Do you have a particular developer or publisher your keeping an eye on? A company that isn't being talked about that you feel is going to make a bigger then expected impact. A company that might come out of complete obscurity to a position of industry recognition on the back of one or two very good games. A company you think is going to have a dramatic effect on the console wars perhaps. Well who are they, what are their games, and what platform will the games be on?
Right now the MMO space on the consoles is basically a barren wasteland. Which asks the question who is actually going to fill that space, and whether they can appeal to console players. Few gaming genres are as addictive as MMO styled games. The particular dark horse I am watching is Webzen. They are developing Huxley, publishing APB, and are publishing for Red 5 studios. For those not familiar with Red 5 they are made up of former Blizzard employees. Interestingly enough they are also using the Offset engine to design their game, and since Offset will be playable on the consoles its a hope that their project will also make it to at least one of the consoles.
They are bringing three very interesting games to the market. Huxley probably will not arrive till next year, but thats probably a positive development. The game is definitely using a powerful engine, and the longer it is in development the more hopeful I am that it will arrive very playable. I also think its probably a break out title on the 360 for the genre. Being that it appears to be closer to a Halo 3 or a Rainbox six then it is to a World of Warcraft. That makes it more of a gateway title, and probably closer to a wet dream for any major shooter fan.
All Points Bulletin is actually a novel concept if Grand Theft Auto doesn't do it all first. I am cautiously interested in this title, but the roleplaying elements seem rather weak, and that is a real problem. I wouldn't have said that before I heard about the multiplayer in Grand Theft Auto, but its very likely that game will be twitch based. Cool tattoos aren't enough to differentiate this title. However this is Realtime studios and Crackdown was a very nice game. Greater the shame that it wasn't multiplayer, and greater the shame that there will not be a two. However I will give them the benefit of the doubt and have high expectations for this title when it arrives.
I actually think that Red 5 may be a incredible wild card this generation if their next title arrives on either of the consoles. The engine should support both, and the developer does have the experience with how to make a popular game. I think its too early to judge anything, but its interesting never the less.
Anyway that is my dark horse developers whats yours for this generation. Please do not insert some big name developer or publisher. Pick someone small and relatively unknown.
