[Jackal]

Goodbye, winter lull... hello, spring revival. Like the bears, adventures have been in hibernation for the last few months. But with the thaw, the genre is ready to emerge with renewed vigour. Already hitting the market are Keepsake and Scratches, and hard on their heels will be Crime Stories, Barrow Hill, Pathologic and Daemonica, plus a couple games on the Hype-o-Meter that will release before I'm done this update if I don't shut up PDQ.

So let's get to it, then, shall we?

#1 and #2: Dreamfall and Paradise. Thank goodness for cut and paste or these slots would get onerous.

#3: Ankh. No change here, either. I just wanted to draw attention to it before it disappears off the list after its projected release in the UK on March 17th. A comic adventure set in ancient Egypt (my winter imagery is so screwed here), this game has released to great acclaim in its native Germany, and we're anxious to see what all the gelächter is about!

#4 and #5: Broken Sword 4 and Runaway 2. Have I mentioned my fondness for cut and paste? Love 'em or hate 'em, these two sequels are regular hype factories. And Runaway 2 will actually come out in the UK this time. At least, we think so.

#6: Bone 2. It's twice the Bone! And I mean that literally. Episode 1 may have disappointed some, but The Great Cow Race promises to be bigger and better than the debut in every way. And Telltale has obviously put our money when their mouths are, too, as AG has already had a first-hand look and come away convinced that this next offering just might win over the naysayers.

#7: Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman's Mine. You can take the community out of Sierra, but you can't take Sierra out of the community. No no, this isn't actually FROM Sierra. After all, Vivendi is busy putting together phantom compilations. But Al Emmo is the next best thing, as Himalaya Studios takes us on a nostalgic trip down memory lane (don't ask me where else a nostalgic trip would go) with their first commercial offering. Plus adding a healthy dose of their own unique vision, of course. The game has reached beta, so release can't be that far off.

#8: Secret Files: Tunguska. Cut and paste is my friend again. Not a lot new to report, but the game hasn't gotten any uglier in the meantime. It's still a looker.

#9: The Secrets of DaVinci. No matter how often we say otherwise, people will continue to confuse this game with the action-adventure based on Dan Brown's DaVinci Code. But no, this is a pure adventure from Kheops Studio and their 236 partner studios (okay, only 3), due out in April. With only a trailer and a few details actually known about this game, we're basing this selection on our faith in Kheops and a fascination with DaVinci, one of the most renowned and enigmatic characters in history. (Actually, I don't know that he was at all enigmatic, but it gives this placement so much more impact to say so. )

#10: CSI 3 Dimensions of Murder: With such a flawless track record of outstanding games, the CSI series... okay, that's a fib even I can't pull off. Truth be told, the CSI games have been mired in mediocrity from day one, and if the new game wasn't being developed by Telltale, we probably wouldn't take much notice. But it is, so we are, and we're eager to see whether the change in developer and the move to 3D can finally do justice to the popular TV series. This is another game whose H-o-M stay may be short lived, as it's charging hard down the home stretch towards an imminent release.

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I'm going to cheat this time and announce the NEXT change in advance. When Ankh releases next week, its spot will be re-claimed by Tony Tough 2, which has fallen off the current list but will slide back in at #10. Everything else but good ol' Dreamfall and Paradise will hop up a spot, but stay in its current order.

With several more releases expected in the coming weeks, we'll see some new faces on the list before long. For those of you wondering what the recent forum vote was all about, hold tight until then.

[RLacey]

And a thousand* people who haven't read previous topics cry out as one...

"Where's Sam & Max?"

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* Number chosen at random.

[Ripper137]

"where's Sam & Max?" jk,

glad to see that dreamfall still has first place

[The Seed]

Can't help but notice Telltale gradually beginning to make their presence felt on this Hype-o-Meter , already has 2 titles on there, strong chance they will soon have 3.

[fov]

Originally Posted by The Seed

Can't help but notice Telltale gradually beginning to make their presence felt on this Hype-o-Meter , already has 2 titles on there, strong chance they will soon have 3.

Probably not all at the same time.

The Great Cow Race and CSI are both releasing pretty soon.

[Karmillo]

I thought CSI wasnt going on the list?

I was dotted at and everything

and Im sad to see Simon 4 not being on the list, it should take CSI's place once its released

But im glad to see ankh hasnt been released yet, I was starting to think it wasnt going to be availible in uk stores

[Udvarnoky]

CSI is being released on Tuesday (my Ubisoft preorder shipped yesterday), so that should be bumped off next week too.

[Jackal]

Originally Posted by Karmillo

I thought CSI wasnt going on the list?

I was dotted at and everything

It wasn't part of the vote, because I already knew which of the short term games were going on this update.

Originally Posted by Udvarnoky

my Ubisoft preorder shipped yesterday

It shipped? Holy crap. I knew release was coming soon, but I didn't think they'd settled on a solid release date yet, let alone "yesterday".

[RLacey]

You've got to love the way Ubisoft are really exploiting their licence and going big on the marketing ...

[Udvarnoky]

No kidding. The site hasn't even launched yet.

[Karmillo]

wait, this tuesday!?

[Udvarnoky]

Tuesday as in two days from now.

[the gnome]

And the Da Vinci thingy seems a bit tacky ....

[fov]

Tacky how?

[the gnome]

Tacky, because it's trying to ride the Da Vinci bandwagon, that was based on a tacky and quite badly written book... The graphics, also, look ugly and I just don't like it. A bit.

To be frank, tacky was actually used as a more-or-less random insult... I could have of course said that Da Vinci fights like a dairy farmer or something...

Anyway...Please ignore me. I'm feeling rather silly today.

[Dale Baldwin]

Just because it has the DaVinci name doesn't mean it has anything to do with the DaVinci Code (and for what it's worth, it doesn't). Kheops hasn't disappointed me yet, so I don't foresee them doing so with The Secrets of DaVinci either.

[the gnome]

Perhaps you are right, but please humour me... I'm in a really silly mood.