Will the flood of software this quarter hurt the market????

[swlovinist]

Yep, its the beginning of the fourth quarter soon and there are a TON of games coming out. I work at a Software Etc. and on one day alone in November, we have over 50-75 games coming out on November 19th. My question to you games is, do you think this is just like any other Christmas or is this one extra flooded? To me it is a sign of the times. Please let me know what you think!

[Rev. Link]

It doesn't seem like there are any more games than usual to me.

[zmweasel]

Yep, its the beginning of the fourth quarter soon and there are a TON of games coming out. I work at a Software Etc. and on one day alone in November, we have over 50-75 games coming out on November 19th. My question to you games is, do you think this is just like any other Christmas or is this one extra flooded? To me it is a sign of the times. Please let me know what you think!

I do think this year's fourth quarter is more overloaded than usual, and an awful lot of good and very good games are going to be lost in the chaos: Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance, Arx Fatalis, and on and on. I never feel more useless as a videogame journalist than I do in the 4th Q, when the hare-brained masses gobble up the licensed crap and leave the original stuff to rot, no matter how much I plead with them in print.

-- Z.

[Ed Oscuro]

Well, right there you've reminded me of a couple titles to get, how about that? :D

[Half Japanese]

The same sort of thing happens every year, with some true gems being ignored (thus ruining chances for a sequel) and people gobbling up anything that had a heavy television ad campaign or name-brand association. Perhaps the most heavily overlooked title last christmas, at least in my opinion, was Phantom Crash. Here we have probably the best mech game ever released, but it got squashed under the heels of Microsoft's MechAssault. Sure MechAssault had online play, but did it allow you to customize your robot in an ever-changing shop? While it's certainly not terrible for the industry, it does make it ever more difficult for the little guy to get his two cents in, and that lack of attention towards creative and well-planned titles DOES, in the end hurt the industry, or at least those that have stuck with it for so long. Just my opinion.

[Rev. Link]

I do agree that it sucks when good games get lost amongst the licensed crap. Plus, video games are becoming like movies anymore these days! Casual sheep fans just care about blood and sex, or lots of FMV, or licensed soundtracks (not that there's anything wrong with any of those things), and production prices for games are skyrocketing! This causes games that would have been considered good sellers just a few years back to be bombs now. If it keeps up, many of the smaller game studios won't be able to afford to stay in business. Then where will all our sleeper hits come from?

[lendelin]

The game offerings are definetely overcrowded this quarter, but this goes not only for this quarter. The game market for the last year is overheated and saturated. It's only a matter of time (it will happen very soon) that it calm down until the next gen systems are released.

That means, profit rates for game publishers/developers will decrease, therefore for the hardware manufacturers also, increasingly third party developers will go out of business, less games will be offerd, and more importantly for us gamers, the prices for games won't drop as fast as they do now.

So...enjoy until it lasts. :)

(btw, this won't be a crash of the industry or it's end :) , just a normal slowdown.

[Pente]

There are lots of games coming out to the point where I dont even have space anymore! I have to keep on burning and deleting and burning and deleting. I'm down to 4 gigs! Look at this list i'm getting now and this is just for today!

PC
--
2003-10-28 Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup Electronic Arts 43x15 MB DEVIANCE 3
2003-10-29 Silent Hill 3 Konami *DVDR* 58x50 MB DEVIANCE

PS2
---
Tony_Hawk_Underground_Usa_PS2DVD-GAMEOVER [73x50]
NFL_Blitz_Pro_Usa_Ps2_Dvd-ORGASM
2003-10-29 Kill Switch Namco Hometek *NTSC* *FULLDVD* 44x50 MB ORGASM -
2003-10-29 Gladius LucasArts *NTSC* *FULLDVD* 35x50 MB GAMEOVER
Jeopardy 2003 Atari *NTSC* *FULLDVD PS2

