The Suckfest of Winter Game Releases
It happens every year. All the glut of the big September to November top notch, award winning, holy cow games come out — and then, between December to mid-February we get what I like to call the craptaculuar winter release games. Following the backward logic that says publishers have to save all the “good” games for the fall, comes the logic that somehow seems to say that since people are going to be stuck indoors (since it’s so flippin cold outside) you should have an absolute dogpile of games to play in the winter. Granted you could still be rockin’ through Left for Dead, Fallout 3 or Gears of War 2, but let’s say you are looking for something new, something to tide you over until you can get excited about all the games you won’t see until E3 and have to wait for in the fall? One would think (if you wanted to actually think about this) that after doing this year after year somebody would have the sense to put out at least one decent title in the winter.
Sure, there have been exceptions — Crackdown came out in February 2 years ago. Sure, it was a promotional gimmick for the Halo 3 beta - but it was still a good game. And yes, you could go down a very short list of other games that have broken the winter slump rules and actually rocked but overall, yeah it’s been a suckfest. Think I’m being picky or whiny. Why should I care? Because with all the talent and skill out there to make and publish games any time of the year, why bank all of your gaming eggs on that fall glut? Why not make a standout game and release it in January? You wouldn’t have any competition.
Before all you Lord of the Rings: Conquest lovers start getting all riled up here’s the thing — that game is awful. Take Pandemic who made the best multiplayer Star Wars game ever, Star Wars: Battlefront and a publisher who has made LOTR games, Electronic Arts, and what you should have is an awesome game, right? No, it’s not awesome, it’s okay and it’ll sell a few boxes but it’s not what you would expect or deserve as fan of the films and books.
Ironically, the other issue attached to the winter game release doldrums is that if there is a good title that makes it out, it doesn’t get any attention. Anybody go to the Prince of Persia release party or see commercials for the game on channels like ESPN of Comedy Central? Nope. Was it a bad game? Nope? In fact, this revamping of the franchise is a beautifully rendered, tremendously pleasing game. This game is at least a solid 8 out of 10. Unfortunately the game was released a week after Thanksgiving when all the frenzy for games was over. It deserved more attention and maybe that’s the fault of the publisher but what would have made more sense was to release it earlier. The bottom line is — a game released in December through February is just not going to get noticed. Expect the same thing to happen to Skate 2 ,which is a stellar game but it gets released in January.
And now if it pleases the court, may I present a few of the many 2008/2009 winter releases
Rise of the Argonauts – where to begin? First of all it’s a Greek mythology game, ooooooh. And secondly it’s dreadful with an ample sprinkling of idiotic. It’s one thing to see Ray Harryhausen goofy skeleton soldiers, but a completely other thing to see someone try to justify this pile of dung on a console.
Secret Service – Let’s see. What’s the definition of a game that makes you wonder if the developer was delusional? What’s a game that sucks so bad you wouldn’t take it if it were free? Answer – Secret Service.
Sim Animals – Yeah, because nothing says fun like using your Wii to manage fake animals in a game that isn’t Animal Crossing.
Puzzle Arcade – That’s right, solving puzzles on your TV makes much more sense than your tabletop. You know how doing puzzles in fun and you get to sift through pieces and it’s a great way to pass the time with friends and family? Do that and don’t play this game.
Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furons – You know this one joke pony had its merits the first time around. This is possibly one of the worst open-ended games ever made. This continuation of the franchise makes you yearn for Stubbs the Zombie (yes that was a real game.) Stupid as that game was, it’s a game of the year compared to this waste of disc space.
MLB Front Office Manager – Having trouble sleeping? Then buy this game, turn it on and try to stay awake for more than five minutes. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the exciting world of the guys in the front office of the baseball teams.
Rygar: Battle of the Argus – Not only is the title embarrassing, the game looks like someone asked a monkey with a crayon to storyboard this game. Even worse this game looks like it should have been made 5 years ago.
Notable mentions
Neopets Puzzle Adventure — Are you kidding?
Dreamer: Horse Trainer — See above
So while we wait for the saving grace of the GTA IV downloadable content next month we have to suffer through yet another winter season of crappy games that will pollute the bargain bins six months from now.
January 22nd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I hear you. But its based on the hard fact that, like it or not, there is no shopping season bigger than Christmas season. That’s when most of everything - including video games - sells, because everyone - not just hardcore fans - is buying. So as a publisher you face the option of:
a) making a game in time for Christmas, and hoping it will sell well enough despite all the competition - because the demand is through the roof and presumably your game kicks ass or
b) admitting that your game is not good enough to compete successfully with the likes of Gears of War 2 and holding it until January or February, when it will have less competition. Of course, that’s exactly how we get the “craptacular” games in the first place!
Needless to say, no one _sets out_ to make a crappy game - they are all hoping for that holiday blockbuster.
Point is, if your game is kick-ass, you might as well make it for Christmas to milk the consumer during the greatest shopping season of the year. And it’s not like those great games don’t continue to sell throughout the winter, so from a publisher’s perspective, it’s a win/win.
The only time we get a great game in the winter is when a great Christmas game gets delayed due to some unforeseen factors and doesn’t go gold in time for the holidays. Then we actually get a good winter release. But of course that’s more of an exception scenario.
It sucks from a hardcore gamer perspective, sure. But remember that most casual consumers are still happily playing the games they got for Christmas, and people who are already done with GoW 2 and Fallout 3 and all those other great end-of-year games are actually a relatively small minority. The expectation of the industry is that the average consumer will be occupied by those games at least until spring.