The Year We Drowned in Games (Update 2)
July 17th, 2007, 1:29am by JeffI can’t think of another time when so many potentially great games were all scheduled to come out within the same 4-5 month period. Rather than simply list all of the potentially great games that are coming out the rest of this year, I thought I’d share my potential buying strategies for these games. With so many games coming out, I’ve tried to sort through them with categorizing them into “Must Buy”, which basically means what it says; “Probably Will Buy”, which means that unless I see some bad press or some other factor comes up I’ll likely buy it; and “Could Buy”, meaning that I’ll probably wait for reviews to see whether these potentially great games are worth my money. Other years, many of these games would be “Must Buys” or “Probably Will Buys”, but with so many I’ve had to separate them out somehow. I know different people have different priorities in what they want to get, but this list is probably the most complete list of the potentially “big” titles this year that I know of, outside of sports or racing simulators (which I generally don’t buy but can sell quite well). This is a long post, so get comfortable:
Must Buy:
- Bomberman Live (XBLA) - 7/18
- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) - 8/27
- Halo 3 (360) - 9/25
- Mario Galaxy (Wii) - 11/12
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii) - 12/3
Probably Will Buy:
- Bioshock (360/PC) - 8/21
- Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) - 10/1
- Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3) - 10/2
- Grand Theft Auto IV (360) - 10/16
- Hellgate: London (PC) - 10/30
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (360/PC) - October?
- Assassin’s Creed (360) - 11/9
- Mass Effect (360) - November?
Could Buy:
- Mario Strikers: Charged (Wii) - 7/30
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (PC) - 8/1
- Lair (PS3) - 8/14
- Two Worlds (360/PC) - 8/14
- Stranglehold (PS3) -8/20
- Mercury Meltdown Revolution (Wii) - 8/20
- Sam and Max: Season 1 (PC) - 8/28
- Warhawk (PS3) - 8/28
- Blue Dragon (360) - 8/28
- Guild Wars: Eye of the North (PC) - 8/31
- Heavenly Sword (PS3) - 9/4
- Dewy’s Adventure (Wii) - 9/4
- skate (360) - 9/5
- Eternal Sonata (360) - 9/17
- Marathon: Durandal (XBLA) - September?
- Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii) - September? (I actually don’t believe this will come out this year, but it’s still on IGN’s release list, so I figured I should include it)
- Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure (Wii) - Q3?
- Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix (360) - Fall?
- Folklore (PS3) - 10/2
- Virtua Fighter 5 (360) - 10/2
- Portal (PC) - 10/9
- Half Life 2: Orange Box (PC) - 10/9 (Would replace Portal)
- Tony Hawk: Proving Ground (360) - 10/9
- Batallion Wars 2 (Wii) - 10/29
- Endless Ocean/Into the Blue (Wii) - 10/29
- Timeshift (360) - October?
- Clive Barker’s Jericho (360) - October?
- Beautiful Katamari (360) - October?
- Blast Works: Build, Fuse, and Destroy (Wii) - October?
- Guitar Hero 3 (360) - 10/28
- The Simpsons Game (360) -10/30
- Manhunt 2 (Wii) - October
- Geometry Wars: Galaxies (Wii) - 11/6
- Army of Two (360) - 11/13
- Kane and Lynch: Dead Men (360) - 11/13
- Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction (360) - 11/13
- Nights: Journey into Dreams (Wii) - 11/13
- Rock Band (360) - 11/20
- Haze (PS3) - November?
- Uncharted: Drakes Fortune (PS3) - November?
- Unreal Tournament 3 (PS3) - November?
- Turning Point: Fall of Liberty (360) - November?
- Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (DS) - November?
- Too Human (360) - December?
- Left 4 Dead (PC or 360) - December?
- Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles (Wii) - December? (Again, I don’t think this will come out this year, but on IGN’s list for 2007)
Yikes. Totalling just the “Must Buys” I get $220. That’s certainly not a small number, but then add in the “Probably Will Buys” and that’s another $440 (plus a possible $10 a month if it seems necessary for Hellgate: London), for a total of $660 before we even look at the “Could Buys”. Luckily, I have a few “deals” on some of these, but this in the grand scheme of things it’s really just a few bucks here and there. It also doesn’t include any games that I haven’t purchased yet but that have come out previously. Ouch.
