Features// SPOnG's Review of the Year 2011: June

There were few big PS3 exclusive titles to show off, but among the ones presented were new instalments in the Sly Cooper and Ratchet and Clank series‘, Resistance 3 and Twisted Metal.

Re-mastered editions of PS2 games were also popular, with the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus collected for HD release in, well, a Collection; the God of War: Origins Collection was also announced to bring back some classic titles in style.

Sony also took the time to issue a formal apology for the lengthy downtime of the PS Network due to the hacking attacks in April, which you can read here.

The lateness of the apology might not have lessened it‘s impact for some disappointed fans, but there‘s no doubt the massive overhaul to the PS Store and host of special offers helped make things better. Read about some of the details of Sony‘s efforts to make good here.

Microsoft divided its E3 presentation between regular upcoming Xbox 360 games and promoting some big exclusive titles for the Kinect, its motion-sensing add-on.

Perhaps its biggest announcement was the continuation of the wildly successful Halo series. The next true instalment of the series, Halo 4, was officially confirmed with a tentative late 2012 release date.

Fans of the series wouldn‘t have to wait that long to get its fix however, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (reviewed here), a revised and updated remake of the original game in the series, was confirmed for a November release.

The impact of these announcements was lessened somewhat by accidental leaks only hours before the event however.

Titles like Kinect Sports: Season Two and Kinect Disneyland Adventures (reviewed and compared to GTA here) were sure to satisfy the more casual gaming crowd.

Microsoft seemed to be aiming to impress more serious gamers as well, revealing Kinect Star Wars and Fable: The Journey. You can read Svend‘s first impressions of both titles here and here.

Bioware‘s Mass Effect 3 was one of the biggest 360 titles to announce a degree of Kinect compatibility.

SEGA was also celebrating at E3, as June saw its flagship Sonic the Hedgehog series hit its 20th anniversary. SEGA’s biggest announcement was that Sonic Generations, a nostalgia-fuelled adventure set for release on the PS3, 360 and 3DS.

Other big highlights from the show were 2K Games' BioShock Infinite, which earned itself the Best of Show award; Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, EA‘s Battlefield 3, FIFA 12, Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic; Ubisoft‘s Assassin‘s Creed: Revelations and Rayman: Origins; Warner Bros. Batman: Arkham City and The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and THQ‘s Saints Row: The Third.

Perhaps the most notable game release of the month was the long-awaited Duke Nukem Forever. As it turned out it was not notable for quality ( we gave it a rather low score when it finally emerged), but for its notorious backstory.

With over a decade of troubled development under 3D Realms, DNF as it was enevitably known, was generally believed to be vapourware until 2K Games and Gearbox announced they were going to finish the job.

Unfortunately the Duke‘s latest adventure was a bit of a dud, but nobody‘s going to hold it against Gearbox as long as Borderlands 2 doesn‘t take 10+ years to come out too.

Now, as I’ve said, our review score was low... but not as low as the story of the PR man who took offence to such reviews.

Despite the negative press the Duke fared pretty well in sales.

Other big releases this month were PS3 exclusive Infamous 2, and F.E.A.R. 3, Dungeon Siege 3, and Alice: Madness Returns, sequel to cult favourite American McGee‘s Alice, for both the PS3 and 360.

Infamous 2 fared well in its SPOnG review which can be found here.

As the summer movie season began to hit its stride licensed properties such as Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Cars 2 also hit the shelves.

But let’s face it... June is all about E3. Read all our reports here and here, and here and here!

However, we’re going to leave June 2011 with news of a promotion in the face of several challenges. And of a man finally, nearly, possibly moving aside after creating a legend.

Yes, ‘Kaz Hirai Promoted as Ken Kutaragi Nearly Leaves Sony for Real’ was the report.

As we said, “Yup, despite rumblings that the PSN hack might put a crimp in Kaz Hirai‘s rise up the corporate ladder to his eventual final destination as CEO, he has in fact been promoted.”

We also noted that, "as of June 28, Ken Kutaragi has retired from his role as Honorary Chairman of SCEI." That said, Mr Kutaragi - aka Father of Playstation - will "continue in his role as senior technology adviser of Sony Corporation."

Also included in the post-PSN-apocalypse was that Brit, Andrew House, who was tehn President, CEO and Co-COO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), was promoted to President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCEI).”

Roll on July and the traditional Summer influx of great games (yes, we know...)