I can't think of a Fall retail season that's been so rough on gamers. As it is the season that buts up against the spending/buying tsunami known as Christmas (Jesus who?) a lot of games are released during this time. That's to be expected but this XRS is proving to be extremely difficult as I barely have time to game as it is (not a bad thing necessarily) and yet there are a lot of titles being released that I have been tracking—waiting/wanting to play—for a long, long time.
- Halo 3
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfrare
- Mass Effect
- Assassin's Creed
- Medal of Honor Airborne
- The Orange Box
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
- Hellgate: London
- Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron
- Warhawk
- Folklore
- Unreal Tournament III
- Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
- Super Mario Galaxy
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
- Harvey Birdman
Some of these plastic tools of wonderment have already been obtained and played (Halo 3 has been conquered though that was hardly a battle worthy of song) but to get through the rest of the list I'm going to need the power of Santa, Fred Thompson, and American Express to help decide which lucky titles will make it into the library.
At least Blizzard isn't releasing anything this year.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
I'll add Skate., PGR4, and Burnout: Paradise. And Bioshock. Yeah... I guess I picked a bad time to start freelancing...
The Orange Box is a good move.
That's right brother. Say it. And say it loud.
I'm a gamer and I'm proud....
And I'd add Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (I'm a sucker for THPS games) as well as Need for Speed Pro Street. Why couldn't have gaming lineups like these come about when I was a student and had time to play them.
As it is now, it takes me months to get through a game because I just don't have the time. By the time I end up buying any of these new games I never get a chance to play multiplayer as everyone else has moved on to a newer game...
Well, I got home from San Francisco to discover that Amazon still hadn't shipped Halo 3-- don't ask-- so I went out and bought it. Other than that, The Orange Box is the only one on my must-have list. Mass Effect is a strong possibility, but I want to play the demo before I commit cash to it.
Anyway, I should be up for Halo 3 multiplayer in the next few days. I already loaded my multiplayer avatar with in-jokes, so that's all to the good.
The fall season is typically a slump for video games--a period of rest (and savings) between the summer vacation boom and the holiday spending season (starting in late November.)
You've got a good list going here. I'm really looking forward to Assassin's Creed. But Halo 3 was extremely disappointing in my opinion. The combat lacked impact, and the graphics looked like they took the original Halo and ran the plastic wrap filter over the whole thing to add that gloss effect. The game itself totally lacked intensity compared to other recent-ish shooters like Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Vegas.
Scott, I was going to stick with you until you compared Halo to Gears of Snore and Rainbow Six. I guess it comes down to different styles, but I played GoW for about 20 minutes before I couldn't take it anymore. The "realistic cover" style games just seem excruciatingly slow and frustratingly boring to me. Bungie's been doing balanced, fun multiplayer better than anybody else since Marathon 2, and they haven't lost the lead yet.
I think the single player story-line was weak (genetically enhanced man falls in love with artificial intelligence woman) and I'd agree with Scott that it lacked any nextgen impact like Rainbow Six (Gears of Bore looked great and most of us played it only because Halo 3 was a year late).
Where Halo has always shined is in the multiplayer. That's what the game was meant to be but for some reason Bungie felt compelled to create the single player experience. Bungie hasn't made a decent single player game since Myth II.
> As it is now, it takes me months to get through a game because I just don't have the time. By the time I end up buying any of these new games I never get a chance to play multiplayer as everyone else has moved on to a newer game...
There should be a magical place we can all go where time is suspended so we can finish all those great games that never saw the credit roll.
> Anyway, I should be up for Halo 3 multiplayer in the next few days. I already loaded my multiplayer avatar with in-jokes, so that's all to the good.
Perfect, I have a Gravity Hammer with your name on it. It says: Property of Eric Meyer, Please Return With Care.
> Bungie hasn't made a decent single player game since Myth II.
Your disrespect for Oni demands a reckoning.
Wilson: I can see where Gears and Vegas might not be an ideal comparison, and I agree the cover mechanic can really slow down gameplay. Perhaps a better comparison would be some of the recent games in the Unreal franchise. In those games, I feel like I'm part of the action. In Halo I feel like I'm at a shooting gallery with a BB gun.
> Your disrespect for Oni demands a reckoning.
16-bit called and wanted me to tell you that they miss and love you so much. Please come back and bring your joystick.
Thanks for taking time out of your Pokemon Pearl binging to respond.
You're still going down.
Resident Evil 4, Wii Edition had me captivated for a few months recently...one of my all time favs, you need to check that one out....
> Resident Evil 4, Wii Edition had me captivated for a few months recently...one of my all time favs, you need to check that one out....
I rented it, played for 4 minutes and hit the eject button. How many times are they going to remake that game? Nintendo needs to get with the program and start working with more developers to create NEW games.
You all should save your money and go old school.
READ A BOOK!
To continue,
I think I may have read somewheres, that for each level of eye/hand skill improved by gaming. You loose like 698 brain cells.
While if one reads books, even those picture type books some like, you gain like 8 brain cells per page!!
Just something to ponder........gamer geeks!
> I think I may have read somewheres, that for each level of eye/hand skill improved by gaming. You loose like 698 brain cells. While if one reads books, even those picture type books some like, you gain like 8 brain cells per page!!
What color is your favorite cardigan?
The orange box got (fully) unlocked today. The bits I've played (HL2, HL2.1, Portal) are great.
I was a big Ratchet fan, but the last release was trite!
And Blizzard... pffff. They lost me at WoW expansion pack #1 (don't even talk to me about #2), the lameness that is Starcraft 2 and the lack of anything Diablo related since what feels like the 90s.
What have I been playing lately? Wii tennis at a friend's house (I can finally 0wn 2000 level computer players, yay!), Double Dragon for NES (8 bit forev) and Zelda for SNES (the greatest console game of all time, without question.)
I wouldn't mind Renegade Squadron for christmas. With my luck though I'll probably get a book and a cardigan.
Greg
I gotta say that Im actually more excited about next year with the release of The Force Unleashed and the new strategy game by Clancy called EndWar (I think).
Halo 3 was pretty disappointing. Gotta stick with Gears of War. Its been proven to be old faithful as far as online game play.
charles
team fortress 2 is fun as hell.
> team fortress 2 is fun as hell.
I concur. Played it last night for a bit. The Orange Box has to be the best game (set of games) out for any console at the momment. I can't imagine anything this retail season is going to beat it.
so no scrabble?
I'd play games if I had any time. I'm too busy makin' love :)
That list is remarkably like mine with the one addition of World in Conflict--an awesome multiplayer RTS I downloaded the demo for a few weeks ago. Constant action, no building or resource gathering; just pure, unadulterated tactics! Have to buy it when I know I'll actually have time to play it.
Portal in the Orange Box looks very intriguing. Nice twist on the standard FPS.
So if a lot of people are playing team fortress 2, what are your steam ID's, let's get some games going =)