Here Comes the Dry Season...Anyone Else Relieved?

[mykevermin]

Looking over the upcoming releases on all the major consoles, almost without fail, they don't have any really solid titles coming out until March or later.

You don't know how happy that makes me as a gamer, more specifically, one who tends to buy more than they play (I know I'm not alone here).

Halfway into January, and I've not spent a dime on games thus far. I may be able to make it until March, as long as no super deals come to fruition (which they surely will).

Now, there are some exceptions: the DS has around 3-4 good to great games coming out before March (such as Phoenix Wright 2 today), and the GBA has it's (*snif*) swan song, Final Fantasy VI Advance, in early February. To have less than 4-5 releases to look forward to means (1) I save money, and (2) I get to knock out my massive backlog.

Is anyone else with me? Delighted that this part of the year is about telling you what games you'll surely buy before December, rather than beating you over the head with amazing titles so that you can't even beat all the games you received/bought around Christmastime without buying more titles?

[Javery]

I couldn't be happier although I'm going to pick up Lost Planet sometime this week. I want to finish Gears of War, THP8, Kameo (way better than I was expecting), Okami, Guitar Hero II, Bully, Zelda: TP and RE4 before the weather gets warm. I've been on a mission though logging around 3 hours a night playing video games but I've still got plenty to do.

[daroga]

I'm very happy. I have at least 3 Wii games to get through, a few in my GC backlog, and a couple games I've been itching to replay.

[gofishn]

I agree 100%. I just got Twilight Princess, Viva Pinata, Donkey Konga 2 and Jungle Beat, and have some more GC games on the way. For whatever reason I decided to start playing Oblivion again too. Since I got my Wii I suddenly have the urge to play through all the now extremely cheap classics that I missed out on by not having a GC.

[Puffa469]

Im relieved. Ive got a huge backlog of games to play. Im only 12 hours into Zelda, my wife now has the WoW expansion to keep her busy, and Ive been busy with GBA & DS stuff.

[furyk]

Dry season? Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, Lost Planet, Phoenix Wright 2, Hotel Dusk, Sid Meire's Pirates (PSP), Legend of Heroes III, Rogue Galaxy, and Crackdown out recently or soon disagree. I've always been of the opinion that the post Christmas drought lasts until the middle of the January. The real drought comes June time (which never made sense to me considering kids have more, not less time to play games even if they are spending their summer job/allowance money on vacations and movies and what not).

Regardless, your point still stands. I'm happy that things have slowed down, but this is a super busy time if you're a portable gamer like I am. Having said that, I've put in a lot of time on Twilight Princess in the two week breathing period.

[jrutz]

Totally relieved. Now I finally get to catch up on games I've wanted to play.

I skipped Lost Planet, Crackdown is probably my next purchase followed by Forza 2 and Guitar Heroes II. So I've got some time.

[Chibi_Kaji]

I'm with furyk on this. There are still a number of good games that are coming out soon. And now I am planning to buy a 360. So that adds some more games to the list of stuff I want(Old and new)...

[the3rdkey]

This is the time of year where I catch up on old games or never touch them again. I usually just start an MMO till a good game comes out. I remember playing WoW forever last year till Oblivion came out. Now I am playing EQ2. WooT!

[mykevermin]

Dry season? Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, Lost Planet, Phoenix Wright 2, Hotel Dusk, Sid Meire's Pirates (PSP), Legend of Heroes III, Rogue Galaxy, and Crackdown out recently or soon disagree. I've always been of the opinion that the post Christmas drought lasts until the middle of the January. The real drought comes June time (which never made sense to me considering kids have more, not less time to play games even if they are spending their summer job/allowance money on vacations and movies and what not).

In the OP I mentioned that the DS still has some grade-A titles coming out, but that's an anomaly.

I don't know much about Crackdown, but my cynicism tells me "piece of shit" if they're using the beta test for another game to sell it. I could be very very wrong. Can't say much for the others, except that perhaps the Level 5 (or Factor 5, I gets 'em confused) RPGs are highly regarded, but rarely played, it seems. I can wait on Rogue Galaxy, I suppose, and it strikes me as the kind of game that could be good, but would just *die* at retailers if released during the busy season, just like the also-well-regarded Radiata Stories.

Regardless, your point still stands. I'm happy that things have slowed down, but this is a super busy time if you're a portable gamer like I am. Having said that, I've put in a lot of time on Twilight Princess in the two week breathing period.

Mm-hmm. It's all TP all the time. I got all but two golden bugs last night, and found out I couldn't access them until later in the game. GRR! :lol:

[Dead of Knight]

Not a dry season for me. Getting Phoenix Wright, Hotel Dusk, Ar Tonelico, Diddy Kong Racing DS, and Chulip almost for certain throughout the months of January and February. Might get Rogue Galaxy if I hear more positive things about it.

Like furyk said, the real drought is in the early summer.

[onetrackmind]

Its defiently a good thing, although its going to take me forever to get through my massive backlog.

[gofishn]

Crap, I forgot that I've had Phoenix Wright 2 sitting on my desk since October.

