Activate '08: Full Coverage

NZGamer was fortunate enough to get an invite to Activate ’08 – a three day overview of Activision / Blizzard’s gaming titles set for launch leading up to Xmas.

Every year Activision hold an event called Activate, where all of the Asia-Pacific region gather to find out about their latest titles for the Summer season. This year Activate was held on home soil, here in New Zealand and based in the glorious Viaduct Harbour in Auckland. NZGamer was lucky enough to be a part of it and this is what we saw…

Call of Duty: World at War

To be released: November 14th 2008

Despite the massive success of the fourth title, Modern Warfare – this latest installment takes us back to the WWII settings of earlier Call of Duty titles. Although many will think the series is starting to repeat itself, World at War still looks set to offer some new gameplay. Built on the Modern Warfare engine, the game is one of the most realistically gritty, action-packed games in the franchise to date. Also for the first time in a Call of Duty game, the story concentrates in a setting a lot closer to home – the Pacific region.

Read more in our Hands On preview.

Guitar Hero World Tour

To be released: November 13th 2008

Probably the high-light of the expo, World Tour was demonstrated to an eager crowd thanks to the help of local music celebrities. The first appearance of the game was performed by lead guitarist and back-up singer from Goodnight Nurse, who was joined by the drummer from Midnight Youth and two of the development team of Guitar Hero on guitar and bass. The end result was a spectacle indeed, and they performed Everlong (by the Foo Fighters) and Living on a Prayer (Bon Jovi) almost flawlessly.

Read our full impressions from what we saw at Activate '08.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

To be released: September 17th 2008

On the second day of presentations, we were taken to Waiheke Island by LucasArts where they show-cased their up-coming games in a wine cellar. I’ll be honest, when the doors slammed shut behind us and we realized we were in a dark basement with ominous music playing the background - I started to fear for the worst. Luckily it wasn’t long before the lights came on so I picked myself up off the floor and tried to pretend I was doing up my shoelace.

Check out our full thoughts in our Hands On preview.

The wine cellar where The Force was Unleashed.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

To be released: TBA

Another year, another Spiderman game. Web of Shadows brought with it mixed emotions upon first viewing. Personally I’m a huge Spiderman fan and just swinging around the city of New York gave me hours of enjoyment in previous titles. However, almost all of the games in the past have been hampered by poor combat and dodgey camera angles. When the producer of Web of Shadows took center stage, one of the first things he said was how they had dedicated a lot of time to these issues so as you can imagine – expectations were high.

Find out if Spider-Man: Web of Shadows lived up to the expectations in our Hands On preview.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

To be released: 28th November 2008

The Force Unleashed isn’t the only Star Wars title due out soon by LucasArts and in November, Wii owners will be given more Force power action in The Clone Wars. The main cause for excitement in this title is the chance to wield light-sabers via the Wii-motes – a controller that has the potential to lend itself perfectly.

Read our full Hands On preview.

A crowd gathers around The Clone Wars.

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon

Dawn of the Dragon was a pleasant surprise in the Activate ’08 line-up, especially after the last title failed to spark any captivation with it’s rehashed gameplay. Immediately in the first demonstration we got to see Spyro soaring above grassy knolls, trees swaying in the winds and crystal clear waterfalls flowing into glistening rivers. The game was instantly mesmerising and the bright colours attracted gamers like moths. But as we found out in our hands-on session, Spyro isn’t just a beautiful looking game either.

Read our full Hands On preview.

Quantum of Solace

Horrible visions flood the minds of many gamers when the concept of “blockbuster movie to video game” is mentioned. Expecting that a game based off a movie is going to be crap has the same kind of likeliness of Matthew Mcconaughey taking his shirt off in the first 10 minutes of his latest crap film.

See what we thought of the upcoming Bond game in our Hands On preview.

Fracture

Fracture is LucasArts’ latest new franchise coming to the 360 and PS3 this October. Cheesily titled as “groundbreaking”, Fracture looks like a typical third person shooter with one unique twist - players can reshape the ground they stand on to manipulate the battlefield and terrain around them. Amidst a backdrop of worldwide ecological and seismological chaos in the mid-2100’s, the United States has been split in two by the “Great Flood”. As a result of the polar ice cap melting, the Mississippi River has destroyed the central portion of the United States, rendering two different factions on either side.

Read more in our full Hands On preview.

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