Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ Leads ‘07
‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’ Leads ‘07 Castoffs; Plus ‘Guitar Hero’/'Rock Band’ Compatibility & More, In GameFile
‘Grand Theft Auto IV,’ ‘Haze,’ ‘Splinter Cell: Conviction’ also got bumped to next year.
As 2007 winds down, the shelves at game stores bear some happy signs that a lot of top games came out this year: “God of War II,” “Halo 3,” “Super Mario Galaxy,” “Half-Life Two: Episode Two” — they all showed up.
But some games slipped. These are the major 2007 titles now pegged for 2008:
“Super Smash Bros. Brawl” (Wii)
Originally Pegged For: December 3, 2007
Now Slated For: February 10, 2008
Behind The Delay: Nintendo fans had good reason to expect something to be delayed on the Wii this year. Nintendo has regularly delayed major titles, including several “Zelda” and “Mario” blockbusters-in-the-making. So is it a shock that early-2007 promises to release a new “Metroid,” “Mario” and “Smash” all within the year didn’t come true? In October, on the day the “Smash” delay was announced, Nintendo Vice President of Marketing & Corporate Affairs Perrin Kaplan told MTV News, “We realize people see it as a delay, but we see it is a little bit of a perfection program to make sure the game is absolutely as perfect as Japan knows it can be and it will.” Since then, the regular updates on the “Smash” blog have noted a dizzying barrage of details, from the unexpected spectator mode that will allow players to watch and fake-bet on “Smash” matches all day long to the seemingly inconsequential confirmation that the colors of characters’ outfits can be switched.
“Haze” (PS3)
Originally Pegged For: Winter 2007
Now Slated For: January-March 2008
Behind The Delay: “Haze” was to be one of two holiday-released first-person shooters exclusively (at least initially) for the PlayStation 3, part of a double-barrel response to the Xbox 360’s mighty “Halo 3.” The other FPS, “Unreal Tournament III,” seemed likely to slip when the game’s publisher, Midway, told investors in early October that it could not guarantee the title before New Year’s. But on Monday, the company announced that “UTIII” will be out in “limited quantities” for PS3 on December 10 after all. The game is both a follow-up to the popular competitive FPS “Unreal” games and a graphical showpiece for developer Epic’s graphics engine, last seen wowing gamers in the Xbox 360 and PC title “Gears of War.” So what of “Haze“? The game is being developed by Free Radical, the studio that is responsible for the “Timesplitters” FPS games and includes some developers responsible for the Nintendo 64 classic FPS “GoldenEye.” The game splits the player’s time between fighting as a chemically enhanced super-soldier who has superior vision powers (see grenades explore before they actually blow up!) and a rebel trooper who can sabotage those powers by causing enemies to overdose. In press events as recent as this September, though, levels of “Haze” looked stripped of detail, and the game suffered from a rickety frame-rate. Ubisoft’s delay weakens the PS3’s shooter lineup but will likely strengthen the company’s game.
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