Warhammer and the Rest

Warhammer Online
EA's Mythic studio is deep into the beta version of its long awaited fantasy MMO and the EA press event allowed us to briefly check out the latest build of the game. One of the cool features we got to see is the "tome of knowledge", which automatically updates your character's stats with lists of quests that are accomplished, monsters that are slain and loot that has been acquired. It's presented in visual form as a book that you "leaf" through via cursor strokes and may be entertaining on its own accord.

We got to see a few simple quests in the game; basically an orc that takes out enemies in various locations. One cool thing is that you can go up to an NPC and tell him or her that you have slain, say, 20 monsters and the NPC will reward you with more experience points and extra on top of the experience points you already accumulated while slaying the enemies. There are also "public quests" that will require a group of people to accomplish. We got to see one where we had to get a 20 foot giant drunk with a series of alcohol filled barrels. Once he gets nice and drunk he then proceeded to pick up a nearby mine, move it to the entrence to a fort we wanted to enter and then he died as the mine blew up. Oh well.

Warhammer Online is still set for release sometime in the first quarter of 2008 which means there are still several months before the game is due out which also means we should have more opportunities to see and play the game before it launches.


SimCity Societies
The newest version of the long running city sim series gets an all new makeover thanks to developer Tilted Mill. During the EA press event we got to see a brief demo of the game which not only lets you build a city but also lets you build entire social groups of the city's Sims in the game.

The game's tutorial guides you through the new game's features, letting you build roads, set up power stations, create placed to live and work and even put down items like murals and ice cream parlors to please your Sims. Each sim has a name and personality that you can track at any time with a mouse click. The tutorial was centered around making a "Fun City", which has the themed of a circus or amusement park but other types of cities will be made available in the full version of the game.


Having a city simulator that isn't just a straight down the line title is something that's new in the game series. It looks like SimCity Societies is one that will be much lighter in tone than the somewhat super serious previous games in the series and we hope to get more hands-on time with the game before its release this fall.

The Simpsons Game
EA's Redwood Shores team is close to releasing this parody of video games via the longest running animated TV series of all time. The game has the Simpsons family in situations that are supposed to mirror game series, from Pokemon to Final Fantasy to Medal of Honor to Black and White. Out personal favorite is Grand Theft Strachy. No it's not an open world crime section; it takes on the anti-video game activists who want to see games like the GTA series removed from stores. Marge Simpsons is mad that such games are being sold to children in Springfield (we see a child highjack a car while also holding a Grand Theft Strachy) and she uses her megaphone to entice Springfield citizens to destory ads for the game and fight off people who want to play the game.


The Simpsons Game looks to be the rare media tie-in game that will be as good as the license that inspired it and we can't wait to play the full version later this fall.

Rock Band
What else can be said of perhaps the most anticipated console game of 2007 (save perhaps for Halo 3)? EA showed off the ambitious Harmonix-developed music game Rock Band at their press event as reporters got up closed with the game's guitar, drums, and microphone as they sang and played (or just made a good attempt) through a series of songs from a variety of artists.

Whether or not you care about music games or not, it's still a title that you have to admire for its sheer scope. Being able to time your guitar/bass, drum and even your voice actions to music tracks all at the same time is something we haven't see in a game before. With major rock bands offering their master songs for Rock Band there's no question that the folks who enjoyed Guitar Hero will have a new obsession to check out. The reporters who played the game during the press event had to be pulled away from the instruments after their sessions. The game is still set for release for the PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles this holiday.