US Sees Blockbuster Games Release Week

If you've been looking forward to a game's release, odds are that it's coming out this week. Gamasutra has the full list of titles hitting stores in the next few days, and it's a tsunami of gaming goodness. Assassin's Creed, Mario Galaxy, and Crysis are probably the three headlining titles, but no console is spared the deluge. PC Highlights: EverQuest: Secrets of Faydwer, EverQuest II: Rise of Kunark, Kane and Lynch, SimCity Societies. PS3 Highlights: Assassin's Creed, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Kane and Lynch, Beowulf. 360 Highlights: America's Army: True Soldiers, Assassin's Creed, Beowulf, BlackSite: Area 51, Kane & Lynch. Wii Highlights: Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Geometry Wars: Galaxies.

is it true

[Mipoti Gusundar]

If you've been looking forward to a game's release, odds are that it's coming out this week.

Even the Duke Dukem forever? I will be racing large mug of frosen pees!

Hmm

[badenglishihave]

Perhaps this counts as "last week", but what about Sam and Max 201 - Ice Station Santa?

Next week is bigger...

[7Prime]

with just one title too (there may be more, but really, who cares):

Mass Effect.

Not to understate the release of Mario Galaxy, for that is a title almost a decade in the waiting. But for some reason, when it comes down to it, I'm probably even more excited about Mass Effect... even though I traditionally don't like American RPGs. If a jRPG/Wii freak like me can be converted to the dark side by this... I can only guess how huge this game is going to be.

Re:Next week is bigger...

[trdrstv]

with just one title too (there may be more, but really, who cares):

Mass Effect.

Thought I agree in spirit that the biggest game of the year comes out next week, but somehow you misspelled "Rock Band".

Re:

[Gideon Fubar]

I just don't know why people keep misspelling "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" like that..

ok, ok.. Rock Band and Mass Effect look pretty awesome too..

Re:

[trdrstv]

I just don't know why people keep misspelling "Super Smash Bros. Brawl" like that..

Smash looks awesome, but is not coming out next week. Last date I heard was Feb, 2008 (for the US).

Re:

[Gideon Fubar]

dammit.. i must have missed that. Oh well, more time to play other games before Brawl destroys my life and the lives of everyone around me ;)

Re:

[7Prime]

Actually, it was never scheduled to be released next week... it was originally slated for Dec. 2nd, but got pushed back to February. So no, not the biggest game of the year. It will most definitely be the biggest game of next year, and possibly the next 5.

Re:Next week is bigger...

[DarkMantle]

Don't forget Unreal Tournament 3. Been waiting for that one for 4 years.

Re:

[vorwerk]

I urge you to download the UT3 demo and try it out for yourself before buying it.

As a huge fan of UT2k4, I was really looking forward to playing the demo for UT3... and I was extremely disappointed. For numerous reasons, I feel that Epic really slaughtered what was once a great game series. And I'm not alone; there are a ton of unhappy folk over at the UT3 Beta Feedback forum [epicgames.com].

I've since played the COD4 demo and the Crysis demo. And Crysis will be getting my business. Its gameplay is awesome, the AI is g

Re:Next week is bigger...

[bigstrat2003]

Interestingly, I'm a huge fan of UT2k4 as well, and UT3 delivers for me. Crysis, on the other hand, irritates the hell out of me. On my computer, there's a 3-sec control lag in the demo (and it's not FPS, I'm pulling 30 FPS). Maybe the release version will be better, but until I try that (I'm gonna have to yarr-harr it to test it out, I'm not about to risk my money to test if a bug I experienced is gone), my faith is shattered.

COD 4, on the other hand, is amazing. That's really where your business should be going. I just finished the single-player, and am now trying to get into multiplayer (but having issues), and I have to say, the single-player alone is worth the cost of admission. It rocks HARD.

Re:

[Kattspya]

I think the control lag (if it isn't the keyboard) could be the weapon inertia. Turn it down in one of the menus.

I had a strange sound problem in the demo though. I changed the suit voice to female before starting to play and all the NPC sounds and suit sounds were lagging. The sound didn't activate with the current action but the next one. Strangely enough that disappeared when I switched the voice back to male. The full game does the same thing but with both female and male suit voices.

