This past weekend the annual Spike Video Game Awards were held over in America. Developers use the event to show off exclusive footage and announce new games in development. This year was no exception as we were treated to some great announcements from the biggest players in the industry. After the break you will find a round up of all the new announcements and trailers and a few first impressions.

The Last Of Us

Probably the most shocking revelation of the night was the reveal of Sony’s new exclusive game The Last Of Us. The game has been teased over recent weeks as being set in a world where an outbreak of a deadly virus has started to wipe out man kind. A few days before the show a news site posted an easter egg found in the pub of Uncharted 3 Chapter 1. A newspaper stealthily located on the bar discussed a similar event and this stirred the rumour mill. As the trailer was announced two words flashed on the screen “Naughty Dog”. The Uncharted team had been split into two and secretly been put to work on this new game for a long time.

What we then saw from the trailer was a young girl and adult male in a damaged building scrounging for bullets and fighting of infected humans best resembling Zombines from Half Life 2. Zombines are Combine soldiers infected with head leeching Headcrabs. In The Last Of Us, humans are infected with a deadly fungus which mutates their brains.

Naughty Dog Co-President Evan Wells shortly announced on Twitter afterwards that the trailer had been rendered completely in-engine. It looked pre-rendered but if it was in game, that is an outstanding achievement for Naughty Dog. Since the reveal, an interview appeared in the tabloid USA Today where Neil Druckmann (Creative Director) provided further insight. “At the start of the game, the lead character, Joel, finds Ellie, and they team up. Joel is “a vicious survivor. When he meets this girl, she is his one chance at redemption.” The idea for the project came from BBC documentary series Planet Earth and the Cordyceps Fungus which was used as a teaser screenshot last week.

The Last Of Us has received mixed criticism from the public so far. Some feel there will be no more Uncharted because of this game, although that is very unlikely as the “Uncharted team” are probably hard at work on a sequel or possibly a new Jak & Daxter title. The other concern is “oh no not zombies again” a theme present by the bucket-load at this years awards. My reasoning stands to be that Naughty Dog will offer gamers a very cinematic experience and gritty story based around these two characters. The idea of survival and the backgrounds of Joel and Ellie will play a large part in the story which should minimise the attention placed on the fungus head zombies. After all, there needs to be some sort of enemy in the game.

It’s also worth noting that the game which comes closest to resembling Uncharted would be Enslaved Odyssey To The West. The game explores the relationship between two people in a journey they must make. Mark Richard Davies who was Lead Designer on the project is now at Naughty Dog and has been working closely on this game. If his vision is anything to go by, you can expect a mind blowing experience from one of the best studios in the world.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

Hideo Kojima took center stage alongside Yuji Korekado from Platinum Games to reveal some big news about Rising. Firstly the reigns for the project have been passed down to Platinum Games, the studio responsible for hits such as Bayonetta. A name change was also apparent with the word Solid being removed and revengeance being added on as a subtitle for the game. The idea is to really separate the game from the Metal Gear series and produce it as a true spin off. It couldn’t be more clear as the trailer showcased a very different style of game play.

Mechanics resemble the fast paced hack and slash style of Platinum Games and looks comparable to Ninja Gaiden. The inter-webs have started calling the game Ninja Raiden as a joke. Of course loyal Metal Gear fans have not been too pleased by the move away from traditional MGS game play. Hideo says that there were too many conflicting ideas over at Kojima Productions as to what the game design should be. The core pillar still remains “extremely accurate slicing” over at Platinum Games and some elements from early development will remain intact. After all these issues, Hideo realised that he required help from a better suited studio and Platinum Games were in a good place to be approached. It’s not all bad news as Kojima makes it very clear that just because Rising is not focused on stealth game play, it doesn’t mean that it will not return for a direct sequel to the Metal Gear franchise which I’m sure Kojima Productions are now hard at work on after passing on Rising.

Personally I enjoy hack and slash games and look forward to exploring the MGS universe from a different angle. We may have already seen something similar in the form of Castlevania Lords Of Shadow which Hideo contributed too. The trailer also showcases familiar enemies such as Metal Gear’s, those cow robots from MGS4 and a cyborg who looks very similar like Vamp. I don’t know how much cinematic story we can expect from Rising but the trailer displays a lot less. The game may also take place after the events of MGS4 if you consider the presence of the cow robots.

Kojima also hosted a press conference earlier today delving deeper into the game development and recently tweeted the following message which may give you an insight into what to expect.

Debut @VGA world premier teaser followed by tech presentation @GDC, trailer and actual game presentation @E3, online mode beta test in summer, exhibiting @Gamescom, game play available in multiple occasion in fall, and release yr end. This is the trend of game promotion in western market.

Rainbow 6 The Patriots

The most controversial game that has ever been announced keeps pushing the boundary further and further. The new trailer which surfaced at the VGA’s shows the Rainbow 6 squad strap a bomb vest on to a corrupt official and throw him out of a skyscraper before blowing him up at ground level. The game features a very interesting take and play style on the “war of terrorism” putting players in sophisticated moral dilemmas after providing you with the full story from both sides. It takes mechanics first introduced in inFamous and stabs them with adrenaline. The media are going to have a frenzy with this title and the worst news is that it won’t be released until 2013.

