Game alert: September 2008: It’s Spore-ing games

We’ve got a ton of incoming games in the next few weeks.  Here’s the lowdown on the (probably) good stuff:

• Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360 / Aug. 26): Reviews that have come out now have me more than interested in this game’s combat system.  I’ve never played anything in the Tales series, so this might be a good time to jump in.
• Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (PS3 / Aug. 26): Again, the Disgaea series is another one that remains virgin territory for me.  But I haven’t had a good SRPG fix since Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, and I’ve heard good things about Disgaea.  I’m just not sure whether I should wait this one out for the DS Disgaea port coming out later (see below).
• Castle Crashers (XBLA / Aug. 27): Behemoth’s beat-em-up just became available on XBLA.  Finally.  Having played it for a couple of hours already, I can attest to its value.  Get it.  Play it.
• Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360 / Aug. 29): I don’t know anything about this game other than the fact that it’s an RPG from Tri-Ace.  I still have yet to finish playing through Star Ocean 3.  But the part I did actually get to play was good.  Anyway, I’ll be keeping on eye on this one.
• Spore (PC / Sept. 7): One of the most ambitious (and most hyped) games in the history of videogaming is finally seeing its debut after years and years of development and delays.  Will Wright’s famous demo from several years ago single-handedly propelled the man from respectable game designer to pop culture icon.  I still remember my jaw dropping as I watched the game work its magic.  I don’t imagine it’ll be long before we’ll be seeing him on just as many T-shirts as Miyamoto.  With Spore’s procedural content creation engine, multiple layers of play, social networking elements, and enormously vast scope, Spore is looking to possibly change the landscape of gaming forever.  Now comes the moment when we finally see whether the wait was worth it.
• Lock’s Quest (DS / Sept. 8): You might not know or remember hearing about this obscure one.  It’s basically a pseudo-tower-defense game with what appears to be RPG and combat elements.  I’ve been really into the flash Tower Defense games popping up on Kongregate, and I enjoy taking a stab at PixelJunk Monsters every now and again when I’m feeling lucky, so this one’s right up my alley.
• Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360 / Sept. 14): Just because you’re playing Spore doesn’t mean you can’t take a break every once in a while to rock out.  Rock Band 2 looks to be releasing soon, giving you a ton of awesome new tracks, a streamlined UI, leaderboard challenge modes, online career mode, a drum trainer, and, of course, backward-compatibility with EA/Harmonix’s huge and still-growing music library.  As for me, I just really want to get my hands on those Ion drums.  My game budget’s about to take another monstrous hit.
• Disgaea DS (DS / Sept. 23): I will play Disgaea in the near future.  The question is whether the portability of this one will make up for the likely reduction in quality.
• LittleBigPlanet (PS3 / Oct. ??): I figured I’d just throw this one in for kicks, even if it’s slated for October.  I consider this game to be a bigger reason to buy a PS3 than Metal Gear Solid 4.  Also, since my current job involves editor tools, I’m interested to see how the game’s design tackles a myriad of different issues.  Besides… It’s Mark Healy!  Ragdoll Kung Fu was hilarious!

That is all.  Carry on.