It’s the most wonderful time of the year (to be a gamer)

16 Sep, 2008 Pete M. 1 UP!

Christmas is coming up in three and a half months, and that means publishers are opening the floodgates to get their big games out in time for the shopping season. This is always a fun time for me, but it has a major drawback too: there’s just no time to play everything!

This go-around I’m going to talk about the games that I’m excited to play. This isn’t a list of what’s going to be hot, and I’m sure most of you will think, “But what about Super Ultra PS3 Game X Part 2: The Sequeling??” First of all, there’s no such game, and second, if it’s not interesting to me it’s not going on the list. I’m also only going to talk about games for platforms that I own, because getting all worked up for a game I can’t even play is kinda silly, don’t you think? Fear not though, because my collection includes all 3 current-gen platforms, a PC, DS and PSP.

First up is the 360. Why? Because it was the first of the current round of consoles that I procured. Thats why.

Rock Band 2, September 14th: What needs to be said about this game? The only way you could NOT have heard of it is if you’ve been sleeping under a rock on Mars for the last few years. This year’s go around features a bunch of new songs, the most interesting of which is Eye of the Tiger, by Survivor. That’s right, the inspirational rock epic from Rocky III is here to get you fired up to take on the challenge of your rival. You’ll need it, especially if your rival is either XM staffer <rook> or <moebius> (I know I do).

Fable 2, October 21st: I want this game because it promises to be one or to things that Fable 1 promised to be. Maybe I should be getting excited for Fable 3 instead…

Gears of War 2, November 7th: Mainly because I’d like to see the ending of the first Gears of War.

On to the Wii! Wait. There’s nothing awesome coming out for this console if you’re older than say, 9. There are some must-haves for this system though, so let’s recap. If you have a Wii, and you don’t already own these my recommendation is the following: sell it to someone who actually enjoys playing video games.

Super Smash Bros Brawl
Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess
Super Mario Galaxy
Metroid Prime 3

The PS3 has a pretty shallow catalog, which makes me kinda sad. The last big release was Metal Gear Solid 4, and the rest of big titles for Christmas are all cross-platform 360/PC games. Nevertheless I love the PS3 menu system, and the DualShock 3 controller is way better than anything else out there, so xplat as these games may be, I’ll be getting them for the PS3.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, September 16th: I played the demo of this, and while not as jaw droppingly revolutionary as all the hype would have me believe, I actually had a good time playing it. The Star Wars atmosphere and feel of the game is second only to the original Knights of the Old Republic. Should be a fun play, but I doubt it will be one I find myself talking about with friends 5 years from now.

Dead Space, September 14th: I love horror. I love science fiction, and I absolutely love science fiction horror (I’m looking at you Alien) so this should be the perfect thing for me. Assuming the game is actually fun to play of course.

Fallout 3, October 28th: Fallout 1 and 2 are some of my most favorite games of all time. I was even fortunate enough to be able to attend the Fallout 2 launch party in California in 1998. Then the Fallout franchise was sold to Bethesda. Bethesda rocked my socks off with Elder Scrolls: Arena, Daggerfall and Morrowind, and then they released the atrocious Oblivion. Raped of any sense of progression or accomplishment, and bereft of any real reward for exploration, Oblivion was a boring slog from start to finish. Pretty landscapes though! So this game could go either way. I’m buying it in the hopes Bethesda can return to the greatness of their earlier works and produce a Fallout sequel worthy of its predecessors.

Stay tuned for PC games later in the week!