Are your wallets/trade-ins ready?

[iconoclast]

Summer = Akai Katana, Catherine, Child of Eden. Three of the top 10 games of the year so far, not bad.

[pilonv1]

What came out between May and September though? Deus Ex in late August and that was it until Dead Island & co in early September.

LA Noire, The Witcher 2, Red Faction: Armageddon, Duke Nukem Forever, FEAR 3, and Catherine.

Witcher 2 and LA Noire were mid May so they're not between that period

Then you're left with shitty Red Faction, shitty Duke, Fear 3 and Catherine.

[Human Snorenado]

Guys, I think you're missing part of the point here.  As weird as it sounds, as hardcore gamers we're not really the target audience for a lot of these big holiday games.  They're trying to get casuals and dudebros.  If they wanted to just get the hardcore, they'd be happy releasing them in off months and banking the guaranteed sales from this demographic.  If they release it during the couple week window I was talking about earlier, then they're pretty much guaranteeing that while they might miss some hardcore gamers who have to make a choice due to a glut of titles, they're getting X amount of other people they wouldn't normally get if they released it in, say, August or whatever and that X amount will make up for you butthurt hardcore whiny titty babies.  CAPITALISM, BRO.

[MrAngryFace]

Prolly for the best- work weeks have been shit for getting my head into games lately

[Human Snorenado]

I plan on playing the hell out of Skyrim, but I'm really enjoying Titan Quest so probably not a lot of sleep in my near future.  As a bonus, I'll actually have something to talk about on future borecasts!

[MrAngryFace]

Titan Quest is a lot of fun- played through it a few time; lots of game in there

[Human Snorenado]

Yup.  Plus the "get loot, sell loot for monies, get better stuff with monies, rinse and repeat" appeals to my ocd nature

[MrAngryFace]

The talent tree mixing is a lot of fun too- even if DREAM IS THE ALPHA/OMEGA tree. I always had trouble with a summoner build- dps didnt seem to meet what was required by Act III but I maybe had my points all botched.

[chronovore]

Guys, I think you're missing part of the point here.  As weird as it sounds, as hardcore gamers we're not really the target audience for a lot of these big holiday games.  They're trying to get casuals and dudebros.  If they wanted to just get the hardcore, they'd be happy releasing them in off months and banking the guaranteed sales from this demographic.  If they release it during the couple week window I was talking about earlier, then they're pretty much guaranteeing that while they might miss some hardcore gamers who have to make a choice due to a glut of titles, they're getting X amount of other people they wouldn't normally get if they released it in, say, August or whatever and that X amount will make up for you butthurt hardcore whiny titty babies.  CAPITALISM, BRO.

I'll just counter with my usual "Hollywood doesn't launch all its movies on the same weekend" rhetoric and leave it there, cool?

[Human Snorenado]

Hollywood doesn't run on a business model where the majority of their sales come in a one and a half month span.

YOU ARE NOT THE TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC

[chronovore]

Hollywood doesn't run on a business model where the majority of their sales come in a one and a half month span.

YOU ARE NOT THE TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC

But isn't it arguable that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy for games? Most of the big games come out at this time, so most of the sales happen at this time.

[Human Snorenado]

Most of the games come out around this time because that's the time of year we celebrate Baby Jebus by giving each other totally awesome dudebro shooters and shit.

[pilonv1]

Which is fine, but some of the stuff coming out at this time of year could be better off in a quiet period. Not arguing that there shouldn't be a higher percentage of big titles in November, just that there are going to be more losers than winners.

[cool breeze]

to be fair, the publishers are sending out games they know won't die.  ass creed and skyrim/bethesda joints have always sold well alongside call of duty.  I'd say halo always sell but no one is really talking about halo anniversary.  Rayman is a NSMB, family game not competing directly with COD but it'll still probably bomb.  EA seems delusional and THQ can be pretty dumb, but the runs and SR3 might be fine.

[Himu]

Saints Row The Third has 4 million pre-orders chrono. That's pretty good! HAVE FAITH, BROTHER.

Really?! That's great! Link?

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/04/saints-row-the-third-pre-orders-surpass-those-of-the-second/

Saints Row: The Third has enjoyed four times the pre-orders of Saints Row 2, according to THQ CEO Brian Farrell, who made the announcement yesterday during the company's quarterly earnings call. That doesn't mean that Saints Row: The Third is expected to run away with quadruple the sales. THQ estimates the game will ship over 3 million units before the publisher's fiscal year ends in March 2012. By comparison, Saints Row 2 launched in October 2009 and sold 2.6 million by the end of the fiscal year.

