Riot Pig's Blogs

Just recently I've been taking a look at the upcoming games for 2008, and I've begun to feel a bit overwhelmed.  Never before have I felt overwhelmed with the gaming industry. We've always been handed our games at a steady pace, rationed out across the year.  2008 seems to be a bit different though, and for several different reasons.

It wasn't long ago when developers and analysists were warning of a gaming drought 'caused by high-production costs and long development cycles.  If that's the case, then the industry must also be expanding at a rate fast enough to cover the gap, as I haven't noticed a drought yet.  Then there's Activision, who still seem to be able to put out a Call of Duty game every year.  And Ubisoft who are still pumping out the Tom Clancy games as fast as ever.

These same people were also warning us that the market would be flooded with sequels - that we'd stop seeing new intellectual properties because they were just too risky when production costs were so high.  But half the games I'm seeing and buying now are new IPs - Skate., Dead Rising, Gears of War, Crackdown, Portal, Saints Row etc.  Instead I think that everyone's striving, moreso than ever, to produce something incredibly innovative and unique, just to stand out from the crowd.  Yet there's still a place for all those smaller developers on the Live Arcade, PSN Store, and Wii Ware.

It's been a slow year so far, with the exception of GTAIV, Metal Gear Solid 4, and a few other titles.  But I think those two titles alone have had a small part in pushing the rest of the games into the later portion of the year.  Now just look at these excellent games coming out, and tell me you're not interested in at least half of them.

Saints Row 2

Spore

Mirror's Edge

Too Human

Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise

Gears of War 2

Left 4 Dead

Fallout 3

Mercenaries 2

Prototype

Resistance 2

Fable 2

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts N' Bolts

Little Big Planet

Tekken 6