Features// SPOnG's Review of 2008: July

Cranking it up a notch, the second biggest news worm to wriggle its way out of the damp earth of E3, came from Microsoft. Final Fantasy XIII heading to the Xbox 360! Poor old Sony. The reason Square Enix decided to two-time PlayStation, apparently, is hardware “spread”.

The first biggest news, however, came from Nintendo. With a little help from its new best pal, Rockstar. Grand Theft Auto, complete with Liberty City, was bound for the DS in the form of Chinatown Wars – no small coup for the handheld and its supposedly casual audience.

So, surely Sony must have had some big news? Something to turn our heads, to light our ring, to whet our whistle and grab our gristle? Not so much. It had a rather lacklustre keynote with not a lot to write home about. God of War 3 was announced, but who didn't know about that? Resistance: Retribution for the PSP was busted out, while the 256-player MAG was announced. Really, though, there wasn't a lot to write home about.

Mind you, there wasn't much to write home about in terms of actual substance when it came to rumours surrounding Metal Gear Solid 4 heading to the Xbox 360, but that didn't stop the Internet being ablaze with scuttlebutt and speculation suggesting that it would be.

July wouldn't have been complete, of course, if Will Wright, creator of The Sims and Spore, hadn't got around to a spot of (inaccurate) blaspheming. Well, it probably would have been, but we loved him for it anyway...

Meanwhile, on our home soil, the Develop Conference brought the games development community down to Brighton. It also brought early news, courtesy of SPOnG, of Codemasters' open-world racing outing – Fuel.

July, being one of the desert summer months, didn't bring a vast number of game releases to get wet (around the mouth, that is) about. Ferrari Challenge was alright, the PSP got Secret Agent Clank and belated versions of Unreal Tournament III and Devil May Cry 4. And... that was about it.