Year in consumables: 2011 games

I love video games.

I hate video game publishers.

I guess that’s biting the hand that feeds you, but it is true. And, it is for a very simple reason. Their scheduling. The continued trend towards releasing new games in the Fall to capitalize on the pending holiday shopping season is killing me.

I get it. I understand that games cost a lot to develop, market and support. So they need to maximize their return on investment by releasing at the best time possible. But, I would argue it is the worst time possible. They are forced into competition with every other publisher and game doing the same exact thing. Thereby increasing the competition for people’s dollars. And games aren’t cheap these days, which has led to rising reliance on used game sales, which the publishers hate because they don’t get a piece of that. So then we get stuck with there attempts to curb that by adding on weak multiplayer experiences in games that should not have them. And... Continue reading »