I'm a fairly avid PC gamer currently waiting for a few big things to hit. Number one has to be
Vanguard Saga of heroes, I've been without a MMO since I left SWG and I've high hopes for this title. Best of all my friends from SWG are quite interested too so I'm looking forward to playing with everyone again.
The second thing I'm really looking forward to right now is
Bioshock; (I really recommend watching the dev talk through) it's quietly proclaimed to be the spiritual successor to the amazing System Shock series of games. Having watched the, admittedly sparse, video footage available I'm inclined to agree. Dark and uncomfortable, the retro setting does little to obscure this game's heritage; security cameras, hackable systems/turrets, limited ammo, self modification, etc. it's all in there. (Although curiously the devs seem to give the impression this is all new, perhaps reluctant to trade on past successes?)
The old things which worked coupled to a cool new AI, have me hooked already. I can't wait to descend into a dystopia, moving largely unnoticed through an independently functioning world of potential allies and enemies; I want to feel like I'm being woven into the fabric of a world, rather than have it revolve around me completely.
The one fly in the ointment for me is the history behind this game, system shock one and two's critical success wasn't enough to save the original developing house "Looking Glass" from collapsing. Indeed, critical success didn’t translate to boxes sold; neither game sold anything like the reviews would lead you to believe. The first iteration of System Shock needed a powerful PC, by the standards of the day, to run and the early release of a non-talkie version probably stole the thunder from the later talking game. I guess that was unlucky enough but doubly so when it turned out that Doom was competing for gamer's cash at the time. Come to the second game though and failure seemed to be a matter of publicity. At the time there appeared to be very little press going towards promoting the game. Indeed, unless you were already a fan you might never have guessed the game was in the works! This does trouble me, not only is this dev team monumentally unlucky when it comes to timing release dates, yet again you could be forgiven for never having heard about Bioshock. Even Irrational’s own website pays little more than lip service to their forthcoming game! Large and impressive as the E3 banner is, it says little about the game; at the very least I'd like to see a section on their site explaining what the game is about. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the hard sell will come soon, because I’d be gutted to see the Sys/bioshock franchise left in limbo again when the developers collapse.
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