Time flies like an airborne Nike Bellic, shot skyward through the atmosphere after ramming his PCJ 600 headlong into an oncoming LCPD cruiser. We’re already halfway through 2008, and while the end of the year holds some big titles like Spore, Gears of War 2 and Fable 2, we’ve already seen some GOTY contenders hit the market. Here are a few of my favorites so far, and a quick view of the rest of 2008:

It’s impossible for me not to mention the most detailed, immersive and expansive game first: Grand Theft Auto IV. The GTA series has become the bar-setter in the industry, and the fourth iteration shatters all previous entries with its incredible visuals, procedural character animation and Scorsese-grade plot. Every corner of Liberty City has something different to take in, be it a street walking preacher cooing the end of days, a soulful saxophonist who gladly accepts donations or a random mission from a complete stranger. Become a cop, go bowling or drinking with a friend, and clean the streets of flying rats. There’s so much to do and so much to look at that tourism could also be considered a viable activity along with everything else I don’t have space to write about. GTA4 also has the honor of being the only game that has made me angry on the behalf of the hero, too. You’ll grow to hate at least one of the characters so much that when you finally get the chance to end him, you might actually yell out loud in triumph. Amazing. If Rockstar North wanted to elicit emotion from the player, they nailed it with Grand Theft Auto IV.

World of Warcraft has been the reigning king of the MMO market, amassing millions of players and turning them into hopelessly addicted grind stone junkies. Funcom was fully aware of this, and despite the heavy handed competition, has managed to pull a few of the faithful over to their barbarian life simulator, Age of Conan. Blending the traditional MMO with an action game, AOC shows us that not everything has to be relegated to a point, click and wait dynamic through an intuitive and effective combo system. While it might not be quite as accessible (or T rated) as WOW, Conan has so far shown itself to be a great stepping stone in advancing what’s widely considered a monopolized genre.

So far, this year’s award for extreme structural detail in a strategy game goes to Supreme Ruler 2020. I’ve spent a healthy amount of time dominating the world via BattleGoat’s geo-political sim, and despite the dated graphics and initially confusing interface, it becomes ever so clear that all the bewilderment is caused by nothing more than brutal reality. Everything statistical like resources and military equipment is as close to accurate as I’ve seen so far in a game. Be a tyrant, burning through the boarders of neighboring countries for resources, or a man of peace if you think you have the chops for diplomacy. Nobody ever said running the show was easy, but SR2020 makes it worth the time.

The rest of 2008> Wow… We’ve got Bethesda’s much anticipated Fallout 3, Pandemic’s Mercenaries 2, Lionhead’s Fable 2 and Epic’s Gears of War 2. Not to mention my personal obsession, Spore, and some new IPs like Dead Space, Legendary and the oft delayed Too Human. Speaking of chronic tardiness, anyone else see the gameplay footage from Duke Nukem Forever yet?

We all thought 2007 was a good year for games, but it looks like ‘08 may prove to be even better! Only time will tell if we’re really as lucky as we think, but until then, I can’t help but think, “Damn, it feels good to be a gamer!”

Let’s talk about God for a moment, shall we? Not an impossibly enormous bearded man resting on an opulent throne deciding the fates of countless galaxies and their inhabitants, but rather man’s mission to emulate God.

Populous, Sim City, Black & White - it’s all laid out in front of you. Build, destroy, cause a life-ending earthquake and then build a new baseball stadium to mend the wounds. These forefathers of the Simulated Holy Father allowed us to operate as lord of the land, but only within the confines of the earthbound plane.  When you compare that to what’s ahead, these classics barely scratched the paint when it comes to fabricated flexibility.

We’re actually powerless in our own mortal lives, other than what we choose to do for ourselves and those around us. We have little or no control over the dilapidated buildings in our community, we can’t rearrange a downtown district jammed with one way streets, and we can’t carelessly fling lumps of poo at our enemies. Well, some of us can’t.  The question I have is, what happens when we go beyond what gaming has traditionally allowed for?

What happens when Spore is finally released?

Spore is a game for which I’ve been waiting with more tenacity than a soccer mom at the Hanna Montana ticket booth. Ever since I got wind of it back in 2003, I’ve gathered every tidbit, watched every video and did everything within my meager scope of power to get even the tiniest scrap of information to tide me over. Encompassing evolution, architecture, herd behavior and even interstellar travel, this is a game that allows the user to play the Big Man like never before. What decent-minded, Uwe Boll fearing gamer wouldn’t want to double click that?

