Matthew Nellis

Lets kick things off with what seems to be quite an obvious place to start: A look at what I’m most excited about in 2010 in my four areas of interest (games, tech, design, music).

And in part 1, lets take a look at what things peaked my interest in the world of games and design…

Games

Mass Effect 2

Commander Shepard is back in the sequel to a game which I found to be utterly compelling from start to finish. The first Mass Effect was one of the most engaging games I’ve ever played, mixing interesting narrative with tight third person controls, pushed along by an intuitive dialog selection wheel. Yes, that dialogue wheel.

Mass Effect 2 looks like more of the same, which is not a bad thing at all. When the ‘sameyness’ is this good, I honestly don’t care.

Apparently they’ve cut down on the tediously long lift loading limes, possibly the only thing about the original which seriously irked me. The graphics look refined, the gunplay action looks almost like Gears of War and seriously, who doesn’t want to play as a Vanguard? I’ll be picking this the day it’s released, which if you didn’t know is January 26th for North America, January 28th for Australia and January 29th for Europe.

Bioshock 2

Developing a first person shooter which stands out from the crowd must be difficult thing to achieve. But that’s what 2007’s Bioshock did with great aplomb. Sure it may have had some inspiration but the underwater dystopia of Rapture was a character in itself. My favourite sequence in the game still has to be at the taking the elevators ride down into the city. As the voice of Andrew Ryan announces ‘I chose something different, I chose the impossible, I chose….. Rapture!”  and you are greeted with an amazing view of this underwater metropolis, my skin literally tingled. It was an awesome introduction, and it was as damn near perfect as any game will get in my opinion. Are games art? Damn right they are.

So I have no doubt Bioshock 2 will be must-play game of 2010. It has the same team behind the development and whilst it may not surpass the original, it’s certainly going to be close. Bioshock 2 is slated for a February 9th worldwide release.

Design

Adobe Creative Suite 5

I don’t really consider this a must buy for me in 2010, I’m quite happy with CS3, but that still doesn’t stop me getting excited! The main reason? Flash 5:

I think Flash development has become so powerful in recent years, and is so versatile in its uses. I remember making Flash websites during university and thinking “This software is so incredible, it can’t get much better than this.”

Things did get better. What Flash 5 alone is capable of is simply astounding. From developing  native iPhone apps, to its physics simulations, and as I’m told by certain people within the broadcast industry: Bye bye VizRT, hello Flash.

Whether this becomes reality remains to be seen. What is true though, is that Flash is a far more supported, and far more accessible graphics system than VizRT ever will be.

Of course, the creative suite isn’t all about Flash. After Effects is confirmed to be 64-bit native which will no doubt speed things up, and Photoshop? Well Photoshop just looks awesome.

Well thats about it for part one of my 2010 preview. In part 2 I’ll be looking at what I’m looking forward to in the realms of Music and Tech.

This week, a song to honour the wonderful charity that is Childs Play.

Since 2003, over 100,000 gamers worldwide have banded together through Child’s Play, a community based charity grown and nurtured from the game culture and industry. Over 3.5 million dollars in donations of toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children’s hospitals across North America and the world have been collected since our inception.

This year, we have continued expanding across the country and the globe. With around 60 partner hospitals and more arriving every month, you can be sure to find one from the map above that needs your help! You can choose to purchase requested items from their online retailer wish lists, or make a cash donation that helps out Child’s Play hospitals everywhere. Any items purchased through Amazon will be shipped directly to your hospital of choice, so please be sure to select their shipping address rather than your own.

When gamers give back, it makes a difference!

It really is a terrific charity, and its just a shame there’s only 1 participating hospital in the UK. Hopefully that will increase over the years.