The Modern Warfare 2 effect
November tends to be one of the busiest months of the year for game releases, with publishers keen to capture the Christmas dollar, and there's an interesting article in the latest Edge magazine about the impact that Activision's Modern Warfare 2, which launches next week, has had on the traditional blockbuster game release period.
A lot of high profile games that were due to be launched around now - Bioshock 2, Mafia 2, Army of Two: 40th Day - have been pushed back until the New Year, as many publishers just don't want their games to go against the sequel to what I consider the best Call of Duty game to date. And do you blame them? MW2 is going to be a behemoth that flattens everything in its path.
How huge? Analysts reckon MW2 will generate $500 million in sales in its first week of release, and many pundits are saying it will be the biggest entertainment release of all time. One analyst believes that MW2 will sell 11.1 million copies by the end of 2009, generating $803 million.
Do you think it will be as good as the hype is suggesting or do you think the lack of dedicated server support will go against it? I've seen the game in action and it's impressive but are you going to help contribute to that projected $803 million by buying MW2?
At the moment there are some absolutely brilliant games already out - Borderlands, Uncharted 2, Forza 3, Episodes from Liberty City - and I'm highly anticipating Assassin's Creed II, Dragon Age Origins and Tekken 6, which are also out this month, but are you finding it increasingly difficult to decide just what games you want to buy?
Do you have list of games that you absolutely must buy and then a list of those that you'll get if you can afford it?
Perhaps the impact that MW2 is having on the industry is a good thing in that it will make publishers actually rethink their release schedule and realise that gamers like blockbuster games throughout the year, not just in the leadup to what is seen as the most profitable period.
What do you think?
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With a severely limited full-priced games budget (maybe 1 or 2 a year, max), the choice at the moment in getting IMPOSSIBLE.
I'm looking at Dragon Age, which is one you haven't even mentioned here Gerard - Bioware are awesome, but also just in terms of sheer numbers of gameplay hours, it will give me a lot more bang for my limited gaming buck. MW2 will be a rent-and-play-through affair for me, I think.
Have to say I'm going to have to rent/borrow a copy of this because I don't agree with the pricing. Big believer in consumer choice and I hope my choice will reflect on titles in the future.
@Ben A., fixed. How could I have forgotten Dragon Age Origins? :-)
Will possibly rent this when it becomes a weekly title. I personally don't buy into the hype of this series, each game just seems to follow the same formula with a new "skin", i.e. WW2, modern etc.
I'm having a blast with Uncharted 2 at the moment and am still playing Street Fighter IV, UFC Undisputed and Skate 2 (can't really afford to keep up to date with the latest games plus no spare time to do so either).
I'm getting more excited about Bad Company 2, but guess that gives me a couple of months to clear the back catalogue. Demon Souls looks very interesting too.
Well, I caused a very minor stir a while back by suggesting that the first MW was overhyped and an all around average experience (not bad, just not very good) so I see no reason to believe this will be any different. Since then I've also played CoD:WaW, and also found that to be way overhyped and decidedly average. So I'll pass, thank you very much, and doubt I'll ever purchase a CoD game again - after all, if I didn't enjoy a game everyone raved about and which has an average score on Metacritic of about 94, what hope is there I'll enjoy future releases in the series? To be fair, I'm not really all that interested in multiplayer, which is what interests most people in the CoD games, so perhaps I'm missing something there. On the other hand, all the reviews raved about how good the singleplayer game was (albeit short) so it's likely I would have found multiplayer overhyped as well. On a more positive note, just earned my Platinum trophy in Batman: Arkham Asylum the other day and THAT is an awesome game and well worth the rave reviews. Highly recommended to all!
must buy Dragon Age Origins, Must buy Diabolo 3, Must buy Forza 3, Must buy the New FF for the 360... um that's all for now, only about $500.00 worth.
Struggling to find the time for borderlands.. have the console edition of MW2 coming to me, so will be good, good times.
Mmm just wish I had funds for dragon age.. looks like a good investment.
I need more time in the day - or a clone
With my gaming budget much reduced from the past I am still managing to acquire nearly all the games I am wanting. A number of them are buy, play, sell affairs which works well for certain games. MW2 will fall into that category due to its too high price tag, short campaign and my lack of interest in the multiplayer (though co-op special ops mode should be fun for a while).
I have my Xbox version of Dragons Age pre-ordered looking forward to it. I am also pretty much sold on Assassins Creed 2. First game was very very nice but got really repetitive....looking like #2 will solve this problem and if so it will be very good.
I would like to try Borderlands but my gaming hours budget will not fit it as shortly after christmas Mass Effect 2 is arriving and this is my most anticipated game. The first one had its quirks but the story telling and cinematic nature of the game was absolutely brilliant. I can see the second one doing a good job of solving those quirks while retaining all the aspects that were fantastic.
And still have Forza 3, GTA4 and GTA DLC to get too at some point.....anyone making any progress in cloning humans....I could do with another me to do my day job so I can get some gaming done!!
I'm going to give MW2 a miss I think. Personally, I found COD4 fairly overrated. It's good, but I don't think the be-all-and-end-all that it's made out to be. If I had the disposable income (and it wasn't insultingly priced at $150 for the standard edition), maybe I'd pick it up. But for now, my money's going with Assassin's Creed II and possibly Left 4 Dead 2 if it'll stretch that far...
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I am holding off all game purchases due to the release of MW2, mainly for a couple of reasons, I have children so surplus income is a thing of dreams and also because I think that MW2 will consume all my gaming for some time (again limited due to kids) so I won't get a chance to play anything else for some time to come.
This game is going to rock.