All this week, I shall be standing outside with a bucket, attempting to catch as many ephemeral droplets from the downpour of videogame sequel news as I possibly can. Well, I wish I was outside. And I wish I was standing. Instead, I shall be sitting inside and embedding as my already withered legs continue to atrophy. Next to meet its fate at the hands of my ability to resize video code to 600 pixels wide is the latest, somewhat rebooty Splinter Cell. It’s called Blacklist – a word that strikes fear into the hearts of many a videogame journalist who’s dared to say negative things about [REDACTED] or [REDACTED], and it stars an apparently younger Sam Fisher in a more action-orientated setting, with Michael Ironside retired from voice duties. There’s already been a letter from the dev in a desperate attempt to placate the inevitably furious response.
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I just euthanised Sam Fisher.

It was the right thing to do. I couldn’t let him go on like that, constantly trailing off mid sentence, sometimes for minutes at a time, before carrying on exactly where he left off. Or he’d pull himself into safety behind a piece of cover, only to get seemingly distracted, vacant stares as all around him was chaos. When he finally returned to reality, he would just as likely be somewhere entirely different to when he started.

I don’t blame him though. It’s not his fault he’s like this. It’s Ubisoft, with all their talk of good intentions and protecting their creative license, that have really killed him, not me. It wasn’t me who decided that it was time to fight the pirates at all costs, even if it meant that the only true victim would be the paying customer. It wasn’t me who waged this war over copyright infringement. I’m just collateral damage.
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Ubisoft, as part of their current PR campaign to win the hearts and minds of PC gamers, are taking a new approach. Not only will anyone wanting to play Splinter Cell: Conviction be forced to keep their PC permanently online (and hope Ubisoft’s own servers stay online over a weekend) if they want to be able to play the single player game, but now very disappointingly there’s no demo for the PC player.

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As Splinter Cell Conviction nears, the potential-0-meter is pretty high. Many years of development, a lot of time dedicated to getting it right, it could be the new peak for Mr Fisher and his convoluted life. You can see a ton of footage here, should you wish. And below is a new trailer, introducing Victor Coste, who explains a bit about the fall of Sam Fisher, and his current state.

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We’re peering through the futurescope at the games we can expect to see in the coming year. There’s plenty to work through, so let’s get on with a look at some of the notable games of Spring and Summer 2010. (You can read part one here.)
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Splinter Cell Conviction, eh? It’s certainly a video-isual game in development currently. But it’s more than that. It’s a video-isual game in development which Gamespot have put up 12 (Count ’em!) minutes of Footage of. Crikey. With that kind of exposure, you could probably watch it and not bother playing the game when it comes out. The video is hiding nearby. Find it. Go find it!
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