And that’s still with some painful decisions to move some things from the “Probably Will Buy” into the “Could Buy” category, including “Marathon: Durandal”, “Beautiful Katamari”, “Too Human”, “Left 4 Dead” and “Rock Band”. GTA IV is the only potential one that could drop out of the list, but those games are usually what Megan really likes, so I’ll probably get it. So, admittedly, even in the “Could Buy” category there are still games in slightly different categories in my head. I thought it would be too confusing and pointless to break out the lists even further, but I’ll mention a few games. Other games I’m keeping a closer eye on in the “Could Buy” category include Lair, Stranglehold, Warhawk, Blue Dragon, Heavenly Sword, TimeShift, and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. A few other possible sleepers include Zack and Wiki, Folklore, Batallion Wars 2, and Turning Point: Fall of Liberty. Still the others on the list look like they could be good and if they get fantastic reviews I might give them a go.
Creating this list was quite an exercise, but it did bring out some interesting observations:
- Nintendo still has the most “must-buy” games for me, but once again they’re all first party games. They also have no games in my second tier and just a few in my 3rd, and admittedly these games will really have to meet the “sleeper” hit status for me to take the plunge on them.
- In most cases where a PS3 and 360 version of the same game exist, I’ve chosen the 360 version. This is due to the fact that the online support will be much better for them and they were likely developed on 360 hardware to begin with, meaning that they’ll probably look and run better. The notable exception to this is Stranglehold, where the PS3 version comes with a Blu-ray version of Hard Boiled. However, if something comes to light and I find out that the competing version of some game (whether on 360 or PS3) is far better for some reason I’d go with that one (ah, the trials of being a multi-console owner).
- I’m not completely sure what I’m going to do yet for some games that are coming to both 360 and PC. The PC version will be cheaper and might potentially have better controls as well as user mods, but I game on a laptop. Sure, it’s a decent laptop for gaming, but it’s still a laptop and I hate having to figure out exactly what my optimal settings are. Do I make it look slightly nicer and have it run at 25-30FPS or do I turn it down a few notches and have it run at a consistent 50-60? More often, I’d pick the 50-60, but then it’d probably look a little worse and I’d wish I’d just gotten the console version instead. Choices, choices…
- One consequence of the above 3 points is that it basically means that my 360 has sort of become my “main” box, with the PC, PS3, and Wii basically required just for their exclusive content.
- I’m not sure if others here have set aside a specific budget for their gaming purchases, but I’ve been notoriously bad with this. I don’t have any kids yet and don’t spend a ton of money going out, so I haven’t watched how much I spend on this stuff TOO much other than basically trying to sniff out deals for things here and there. It’s not that I don’t try to make intelligent purchasing decisions, just that for the most part I haven’t had to worry about it based on my spending habits. Putting together this whole list really stunned me with how much I actually spend on games. Add another 6 360 or PS3 games from my “Could Buy” list to my purchases and I will have spent over $1000 on games in just these few short months. That’s a bit frightening, which is why I’ve tried to start renting and trading for more games. There’s also the recognition that I won’t have nearly enough time to spend on all of these games, so what will probably happen is that I get a few of these games when they start dropping dramatically in price.
And that’s it. Have I forgotten anything (for my wallet’s sake, I hope not)? Any sleepers that I don’t know about?
Update: And of course, I forgot to put in any handheld games at all. Certainly, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass makes it into the “Probably Will Buy” category and adds $30 to my total. “Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings” makes it into the “Could Buy” category. There are a lot of good looking PSP games coming out this year too which I’d probably add to the “Could Buy” category considering I don’t own a PSP yet, but given this consideration, I’ve left them off for now. Perhaps another time.
Update 2: Added Guitar Hero 3 and Guild Wars: Eye of the North to the “Could Buy” list. Why is Guitar Hero 3 $100 now, by the way? I bought the first one for $70 with guitar. The second one sold for $80. Even with the $10 “next-gen” penalty that comes to $90. How do we get to $100 now? And I had to put Guild Wars back on the list since Eye of the North is the first time since the original that the game looks interesting again, and is supposed to bridge the gap to Guild Wars 2.
Posted in Wii, Jeff, PC, DS, Xbox 360, PS3 |
July 17th, 2007 at 2:36 am
My list includes similar games, although they’re organized differently — you and I have very different priorities. Bomberman, Prime 3 and Smash: Brawl are all “could buys” for me. Bioshock and Rock Band are both “must buys.” I don’t see Guitar Hero 3 on your list, which I’m surprised about, particularly since Rock Band’s there; that’s another “must buy” for me.
