THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Fun Stuff => CLIKC => Topic started by: Storm Rider on 17 Feb 2007, 13:15

Title: Wait, what happened to the first quarter drought?
Post by: Storm Rider on 17 Feb 2007, 13:15
So I've been surfing the new releases page on Gamespot, and I've realized something.

There are games coming out.

Generally, January until March is barren for game releases after everyone pushed out their stuff for the holiday quarter, then some more stuff drops in April and May, and then there's even less stuff through the summer until August when publishers finally deem it late enough to prepare their last-quarter portfolios. But this year is different. Not that all of these games will necessarily be good, but there are games of note coming out in February and March and that's really weird.

February 12 - Wii Play
February 20 - Crackdown (360), Supreme Commander (PC), Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3), NBA Street Homecourt (360)
February 27 - SSX Blur (Wii)
Indeterminate February - Worms (X-Box Live Arcade)
March 6 - Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (360, PC), STALKER (PC), Def Jam: Icon (360, PS3), MLB 2K7 (pretty much every platform), MotorStorm (PS3), Wario: Master of Disguise (DS)
March 13 - God of War 2 (PS2), the PS3 versions of Oblivion and FEAR
March 20 - The Godfather: Don's Edition/Blackhand Edition (PS3, Wii respectively), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (nearly all platforms), Armored Core 4 (360, PS3)
March 27 - Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC), Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion: The Shivering Isles

I'm not sure whether to be happy there are actually relevant games coming out this early in the year, or to be upset that I'm going to be spending more money without having time to play all these games. Admittedly, I won't be getting any of the PS3 or PC games on this list, and probably only about half of the ones on platforms I actually own.
Title: Re: Wait, what happened to the first quarter drought?
Post by: BillAdama on 17 Feb 2007, 21:34
The first quarter drought this year is mitigated by the fact that it's the very start of a new gen and people are rushing out titles because they know whichever gets the best foothold on the gaming public will be the dominant system for the next five years.

N64 slipped up by using carts and losing Square, and Sony stole it from them.  Now Sony might be making the same mistake with it's insane overpricing and possible miscalculation on putting all their eggs in the Blu-Ray basket.

Microsoft is even getting RPGs -- they could easily steal the lead, especially in America.
Title: Re: Wait, what happened to the first quarter drought?
Post by: Scytale on 17 Feb 2007, 22:20
Holy shit a new Command and Conquer game, When did this happen, damn I hope its not goin to be shit C&C was one of my favorite games and I didn't mind Tiberian Sun that much either. NOD are so freaking awesome...

I hope it doesn't suck, what are the specs for it, any idea whether it'll run Open GL or Direct X, goddamnit I may have to leave a Windows partition on my pc for a while longer...

You've got me all excited now.

Title: Re: Wait, what happened to the first quarter drought?
Post by: Storm Rider on 18 Feb 2007, 00:01
I don't know any of that, but the guy who played Kane is coming back for the cutscenes.

A quick look at the game's page doesn't reveal any of the technical information, but there's plenty of details about the gameplay and all that here. (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/commandconquer3/news.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=tabs)

And BillAdama, Microsoft has what, 2 RPGs right now and 2 more coming out soon? There's a reason they're not selling in Japan at all. If Sony loses this generation, it won't be because of RPGs.
Title: Re: Wait, what happened to the first quarter drought?
Post by: Ozymandias on 18 Feb 2007, 13:27
360 sales in Japan tripled when Blue Dragon came out. It's selling much better than the original XBox did.

Which is just "pretty bad" rather than "really bad", but it's helped.
Title: Re: Wait, what happened to the first quarter drought?
Post by: Storm Rider on 18 Feb 2007, 15:53
Well sure, but I'm saying the 360's Japanese sales will probably not affect how this particular console war turns out. Ultimately, it will end up being whether the year's head start in America and Europe for the 360 will be too much ground for Sony to catch up. Or whether Sony and Microsoft will split the 'hardcore', graphics-centric market and Nintendo will pass them both up by being the second console of existing gamers and/or capturing the 'casual gaming' demographic that everybody seems to think is being untapped.