Re:

[darkwhite]

Speak for yourself. As far as I can tell, there are quite a lot of people very happy with the demo. I was struck by how balanced the gameplay was. There are dozens of ways to go fragging, especially with vehicles, and not one of them feels nerfed or overwhelmingly powerful. Personally, I think ONS is the best thing since sliced bread, and while there is no ONS map in the demo, the indications are that Warfare and ONS are as good as ever.

What are the specific problems you have with the demo?

Re:

[bigstrat2003]

You do yourself a disservice to not even count UT3 and Rock Band. Both are going to be huge. As a matter of fact, I'm not even getting Mass Effect right away, because I'm going to be spending so much time playing Rock Band. I'll get it eventually, of course.

Re:

[7Prime]

Well, GHIII just came out a few weeks back, and it's not even all that huge, so I don't know how Rock Band is going to do, and I heard lots more about GH3 than this "Rock Band" you're talking about. And UT3 has been met with mixed reviews.

And finally, I don't care about FPSs or band games. I've got my own band, don't need games to do that for me.

Re:

[Miguelito]

Well, GHIII just came out a few weeks back, and it's not even all that huge, so I don't know how Rock Band is going to do, and I heard lots more about GH3 than this "Rock Band" you're talking about. And UT3 has been met with mixed reviews.

That's just marketing. there has been almost no non-tech circle marketing (that I know of anyway) for Rock Band, but it's developed huge buzz at trade shows and in gaming circles online. They got demo units at the Best Buys local to me (San Diego) a couple weeks ago, an

Re:

[MooseMuffin]

As one of the lucky ones who got Mass Effect over the weekend from the dummys at K-Mart, let me say that I'm 8-9 hours in and this is my dream game. If you liked Kotor, you will love this. It has some very obvious flaws, but once the game gets going you won't even care.

None of those stand a chance against...

[IceCreamGuy]

I predict that ET on the Virtual Console is going to eat up all the hype. It might even be the biggest entertainment launch in history.

ET?

[tepples]

I predict that ET on the Virtual Console is going to eat up all the hype.

Since when is Enemy Territory ported to Wii?

Game Length

[roadkill_cr]

I used to think a six hour game length (CoD4) was much too short. I'm beginning to understand a little better now why we need them that low.

Re:

[Itchyeyes]

I would agree with you if it weren't for the fact that, more the most part, we're still being charged $60 for that 6 hours of gameplay.

Re:

[roadkill_cr]

Definitely. The tide of games will go out sometime after Christmas, at which point we can start catching up on games. This works fine for single-player games, but I worry that by the time I get to (say, CoD4) there won't be a good multiplayer community.

Machinimation.

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually I'm glad all these games are coming out. Not just to play them, but the modability of these new engines should be great.

In the true spirit of gamers

[jdgeorge]

Let me be the first to say:

[My game platform of choice] totally r00lz, and is going to pwn the game market this year! On the other hand, [your preferred game platform] is ugly, hard to use, buggy, and will soon be remembered as the game platform nobody can remember!

LittleBig Gears of Mariohunt 3 kicks A$$!

Re:

[ShawnCplus]

your program (n): a maze of non-sequiturs littered with clever-clever tricks and irrelevant comments. Compare MY PROGRAM.

my program (n): a gem of algorithmic precision, offering the most sublime balance between compact, efficient coding on the one hand, and fully commented legibility for posterity on the other. Compare YOUR PROGRAM.
-Coding Horror

Sound very similar

Re:In the true spirit of gamers

[Achoi77]

I laugh at the prospect of the success of [your preferred game platform], or at the [other game platform], since [vaporware PC game] will be coming out soon for [PC with my favorite OS]. No need to spend [excessive amount of currency] every [interval of time] in order to enjoy the latest games, just upgrade my [PC hardware] for [considerably less amount or money than your favorite console] and I can have a cutting edge gaming experience now instead of [whenever the next generation of consoles are released to match the graphical processing power my machine has right now]. On top of that, I don't have to worry about spending money on getting [extraneous game peripherals/hardware add-on] to enjoy additional functionality that should have come with [your favorite console] to begin with!

In addition to that, [delayed MMO] will be coming out soon and will pwn [your favorite console], and you know that's what everybody is going to be playing anyways. [your favorite console] is dying, [netcraft/sales in japan/competiton from other console platform] confirms it.

Re:

[TeamSPAM]

just upgrade my [PC hardware] for [considerably less amount or money than your favorite console]

This is pushing the truth a bit. I scraped the prices for video cards with at least 256MB of memory on zipzoomfly. I come up with an average of $211.06 and a stddev of $238.33. So if you're buying a nicer video card, you less than a PS3, but more than either a Xbox 360 or a Wii.