Fortnite

The overhyped new game from Epic Games was revealed as Fortnite. A new defense IP where players must scavenge for materials and construct barricades during the day to survive waves of zombie attacks at night. The art style is reminiscent of Team Fortress 2. Bit of a disappointment to be honest and zombies really are getting boring now. Have hope however as there is probably a lot more left to reveal and if anything, this game may only be a downloadable title from a large studio similar to how Criterion Games released Burnout Crash. Didn’t do very well either if I remember.

Hitman Absolution

You may have missed this trailer as it didn’t even air on the main show. It shows Agent 47 on a rampage to save a girl in a church hospital. The trailer concludes with him taking out enemies in the dark and the name Victoria being whispered. The game looks fantastic after the footage shown off for the library level a few months ago. I was hoping to see more game play. This teaser style trailer should have been released months ago.

BioShock Infinite

Ken Levine and co did a great job at E3 when explaining BioShock Infinite and its features, eventually taking home multiple awards including most anticipated game. It’s another trailer that doesn’t give away many details on the surface but if you analyze it frame by frame you may discover some hidden information. The general atmosphere is one of famine after the uprising on Colombia. At the end of the trailer you see the face of the mechanical armoured man who first appeared in the initial trailer. The trailer is ok but I was hoping for more.

Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 took away the most anticipated game award this year and the new trailer does the game justice. It features Shepard in a boss fight style encounter with a robot with a massive laser beam. He must run through the environment as it is being destroyed around him to trigger a giant worm to rise and attack the robot. An epic cinematic sequence for an incredible game.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD

The skater boy is back and with a GOOD idea this time around. He’s bringing back what worked in the form of Pro Skater HD, a compilation of the best arenas and items from the original Tony Hawk games remastered in HD. Unfortunately since the launch of the trailer at the weekend, many were expecting the original soundtrack to return. Tony Hawk announced today that this probably wouldn’t happen for multiple reasons, primarily legal. Robomondo, the studio responsible for the recent Tony Hawk games are managing this one, lets hope they do it justice.

Transformers Fall of Cybertron

Recent Transformer games have been fairly decent. I would classify them as B grade titles which you would enjoy renting over a weekend etc. The new trailer shows of the massive scale robot battle involved in saving a planet. Not much more to say really. Fans of transformers seem to appreciate the trailer more after identifying the various characters present in the new game.

Diablo III

Blizzard have released the opening cinematic for Diablo 3. Don’t know much about the universe so can’t comment but I believe the old man’s book is important and its all about saving the world from demons.

Alan Wake American Nightmare

This new trailer for the downloadable game sequel to Alan Wake explains more about the story. Alan Wake has to learn more about and defeat an evil twin called Mr Scratch. Mr Scratch can possess people in the world to attack Alan. Definitely one of the better clips shown of at this year’s awards.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

More of a teaser trailer than anything else, it features a silhouette style tag battle with neon streaks ending in a release date of fall 2012 for the game.

Amazing Spider-Man

Looking to bring Spider-Man back as a AAA title, the trailer shows Spidy’ in a battle against a robot pulled straight out of Resistance. I’m not sure how the game will compare to the universe arc they have been experimenting with lately but it seems to be heading in a more cinematic direction to coincide with the new film reboot.

Command & Conquer Generals 2

I expected to see a new Command & Conquer reveal although did not expect it in the form of the BioWare announcement or Generals 2. Prior to the show news was leaked of EA registering the domain names for Command & Conquer Alliances but this was different. We knew the Command & Conquer franchise was being handled by subsiary studio Victory Games so where did BioWare come from? It seems as though EA have started to piggy back on the BioWare brand and have renamed another studio with the BioWare prefix. Victory Games are now BioWare Victory and are handling production on Command & Conquer Generals 2. The game will use the FrostBite 2 engine found in Battlefield 3 and NFS The Run to create this new addition in the Real Time Strategy (RTS) genre. The game is due out in 2013. Hang on a minute what about Alliances? EA have lifted the lid on Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances which is a Free To Play browser based title. The beta registrations opened today here: http://alliances.commandandconquer.com/en/ It seems as though EA still have a lot more to offer with the C&C franchise.

Darksiders 2

I don’t believe I saw this trailer during the awards although it seemed to have become available at the same time. I loved the original Darksiders and can’t wait to play the sequel. I was dissapointed by the lack of footage in this trailer as it merely serves to be a teaser to a game we have previously seen footage off simliar to what IO Interactive did with the Hitman trailer.

Dirt Showdown

“an arcade-style spin-off that takes the extreme-sports elements of Dirt 2, mixes in the Gymkhana events from Dirt 3, and then throws in some Destruction Derby action for good measure.” according to Gamespot. The concept sounds like a lot of fun. Handling will be adjusted to suit an arcade feel and split screen as well as online multiplayer will be supported. Release is expected in May 2012 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. I think Codemasters are on to a winner with this title and the trailer makes the game look like a lot of fun. Downloadable title at a reasonable price point and you’ve got yourself a winner.