Xbox 360
So here we are again in the middle of the annual great Christmas games rush. Every year we struggle through the summer games drought scraping enjoyment from multiplayer modes or by chasing down trophies and achievements in our old games. Then around the middle of October we are overcome by a surge of great new games.
No sooner is Arkham Asylum finished that it's time for an epic quest in Dragon Age or Borderlands. Before we have even scraped the surface of those Modern Warfare 2 kicks down the door and in a burst of hot lead the last of your free time falls bleeding to the floor. And that's just the start of it.
OK so there is some logic to it; about half of each year's games sales are made in the run up to Christmas but then if half of all videogames are released in this period will that ever change. Videogames are not cheap and when there are so many on the shelves at once the consumers are forced to decide which games to buy and which to leave for another day. Over the last few years many games which really deserved more attention ended up being commercial flops because of this overstuffed shopping turkey.
This year at least some publishers have realized that there is another way. EA have held back the much anticipated Mass Effect 2 until late January so that it wouldn't clash with Dragon Age. Similarly 2K Games have decided to release Bioshock 2 in February when its unsettling charms will garner more attention.
Hopefully these games, and the many others released next year, will get the attention they deserve and the publishers will be rewarded for breaking out of the festive season mould. Of course this does mean that if you have a pile of games waiting to be played you had better get cracking. There is another pile just round the corner!
Brian Ashford