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US Sees Blockbuster Games Release Week

If you've been looking forward to a game's release, odds are that it's coming out this week. Gamasutra has the full list of titles hitting stores in the next few days, and it's a tsunami of gaming goodness. Assassin's Creed, Mario Galaxy, and Crysis are probably the three headlining titles, but no console is spared the deluge. PC Highlights: EverQuest: Secrets of Faydwer, EverQuest II: Rise of Kunark, Kane and Lynch, SimCity Societies. PS3 Highlights: Assassin's Creed, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Kane and Lynch, Beowulf. 360 Highlights: America's Army: True Soldiers, Assassin's Creed, Beowulf, BlackSite: Area 51, Kane & Lynch. Wii Highlights: Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Geometry Wars: Galaxies.

26 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. is it true by Mipoti+Gusundar · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you've been looking forward to a game's release, odds are that it's coming out this week.
    Even the Duke Dukem forever? I will be racing large mug of frosen pees!
    --
    Will code for new sig.
  2. Next week is bigger... by 7Prime · · Score: 3, Insightful

    with just one title too (there may be more, but really, who cares):

    Mass Effect.

    Not to understate the release of Mario Galaxy, for that is a title almost a decade in the waiting. But for some reason, when it comes down to it, I'm probably even more excited about Mass Effect... even though I traditionally don't like American RPGs. If a jRPG/Wii freak like me can be converted to the dark side by this... I can only guess how huge this game is going to be.

    --
    Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
    1. Re:Next week is bigger... by trdrstv · · Score: 4, Funny

      with just one title too (there may be more, but really, who cares):

      Mass Effect.

      Thought I agree in spirit that the biggest game of the year comes out next week, but somehow you misspelled "Rock Band".

    2. Re:Next week is bigger... by DarkMantle · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Don't forget Unreal Tournament 3. Been waiting for that one for 4 years.

      --
      DarkMantle I been bored, so I started a blog.
    3. Re:Next week is bigger... by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You do yourself a disservice to not even count UT3 and Rock Band. Both are going to be huge. As a matter of fact, I'm not even getting Mass Effect right away, because I'm going to be spending so much time playing Rock Band. I'll get it eventually, of course.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
    4. Re:Next week is bigger... by MooseMuffin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      As one of the lucky ones who got Mass Effect over the weekend from the dummys at K-Mart, let me say that I'm 8-9 hours in and this is my dream game. If you liked Kotor, you will love this. It has some very obvious flaws, but once the game gets going you won't even care.

    5. Re:Next week is bigger... by vorwerk · · Score: 2, Informative

      I urge you to download the UT3 demo and try it out for yourself before buying it.

      As a huge fan of UT2k4, I was really looking forward to playing the demo for UT3... and I was extremely disappointed. For numerous reasons, I feel that Epic really slaughtered what was once a great game series. And I'm not alone; there are a ton of unhappy folk over at the UT3 Beta Feedback forum.

      I've since played the COD4 demo and the Crysis demo. And Crysis will be getting my business. Its gameplay is awesome, the AI is great, and the graphics are stunning. (I really didn't enjoy FarCry very much, but Crysis has me hooked -- I've played through the demo several times already and am just amazed by how well-refined and fun-to-play it is.) Get a copy of the demo and check it out.

    6. Re:Next week is bigger... by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 3, Informative
      Interestingly, I'm a huge fan of UT2k4 as well, and UT3 delivers for me. Crysis, on the other hand, irritates the hell out of me. On my computer, there's a 3-sec control lag in the demo (and it's not FPS, I'm pulling 30 FPS). Maybe the release version will be better, but until I try that (I'm gonna have to yarr-harr it to test it out, I'm not about to risk my money to test if a bug I experienced is gone), my faith is shattered.

      COD 4, on the other hand, is amazing. That's really where your business should be going. I just finished the single-player, and am now trying to get into multiplayer (but having issues), and I have to say, the single-player alone is worth the cost of admission. It rocks HARD.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
  3. None of those stand a chance against... by IceCreamGuy · · Score: 4, Funny

    I predict that ET on the Virtual Console is going to eat up all the hype. It might even be the biggest entertainment launch in history.

  4. Game Length by roadkill_cr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I used to think a six hour game length (CoD4) was much too short. I'm beginning to understand a little better now why we need them that low.

  5. In the true spirit of gamers by jdgeorge · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let me be the first to say:

    [My game platform of choice] totally r00lz, and is going to pwn the game market this year! On the other hand, [your preferred game platform] is ugly, hard to use, buggy, and will soon be remembered as the game platform nobody can remember!

    LittleBig Gears of Mariohunt 3 kicks A$$!

