Small Talk: The Holiday Game Cavalcade

It’s that time of year again. Time to blow your schedule wide open and neglect family gatherings in favor of blasting hours of your life into the stellar games releasing over the holidays. Some gamers find endless joy in being buried in a triple-A avalanche, for others it means their backlog of shame expands and their bank account shrinks. With so many amazing games bleeding over into early 2010, you could say that the holiday-gaming gold rush will be going into overtime this year. We here at Game Informer weigh in on the excitement and anxiety of the oncoming onslaught.

Tim: I for one am willing to admit that there are a ton of games I still need to play from earlier this year. Hell, I tried being a good gamer by finally getting around to the “ancient” Assassin’s Creed in time for the sequel, but that means skipping out on Dragon Age (or any RPG for that matter) right now. If I want a chance to fully enjoy Modern Warfare 2 or Left 4 Dead 2, I’m going to have to postpone Assassin’s Creed 2…

Adam: Cavalcade? Don’t pop a monocle there, Professor. Regardless, I’m hip-deep in King’s Bounty, League of Legends, Torchlight, and shortly the correct (PC) version of Dragon Age. And yet last night I spent two hours playing Spectromancer. What’s wrong with me?

Tim: So if you’re hip-deep in PC games now, you’re going to be up to your armpits in games once December hits, right? Are you going to write off the big console releases in favor of playing what you’re happy with now?

Adam: I’m probably going to valiantly try to fit Uncharted 2 in, but mostly I’m going to play what sounds fun. Which is most likely going to be Torchlight, King’s Bounty, and Dragon Age. With some Spectromancer thrown in as comfort food.

Miller: Usually, by about this time in the year, I simply abandon all hope of playing all the games I’m excited about. I resolve that I’ll tackle them one by one, with the understanding that some of them will have to spill into the normally placid waters of the New Year. Problem is, this coming January through May looks to be absurdly packed with awesome games. It’s not exactly a bad problem to have, I suppose. The only thing that sucks is how many awesome low profile retail and downloadable games are going to be buried by the avalanche of higher profile titles.

Adam: Only buried if you’re not paying attention. News about games like Torchlight is easy to find if you look for it. I’d argue that the larger issue is that people need to be made aware that there are a ton of great titles out there waiting to be picked up in the sub-$20 range.

Tim: Adam brings up a good point. As if making time to play everything from New Super Mario Bros. Wii to Bioshock 2 isn’t hard enough, most of the big titles hit shelves at around 60 smackers. Throw in having to buy gifts for the holidays, and you’re looking at a healthy bit of damage to your wallet. Does anybody ever try gifting one of the cheaper, more obscure titles instead of a big-budget blockbusters?

Reiner: I am strongly considering buying Jurassic: The Hunted for all of my friends. Well, I guess I just ruined the surprise, but this Cabela-like hunting game from Activision allows players to punch dinosaurs in the face. Yes, I could gift someone Modern Warfare 2, or Assassin’s Creed II – things they want – but Jurassic is a more thoughtful gift. Last year I purchased paper airplane kits for my friends. This year they get to punch and abuse prehistoric beasts. Besides, this gift eliminates the chances of my friends receiving the same gift twice. And yes, I will open the packages so they cannot return them.



Last week, I engaged in the annual “why do all of the big games come out in November” discussion. Like everyone here, I feel the stress associated with trying to make time for all of the games. It can be stressful, but it’s a good kind of stress. Yes, I would like to see more high profile titles sprinkled throughout the year, as I often find myself wondering what I am going to be playing during most summers. At the same time, I don’t want the busy season to end. Like I said, it’s a fun problem. This season has become an event for gamers. We look forward to it, we plan our funds throughout the year, and for people like us who live through horrible winters, it keeps us indoors.

Adam: I agree that the busy season is an exciting time, and I’d be sad to lose it. The only thing that bothers me about it is when good lower-profile games come out between Sept-Dec and get buried in the blockbuster avalanche. Remember the Beyond Good & Evil year? How many great titles came out and got no traction whatsoever because everyone was busy playing Halo 2? I hate to see good games fall through the cracks and not get the recognition (or sales) they deserve.

Reiner: Yeah, I don’t like thinking about that. It always seems there’s at least one huge release each year that gets buried. The early talk from analysts was that it was going to be Borderlands, but thankfully, gamers figured out it was great, are buying it in force, causing shortages for the Xbox 360 version.

Adam: Smart money’s on Brutal Legend getting the shaft this year. Poor Double Fine.

