Note: The following post is just speculation on my part, nothing official has been announced at all. I just pieced together some information that I've been reading online, and this is what I came up with.
I've been following the news for the upcoming WCG 2009. As a participant from WCG 2008, I'm just curious about how they're going to have their competition this year. I'm NOT participating at all for this year, but I am curious, because I read on the Philippine WCG forum before it was taken down a few months ago that they are NOT going to include ANY of the first FIVE games announced already by http://www.worldcybergames.com/ :
- Guitar Hero World Tour (XBOX 360)
- Virtua Fighter 5 (XBOX 360)
- Counterstrike (PC)
- Starcraft Brood War (PC)
- Warcraft Frozen Throne (PC)
Again, based on what was posted on the forum which used to be available on http://ph.worldcybergames.com, none of the above games are going to be part of WCG 2009 for the Philippines. That forum is no longer available because ph.worldcybergames.com is probably getting upgraded.
Ok, so for the past few weeks I've been waiting and waiting for http://www.worldcybergames.com/ to finally update us on the remaining five games. Well, a few months ago they said there that they'd pick FIVE more games.
But apparently....that isn't the case. According to THIS US WCG WEBSITE, they're only selecting THREE MORE GAMES.
I've been following the news for the upcoming WCG 2009. As a participant from WCG 2008, I'm just curious about how they're going to have their competition this year. I'm NOT participating at all for this year, but I am curious, because I read on the Philippine WCG forum before it was taken down a few months ago that they are NOT going to include ANY of the first FIVE games announced already by http://www.worldcybergames.com/ :
- Guitar Hero World Tour (XBOX 360)
- Virtua Fighter 5 (XBOX 360)
- Counterstrike (PC)
- Starcraft Brood War (PC)
- Warcraft Frozen Throne (PC)
Again, based on what was posted on the forum which used to be available on http://ph.worldcybergames.com, none of the above games are going to be part of WCG 2009 for the Philippines. That forum is no longer available because ph.worldcybergames.com is probably getting upgraded.
Ok, so for the past few weeks I've been waiting and waiting for http://www.worldcybergames.com/ to finally update us on the remaining five games. Well, a few months ago they said there that they'd pick FIVE more games.
But apparently....that isn't the case. According to THIS US WCG WEBSITE, they're only selecting THREE MORE GAMES.
2 Xbox 360 games, and 1 PC Game.
So, let me get this straight. WCG Philippines said on their forum that they aren't picking any of the five games already announced.
Based on the relatively horrid turnout for the Xbox 360 games last year, I speculate that WCG Philippines aren't going to pick any of the two remaining unannounced Xbox 360 games either, whichever those might be. I may favor the Xbox 360 myself to some extent, but I'm also a realist, and I know what happened last year wasn't up to WCG Philippines' standards. It seemed to me last year that the local WCG was expecting Counterstrike/Warcraft-like numbers when it comes to the turnout for the Xbox 360 games, and to be honest, that just did NOT happen last year.
Which leaves us with ONE PC GAME. Only one more PC game is going to be announced by the WCG. My speculation is that that game will be Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. There has been hearsay that that game can be Defense of the Ancients but I seriously doubt that; DOTA is simply not that popular in the United States. [Note: this doesn't rule out DOTA for the WCG Asian Championship 2009, though.]
As for the other two Xbox 360 games, here's my speculation as to what they might be. It can be any two of the following:
- Halo 3 - because it's Microsoft's flagship franchise and they're a major sponsor for WCG.
- Gears of War 2 - again it's an MS title and they're going to massively push the Xbox 360 for sure through these tournaments.
- Street Fighter IV - I'd love for this to happen---but I am 50/50 on it. If it were SFIV why didn't they pick it in the first place? I'm not sure they're inclined to have two fighting games for the tournament. But, given SFIV and how the game is single-handedly reviving the fighting game genre throughout the globe, WHY NOT?
- Soulcalibur IV - This is a long shot, but given how the game is more accessible than SFIV and is still popular with most gamers, it's likely. I do know that SCIV can attract a fairly good audience of gamers. I've seen it happen myself, in the events I've helped organize in the past few months.
- Project Gotham Racing 4 - is a shoe-in as one of the selected games because they don't have any racing game yet. Unless the unannounced PC game is a racing game.
Again, I'm only speculating that there is only one more PC game (among the unnanounced titles) based on the site pic I posted. Of course it could all change. It's just interesting to me that the US WCG site posted this 'change' to the upcoming announcement on new titles for WCG. I think the US almost always sends a complete contingent of players for this major international tournament; I don't think they would not send any players to any particular game. Add the fact that Microsoft is surely going to push this tournament heavily. Of course the USA will send players for every WCG game. They're the United States, they just have to do that, and they're completely expected to do that. Don't tell me even the current global recession affected this.
So, really, seriously....what is that ONE PC game that hasn't been announced yet that will be part of WCG? It's worth finding out for Philippine gamers because apparently that's the only game that this year's WCG Philippines events may be based on.