    1. Re:In the true spirit of gamers by ShawnCplus · · Score: 3, Funny

      your program (n): a maze of non-sequiturs littered with clever-clever tricks and irrelevant comments. Compare MY PROGRAM.

      my program (n): a gem of algorithmic precision, offering the most sublime balance between compact, efficient coding on the one hand, and fully commented legibility for posterity on the other. Compare YOUR PROGRAM.
      -Coding Horror Sound very similar
      --
      Excuse me while I gather the virgin sacrifice and assemble the pentagram required to solve your problem
    2. Re:In the true spirit of gamers by Achoi77 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I laugh at the prospect of the success of [your preferred game platform], or at the [other game platform], since [vaporware PC game] will be coming out soon for [PC with my favorite OS]. No need to spend [excessive amount of currency] every [interval of time] in order to enjoy the latest games, just upgrade my [PC hardware] for [considerably less amount or money than your favorite console] and I can have a cutting edge gaming experience now instead of [whenever the next generation of consoles are released to match the graphical processing power my machine has right now]. On top of that, I don't have to worry about spending money on getting [extraneous game peripherals/hardware add-on] to enjoy additional functionality that should have come with [your favorite console] to begin with!

      In addition to that, [delayed MMO] will be coming out soon and will pwn [your favorite console], and you know that's what everybody is going to be playing anyways. [your favorite console] is dying, [netcraft/sales in japan/competiton from other console platform] confirms it.

    3. Re:In the true spirit of gamers by feepness · · Score: 2, Funny

      [My game platform of choice] totally r00lz, and is going to pwn the game market this year! On the other hand, [your preferred game platform] is ugly, hard to use, buggy, and will soon be remembered as the game platform nobody can remember! You leave my nGage alone!
    4. Re:In the true spirit of gamers by Cornflake917 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sweet, I love ad libs!

      Pussy totally r00lz, and is going to pwn the game market this year! On the other hand, your ass is ugly, hard to use, buggy, and will soon be remembered as the game platform nobody can remember!

      Sigh, filling in the blanks with naughty words like "pussy" and "ass" never gets old.

    5. Re:In the true spirit of gamers by jollyreaper · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sigh, filling in the blanks with naughty words like "pussy" and "ass" never gets old. I tried that on my 1040. The IRS was not amused.
      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
  6. And not to forget... by Negatyfus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Mass Effect will be released two days after the end of this week, on November 20. Truly, this is when the "next-generation" consoles get into their own with quality releases and hopefully the PS3 will finally shape up, as well.

  7. assassin's creed by theMerovingian · · Score: 4, Interesting
    --
    "If you think you have things under control, you're not going fast enough." --Mario Andretti
    1. Re:assassin's creed by Jaqenn · · Score: 2, Informative

      In 2008. (it's still delayed until 2008, right?)

      --
      You are awash in a sea of fiercely stated opinions. Obvious exits are: 'File->Quit', 'Reply', and 'Page Down'.
    2. Re:assassin's creed by Jaqenn · · Score: 2, Informative

      I should have said that the PC version is delayed until 2008.

      --
      You are awash in a sea of fiercely stated opinions. Obvious exits are: 'File->Quit', 'Reply', and 'Page Down'.
  8. What? by HairyNevus · · Score: 2, Funny
    No games from Valve? This week is pointless.

    :P

    --
    You were critically hit for no damage. The bruise will look nice, and maybe the scars will make good party talk.
    1. Re:What? by trdrstv · · Score: 2, Funny

      No games from Valve? This week is pointless.

      :P

      This week is a lie!

  9. I felt a great disturbance... by CaseM · · Score: 2, Funny

    in the economy, as if millions of checkbooks cried out in terror, and were suddenly empty.

    1. Re:I felt a great disturbance... by Furious+Purpose · · Score: 2, Funny

      in the internet, as if millions of broadband connections cried out in terror, and were suddenly saturated with bittorrent traffic. Fixed that for you.
  10. Poor choice of article title by British · · Score: 2, Informative

    With use of the word "blockbuster" I thought this article would involve Blockbuster Video. And, well, Blockbuter Video is going the way of the dinosaur. Would have used any word but blockbuster. Wait until the company dies out for a few years, than we can use it as a generic non-TM word. :)

  11. too many games at once? by jollyreaper · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Maybe not, I dunno. With movies, conventional wisdom said that the audience would only see a couple movies in a summer so every studio was competing for a fixed number of viewings. What the studios later came to realize was that demand was fairly elastic: put out 2 good movies and they'll be watched, put out 20 good movies and they'll be watched. Conversely, put out no good movies and you won't get many viewers. The thing is, a movie doesn't take up anything more than an evening. Unless people are that fickle with their full-priced games, it should take them longer than that to properly experience the thing.

    I guess that would be an interesting statistic: for the game-buying public, especially the ones that drop the full price when the games come out, how long do they typically stick with a game before getting bored and buying a new one? If two games they think the'll like come out on the same weekend, will they buy both the same day or pick one to play and get the other one once it's half-price some months later?

    Since there are so many more adult gamers now, I'd imagine the purchase cycle isn't driven as much by birthdays and Christmas as when gamers were mostly kids.

    --
    Kwisatz Haderach
    Sell the spice to CHOAM
    This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne