How 2010 is actually Christmas 2009 (In Disguise)

Remember how Christmas used to be a time of too many games, not enough time? Yeah, well, not this year. This year is a little off. Christmas 2009 will actually be taking place in early 2010.

With last week's announcement that Final Fantasy XIII would be out in March, it quickly became the centrepiece of an already jam-packed lineup of big-money, AAA titles forming the strongest Q1 lineup this industry has ever seen.

I mean, get a look at this list of games due between January and March next year. And these aren't every game coming out; they're just the big ones. It's incredible.

January

Mass Effect 2
Army of Two: The 40th Day
Bayonetta
Darksiders
Dark Void
MAG
No More Heroes 2

February

BioShock 2
Lost Planet 2
Dante's Inferno
Splinter Cell: Conviction
Napoleon: Total War
Star Trek: Online

March

God of War III
Final Fantasy XIII
Command & Conquer 4
Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Sure, some of those games were always going to be released then. Final Fantasy XIII, for example. But many of those are Modern Warfare 2 refugees, titles that were originally planned for release in late 2009, then moved to avoid being crushed underfoot by Activision's money-printing juggernaut.

It'll be really interesting to see how they fare. If any of the bigger games underwhelm at the register, publishers will no doubt blame the increased competition for gaming dollars at a time of year not normally associated with big spending.

But if we get a series of big-selling blockbusters...well, it'll send a clear signal to publishers: it's OK, guys, you don't have to flood the market in November. You can release a game in March and we'll still buy it.

Whoa... That shit real?
>.>
And here i was feeling lucky some of my favorite games were having sequals in nov...
Damn thats alot...

I know...I can also expect spending 1k in games within those months. I'll cry ;-;.

Or i'll need to ask late gift for xmas (if that is even possible)

Sucks... Aah well, i always get around €-300 during nov+dec due to my birthday and Christmas + our own little holiday, Sint nicolaas*. Good fund raiser for the real gamers.

*

In any case, guess 2010 is gonna be one heck of an expensive year... Time to get a job again...

If you're just going to copy articles from Kotaku then the least you could do is credit them.

Im glad I get a check for $900 every semester from my grant. Imma need it.

I am so relieved that i don't like any of those games, well except for the GoW 3.
That means my wallet is safe until further detail lol.

HERE IS MY PERSON OPINION ON EACH OF THESE GAMES COMING OUT

Mass Effect 2: FUCK YEA
Army of Two: The 40th Day: FUCK THAT
Bayonetta: WAT
Darksiders: WAT
Dark Void: WAT
MAG: WAT
BioShock 2: FUCK THAT, BIOSHOCK 1 SUCKED COCK
Lost Planet 2: FUCK THAT
Dante's Inferno: TYPICAL GOW CLONE BULLSHIT
Splinter Cell: Conviction: NEVER RLY INTO SPLINTER CELL
Napoleon: Total War: COULD BE COOL MAN
Star Trek: Online: FUCK THAT
God of War III: IDK MAN..
Final Fantasy XIII: UNDER-DRESSED PROBABLY HOMOSEXYAL MEN WITH BIG SWORDS? FUCK THAT
Command & Conquer 4: IDK MAN
Battlefield: Bad Company 2: FUCK THAT

you forgot "Metroid Other M" January 1st

You know that FF 13's Hero is actually a Heroine, right....?

Of that list I'm only interested in getting two titles: Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2. I was originally interested in FFXIII, but I decided to buy a new 360 instead of a PS3 and I am not going to play that game on the 360.

No there is the fact that I still need to buy a new 360 and get a handful of these November released that Christmas is actually when it should be for me, and then some. I'm totally not going to have enough to get much (not even sure I'll be able to afford the 360 itself, nevertheless any of the titles.)

great... now I can drool a river this 2010... Being a student sucks...

I personally love this new trend in gaming. My wallet on the other hand...

Only game I want to play out of all that is GoW3. The rest might be nice, but I'll pass. FF13? I gave up on square after the shittastic 12.

Girl is the hero

why cant game publishers like agree that their games come out 1 month after each other instead of dumping all in a month.I only get to buy 1 per month if i am lucky...- -;;
Its seriously not healthy for the wallet.
Ah well there is always pirating the non-console games lol

Lol @ GoW III and FFXIII releasing in the same month. It's going to be a war and it'll be awesome.

There are around 5 games I want to get that will be released just in Q1 2010.

Besides all that there's Heart Gold and Soul Silver in April. I'm excited. :)