This year Vivendi Universal was the breeding ground for licensed games. The Chronicles of Riddick, Van Helsing, Fight Club and Predator were all being shown on the floor. Things were a little different this year though. These titles seem to be pushing some limits of gameplay, despite having an already golden name associated with them. Developers are actually starting to add creativity to more and more licensed games, a trend that was very apparent at Vivendi?s booth.
The same goes for sequels. Empire Earth 2, Half Life 2, Spyro: A Hero?s Tale, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, Crash Twinsanity, Tribes: Vengeance and Ground Control 2 all filled that list. Most of these titles are by no means just reiterations of the same old stuff, and all are sure to appeal to fans of the originals.
The rest of the titles being shown off at Vivendi rounded out the group nicely. Evil Genius, a Sims meets super villains kind of game, will have gamers wielding their malevolent behavior all over the place. Fahrenheit, Red Ninja, Men of Valor, and Ghost are all action games that are sure to wet the appetites of many twitch gamers.
MMORPG?s were represented as well, consisting of DAoC: Catacombs and Blizzard?s much anticipated World of WarCraft. It?s going to be a long time before either of these games hit the shelves, but when they do you can be sure they?re going to cause waves.
Vivendi Universal has come back from an almost mortal fiscal failure, and they are surging ahead like never before. They had something to offer everyone this year at E3, and if they keep this trend up their booth should be growing ever larger with great games.