As the summer movie season winds down, the fall video game season is just beginning.
For the first time in almost six years, gamers are awaiting a new major console, as well as a slew of games, such as “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” and “Halo 4.”
Keith Burregi, manager of Play N Trade Games, and Steve Martin, manager of Gameware, chimed in to provide a breakdown of what they’re ready for and what will sell the most.
“Halo 4” Nov. 6
One of the most anticipated games in recent years, “Halo 4” is the start of a new trilogy that will feature all new enemies and gameplay modes. It is the first game in the franchise to feature its best-known protagonist, the Master Chief, since 2007’s “Halo 3.”
The game picks up four years after the ending of “Halo 3,” in which the chief and his companion, Cortana, were catapulted into deep space aboard a barely intact spaceship. “Halo 4” finds the two landing aboard a mysterious planet ruled by the Forerunners, an ancient breed of aliens.
Burregi said “Halo 4” will be huge for every store, but he’s more focused on the innovations being made by new developers 343 Industries.
“‘Halo 4’ will be the biggest release for us,” Burregi said. “What they’re doing looks great, the game will be a vast improvement on the typical ‘Halo’ model.”
“Call of Duty: Black Ops II” Nov. 13
The sequel to 2009’s “Black Ops” will follow the original game’s protagonist, Alex Mason, as he battles through the Cold War in the 1970s and ’80s. A second section of the game focuses on Mason’s son, David, in the year 2025 as a war is about to erupt between the United States and China.
The game will introduce a new gameplay mode to the “Call of Duty” franchise called Strike Force Missions. The missions will branch from the main story and will severely impact the end result of the game. The game also brings back the ever-popular “Zombies” mode, this time with its own campaign independent of the main story.
“Activision knows they can’t just put the same game out every year,” Martin said. “But I’m really liking the changes they’re making with that, they’re making an attempt to create something new that they’ve never done.”
A fan of shooters, Burregi is excited for the new aspects of the game, as well as its multiplayer.
“To me, the ‘Call of Duty’ franchise has always been pretty sound,” Burregi said. “And it’s always a huge seller because it’s got such a huge following.”
Wii U, November
For the first time since 2006, a major company, Nintendo in this case, is releasing a non-handheld console. Nintendo is following its top-selling Wii with the Wii U, which features a new controller, the GamePad. The controller contains an embedded touchscreen, as well as analog controls that were absent from the Wii’s remote.
Martin played the Wii U in June at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles and said the console is fun and will sell well.
“I think when people are able to actually play it, they’ll like it,” Martin said. “With the Wii, you could just watch a friend play it and see it was fun. People are going to want to get their hands on this thing, and once you do, it’s really fun.”
“Assassin’s Creed III,” Oct. 30
Another fall means another “Assassin’s Creed” game. “AC III” will introduce players to a new protagonist, Connor Kenway, a half-English and half-Native American who operates as an assassin during the Revolutionary War. The game is expected to end Desmond Miles’ storyline, the one that has carried players through the entire series. Developer Ubisoft has not said whether it plans to continue the series.
As past “Creed” games have done, the action will take place in two different time periods. Gamers will play as Connor fighting alongside the American revolutionaries, while seeking a key to stop the apocalypse as Desmond.
Martin expects “AC III” to be one of the best-reviewed games of the year, as well as one of the best selling.
“That game will do gangbusters,” Martin said. “Its predecessors have sold well every year for the past four years, plus they’ve all been really good games.”
Burregi is looking forward to seeing the game change its main setting from densely populated cities to forests and open plains.
“It’ll be a fresh take on the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ franchise, and we’re excited to see how it turns out,” Burregi said. “They’re changing the setting, making it a bit more nature than city, but it looks pretty good.”
“Dishonored,” Oct. 9
In a season full of sequels, “Dishonored” is one of the few major releases that will be the start of a new franchise. Being released by Bethesda, the brains behind the “Fallout” and “The Elder Scrolls” series, the game focuses on a protagonist named Corvo Atano, a bodyguard of a royal who is framed for her murder. The game combines steampunk elements with stealth gameplay that has become a trademark of the “Assassin’s Creed” and “Splinter Cell” series.
As the game has no franchise behind it, Martin doesn’t expect it to sell as well as other games, but believes it will be a solid game.
