14 DAY TRIAL // Back to the 2008 preview of all major events and some important releases of both console and games! In case you've missed the calendary for the first six gaming months of the year, HERE it is, summing up everything from January till June. The idea of this fictional calendary came up as I was checking out a similar article, but this one's strictly related to games. We've seen delays, console announcements, law suits and major title releases in the first semester of 2008. Now it's time to check out what we're going to play this summer:
July Wii underheating problems spotted and Nintendo promises to leave out the cooling fan while producing the second edition of the console. Grand Theft Auto IV reaches the 10 millions titles sold mark, although it's been banned in many countries. Final Fantasy XIII gets delayed for 2010 causing riots amongst Japanese fans. FIFA 2009 demo gets leaked online and Ronaldinho threatens fans that he won't star in future games if they ever download a FIFA title.
August
Apple's console, the iBox is shown at the annual Games Convention, bearing strong similarities with the Wii. Also, the gaming device is only available at Nintendo's booths. Devil May Cry 5 gets announced, while the PSP gets a dumbed down version of Starcraft II. How? Don't ask me... Sony officially apologizes for creating the PS3 and promises to give away free PS4 consoles to the folks disappointed by their console.
September
Duke Nukem Forever gets delayed till 2028 and new trailers surface. There are promises for a demo in 2018. Diablo 3 enters beta testing and its source code gets stolen. Seems that Blizzard was planning a console exclusive release of their long awaited title. Half Life 3 is confirmed, followed by Unreal 4 and Far Cry 3. They all use the Unreal Engine 5, because developers managed to create a brilliant engine that would only be used to its max potential by Xbox Ultimate and PS4, not yet released devices.
October The PSP gets a firmware update that allows it to play DVDs, VHS tapes, audio tapes and now supports USB keyboards plus a detachable touchscreen. Its sales go sky high, while Nintendo's only releasing info on the follow-up to the famous DS, the GKC (GameKid Casual). It sports 3 touchscreen displays, no buttons at all, a virtual keyboard, USB port, 10GB of internal memory and MP3/WMA playback. BioShock 2 demo gets released at Halloween time, making the Xbox Live collapse.
November God of War III gets delayed till 2010, but a demo of the game is announced for release at Christmas time. However, a week later, the team of developers working on the game gets fired and the project remains uncertain. Tomb Raider Underworld is canceled, since Angelina Jolie buys the license for Lara Croft and implements her in the new DS Barbie titles. Crystal Dynamics decide to use Rayne from Blood Rayne as the protagonist for this Tomb Raider game. The fans are disappointed.
December God of War III demo gets released, while Square-Enix announces 8 new Kingdom Hearts titles and makes Final Fantasy XIII available, as a Christmas Gift, for 1 billion Xbox Live Gamer points or video proof of 100% completion of all FF titles to date (no cheats involved). FIFA 2009 gets released for $100 and includes an expensive deodorant and Ronaldinho's used football shoes. 3 units are sold, all of them bought by anonymous gamers. Wii 2 surfaces on eBay for $1.99, supporting GameBoy Color cartridges and packing Pokemon stickers glued to it.
Well, here it is ladies and gentleman, the full calendary of 2008's major gaming events, fictional ones of course, but many of them still possible. Any other suggestions or events we've missed? Would you buy a cheap Wii 2 and an expensive FIFA 2009? And what about that God of War III mishap?!...
