Over the past couple of days, Sierra Entertainment has unloaded a series of major announcements regarding anticipated games getting locked in for release and brand new titles being unveiled for the first time, starting off with the confirmation of a launch date for TimeShift. Sabre Interactive’s time-shifting FPS will ship for the PC and Xbox 360 on October 30th, with the PS3 version to follow sometime in December. A pre-order campaign has just been launched as well, offering an exclusive playable multiplayer character to those who reserve a copy.
Sierra’s other fall headliner World in Conflict has just wrapped up development and reached gold status, making September 18th its official ship date for the PC. WiC will be available in both Standard and Collector’s Edition packages retailing for $49.99 and $59.99 respectively. No new word on the Xbox 360 version has been given.
“Sierra Entertainment would like to congratulate Massive Entertainment for creating one of the premiere PC games of 2007, one that pushes the strategy genre to the next-generation, blurring the lines between strategy, action and first-person-shooter,” said Martin Tremblay, president of worldwide studios, Sierra Entertainment. “World in Conflict delivers on the promise of modern PC gaming, providing amazing graphics featuring DX10 effects, groundbreaking multiplayer for individuals and clans, and fresh single-player gameplay that will keep strategy fans engaged while also bringing a much broader group of gamers to the genre.”
On the new game front, Sierra has lifted the curtain on Prototype, “a completely new kind of open-world game, featuring a rich story line of conspiracy, deception and deadly shape shifting action” currently in development at Radical Entertainment. The game will tell the story of a shapeshifting lead character by the name of Alex Mercer who is fighting some kind of “secret war” set in New York City. Prototype is scheduled for a Summer 2008 debut on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Details beyond that are under wraps for now.
“Radical Entertainment has a strong pedigree of critically acclaimed, best-selling open-world games, and Sierra Entertainment is excited to see them craft an original game that has already fired-up the imaginations of press and gamers alike,” said Martin Tremblay, president, Worldwide Studios for Sierra Entertainment. “Prototype represents the strength of Sierra Entertainment’s internal studios and our commitment to creating original and exciting games.”
“Radical Entertainment set out to create the most dynamic video game character ever imagined. From free-form movement to over-the-top combat action; Prototype can climb or wall-run across any surface, jump 30 stories high, and destroy anything that crosses his path,” said Kelly Zmak, president of Radical Entertainment. “Our team at Radical has built upon the technology that drove our previous best-selling games and now has the freedom to dream big and imagine a powerful character in a sprawling city like New York, cloaked in a conspiracy and ripped from today’s headlines.”
Closing out the week, Sierra has also revealed the development of The Spiderwick Chronicles, a new action-adventure title based on the upcoming Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Films movie and best-selling book series of the same name. Stormfront Studios is heading development on The Spiderwick Chronicles for a targeted February 2008 release on the Xbox 360, PS2, PC, Wii and DS. A handful of early screens are posted below.
“Sierra Entertainment is excited to announce that one of the most anticipated family entertainment films of 2008 will be coming to the world of video games as well,” said Al Simone, senior vice president, Global Marketing for Sierra Entertainment. “The Spiderwick Chronicles video game will authentically recreate the world of Jared, Simon and Mallory Grace, putting gamers in their shoes as they discover a hidden world of fantastical creatures – sprites, ogres, goblins, brownies and more. Fans of the Spiderwick books now not only have the movie to look forward to, but will be able to live in their favorite fantasy world in this adventure filled game.”
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Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
