APB

On the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the current console generation, we decided to take a little look back. The difference is while most people are looking at this generation's successes with reverence, examining the wonders these machines have brought us, we’re choosing instead to use this milestone as another chance to mock some of the most epic failures we’ve ever seen.

Though the reasons these things to fall on their face so incredibly hard vary from game to game, the mocking part is universally, consistently fun. It’s really their own damn fault. If the video game industry wasn’t so hell bent on pretending every single product was going to bring about the techno-singularity, we wouldn’t have license to kick them when they’re down. But they do. So we do too. Here, in no particular order, are a baker’s dozen of the worst crash-and-burners of this generation...

With Scottish uber-dev Realtime Worlds (the creator of Crackdown, headed up by original Grand Theft Auto designer Dave Jones) closing down following the failure of its long-in-development MMO shooter APB, the news has hit that the game itself is also done and dusted. A message now on the official APB site regretfully announces that "despite everyone's best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close". That's it. Game over. Server shutting down.

Today we've talked to one of Realtime's ex-employees. He's given us some comments regarding the game's development, its failure, and the reasons it was always a risky proposition. Click on too, if you want to know the official line for the buyers of the game, who now own naught but a defunct shiny disc.

Bringing a massively multiplayer game into the world, all gooey and screaming, is a tough experience for any developer. More than any other game, the world of an MMO is designed to be pored over, every inch inspected not by single pairs of eyes at a time, but by thousands, flicking their critical consciousnesses over any flaws in the huge creation and spouting out their findings via in-game chat channels...

We’re barely two weeks into 2010 and there’s already enough must-have games to choke one of Avatar’s six-legged horses. January alone is home to seven big-name releases, with February, March and April continuing the trend. Hell, we even know what’s coming in the summer and in some cases (like Halo Reach) we’re even certain of the fall’s heaviest hitter

We absolutely know that you've been waiting with eager anticipation for a feature to come along that catalogues examples of new games that share an identical name with an old game. It doesn't happen very often, so it's genuinely exciting when it does. Anyway, we've written that feature, and this is it. Direct all messages of thanks and amazement to the comments thread. K? Cheers.

Afrika | PS3 | 2009

The new Afrika: Is

Christmas '09 is cancelled, but early next year looks amazing.

Contributors: Chris Antista, Charlie Barratt, Brett Elston, Matthew Keast, Shane Patterson, Mikel Reparaz

Hundreds of games are released every year, then played and forgotten by the next. Only a dozen or so will be remembered a decade from now, and only a few of those will have any lasting impact on the medium as a whole.

Which upcoming titles stand the best chance of leaving that meaningful mark?