[Rei no Otaku]

Unfortunately, as was mentioned, my drought doesn't begin until like May/June. And yes, I'll be glad when it hits. I have a stack of games I need to finish, and could use the down time.

[Chacrana]

There's still some games that I need to get that are coming out, but far fewer than last year where there was basically no really bad drought for the entire year... it's nice, because while there's not too many good games coming out right now, the ones that are good are really, really good.

[asianxcore]

Very happy.

After Wario Ware: Smooth Moves and Phoenix Wright 2 this week, I probably won't be buying any new releases until sometime in March.

This will all give me time to finish up the last 3 dungeons in Zelda: Twilight Princess.

[Xevious]

I've been concentrating my spending on clothes and stuff I need (like a bike helmet) instead of video games, CDs, and DVDs. Its time to dial down the digital!

[anotherpoorgamer]

I'm glad! My backlog is getting a bit too much for my taste that being not having a backlog at all. I still have to get through these games:
Final Fantasy IV
Classic NES: Bomberman

Not to mention the games I still haven't gotten through since the beginning of last year:
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Viewtiful Joe 2
Mario Party 4
Sonic Adventure DX
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle

[MadFlava]

lol, its dry season in gaming and I'm still buying old cheap ass games I missed out on. Everything seems to be going on clearance this month. Especially CC which have dropped a bunch of PSP games to $16.98. I'm trying to hold out until the make them cheaper but I'm worried they will run out of stock.

[mrchainsaw]

It's not like I have untouched games sitting around (I wish I had enough money for that), so I don't care about the dry spell. I finally have some money to spend on games, now I just need to find some time.

[jollydwarf]

I bought WarioWare today, but my next purchase is the already-preordered Crackdown (someone said there's some demo included or something...whatever!). That's over a month away. Basically, I'm trying to make this entire year a "dry season", as my signature currently indicates. However, the outstanding year the 360 is looking to have as well as the ever-expanding VC and XBLA libraries aren't making it any easier. I'll be lucky to catch up on half of what I need to, and 'just' buy twice the amount of games that I said I'd buy before the New Year.

[ryanbph]

i don't think it is as bad as it used to be, but it is slow compared to the november/december release schedules. Either way I have a fair amount of games to get thru.

[RedvsBlue]

The only problem with the dry season is that there were so many games during the wet season that they're all gonna be on sale/clearance during the dry season...

[botticus]

It's only a temporary respite. It will let me pretend that I have a chance of following my "don't buy more games than I finish" goal for this year. Until March rolls around, then that's out the window.

So far 4 finished and only 2 purchased (March preorders at that)!

[danito]

I'll be playing through: Red Steel, LoZ: TP, Trauma Center, Elebits, and a few other things here and there. I've definitely got plenty of games at the moment.

[munch]

I bought WarioWare Tuesday, am getting Phoenix Wright today, and am picking up Hotel Dusk later this month. Hopefully I'll be done for a while.

[Chacrana]

Shit, I just realized that February's a killer... Mainly due to an onslaught of imports. No real respite for me...

[lordwow]

Dry Season for me, waiting for the Christmas time releases to drop in price in a few months, and with quite a hefty backlog of Xbox1 and Wii games.

[Graystone]

I'm happy. I've purchased quite a few games over the holiday season. A few I haven't opened.

Yes thanks to this site I have sealed 360 games. :cry: Ma I finally made it. I digress. All of those games I bought I haven't really touched the campaign modes . I've been mainly playing the online component. So it will be nice to get some down time to play those other games.

[depascal22]

It's good because I'm saving up to move out of state. I've got plenty of backlog to play through anyway.

[nyprimus4]

I am extremely happy. I have 4-5 Xbox 360 games I need to finish before Guitar Hero 2 comes out.

Saint's Row
GRAW
Gears of War on insane
Rainbow Six Vegas
Splinter Cell Double agent

[Spades22]

Not me...I wish there was constantly great games coming out. Thats means they'd get cheaper faster and I Could buy them sooner. I only buy games at full price when they're super good. Maybe like 2 a year...

[epobirs]

When your backlog includes machines no longer marketed, it becomes hard to appreciate the ebb and flow of new releases.

[depascal22]

When your backlog includes machines no longer marketed, it becomes hard to appreciate the ebb and flow of new releases.

That's why I'm committed to only buying fighters and shooters for old systems. They're the perfect pick up and play games.

[Chacrana]

That's why I'm committed to only buying fighters and shooters for old systems. They're the perfect pick up and play games.

Whoa, new avatar!

Err... anyway, yeah, shooters and fighters are the games that I go to first when I play something in my backlog... simply because you don't have to invest a lot of time. You can get a lot of fun out them in 10 or 15 minutes which is perfect.

[sblymnlcrymnl]

It doesn't really effect me. I've played I think 4 games that came out in 2006, total. And I'm playing two of those right now. :lol:

[Psykodelik]

I'm happy w/the coming dry spell. Hopefully I can finish R:FoM and M:UA before tekken dr (ps3) and/or VF5 comes out. Hell, I MIGHT be able to finish at least one of my backlogs.

But as someone mentioned in a previous post, there is a possiblity of a sale/clearance of games I waited on. So that might go down the drain for me.