vehicles.
Residing on pavement is Burnout 5 (working title, 2007), the next installment in EA and developer Criterion’s smashingly entertaining combination of speed and destruction on wheels. Gone are menus, and in their place is an open world where “Every intersection is a potential crash junction and every alleyway is an opportunity to rack up moving violations,” according to PR hype. Critical and commercial success regularly meets series entries (2005’s multiplatform Burnout Revenge sold 1.8 million copies in its opening quarter), and we expect this new iteration to follow suit.
Tough guys with guns
Getting on down closer to the dirt is Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Q4 2007). Many of our readers have seen the goosebump-inducing trailer from E3 2006, which leaves the fate of Solid Snake dangling on the ouch-end of a gun. MGS4 will continue the series’ tradition of phenomenal visuals, an at-times-quirky tone and a serious side that deals with the philosophies of war in a post 9/11 world.
The MGS franchise has sold around 20 million units since the first MGS landed on PlayStation in 1998 and has garnered a very loyal following. But this isn’t just due to solid (no pun intended) gameplay. This loyalty has been fostered by the draw of the series’ compelling director Hideo Kojima and the efforts of dedicated Kojima Productions international manager Ryan Payton. The molders of great game franchises have figured out quickly that community is everything.
MGS4 will convince many who were waiting to buy a PS3 to pick up the system, and could end the console’s first full calendar year with a big fat exclamation point.
The games press likes to make jokes about the sexual orientation of the two lead dudes in EA’s Army of Two (2007), but all jokes aside the game is shaping up to be a serious contender in 2007. It marks EA’s first foray into original IP on next-gen platforms and is being executive produced by EA Montreal general manager Alain Tascan. Loads of innovation is packed into the game, which just might be one of the most co-op-focused action games ever created. Dragging your partner, performing CPR and a multitude of other team tactics are integral to the gameplay. Sure, it’s another game with buff dudes sporting big guns, but if it delivers on the co-op play and AI requirements, EA could have the foundation for a new source of reliable revenue (Army of Two 2, anyone?).
Right now, developer Pandemic’s sandbox-style military action game Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (2007) has only been formally announced for PS3, although there is a decent possibility that it will migrate to the Xbox 360 eventually. Either way, this game, based in oil-rich Venezuela, is one to watch. The original Mercenaries was the best-selling original console IP of 2005 (it launched for Xbox and PS2 in January that year), and was well-received by critics. The fact that loyalists to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez have called the game a psychological terror campaign formulated by the US government is an irrelevant plus.
We already went over this in the Xbox 360 2007 preview, but Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV (10/16/07) will be huge, as if you needed anyone to back this up. However, timed exclusivity has been nixed this time around—both Xbox 360 and PS3 will be getting the game simultaneously, negating bragging rights on both sides of the fence.
More action games with significant 2007 sales potential include Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega, 1/30/07), Splinter Cell Double Agent (Ubisoft, March 2007), John Woo Presents: Stranglehold (Midway, Q2 2007), Indiana Jones (LucasArts, Q2 2007), Alone in the Dark (Atari, 2007), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (EA, July 2007), Transformers (Activision, 2007), Spider-Man 3 (Activision, 2007), Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft, 2007), Resident Evil 5 (2007—maybe?) and The Club (Sega, Q3 2007).
In the first person
As far as consoles are concerned, the original Xbox was typically more of a first-person gaming machine than the PS2, but this time around, the PS3 just might match the Xbox 360’s first-person stride.
What did the Unreal Tournament franchise need this time around? Hoverboards, apparently. Because of the huge vehicle-friendly environments in Midway and Epic’s Unreal Tournament 2007 (due in uh… 2007), Epic went with the design choice to include speedy hoverboards to get players from A to B, because frankly, walking sucks. Judging from game previews (and extensive viewings of Back to the Future Part II), it sounds like the hoverboards work pretty well. A host of other improvements in this blast-fest include new weapons, vehicles, improved physics and sharp graphics based on Unreal Engine 3. UT games rarely disappoint from a quality standpoint, and 2006’s Resistance: Fall of Man showed that PS3 owners are willing to buy a quality FPS. So far, the game has only been announced for PC and PS3.
EA hopes that Medal of Honor: Airborne (Q2 2007) will reinvigorate the old FPS franchise with some interesting innovation, primarily in the ability to choose where to land when parachuting out of a plane into WWII hotspots. In other words, there are no traditional mission starting points, rather gamers just begin where they choose to land their character. This nonlinear focus by itself could be enough to jumpstart EA’s aging yet faithful FPS franchise.
Although it seems everyone and his mother complains about the over-saturation of WWII shooters, consumers still buy the things willingly. With the combination of gamers’ willingness to purchase a well-done war game, strong brand recognition and a healthy dose of innovation, a critical and commercial success can be had.
Changing the first-person shooting theme a bit is Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2/26/07). Yeah, yeah, by the time the PS3 version hits US retail shelves, the Xbox 360 and PC versions of this fantasy RPG will be almost a year old. But this game is so friggin’ spectacular that we just have to note any and every version of the game. Less than a month after the launch of the PC and Xbox 360 version, 1.7 million units were shipped, and it topped NPD charts in the subsequent months. The only thing we wonder is whether or not everyone has already bought this game…
Then there’s the new Killzone (2007) from SCEA and developer Guerilla. We’ve yet to see whether or not this game will deliver the goods or simply more hype. The infamously beautiful pre-rendered trailer for the game at E3 2005 created lingering skepticism in the developer’s ability to match the stunning target, but we’re rooting for it anyhow.