XBOX
----
Amped_2_USA_XBOX-CSiSO [70x50]
Rogue_Ops_USA_XBOX-ProjectX
Worms_3D_Pal_Xbox-RiOT [22x50]
Ford_Racing_2_PAL_XBOX-WAR3X [4x50]
2003-10-29 Gladius LucasArts *NTSC* *FULLDVD* 58x50 MB WAM -
2003-10-29 Tom Clancys Rainbox Six 3 UbiSoft *PAL* *FULLDVD* *FINAL* 42x50 MB RIOT -
2003-10-29 Hunter The Reckoning Redeemer Vivendi Universal *NTSC* *FULLDVD* 24x50 MB WAM -
2003-10-29 SWAT: Global Strike Team Vivendi Universal *NTSC* *FULLDVD* 56x50 MB

[hydr0x]

wtf ban this guy....

[rbudrick]

As long as the bargain bins fill up, fuggit.

LOL
-Rob

[hamburgler]

Doesn't seemed to be filled up at all.

[hamburgler]

:)

[swlovinist]

People like pente make me sick....If you cant sack up and help pay for the current games that are out there.....then you dont belong at this site. I am not asking people to spend tons of money on games, just remember when you burn games it hurts all of us when we buy a new game. Old games I feel are different, because they are not current. I dont emulate myself, but that is a different story!

[hydr0x]

@swlovinist, this is not entirely true, don't get me wrong i haven't burned anything for a long while and i'm against pirating, BUT it's not really true that burning hurts the companies, 99% of the games that are burned are not burned because the person doesn't want to buy the game!! If they did not copy it they also wouldn't buy it. It's the same with mp3's those people with 40 gig mp3's would never buy thousands of cd's, that's something the industry doesn't get, 99% wouldn't buy the things they copy, no matter what they would cost....

[rbudrick]

Hmmm, dunno about 99%...but I always buy stuff I have copies of...like rare CDs and games and such that I like. If I want to play it and I can only get a copy, I will, but if I can get an original, I'd much rather do that.

Oh, and I think the bargain bins are filling up...I just bought 15 ps2, xbox and GC games for $63 today...some used, some new, all complete.

-Rob

[Pente]

yes i have lots and lots of store bought games. But I do not spend $50 a month for internet to just surf the web. Usenet, IRC, FTP, and the web is all a part of the service I pay for. And thats not including other tools like bittorent or peer to peer. It's not my fault these things are right there in front of my face for the taking. If I see it, I'm clicking it. And I'm GLAD they're out there. It just comes with the internet and is free for all. I'm not going to turn my face from something that's freely available on my internet connection anymore than I'm going to turn my face from naked lady pictures because it's immoral. Or maybe Next thing you know you'll be telling people to avoid porno pictures and movies because maybe it hurts the porno video & magazine industry because I should be buying these tapes and pictures instead of freely downloading them. All i know is I pay for my internet and if something comes up that I want then I amn clicking it. Why should I not? If someone tells you to avoid channels on your tv do you have to?

This topic is about how theres so much software coming and i just saying that there is a lot coming out.

[bargora]

yes i have lots and lots of store bought games. But I do not spend $50 a month for internet to just surf the web. Usenet, IRC, FTP, and the web is all a part of the service I pay for. And thats not including other tools like bittorent or peer to peer. It's not my fault these things are right there in front of my face for the taking. If I see it, I'm clicking it. And I'm GLAD they're out there. It just comes with the internet and is free for all. I'm not going to turn my face from something that's freely available on my internet connection anymore than I'm going to turn my face from naked lady pictures because it's immoral. Or maybe Next thing you know you'll be telling people to avoid porno pictures and movies because maybe it hurts the porno video & magazine industry because I should be buying these tapes and pictures instead of freely downloading them. All i know is I pay for my internet and if something comes up that I want then I amn clicking it. Why should I not? If someone tells you to avoid channels on your tv do you have to?

This topic is about how theres so much software coming and i just saying that there is a lot coming out.
Please invite me over to your house, as I'd like to visit your game room. And as I depart with pockets full, I leave you with the thought: "It's not my fault these things are right there in front of my face for the taking."

Perhaps sometime this weekend?