People can Petroglyph!

People Can Fly’s Game For THQ

What We Know: The Polish developer created the fun and visually spectacular 2004 first person shooter Painkiller for Dreamcatcher Games. While that title didn’t scream up the best seller charts it got the attention of the much bigger publisher THQ who signed People Can Fly to create a new next-gen console game in 2006.

What People Can Fly Says: People Can Fly representatives did not respond to our inquiries about their unnamed game for this article.

What We Think: Painkiller was a fast passed shooter with excellent art design and well handled in-game physics. There’s no reason to think than People Can Fly’s project for THQ won’t continue that tradition and with the advances in graphics and physics combined with the resources of THQ we are more excited about this game’s prospect than we are about other fully announced FPS projects.

Petroglyph Studios’s Game For Sega

What We Know: Las Vegas based Petroglyph created the first great Star Wars strategy game with the 2006 released Star Wars: Empire at War. However, we are even more excited at the prospect of their upcoming original sci-fi RTS project for Sega. Other than those details no official info has been announced

What Petroglyph Says: Sega’s PR representative declined to give us any info about Petroglyph’s game for this article.

What We Think: The team at Petroglyph are former Westwood and EALA members who worked extensively on the Command and Conquer franchise so the idea of an all new sci-fi RTS title from this team is something that we can’t help but be intrigued by. With EA developing Command and Conquer 3 for release in just a couple of months, it may be a while to see if the former C&C team members can beat EA at their own game but we wouldn’t bet against them. Hopefully we will get some info on this subject very soon.

Sony Online’s Upcoming MMO Games

What We Know: During a recent blog posting, Sony Online’s head man John Smedley mentioned that the company has four internal MMO style games currently in development (not counting its console projects or its publishing partnerships with games like Vanguard and Gods and Heroes). One of them is the previously announced DC Comics super hero title but the other three games are currently unannounced. Smedley said that all of the games are in different genres and will bring “mercenaries, spies, super-heroes and a new whimsical world to life.” Smedley also mentioned in a previous speech that one MMO title will be free to play with Sony getting revenue from the sales of in-game items.

What Sony Online Says: Sony Online officials did not respond to our inquires in time for the posting of this article

What We Think: Many MMO players have already put Sony Online to pasture as games like Everquest, Everquest II, Star Wars Galaxies and PlanetSide have been overshadowed somewhat by Blizzard’s World of Warcraft but with the experience of this developer and the resources of Sony you can bet that the company is gearing up to see if the MMO space can expand to new ideas and settings. The idea of an MMO game with mercs and spies is certainly appealing. Hopefully we will get some reveals about the projects in the near future.

Wideload’s Game

What We Know: Wideload Games, formed by former members of Bungie, released their first title, the Halo engine based zombie action game Stubbs The Zombie, in 2005. Since that time the team has been very silent on what Wideload will be doing next other than it will be a console title.

What Wideload Says: Company officials did not respond to our inquires by the time of the posting of this article.

What We Think: Stubbs The Zombie was one of our personal favorite games of 2005 (you got to love a game that allows you to munch on other people’s flesh) and if Wideload’s next game is anywhere near as original and fun as Stubbs its something to look forward to.

Pandemic’s Games

What We Know: The folks at Pandemic have one announced game in the works (Mercenaries 2) and on their web site they also show three unnamed titles (designated as Projects B, X and Y) in the wings as well. At the moment there is little to no info on what the three games will be about nor for what publisher.

What Pandemic Says: Company officials did not respond to our inquires by the time of the posting of this article.

What We Think: Pandemic tends to specialize in epic action games (Star Wars: Battlefront, Full Spectrum Warrior, Destroy All Humans) so we are going to guess that at least one or two of the unnamed games are in the action genre. Beyond that there’s not a lot we know about these games yet but we suspect that 2007 will give us some info about all three.