Apologies if this article comes out too Xbox 360 centric, but this is pretty much a generic rant so hopefully that won't be the case.

Did I say rant?!  Yup, I did.  I'm cluing everyone in plenty early that this is going to be a little rant.  A minor one really, but still a rant.  If you don't want to read it, that's fine, thanks for your time and have a great day.  If you do read it, and have comments to add, please feel free.

{ Rant mode on }

Why is it, and who makes the decisions that cause it to be the case, that the period from basically late August to the middle of December has to be crammed full of must have video game releases that all seem to pile up to come in the period right around Thanksgiving?!  Can't video game producers get it into the skulls that the time frame from say early February (President's day (here in the U.S.A.) perhaps) on isn't a bad time for releasing games and having huge sale numbers as well?

I understand a certain bit of the mindset.  Parents spend tons of money buying video games for little Johnny and sweet little Suzy too.  They do a vast majority of that spending in the days leading up to Christmas.  That being the case, it makes some sense to be sure that your video games are the "hot" "new" releases that are front in center in the stores in the featured displays and such.  But at the same time not every game gets to be the "hot" game.  Not every game can be the "new" release.  Some are for sure gonna be considered "old".  Do those games not sell too?  Are gamers not at all interested in those titles either?

This Christmas season, unlike last year with really one one next-generation hi-end video game console system out (the Xbox 360), we are going to have the Nintendo Wii out (side note, I hope many people got to see the excellent episode of South Park this week ) and the hot and incredibly hard to get (thanks to production problems that will create major shortages) Playstation 3 out as well.  Plus there will be neat add-ons for the Xbox 360 (the wireless headphones, and the HD-DVD drive attachment) and the hottest game titles for all of the above.

For the 360 as an example (hey, at least I admitted in advance this may come off a bit 360 centric) there'll be Gears of War, in addition to Call of Duty 3 and several other big release titles.  Plus the big launch titles for the PS3 (Playstation 3), and for the Wii.  Parents may as well just walk into the big box electronics stores or video game stores and open their wallets upon entry.  If not that, then just break out a check book and sign over a blank check.  (Or perhaps just pull out the credit card and be prepared to load it up with hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in charges for all of these great new items that their kids will want).

Now, this isn't just a phenomenon for parents, as there are plenty of adults (like yours truly, author of this rant) that will be buying themselves some of these things.  The cash registers are likely to be running overtime this season just ringing up hot video game and gadget sales.

Actually, after plenty of disappointing years for Christmas retailers, I'll step out on a limb and predict big numbers for most of them for this year -- at least for those retailers that handle video game sales.  HDTV Television sets will also continue selling like crazy, in some cases because they are required items to go with the hot new video game systems, in others just because people are finally pretty much ready to jump into HDTV with both feet.

In my case, I wish that Microsoft and their partners had been getting these games out earlier.  1 purchase a month is a nice average.  3 - 8 purchases compressed into 6 weeks is a bit much.  Homey here don't have tons of disposable income to see spent on games and gaming accessories all at the same time.  Dribs and drabs I can handle.  A full on run on the bank account doesn't fly though.

I'll perhaps be sitting out the HD-DVD drive for a while.  It's not a requirement for me for right now, though the price is tempting.  If I had plenty of money to waste on buying HD-DVD copies of my favorites, and/or didn't mind renting everything from Netflix, I'd have more use for one.  I'm sure over time it'll be a purchase I make, but I just can't add that on top of Call of Duty 3.

Will I add Gears of War to my certain purchase of COD3?  Don't know.  Too many games and too little money is not a good thing.  GoW may wind up being a rental for a while.  Who knows for sure.

Would I have this problem if these things had been out 6 months ago?  Probably not.  I'd have been keeping busy with 1 game at a time, rather than thinking of buying 6 games when the best I can handle is pretty much full time attention to one game at time.

Anyway, thanks for bearing with my rant and feel free to add comments of your own below.

{ End rant }