Re:

[bigstrat2003]

Uh. That's less than all of those. The Wii is $250, the 360 is $350 (no, the crippled version doesn't count).

Re:

[TeamSPAM]

I said buying a nicer card, not the average priced card. Meaning the average ($211.06) plus stddev ($238.33), so around $449.39. Granted that is a bit much for a video card, but hopefully it will still be good in 2 years time for your gaming needs. About 10% of the cards on zipzoomfly were higher than that price. I tend to believe that those higher priced cards for the pc gamer and not a graphic artist or cad/cam engineer.

Re:

[Jartan]

This is pushing the truth a bit. I scraped the prices for video cards with at least 256MB of memory on zipzoomfly. I come up with an average of $211.06 and a stddev of $238.33. So if you're buying a nicer video card, you less than a PS3, but more than either a Xbox 360 or a Wii.

This is bollocks. 200 bucks is plenty for a very good video card that can last you a couple years. Perhaps the only thing of worth you've pointed out is that non PC gamers have horrible misconceptions about what kind of computing p

Re:

[Gravatron]

Being able to play a game versus being able to play it to it's fullest is the key. IF you want to play a game, the requirements are prtty average most cases. If you want to match those pre-release screenshots at 30-60 fps, then you need that $400 videocard, and mabey a new processor and Ram. And every 2-3 years, you get to do it all over again. On the flip side, a console is usualy godo for 5 years or so, plays everything to it's max, and gets cheeper to buy into as the generation moves on, while you ca

Spirit of gamers, or just spirit of gamer?

[tepples]

I laugh at the prospect of the success of [your preferred game platform], or at the [other game platform], since [vaporware PC game] will be coming out soon for [PC with my favorite OS].

How many players can play on one [PC with your favorite OS] and one copy of [vaporware PC game]? Four players can play on one [my favorite console] and one copy of [cartoonish fighting game].

On top of that, I don't have to worry about spending money on getting [extraneous game peripherals/hardware add-on] to enjoy additional functionality that should have come with [your favorite console] to begin with!

You mean like a [sufficiently sized] monitor to fit [two to four] people around?

Re:

[xhrit]

Dude, linux can be set up to use as many keyboards/ mice / screens as you have. And you can get a usb/ game controller adapters for all your favorite console controllers.

The only way to get six players on one pc playing Quake Wars each with their own keyboard / mouse / screen is with linux.

http://linuxgazette.net/124/smith.html [linuxgazette.net]

Re:

[tepples]

The only way to get six players on one pc playing Quake Wars each with their own keyboard / mouse / screen is with linux.

Some families are more likely to own one 1080p HDTV than three spare computer monitors. Is there a Linux-based shooter game designed for four gamepads and one TV, giving each player a 960x540 window? And are there any counterparts to Smash Bros.?

Re:

[FlameSnyper]

I laugh at the prospect of the success of [your preferred game platform], or at the [other game platform], since [vaporware PC game] will be coming out soon for [PC with my favorite OS]. No need to spend [excessive amount of currency] every [interval of time] in order to enjoy the latest games, just upgrade my [PC hardware] for [considerably less amount or money than your favorite console] and I can have a cutting edge gaming experience now instead of [whenever the next generation of consoles are released to match the graphical processing power my machine has right now]. On top of that, I don't have to worry about spending money on getting [extraneous game peripherals/hardware add-on] to enjoy additional functionality that should have come with [your favorite console] to begin with!

In addition to that, [delayed MMO] will be coming out soon and will pwn [your favorite console], and you know that's what everybody is going to be playing anyways. [your favorite console] is dying, [netcraft/sales in japan/competiton from other console platform] confirms it.

That's OK. The new Mac systems will be coming out in January, and that combined with EA's renewed commitment, plus id Tech's "Engine 5" or whatever will put even your weak Vista gaming PC to shame!

LOL -- this is fun! :-)

Re:

[feepness]

[My game platform of choice] totally r00lz, and is going to pwn the game market this year! On the other hand, [your preferred game platform] is ugly, hard to use, buggy, and will soon be remembered as the game platform nobody can remember!

You leave my nGage alone!

Re:In the true spirit of gamers

[Cornflake917]

Sweet, I love ad libs!