More face-to-face PS3 action to watch in ’07 includes F.E.A.R. (Vivendi, 2/13/07), Half-Life 2: Episode Two (working title, EA, Q2 2007), The Darkness (2K, Q2 2007), Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft, Q2 2007), BlackSite: Area 51 (Midway, Q3 2007), Battlefield: Bad Company (EA, 2007) and Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway (Ubisoft, 2007).
Of a sporting nature
In general, sports will be pretty standard fare on PS3 in 2007. Third parties EA Sports and 2K Sports will continue their seasonal sports rivalry, obviously, and the inevitable Madden NFL 08 will again be a sales juggernaut. Madden NFL 07, which launched in August 2006 sold 1.7 million units in its first week and has sold over 5 million copies to date. Quality-wise, Madden NFL has been more than a solid franchise in recent years, and it helps too that EA has exclusive rights to the use of NFL players, stadiums and teams in its titles.
What EA doesn’t have are the third-party rights to pro baseball. That belongs to Take-Two and its 2K Sports subsidiary. Fortunately for Sony, the agreement doesn’t block development of first-party pro baseball games such as MLB 07: The Show (Q2 2007). MLB 06: The Show was a tight game that garnered very positive reviews and sustained strong sales months after its February 2006 release.
Also, 2K’s Major League Baseball 2K7 (3/5/07) will offer stiff baseball competition on multiple platforms including the PS3.
Other games of a sporting nature on PS3 in 2007 include NBA Street Homecourt (EA, 3/6/2007), Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega, Q2 2007), The Bigs (2K, Q3 2007), Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 (Konami, 2007) and Skate (EA, 2007).
The others
So here we land in a section that covers games that fall outside of the PS3’s prime 2007 categories.
Sony’s sing-along franchise SingStar (Q1 2007) has a lot of potential to be a hit with casual gamers (i.e. the karaoke crowd) as well as create a wide margin business with paid downloadable music. Head-to-head online play will please all those divas who need a long-distance way to prove who can sing better, and high-def music videos will make use of a slice of the PS3’s power.
The house of PlayStation has yet to establish a game download service as full-fledged game as Xbox Live Arcade, but also watch with interest how initial PS3 DLX releases perform. flOw from Sony Santa Monica, Calling All Cars! from Incognito and the formerly PSP-only GripShift from developer Sidhe Interactive are all set to release in 2007.
Look out for the RPGs The Lord of the Rings: The White Council (Q4 2007) and Obsidian’s unnamed RPG (Sega, 2007).
Strong library, lingering questions
The first year is a trying one for any new game console. On paper, the 2007 PS3 software lineup is strong enough to hang with the 360 and Wii. And while Sony’s teething troubles revolve mainly around supply issues, that problem will inevitably be whisked away—in theory anyway.
If supply problems last too long, continuing Xbox 360 sales and formidable Wii sales momentum could leave the PS3 even further behind.
Which brings us to the price. Early adopters (and eBay scalpers) happily coughed up the required $500-$600 for the console, but what about more mainstream consumers? The PS3 price debate isn’t anything new, but it’s something that we keep coming back to because if the price does prove too high for average Joe and Jane, what’s Sony to do? A recent PS3 teardown from supply chain research iSuppli pegged the 20GB model to be sold at over a $300 loss and the 60GB for a loss of over $240. Console manufacturers often sell systems for a loss, but there just isn’t too much room for a PS3 price drop if consumers don’t bite in 2007.
Another issue that seems to be consistently cropping up lately is the loss of exclusives. Grand Theft Auto IV, Assassin’s Creed and Virtua Fighter 5 are three big titles that will also be popping up on the competing Xbox 360, reducing their potential status from “exclusive killer-app system-movers” to mere “must-have multiplatform games.” (We’re just assuming that these unreleased games will be excellent right now to make a point, mind you.) Microsoft seems to have made it a point to steal Sony’s thunder in this regard.
But don’t be mistaken, there are still potential system movers arriving in 2007 that are exclusive to Sony because of first-party status or deals with third parties. Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, Devil May Cry and Metal Gear Solid 4 come to mind. Even MotorStorm seems to be gradually pushing almost-early-adopters to full-fledged “adopter” status.
Sony’s talented internal development studios should certainly not be underestimated in their ability to create games that will convince more mainstream consumers into coughing up the dough for a PS3, but will 2007 be the year they’ll be convinced?
Also in 2007, the ongoing evolution of the PlayStation Network will be key to delivering community and multiplayer experiences that balance out the Xbox Live factor. Sony’s playing catch-up with Microsoft’s online service, but the PS3 has all the potential to become a competitive platform in the online sense. And with standard hard drives on both PS3 models, larger downloads from the PlayStation Store are made possible.
PS3 in 2006 may be marred with difficulties, but 2007 is Sony’s chance to come out of its corner swinging, get consumers to forget the initial problems and convince them to focus on the games at hand. It all sounds quite simple when squeezed into a single sentence, doesn’t it?
Source: Next-Gen
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