It’s only November, and already the stores have started to stock things for the holidays. No, I’m not talking about decorations, trees, or gift materials – I’m talking about – what else, upcoming and current game releases.
Starting this month, if you’re a gamer, you might have to start making selective purchases to make sure you don’t break your own budget, because there’s a ton of titles hitting the shelves. Dragon Age: Origins from Bioware just came out yesterday, the Left 4 Dead 2 demo is live with the game soon to follow, would-be silent killers can look forward to Assassin’s Creed 2, and MMO fans can check out LOTRO’s new Mirkwood expansion. These are just a few of the rush of games that are out to drop prior to the end of the year, threatening to kill your productivity with graphical, action-packed goodness.
After hearing earlier this year that video games are not recession proof after all, the fact that newish titles are still being released in droves shows that if anything else, the industry isn’t about to put their head down and start hurting from less staff and lower sales. Such variety in the choices that gamers have means that the industry will see some decent revenue this holiday season, as buyers make choices on purchasing any (or all, if you’re that game-nuts) of the games I’ve listed, and more.
The really neat thing is that this uptick will be seen throughout all aspects of the gaming industry. PC Gaming is far from dead if the plethora of MMOs are any indication, and the increasing presence of digital download, whether from Steam or some other source, means that PC folks will get their share of love. Consoles, having engaged in a 1-upsmanship of a price drop war, will also be moved on a variety of platforms this holiday, as the difference between them now only resides in their various exclusives and appeal.
Beyond the holidays is looking pretty good, too, as titles that were originally slated to be released prior to Christmas begin to make themselves known – Heavy Rain, God of War III, Bayonetta, Star Trek Online, and more mean that the industry’s all-you-can-eat games buffet is not going to be slowing up anytime soon.
Me? I’ve always been a bit selective in my purchases, so with the huge variety of games out now I basically have my pick. Two MMOs (Aion and WAR) occupy my time as well as a late playthrough of Gears of War 2 and some Torchlight goodness, so adding another game or two is pretty intense. You’ll probably see a little bit of “months later” from me when it comes to these current titles – but I’ll be sure to get to quite a few of them and let you all know my wonderfully positive impressions.