Bummer for you then.

You'd be surprised at the amount of things that are fixed in a final two month bug scrub in the software world.

He doesn't care!!

Ah sucks about Blur. I was kinda hesitant with it coming after Shift, but now its too close to Split Second.

Yup, there's plenty of major issues that can be resolved in 2 months of time; who knows what they are for Bioshock 2, but obviously they're important enough to delay the game beyond Christmas. From experience, that usually means they're pretty big issues.

Sounds to me like it is a polishing type deal given the company president's comments here:

"I think it has nothing to do with the release window. It's a great window, and everyone knows it. It's that the quality bar goes higher and higher. Ultimately, to be commercially successful, you need a triple-A product. And everyone knows pushing a product out the door just isn't going to get you there, so they're going to do the right thing.

The great thing for the consumer is that normally when they pick up a game from the big publishers, they know they're going to get a quality, triple-A product. And that's a huge improvement from the last generation where they maybe didn't have that guarantee. "


Maybe this reflects a new mentality of delaying to achieve triple AAA status. Maybe the NPD numbers for Jan and Feb 09 encouraged them that the holiday window is not so important anymore.

The problem is that Bioshock is going to have to compete against close to a dozen major titles slated for release in early 2010. Cash strapped consumers won't have that kind of money.

Now you're arguing that they shouldn't release in early 2010... because too many good games are coming out then???

That's his main complaint. He has free time during the Holidays, so all the titles should release then, even though he won't have time to play them all or the funds to buy them all.

I don't know. I personally am not tied to buying things in x-mas time. My family doesn't even really exchange gifts like that. When I want something, I buy it, whether that's November or February.

Jeff, I don't get the desire to have games come out when you have vacation time. Do you have that little time over the rest of the year, that you want to gorge yourself on games for a week or two? That doesn't seem like it would be very enjoyable.

Not to mention that I'm sure there's an entire library of games he hasn't played yet, but since they aren't "new and hawt", they've got shitty graphics.

Yeah, I was saying as much about the release date earlier. There's also the argument that right after Christmas people have gift cards or returns to make and exchange them for the items they actually want rather then the shitty games that they received as presents But honestly, I still believe it was probably delayed to take care of issues that would impact the game, or public reception.

Same, I buy games throughout the year if they interest me and never really wait for X-Mas for any product.

The holiday season is the only time of year where I just buy all the big releases. I never pay full price for a game until this time of year. I don't think I'm alone either. How else do you explain the big sales last year of Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Fable 2, Left for Dead 2 etc...? Most people would not have time to play all those games, but there is still the desire to own them.

I am a lot more loose with the pocketbook this time of year especially on Black Friday. Jan and Feb are months were people have to pay off those big credit card bills and start saving again.

I don't think you can support your arguement by stating those games only sold well because they came out in the last part of 2008. They would've sold no matter when they came out.

Agree.

I support the release of quality games throughout the year as well as the delaying of games that are not ready to be released. I don't really understand the OP's argument at all.

Don't worry, most people are the same way with his posts.

This thread is still going on?

Only the good die young.

Whatever, I'm not going to argue anymore, but you guys are in the minority. Gaming podcasts and message boards all over are complaining about the huge glut of delays this year. If you are perfectly happy waiting years and years for the big games, go right ahead. 11 years so far for Starcraft 2. hell, why not make it another 20 years to make sure the game is perfect??

Sales figures alone support my argument that people buy MORE games in the holiday season.

NPD numbers for Nov. 2008

Gears 2 - 1.56 million
Call of Duty WOW 1.41 million

By comparison

NPD numbers for Feb 2009

Killzone 2 - 323K

Call of Duty WOW - 193K


Killzone 2 was a major AAA title and didn't come close to the type of numbers during the holiday 2008.

You're comparing apples and oranges.

You can't seriously be suggesting that if Gears 2 and Killzone 2 had their release dates reversed, the sales numbers would have also been reversed.

Also you haven't been waiting for Starcraft 2 for 11 years. It wasn't announced 11 years ago. How long have you been waiting on E.T. 2?

*sigh*, you just don't get it.


P.S. We aren't the Gamefaqs Message Board. I'm sure you will get the response you are looking for over there.

Gears 2 >>>>> Killzone 2 any day of the year.

So more people bought World at War during the month it was released than three months later? Who would have thought! You can pick out ANY game and get the same result from ANY point in the year.

I'm sure Lost Planet sold more copies in when it was released in January than April. See, with this example it looks like January is a better month to release than Spring. Wheee!

Because people like to bitch and complain. And honestly, when I hear it, especially for "industry professionals", it bugs the hell out of me. There is still tons of shit coming out this year. Nothing you care about maybe, but that doesn't change that fact.

Wait...I'm actually coming around to this line of thinking. For instance...

Bioshock (360) sold almost 500K copies in August of 2007. Compare that with the measly 50K it sold in August of 2009 and you can see what a delay would cause. Had that game been released last month it would've been a disaster! The numbers don't lie!!

Everyone gets disappointed if it takes longer to play a game they're anticipating. It's natural to complain about it, and I don't think anyone here is particularly happy about it. It just is what it is, nothing you can really do about it but say aw shucks and move on.