Last Christmas

We where absolutely assaulted by cool games comming out left and right. Games like KOTOR2, Dawn of war, Pirates!, Half-Life 2, etc...

This year there's Civilization IV and The Movies. And according to the release dates listed on IGN, it doesn't look like it's going to get much better any time soon.

Am I missing something totally obvious?

maybe there's a big focus by games companies on Next Gen console games and PC is quietly forgotton. Mind you could be something awesome in the pipeline or perhaps Duke Nukem Forever will suddenly turn up lol.

It strikes me a lot of companies are taking a big gamble not releasing for christmas, it must be one of the, nay, probably the biggest money spinner of the year. Grey's likely right, they're concentrating on next gen. Risky bidnes though.

I don't have figures for any of this, just a suspiscion:

Traditionally Easter is also a big one for computer games and so with development cycles of games running at 2 years or more it doesn't matter too much if you don't hit xmas.

I think most AA games are bought by people for themselves, the xmas boost in games sales tends to be the smaller games, budget titles and stuff like that. With games still rising in cost I think the price of a full price title is beyond a gift for most people anyway.

EASTER!!!... why Easter Becks?

don't people buy new clothes and easter baskets and go on easter egg hunts and stuff like that...

:)

i think 'ducks made an interesting observation... the xmas holiday buying season is the time to make a killing...

... i too wonder what's up.

--Mike

When's the new Zelda TP due out?

There are loads of cool games out and coming out you just know where to look. But as games take ridiculous amounts of time to make these days it's no surprise that there doesn't appear to be many games coming out.

And if your only gaming platform is a PC then there's no hope for ya ;)

I wanted to play Oblivion for Christmas.

Sniffage.

I think Becky is right.

Games have gotten too expensive for gifts anyways. I will spend the money on myself to get a game, but I don't want anyone else spending that much money on a gift for me.

I put a few on my list this year, but they were all older or budget ones. Even went so far as to send my wife a link to the ebay auctions for a particular used title. (Which she bought,... sorta takes the fun out of it, but at least I know I won't be getting another 4-in-1 screwdriver kit!)

@ puk... i want peace on earth, and good will towards all men and women this christmas...

seriously...


then january 1st we can go back to killing and hating each other... just like it was before the holidays :)


--Mike

Liberty City Stories is the only game I'll be playing much of these holidays. Rise FM rocks. All the tunes that got me into techno in the first place...

Resident Evil 4, Dragon Quest VIII, Magna Carta : Tears of Blood, Xenosaga Volume 2, Makai Kingdom, Suikoden Tactics, Shadow of the Colossus, all on PS2, my recently purchased games list is looking pretty good anyway.

Not much on PC, no, but every year the PC lineup gets weaker. I am interested in picking up The Movies though.

not to be a downer... but i can honestly say that there is nothing out there that i honestly want...

i can remember the excitement of DOOM and the Flight Simulator... but nowadays, nothing seems to excite me as far as games go... everything i've seen is just a redo of something that preceded it...

i guess i'm sticking with the peace on earth thing...

--Mike

".. I gave you my heart, but the very next day.. you gave it away! .... This year, to save me from tears, I'll save for something special, and no, it ain't the Xbox 360!"

There's some good stuff out, but probably not totally new.
If you like action adventures, I suggest God of War for the PS2.

Whats this about the high price of xbox 360 games? I see they sell them for around $50 online.. is it that much higher than the normal games?
In norway we usually pay around $70-85 for new PS2 / XBox games in stores.
yeah it sucks. luckily, the price drops after a couple of months to your level :)

> i guess i'm sticking with the peace on earth thing...

Why don't you ask Santa for a new keyboard for christmas?

There are a lot of great games for the consoles ... I think this year's pretty good for games. Maybe not as good as last year but still ... you've got a lot of good PC games coming out.

Or there is this guy down at the post office who told me today that he wants the bike he never got as a kid. =]

All I want for Chanukkah is a GameCube, but I'll bet anything I won't get it.

Also, interestingly, there used to be a big uproar in the industry about how gearing up for big christmas releases was a bad thing. Since everyone did it, all the "big games" had a much smaller slice of the market because they were competing with a load of other "big games" slated for christmas. Maybe they're starting to see sense and stagger their releases more. Makes sense. The movie industry is usually quite happy to shunt a film to a different release date if they think the schedule's crowded.

But it's quite likely next gen stuff causing a ruckus. It's kinda depressing to think that in another five years we'll be looking at the whole mess all over again. More consoles, and FIFA 2010 available on all of them.