Pussy totally r00lz, and is going to pwn the game market this year! On the other hand, your ass is ugly, hard to use, buggy, and will soon be remembered as the game platform nobody can remember!

Sigh, filling in the blanks with naughty words like "pussy" and "ass" never gets old.

Re:In the true spirit of gamers

[jollyreaper]

Sigh, filling in the blanks with naughty words like "pussy" and "ass" never gets old.

I tried that on my 1040. The IRS was not amused.

And not to forget...

[Negatyfus]

Mass Effect will be released two days after the end of this week, on November 20. Truly, this is when the "next-generation" consoles get into their own with quality releases and hopefully the PS3 will finally shape up, as well.

Re:

[Aladrin]

My problem with the PS3 now is that all the good games (read: games that I like) are also on the 360. (Ratchet and Clank was amusing, but wasn't a 'buy' for me.) Many of them even play better on the 360 (higher res, less choppy, etc)... If I had waited for the 'killer game' for the PS3, I might never own one... There's nothing on horizon that's PS3-specific that I really care about.

I currently have 3 games on my shelf for PS3: DW Gundam, Stranglehold, and Bladestorm. And I should have just rented Stra

Re:

[bigstrat2003]

Hrm? The games I've played that are both PS3 and 360 are just fine on both... also, my PS3 supports 1080p (although my TV doesn't), and my 360 only does 720p. I'd say that's an advantage to the PS3 in terms of resolution.

Re:

[Gulthek]

You must have something defective in your XBox360. Mine runs at 1080p.

Do you have the latest system update? That is, the system update that upped the max resolution from 1080i to 1080p that came out quite a few months ago?

Re:

[bigstrat2003]

Not entirely sure. I'll have to see what I can get in the way of updates, and then check again. I'd think that the 360 I have (the Halo edition) would be fairly recent in terms of updates, but I guess not. Good to know they put that upgrade in, at any rate.

Re:

[the unbeliever]

huh? my 360 supports 1080i/p

Re:

[jollyreaper]

Hrm? The games I've played that are both PS3 and 360 are just fine on both... also, my PS3 supports 1080p (although my TV doesn't), and my 360 only does 720p. I'd say that's an advantage to the PS3 in terms of resolution.

The latest version of the 360 comes with HDMI output. Not the elite, mind you, buy the Pro. That's the $350 standard model, not the chopped down Arcade version. It does 1080p no problem. If you're thinking of upgrading your TV, Vizo makes a very good LCD. I was all prepared for headaches and returns and thoughts of suicide when I bought it but it's been hassle-free all the way.

Re:

[Aladrin]

The 'resolution' issue is with the game Dynasty Warriors Gundam... It only plays at 720p on the PS3, but will do at least 1080i on the 360. (Not 100% sure about 1080p.) There may be others, but my issue is with that game.

Hardware-wise, the PS3 is the winner (with the possible exception of RAM... What were they thinking?) but when it comes to software, the 360 is just plain easier to program for and has the bonus that it's not hard to make it run on 360 and PC both. The Wii (and DS) is also said to be n

Re:

[AuMatar]

The only truely next generation console is the wii. The others are merely processor boosts. Yawn.

assassin's creed

[theMerovingian]

is coming out on PC, too. [ubi.com]

Re:

[Jaqenn]

In 2008. (it's still delayed until 2008, right?)

Re:

[Rolgar]

EBgames.com, PS3 section says it ships tomorrow.

Re:

[Jaqenn]

I should have said that the PC version is delayed until 2008.

What?

[HairyNevus]

No games from Valve? This week is pointless.

:P

Re:

[trdrstv]

No games from Valve? This week is pointless.

:P

This week is a lie!

Re:

[rkanodia]

Someone obviously Took the grandparent poster's Wish.

Arggh.

[mingot]

Don't forget last week and the week after this one. It sucks, during Sept 24th - Nov 20th I am going to have spent over 500 dollars on games. And I already own the two consoles I buy for. Oh well, the fact that there are enough good games in that short a time span is probably one of those "good problems".

Re:

[jollyreaper]

Don't forget last week and the week after this one. It sucks, during Sept 24th - Nov 20th I am going to have spent over 500 dollars on games. And I already own the two consoles I buy for. Oh well, the fact that there are enough good games in that short a time span is probably one of those "good problems".

Do you have to buy them all at once? I picked up four of the high-rated older games for my 360 when I got it and I still haven't made it past the first two, they're too darn enjoyable to set down and pick up something else. From the sounds of it, I'm going to enjoy the shit out of Mass Effect -- but I'll probably be doing so after it hits the bargain bin. Win/win for me. :)

I felt a great disturbance...

