Coming in 2002! 2003! 2004!

The number of slipped release dates seem to increase every year. In fact, I'd like to point out that World of Warcraft, having been previewed after its Fall 2001 announcement will finally be released this summer. I love the PC games industry: a truly magical place where they take the phrase "When it's done," and fucking run with it.

World of Warcraft

I'm happy that it will at least come out this year. I've said before that this would be the one that would get me into MMORPGs finally. A pre-alpha build of the game was leaked late last year, but the Beta test (which I signed up for) continued on as scheduled. So as far as I'm concerned the June 2004 launch date is a done deal. And the rumoured $10 US per month would be entirely reasonable, when you look at what Blizzard can do for the online gaming community for free.

Thief: Deadly Shadows

The game has taken a lot of flak from fans regarding the third person view, and have all but resigned to the fact that it will be another console port. The new engine looks fantastic, and I don't doubt the gameplay we have come to love in the series will be present. But I am also fairly certain there will be provisions made in the game to accomodate XBox players, and this may prove fatal to the game's reception on the PC. I'm still looking forward to it though. Garrett leaps from the shadows in May.

Unreal Tournament 2004

Remember this one? I was pretty sure back then that it would be out by the end of the year. You might have tried the Beta Demo by now, which was fairly impressive. The graphics are as sweet as ever, but being a seasoned UT2003 player there were no improvments made to the engine. Instead Epic was too busy creating some fantastic maps, and a brand-new mode of play called Onslaught. Onslaught will be the reason people buy this game. The construction and control of power nodes, vehicles and multiple spawn points draw more than one comparison to Battlefield 1942, but the controls are even more arcade-like. Those looking for a tank-on-tank deathmatch will be disappointed. The demo's included Assault map where you're defending a moving convoy displays real creativity in level design for this game. UT2004 will ship in March in two flavours: a six-CD regular version, and a special two DVD set that includes a short "making of" documentary.

DOOM III

After massive hype, delays, and some curious monster design decisions, the game seems to be shaping up quite well. A lot of people will tell you DOOM pioneered multiplayer gaming, and first-person shooters as a genre. It's possible that this version of the revered classic will be genre-defining as well, but somehow I doubt it. id Software has always been about coding a spectacular engine first, and building a story second. Expect to see some great games based on the engine in the next couple of years. The game is expected to ship by June, but it will probably be closer to mid-summer.

Half Life 2

The code theft, the constantly shifting release dates, and the promises of the developers with respect to the Source engine all seem to be changing daily. Gabe Newell and the folks at Valve break down some details about the engine here and here, but they divulge no actual release date. It could be anywhere from Spring to late Fall. After hearing that the game would be available as a paid download through Steam, it struck me as a bit weird that the author of Bit Torrent was recently hired by Valve. Perhaps Steam won't be up to handling the loads upon the game's release? In any case, as a fan of the original, I expect nothing less than a spellbinding single-player campaign and a flexible engine for modders to work on.