Tim: Brutal Legend seems like a probable casualty of the holiday rush. I’m guilty of putting this one off, too. It’s a shame too, because it looks like a blast. That’s one of the bigger releases of the year, also. Miller is right, it stinks just thinking about all the lesser-known titles that are going to be trampled underfoot. Anybody think of any other likely cases of overlooked games?

Bertz: Another one that will likely suffer in the face of the recession and the slew of highly anticipated titles may be DJ Hero. The game is a lot of fun and takes the music genre in a positive new direction, but I’ll bet the high price point and glut of “Hero” games Activision shoved down consumers’ throats this year will likely have an adverse affect on sales. 

Kato: I hate to sound like a jerk, but if Brutal Legend fails, I would think it was the game’s own fault. EA poured as much money as humanly possible to market that thing – not to mention all the free press that it got from Jack Black’s celebrity appearances on talk shows, etc. – that I think people have already more than made up their minds whether they want to buy it or not.

Matt: Brutal Legend is a game I hope does well; I really like Tim Schafer and the world he created. That said, if someone said they had $60 and could only buy one game this holiday season, I’m not sure that would make my top five suggestions.



Reiner: For sticker price alone, I’m going to throw Tony Hawk: Ride and DJ Hero into the discussion. DJ Hero is an amazing game, and I hope people pick it up. We haven’t reviewed Tony Hawk yet, but even if it turns out to be a mind-blowing skating simulation, that $119.99 price point is a huge hurdle, especially in a market that just served up a handful of must-play games.

Miller: On that point, can I just take a minute to vent my frustration at Activision about DJ Hero? That is a fantastic new entry into the music genre, and Activision never gave it a chance. Even if Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero were decent installments, they undoubtedly cannibalized the sales that might have gone to DJ Hero. Why would you do that? As the new kid in school, DJ Hero needed stronger devoted communication from Activision behind its release. More than that, it needed a lower price point to start out. $120? For an untried new peripheral? Even if they took a loss, Activision should have sold that game and peripheral for under $100, in the hopes of getting it out there to a wider group of people. Once it is in consumers’ hands, you’ve got a nearly guaranteed sale on a future release. Unfortunately, both for the fine folks at Freestyle Games, and for the music game consumers who are loving the game, DJ Hero has been catapulted out onto the field with nowhere near the support it needs to succeed.

With all that said, I still have my fingers crossed for DJ Hero – even with some poor decisions on its release scheduling and pricing, it’s a great game that I hope can build some momentum as the holiday season progresses.

Tim: Miller has a good point, DJ Hero is a great game, but is being cannibalized by Activision’s other games hitting the market right now. I’ve played DJ Hero, and I love it, but I’m afraid to that my $120 would result in one awesome weekend, only to have the turntable pushed to the side,  collecting dust while I catch up with the plethora of other great games.

That brings us back to the other point, how do you find time to thoroughly enjoy a game with longevity like DJ Hero or Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer without letting everything else slip by? Do you stop answering your phone? Forfeit sleep? Become a recluse?

Adam: Several years ago I gave up on feeling obligated to play games (unless I’m assigned to do so for work, obviously). I play what I feel like and feel no remorse. It’s the only way to not totally burn out doing this thing, especially during the crazy holiday season. Besides, it’s not like a game goes bad if it sits on your shelf until March.

Jeff M: When I got my Xbox 360 last year, I tried starting a bunch of AAA games at the same time. It’s a bad idea. I thought it would be cool to rotate between Oblivion, Mass Effect, and GTA IV. I’m still playing all three games, and probably will be for the next hundred years. Now I’m convinced powering through one game at a time is the way to go; if a game is really that good, it can stay shrink wrapped for an extra couple months while I finish off other games first.

Tim: Maybe you guys don’t have the phobia of spoilers that I do. Then, again, we get a lot of stuff ruined for us just by having the jobs we do.

Annette: I share the spoiler phobia over games that are a huge deal to me. Uncharted 2 was spoiled for me the weekend before it released so our jobs certainly put the pressure on to finish a new AAA title within days of its release. With so many great games released during the holiday season it gets tough to balance. I, too, tried the rotation between titles. That just leads to an even bigger pile of shame with half-played games. I’ve strayed off the RPG route lately so finishing games has been more manageable since I don’t have to devote 40-plus hours to one game anymore. Now my main goal is to knock out this year’s awesome titles before Q1 2010 comes around to kick my ass.


How about all of you? What are you doing to prepare for the glut of games? Did you dedicate yourself to catching up on your queue of unplayed games? Did you stop paying your heating bill so that you can afford it all? Discuss!