[CaseM]

in the economy, as if millions of checkbooks cried out in terror, and were suddenly empty.

Re:

[Furious Purpose]

in the internet, as if millions of broadband connections cried out in terror, and were suddenly saturated with bittorrent traffic.

Fixed that for you.

Poor choice of article title

[British]

With use of the word "blockbuster" I thought this article would involve Blockbuster Video. And, well, Blockbuter Video is going the way of the dinosaur. Would have used any word but blockbuster. Wait until the company dies out for a few years, than we can use it as a generic non-TM word. :)

Re:

[aicrules]

But if they used AAA games wouldn't you have also thought they were referring to a bevy of games that were either created by or themed around roadside auto service???

Re:

[superstick58]

Wait... What?! You are joking right? I must have forgot my sense of humor today because I don't quite understand. "Blockbuster" [wikipedia.org] has origins long before the rental store was conceived. Actually it existed before movies! I don't see how the use of the word has any correlation to the store at all in this case!

It is a crazy period for PC games

[kcornia]

SimCity Societies
COD 4
World in Conflict
Supreme Commander Expansion
Orange Box
Crysis
NWN 2: Mask of the Betrayer
Empire Earth 3
Hellgate: London
The Witcher
F.E.A.R Perseus Mandate

All of that in a what, 3 month period. My bank account is crying uncle already! That doesn't even include games I'm less interested in like UT3, ET:QW, etc.

I don't remember the last time there were this many all at once..

Re:

[miscz]

Yup, it's crazy. Don't forget Gears of War.

I'm going to cry because display in my desktop computer went dead, I'll have to wait a month or more to get it back and my notebook doesn't have capabilities to play any new game at all. Jesus Henry Christ, talk about bad luck :/ At least I won't drop out of university.

Re:

[JavaLord]

Yet everyone is still playing world of warcraft!

Re:

[torchdragon]

Well, scratch SimCity Societies off your list. I've been a long standing addict of the series and this is the deal breaker.

Why I'd recommend the game:
1. It has the name SimCity.
2. It looks like a city simulator.

Why I (can't recommend/would recommend avoiding) the game:
1. Created by Tilted Mill. Throw yourself against Children of the Nile for a couple hours before you even consider SimCity.
2. Terrible website. The "About the game" is scant and rather meaningless. There are a couple screenshots that show noth

Re:

[kcornia]

I just posted about this on another board where they were discussing Societies.

I've seen the rabid SimCity fanbase lamenting the loss of the nth degree of micromanagement and replacement with Attitudes or whatever the hell they're calling those high level attributes in Societies. I agree that if the part of SimCity you loved was that micromanagement, it looks like the game is heading in a different direction.

But personally, I struggled with the micromanagement. I recently reloaded SC Deluxe and a bunch of

too many games at once?

[jollyreaper]

Maybe not, I dunno. With movies, conventional wisdom said that the audience would only see a couple movies in a summer so every studio was competing for a fixed number of viewings. What the studios later came to realize was that demand was fairly elastic: put out 2 good movies and they'll be watched, put out 20 good movies and they'll be watched. Conversely, put out no good movies and you won't get many viewers. The thing is, a movie doesn't take up anything more than an evening. Unless people are that fickle with their full-priced games, it should take them longer than that to properly experience the thing.

I guess that would be an interesting statistic: for the game-buying public, especially the ones that drop the full price when the games come out, how long do they typically stick with a game before getting bored and buying a new one? If two games they think the'll like come out on the same weekend, will they buy both the same day or pick one to play and get the other one once it's half-price some months later?

Since there are so many more adult gamers now, I'd imagine the purchase cycle isn't driven as much by birthdays and Christmas as when gamers were mostly kids.

This isn't fair.

[Daimando]

My wallet is so gonna be crying after the next two weeks. It's not fair I have to pick up these hot games. WHY?

Don't forget Metal of Honor: Heros 2

[PeelBoy]

I looked everywhere today for MOH:H 2 for the Wii but they all said they wouldn't be getting copies in until tomorrow (14th).

Sigh. I'm ready for a good shooter on the Wii. IGN has been raving about how the controls are better than Metroid on the Wii so I gotta check this out.

I guess shipping WWE to stores today was higher priority than shipping MOH.