Japan Gaming Guide

It’s fair to say that 2007 stank for Sony. Everything they did seemed to go wrong. Their financial performance and sales figures left a lot to be desired. Their marketing and rhetoric was pretty desperate. Most importantly the games that came out for the system just didn’t cut it. It wasn’t that it didn’t get any decent games – just nothing stellar that would make people without a PS3 desperate to go out and buy one.

If you don’t have a 360, you’re probably wishing you could play Bioshock or Gears of War. If you don’t have a Wii, Mario Galaxy must be turning you green with envy, but people without a PS3? Well Drake’s Fortune is a decent game, but does anyone who can’t play it feel a sense of gaming loss? Hmm. The system still needs something that makes me think ‘I have to play that’, especially with its price tag as high as it is.

Blend Games have compiled a list of 5 PS3 games to look out for in 2008. Of those, Turok isn’t exclusive, so we’ll discount that, but let’s take a look at the others:

Final Fantasy XIII

If there’s one thing that a Final Fantasy game pretty much guarantees it’s a whole ton of Japanese sales. A new FF will mean a lot of people will put the PS3 on a lot of people’s wish lists. Will the first Final Fantasy game on PS3 be any good? Well they’re all pretty great games, this isn’t likely to be any different. Interestingly, FFXIII will be released in 3 semi-distinct flavours, including a cell-phone game. Much may depend on whether Square Enix’s strategy of releasing a trio of titles at the same time wii take their attention away from the star performer. Regardless, this is definitely a big hitter and should be that rarest of things a guaranteed top quality exclusive for the PS3.

Playstation Home

One of Sony’s biggest ideas – if this turns out well it would be a real boost for the system. There have been a few unsettling delays however, and if the best ingame content is going to be sold at extra cost it may prove difficult to generate the required momentum and build a decent userbase. We see this as an interesting side project, but can’t see it as a system seller yet.

Metal Gear Solid 4 & Online

Big hitters again, and will definitely shift a few consoles. Snake’s final adventure will surely see Hideo Kojima throw a few curveballs at us. He loves doing that. But what Sony really need is something new..

Little Big Planet

Now this is more like it. A whole bunch of user-created goodness make this one of the most enigmatic titles currently in development. Little Big Planet let’s you create your own ‘patch’ and customize it completely for the amusement of the online community. This kind of game is bound to attract a hardcore following who will revel in its unique charms, but can it grab the mass market’s attention? That’s the question that could make or break Sony next year. If it reaches critical mass this game could be a minor phenomenon, if not it could sink without trace. We’re feeling pretty positive about it, and are looking forward to playing. Let’s hope it makes it out before the end of the year.

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