The games that will define PlayStation 3

If nothing in Sony's impressive launch line up convinced you to even consider parting with your cash, don't fret. There's plenty of exciting titles hovering over the horizon.

Whether you're a racing fan, a shooter fan or just a videogame fan, we've scoped out a dozen incoming and exclusive hits that will make joining the new PlayStation generation a question of when, not if.

AFRIKA

What is it?
Unsurprisingly, given the documentary-style of the screenshots, Afrika is a nature-capturing photography adventure. Although Sony has still to reveal how you'll actually snap the exotic beasts or track their whereabouts.

Why should you care?
First, Afrika should be the relaxing, calming antidote to all the bloody violence and explosive stress of most other PS3 games. Second, this is the game to show the world exactly how special PS3's technology really is.

The trailer hints at a blend of beautiful vistas, teeming wildlife and believable animal behavior, and meandering through this living world looking for images to capture and photos to shoot should be the most tranquil gaming experience you'll ever have.

Hopefully we'll even be able to frame our favoritepics and put them on the walls of our digital Home. This could be blissful.

When can you play it?
At the moment Sony isn't dropping any clues. But, given the lack of actual gameplay coverage given so far, we're going to predict a 2008 launch.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of 12DOVE. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.