It's a good time to be a gamer OR Is it a good time to be a gamer?

[toblix]

For a very long time I've felt that there's been a very high rate of great and/or high-profile games being released. I just looked at the "My Games" tab, and there's Dragon Age, which I'm currently playing, Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2. In addition, I've just ordered Heavy Rain. Also, there's a new Ace Attorney game coming out this week. Oh, and they've just announced a new Civ game. And the list goes on. Having just finished (and completed every achievement for) the great Assassin's Creed 2, and playing GTA IV and Forza 3 weekly, I'll be constantly playing awesome game forever. It's like great games are being released faster than I can play them. Granted, it's mostly sequels, and I should be furious that it's Assassin's Creed 2 and not New Original Title, but still... are gamers having a particularly sweet time OR is this just how it is OR should I be angrier at being served sequels even though they're apparently great?

Oh, I also forgot Left 4 Dead 2 and Bad Company 2. Also, Modern Warfare wasn't bad. Jesus, there's a lot of sequels.

[Roderick]

You're quite right. Even though it's all sequels, it's a fantastic time to be a gamer. Excellent harvests for the past couple of years, actually.

[Korax]

I'd say that while there have been a decently greater amount of great game recently, it's also due to publishers finally (fingers crossed) realizing that there are other times to release games than the fall/winter holiday season. Not only did a bunch of releases get pushed to early this year to make room for games at the end of last year, but some of those are getting pushed even further because so many games are coming out right now. A nice, steady schedule of releases over the entire year is much better than having to stockpile or even just miss out on games due to a busy couple of months.

[DanJW]

Great sequels make it a good time to be a gamer, but perhaps not a good time to become a gamer. Where would you start?

[toblix]

Great sequels make it a good time to be a gamer, but perhaps not a good time to become a gamer. Where would you start?

Aren't most sequels made with the requirement that the player shouldn't have to know about the previous games at all? For example, I wouldn't go see, say, the second Batman film without having seen the first one, but I don't have the impression that any of the games out now that end with a 2 (AC2, DoW2, MW2, BC2, ME2, BS2) really need me to have played the prequel(s). Or expect me to for that matter, other than the occasional back-reference. Even Mass Effect 2, which continues the save game from the prequel -- even though I haven't played it -- I get the impression it's not really built on the previous one, but just uses it in places to spice things up, if you will.

[Sombre]

Yes and no. It's good because it's never been easier to come across games, and there's so much great things to play at the moment.

However, there's also far too many games out at the moment. How am I meant to beat Assassins Creed 2, Civilzation 4 AND pass university with only 24 hours in the day?

[Irishjohn]

It's awesome, but a less awesome time to be working on a dissertation!!!

In addition to that, financial issues are going to give me one hell of a backlog. I'm going to be playing amazing games for a long, long time. Which is cool, but... I probably can't get Heavy Rain until April or May. Which makes me sad.

[gdf]

There are a lot of big games around right now, but they don't all necessarily appeal to me. The internet is what I find most exciting, digital distribution has given more limited appeal games a chance to reach a wider global audience, and I love having the chance to play stuff from countries outside of the traditional western/Japanese development circles.

Also, there are shitloads of casual games available free online, which is great, because I play a ton of stupid crap.

[Squid Division]

I can't tell if it's awesome or awful. I've still got Forza and Dragon Age that I'm about halfway through, then I've got Borderlands, L4D2, Torchlight, the first two STALKER games from December. Mass Effect 2 (sidequests) from January. New STALKER game and Napoleon Total War comes out tomorrow which will eat up all of my time. I haven't even had a chance to check out Darksiders at all. And Battlefield BC2 comes out next week. Good lord.

[elmuerte]

There are too many good/interesting games in a short period. It would be much better if it was spread out more.

[Patters]

It's potentially a good time, though with so many potentially great games being released in such a small time frame, it's easy for less savvy consumers to get bogged down, having too much decision. I reckon it's going to be harder for developers and publishers, the competition is pretty vast, one of the reasons both Capcom and Ubisoft, I assume, pushed games back. I blame activision and publisher's apparent fear of the CoD market.

[Tanukitsune]

It's a nightmare if you want to keep up with the current games! It seems that each year we get three or four new franchises that are actually WORTH playing!

Every game is getting a sequel now, and if didn't do well, it tries again as an XBLA game!

[Roderick]

This year is the 2007 of video games, which was the 1998 of video games.

[Wrestlevania]

I think the fact gaming platforms are really stable and well-established at the moment plays a part in this, too. There are no new major console iterations coming any time soon*, and I don't think PC and console technology has been this close in parity for a long time either.

Obviously this is a small part of the whole, but it's the sort of thing I find really interesting in gaming. Long may it continue, says I.

*

[syntheticgerbil]

I think the fact gaming platforms are really stable and well-established at the moment plays a part in this, too. There are no new major console iterations coming any time soon*,

....

*

Oh I hope not, because that always comes in to disrupt everything. I wouldn't mind using the same console for 15 years at this point.