One of the hottest gaming consoles out on the market today is the Sony Playstation 3 (PS3). As of March 2009, more than 170 million PS3 games have reportedly been sold.

With the recent release of the PS3 slim model last September 2009, even more games have made its way into the market. Here are 5 of the most recent and yet-to-be released PS3 games:

1. James Cameron’s Avatar
One of the most-awaited films of the year, Avatar promises to be a huge hit. The film breaks into cinemas worldwide on December 18th. However, its videogame adaptation, released earlier on December 1st, has proven to be a disappointment. Set as a prequel to the film, the game’s rich graphics and cool 3D environments suffer greatly from a thin plot and weak gameplay elements. Avatar: The Game is reportedly bland and mediocre, where you run around a beautiful world, meet characters that deliver boring dialogues, and shoot weird, unexciting enemies. IGN gives it a 6.8 rating, while GameSpot gives it a 5.5. The verdict? Don’t play the game before watching the movie!

2. Assassin’s Creed II
One of the best games to come out for the PS3, the sequel to Assassin’s Creed not only addresses most of the issues and glitches of the original game but also offers some great new elements. The game features a beautifully rendered environment that makes you feel like you’re really walking around Renaissance Italy. It presents a compelling, detailed storyline that merges historical facts seamlessly into the game, and introduces an extremely appealing character in Ezio Auditore di Firenze. New missions, an economy system, and additional character abilities complete the sequel. Some gameplay and video glitches may occur. Released last November, Assassin’s Creed II has a general rating of 9.0 and above.

3. Metal Gear Solid: Rising
The 5th game in the Metal Gear franchise, Rising was announced at the Microsoft E3 press conference last June 2009. It is set to be a multi-platform release, being developed for the PS3 as well as for Windows and Xbox 360. Very minimal info has been leaked-out regarding details of the sequel. It features Raiden as the main playable character, the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. Game producer and series director Hideo Kojima has revealed that they will be using a new game engine for Rising – something that Metal Gear fans could look forward to. Rising is said to be released sometime in September 2010.

4. God of War III
Bloody, brutal, epic – what more can one expect from Sony’s God of War series? This latest installment, set for release in March 2010, gives us a very, very ticked-off Kratos invading Mount Olympus, hell-bent on annihilating the mighty Zeus. Of course, the lesser gods won’t let you get to him that easily, so you’ll have to battle them and all sorts of foul creatures they throw in your way. Some of the sequel’s notable elements include a new weapon system, the ability to mount or ride enemies or even use them as battering rams, and fighting on the back of a Titan. The dreadfully gruesome battles are definitely not for the squeamish but hey, this IS God of War, after all.

5. Final Fantasy XIII
What good is a video game console if you don’t have Final Fantasy on it? The popular long-running series from Square Enix will debut on the PS3 in March 2010 with Final Fantasy XIII. Two notable main characters are Lightning, a rather unfeminine but extremely agile pink-haired girl, and Snow, a gruff fighter who uses brute force to take down enemies. Characters can summon Eidolons in battle. One of the new battle features is the Eidolon’s ability to transform and interact with the summoner – Shiva, for example, can transform into a motorcycle that Snow rides against enemies. Another new option is called “paradigm shift” where you can switch defensive, offensive, or healing roles among your party members.

So there you go, five PS3 titles that have been making a buzz in the video game market. With all these advances in gaming technology, all we can do is expect more to come!

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