I like to place preorders on games, especially at times like these, and pay them in full. I do this largely to support my local game shop, which is great, but also because it allows me to stagger my purchases so that I’m not hemorrhaging all that money at once. That’s one suggestion I’d make; another is to avoid trading in games at Gamestops and whatnot. The prices they offer are really terrible. If you want to sell your games — and personally, I hate doing that — you can usually do better selling them on your own.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:06 am
- Deluge of shooters… Only one or two should merit must-buy status, and generally, Jeff is right on the money. As I say, 360:shooters::Japan:RPG
- As soon as you hear “no online” for Smash, I recommend you drop that shit. Nintendo must learn some lessons.
- Bomberman?? WTF.
- I wish disc games and downloadables could co=exist. How about selling shorter 10 hour games on $30, then IF the sales are rather good, make a downloadable series of small chunks? Why must games be so massive in size and cost? How many will really finish these AAA titles?
July 17th, 2007 at 7:05 am
This list in insane. I’m so glad I’m so behind in my gaming, I’ll probably eventually own a lot of these games, just not for the first year they’re out.
I prioritize my games purchases by price.
1.Good enough to pay full price
-very rare, only a couple games a year. (mario galaxy/prime 3/Assassins Creed/Drakes Fortune/GH3)
2.Pick up after the first price drop
-more common (Strikers/NITROBIKE/Halo 3/Bioshock/Lair/Bat Wars Wii)
3.Pick up at $19.99
-very common, I buy a lot of games here (hellgate/heavenly sword/deweys adventure)
4.Pick up used/bargain bin
-the majority of my games are bought here. [everything else in your list except Bomberman, GTA, Nights and Smash (yes I’m a nintendo fan who doesn’t care for smash) which are games I have no interest in.]
July 17th, 2007 at 7:27 am
Yeah, dude. It’s been awhile since I kicked the crap out of some hookers on my way to jacking a helicopter. Good times…
July 17th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Rob-
Guitar Hero 3 I should’ve added to “Could Buy”, but I basically forgot about it because of Rock Band. Honestly, unless the music selection is just that much better on GH3, I see no reason to get it either over or with Rock Band. This is also probably sort of “punishment” for Activision who basically said that Rock Band was just a crappy imitation of Guitar Hero… Maybe true, except that it’s being developed by the original creators of Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero is now sort of the crappy imitation of itself. And also, when I meant “trade” I was talking about Switchplanet, not EB. I have traded in a few games to them in the past, but only when they’ve had special deals going and only a select few that I felt maximized the amount of money I was getting out of them. Getting $1 per game is definitely not a good deal.
laesperanzapaz:
Damn straight about Bomberman. =) It’s been far too long since I’ve had some good Bomberman action, and 8 player over Live is just too good to pass up. I probably should’ve knocked this down a tier, but I basically just know that I want it and am going to get it, hence it’s placement.
Also, I thought online for Smash was confirmed? If it drops out, this game drops into my “Could buy” category.
cisco-
I honestly do the same thing. I’d say the vast majority of my games come from price drops or deals and whatnot. This will probably end up happening to just about everything on my “could buy” list and perhaps even a couple “Probably will buys” (I’ve been hungry for some new Ratchet and Clank action, but the lack of multiplayer has me a bit concerned, for instance). After all, I also still have a backlog of games, including major timesucks like FFXII and KOTOR (which, yes, I got on the cheap).
Megan:
Maybe you should get GTA yourself. That’d save me $60.
July 17th, 2007 at 10:37 am
Megan = Cool
July 17th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Really? Phantom Hourglass is in your “Could Buy” section? That’s definitely a must-have for me.
July 17th, 2007 at 11:44 am
No, “probably will buy”. Not quite a must buy for me as I am still trying to figure out if I’ll have the time to play it, and whether the touch controls are really worth it.
July 17th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Shouldn’t one of you be, like, in vacation in the Bahamas? I thought you were ditching us “suckers,” by ’suckers’ if you mean the sole reason for the existence of this blog
July 17th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Geoff is off vacationing while I toil away night and day for you “suckers”. It appears that he has internet where he is, though, and like me, he is completely dedicated in making sure our loyal readers are satisfied. =)
July 17th, 2007 at 9:43 pm
Actually (and probably surprisingly to some of you), Phantom Hourglass, as far as my list goes, is in the “Probably won’t buy but, eh, who knows” category. I don’t see a 3D Zelda working that well on the DS and I ususally only buy the main Zelda games of a home console, like Wind Waker or Twilight Princess (for some unknown reason, which is probably that it’s not my favorite franchise despite how overjoyed I was with TP, I’ll probably like Zelda more in the near future).