Octopus Overlords

What I'm curious to see, is the number of people who have games they woudl have liiked t buy, but could not because there were too many games released in this 3 1/2 -month Holiday Season (September-> December).

This is the first time in a while I've had to neglect buying games I want because of too many choices all at once. Unless you're quite ealthy and can afford everyone thrown out, I think most people are like me and have had to "thin the herd". Normally I can afford about 1-2 games per month.

I'm also concerned that it's economic suicide for smaller developers and publishers to release their games amoungst such a heavy load of big hitters.

WARNING, I'm replicating this on my 3 homes (Qt3, here, and Consolegold), so please don't yell at me if you've seen this already.

Alot of it is money issues for me, but part of it is that I don't have time to finish all of the games that I did buy.

The major ones I picked up recently were Rome: Total War (It came out a way back but I just got it over thanksgiving), Half Life 2, Men of Valor, and Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault.

I finished the three FPS's but I've only played 10 hours or so of Rome. I want to get in alot more time on that game before I go and buy another.

Jon, wait for the big patch for Rome Total War before playing. They're fixing a lot of the stupid AI problems with that patch. but yea, time was a concern besides money that i didn't think of posting.

When is the patch supposed to come out? I've played 7 hours on hard and so far it's challenging enough I think part of that is because I am still learning how to play though. I don't lose to many battles so far but I haven't been outnumbered yet either.

I should of added the list of games I want but cannot afford to buy right now as well. Here they are:

* Everquest 2.
* DaoC Catacombs.
* Vampire Bloodlines.
* Chronicles of Riddick.
* Knights of Honor (import).
* CodeName Panzers: Phase One.
* Battles in Normandy.
* Hearts of Iron Platinum.
* Call of Duty United Offensive.
* Star Wars Battlefront.

When June-July rolls around and we have NOTHING new to pick from, then I might get caught up, but these companies will not get retail price as they will have hit bargain bin prices - or worse yet for them, used copies will be sold instead.

Adding the following because now that they're patched I'd like to try em out, but not enough time/money right now:

* Silent Storm.
* Heroes of WWII.

When I have time, I'll buy Half-Life 2 and JO: Escalation.
Until then, I'll be busy having sex.

still can't justify the cost or hard drive space for HalfLife 2...

Yes, there are a lot of games coming out, so I wouldn't have time to play all the new games (although that tends to be the case, usually.)

But I also normally try to avoid buying many games (especially expensive games) around this time because of the inevitable price-drops that happen on many games in January.

Absolutely. I can't remember the last time this many great games were released at once. I didn't buy

Kohan 2
Evil Genius
RCT3 (for myself - bought a copy for my mom as a gift)
WoW
Bloodlines
EQ2
Rise of Nations Gold
HL2
Zoo Tycoon 2.

Oh and I see that Syberia has a collectors edition out. Great. Add that to the list.

I'm going to be bargain bin shopping for a long time thanks to this holiday season.

still can't justify the cost or hard drive space for HalfLife 2...

Then you haven't tried hard enough, damn it!

I haven't purchased every game I've wanted, but that's not due to too many games being out. I declare your poll broken!

~Neal

The Meal wrote:I haven't purchased every game I've wanted, but that's not due to too many games being out. I declare your poll broken!

~Neal

All right smarty pants. What's you reason?!

jpinard wrote:

The Meal wrote:I haven't purchased every game I've wanted, but that's not due to too many games being out. I declare your poll broken!

~Neal

All right smarty pants. What's you reason?!

Same here. My desk is already littered with games that haven't been played because of time constraints, buying more just adds to the problem. Overall, its cheaper if I wait until I'm ready/able to play the game before I buy it.

There is also a handful of games in the "I'll buy it when it's convenient to do so" category - waiting for the next order with GoGamer or NWS. My desire to play these games does not exceed my inertia when it comes to actually placing an order - I'll pick these games up when I'm otherwise placing an order from these sites.

In no case is it a matter of "too many games to buy." Not enough time to play, sure, but I buy all the games I want to play when I want to play them.

well that's sort of the point isn't it? If there were only one or two games that came out this winter then finding time for them wouldn't be a problem.

Given how many games (and how many stellar games) arrived this winter it's too hard to fid time for all of them, so some of them haven't been purchased yet.

If Evil Genius or Bloodlines had come out last summer I'd have bought it immediately just for something new.

jpinard wrote:

The Meal wrote:I haven't purchased every game I've wanted, but that's not due to too many games being out. I declare your poll broken!

~Neal

All right smarty pants. What's you reason?!

My allowable gaming time does not give me a chance to play all the games I already own, let alone justify purchasing new games. So I'm holding off on purchasing the games that are available that I want to play until 1) their prices come down, 2) final stability/features are implemented, and 3) consensus opinions are formed as to which games will stand the test of time. Additionally, 4) is that I'm not allowed to purchase personal entertainment items between mid-November and the end of the Christmas season.

Nothing about too many games being released at once keeping me from purchasing new ones, yet a-purchasing I will not go.

~Neal

I must be picky.
The only "must have" game that has come out this year, for me, was Thief 3. Other games have come out that I'd like to have, but I'm in no rush to buy them since I have a backlog I want to work on. Plus, I've spent a lot of time this year reading instead of gaming.

Well Meal, if I had more willpower your reasonsing fits me 100% perfectly as well. Umm this is bad, but I too have a purchasing moratorium placed on me from Nov til Jan. However I have found certain evil ways to bypass this trade embargo. Call it the oil for food scam. OK, so its not that, I just get FedEx to deliver when my wife's not home, then rid my house of the evidence. hehe

Yeah... I was forced to thin the herd. There was just too much good stuff released this Fall. I didn't have the money nor the time to pick up everything. So I concentrated in picking the 'big' games: Doom 3, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, World Of Warcraft.

In the months ahead, I'll have to pick up Rome:Total War, The Sims 2, Evil Genius, Grand Theft Auto: San Anreas, Metal Gear Solid 3, Pikmin 2, Baten Kaitos, and many others.

Game developers should read this thread. It says plainly that their always releasing games in the fall leads to lower sales.

Bad Demographic wrote:I must be picky.
The only "must have" game that has come out this year, for me, was Thief 3. Other games have come out that I'd like to have, but I'm in no rush to buy them since I have a backlog I want to work on. Plus, I've spent a lot of time this year reading instead of gaming.

Get Vampire. You'll like it.

Or you can borrow my copy.