For the uninitiated here’s how the game works:

You. Are. God.

Aside from that, let’s just say Spore is a sandbox game in which you can take an organism from its cellular phase alllll the way up to a planet-hopping, terra-forming Captain Kirk. This is the whole pie, not just a city, not just a space sim, not just a pretty Pac Man clone. Just you, the process of evolution and infinite editability thanks to a strong procedural backbone. There will be controversy from religious fanatics, there will be at least one death (elderly or other) and the face of gaming might come out of it with pincher claws and 12 eyes, but it’ll be gorgeous.

But what of the Matrix? What about the implications of what we’re playing?  Won’t we essentially be recreating what has already been created? I’m not talking about the aforementioned religious groups getting bunched up over this, I’m talking about a paradox in which those that create create the creator!  We know Spore is going to be a hit; hell, I´m pretty sure The Sims alone was issued to every suburban household in America, so Maxis and EA will come out of this plated in platinum. Yet, I have to wonder that with millions of people creating millions of galaxies and all of those creations mingling together on everyone’s computers and what-have-yous, will we finally have reached full-on God emulation?

Some questions to consider:

Will God get pissed?

The answer is yes, but then the Big Guy will remember that He still created everything, and Will Wright is His creation to begin with, so He should just let it roll off His back. After all, the Bible says emulation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Okay, maybe not, but I’m sure no harm will come of this, at least not on a cataclysmic level. Which bring me to my next query:

Will there be a spontaneous black hole that swallows all known life and matter whole?

The answer: Sweet, but not really all at the same time. Science has shown that at the core of each galaxy resides a super black hole which might be responsible for how solar systems are formed in the first place. So basically the black hole wouldn’t just appear, it would probably just expand from the center of the galaxy and devour. That’s skirting the question a bit, but it brings up another thought:

Is a black hole actually the interface with which God plays a macro version of Spore? I mean, it deletes things into singularity (which is a wholly unknown thing in and of itself) and is thought to be instrumental in the formation of solar systems, which I already said.  So we can theorize that black holes can both create and destroy, just like a great big galactic cursor. Nosh on that science, religion and Stephen Hawking!

So what if?  Are we setting ourselves up for the end of days? Will the computer manifest itself as the Antichrist using Spore as the catalyst?

I guess I should close by saying I’m not seriously considering any of this actually happening, and maybe I’ve been waiting a little too long for Spore to come out, but it’s something to think about before you fall asleep at night. In the meantime, here’s to the potential of a new advent of gaming, a possible universe-wide apocalypse and a beautiful, beautiful spring should the game finally come out.

What do you think, sirs?

Hollywood can get away with rehashing old movies and TV shows, right? Well, what about games? If an obscure classic like Logan’s Run is to be remade, then Dungeon Keeper 2 certainly deserves a face lift as well!

Here’s a game that exhibited what interactive entertainment could be. The atmosphere was creepy, quirky and funny all at the same time, the voiceover and sound effects were satisfyingly comical, and the organic method of digging out your own custom hovel for your minions meant you could create different choke points and layouts practically every time you played! Grab baddies by the handful, drop them on the unsuspecting and watch chaos ensue! Heck, even jump into the fight by possessing character and lay on a personal beat down if you want. Frankly it surprises me that more RTS games don’t offer this feature as standard. It was such an enjoyable way to feel like you were in control, and as we know control was everything in Bullfrog’s games. (See Populous and Theme Park.)

I can still hear the rasping screams emanating from the torture chamber, the complaints streaming from my bile demons, and I’ll never forget gazing at a full treasury after finding that gem seam. Memories are made of this.

Why should DK2 be re-done?

For starers, the graphics were already top of the pile when the game hit in the late 90’s, so just imagine what they could be today! The lighting effects, the particles… Oh, the joyous particles! I was enamored with how well light played off the walls in the original, so I expect a revisiting to induce a flashback in me that never existed in the first place! Imagine the possibility of procedural terrain, wonder at the thought of 5.1 surround sound, marvel at the notion of DX10 architecture! My life would most likely expire after installing it…

This was a gamer’s game, built for those who wanted to multitask at their own leisure. Sure, we have spiritual successors like Black and White and its better-than-the-first-one sequel, but I still find it hard to get over that DK3 teaser Bullfrog included with Dungeon Keeper 2. (I watch it sometimes and weep silently for something that never was.) So I’m calling you out. Molyneux! After Fable 2 and Dimitri (whatever the heck that is), bring it! We´re ready to experience evil again!