While all this seriousness was going on, THQ sent out a trailer this morning celebrating the madness of Saints Row: The Third's pimps, gimps and "everything but the kitchen sink" mentality.

[tiesto]

Summer = Akai Katana, Catherine, Child of Eden. Three of the top 10 games of the year so far, not bad.

Akai Katana isn't region free, right?

[chronovore]

Saints Row The Third has 4 million pre-orders chrono. That's pretty good! HAVE FAITH, BROTHER.

Really?! That's great! Link?

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/11/04/saints-row-the-third-pre-orders-surpass-those-of-the-second/

Saints Row: The Third has enjoyed four times the pre-orders of Saints Row 2, according to THQ CEO Brian Farrell, who made the announcement yesterday during the company's quarterly earnings call. That doesn't mean that Saints Row: The Third is expected to run away with quadruple the sales. THQ estimates the game will ship over 3 million units before the publisher's fiscal year ends in March 2012. By comparison, Saints Row 2 launched in October 2009 and sold 2.6 million by the end of the fiscal year.

While all this seriousness was going on, THQ sent out a trailer this morning celebrating the madness of Saints Row: The Third's pimps, gimps and "everything but the kitchen sink" mentality.

Thanks! I found the same article after I went looking for what you were talking about.

I don't think that translates to 4M pre-orders though -- it just says 4X the pre-orders. They are estimating 3M in sales before the end of the year; that wouldn't make any sense if they were going to sell 4M at launch.

[muckhole]

I've sort of gone cold on gaming lately, but I'll be trying to pick up Skyrim. I'll wait on everyting else.

[iconoclast]

Summer = Akai Katana, Catherine, Child of Eden. Three of the top 10 games of the year so far, not bad.

Akai Katana isn't region free, right?

No, it's region locked. Rising Star is publishing it in Europe next year though, so it might wind up working on a US console like Daifukkatsu. Cave and/or MS were also happy with Death Smiles 2's GoD sales, so that's also an option I guess.

[brob]

All your posts about akai katana are making me very excited for it. Looked at a video on youtube, didn't understand shit. guess I'll figure it out once I get to play it somehow.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Yup.  Plus the "get loot, sell loot for monies, get better stuff with monies, rinse and repeat" appeals to my ocd nature

DIABLO

[Human Snorenado]

Yup.  Plus the "get loot, sell loot for monies, get better stuff with monies, rinse and repeat" appeals to my ocd nature

DIABLO

IS NOT OUT YET

Believe me, after it comes out I've already told my boss I'm taking a week off and I firmly plan on my schoolwork suffering like G did.

[iconoclast]

All your posts about akai katana are making me very excited for it. Looked at a video on youtube, didn't understand shit. guess I'll figure it out once I get to play it somehow.

The game does look pretty obtuse, but I actually think it's really easy to understand all of the systems once you play it. Scoring well is really hard though, since it's more free-form (I guess) than most other games.

It's amazing though. Better than every game Cave has released since Futari, and one of their top 5 overall. (IMO of course)

Oh, and its soundtrack is amazing. Best OST this gen.

[brob]

Haven't played futari either yet. that's japan only, no games on demand rite? gotta import I guess.

[iconoclast]

Yeah, Futari is Japan only, but it's region free, and since it has a Platinum Hits release, it's only like $30-$40. But anyway, Futari is a God-tier game. Best shooter of all time, and one of the best games ever made. 10/10 masterpiece.

[MrAngryFace]

Futari is omg wow- totally worth importing for 35+ dollars or whatever it was. Amazing OST too.

[tiesto]

Yeah, Futari is a pure treat, definitely one of Cave's best games... it's weird, last gen I liked ESPGaluda much more than Mushihime-sama, but this gen it's the reverse. I thought ESPGaluda 2 was just a bit too unfair in its challenge. I'm not that great at the genre but I love 'em.

[Stoney Mason]

Having a tough time deciding either to get Skyrim or Saints Row 3 via Gamefly. Decisions...

[Stoney Mason]

Cleared out my queues so I should get both although I have no idea how I'll have time to play both.


What a solid year. No real genre defining games but a real solid year of entertainment for me on the mainstream level.

Arkham City
NBA 2k12
Dead Space 2
Portal 2
MW 3
Gears 3
Witcher 2 (still waiting to play)
Battlefield 3
Deus Ex
LA Noire ( I know a lot on here hated it but I really enjoyed it despite the flaws)
Crysis 2
Bulletstorm

And still a few big ones to come and a few I left off. I really enjoyed the operation flashpoint red river for example.