Anyone else feeling gaming attrition this year?

I love gaming and enjoy a wide variety of genres but this year every title I played felt like I was playing the same game again.

I suppose this is truer for the latter part of the year but first it was inFamous 2 which was great fun, but felt pretty much like the first game. Then Gears of War 3 and I still had great fun with that, the only felt better as well, but couldn't hide the fact that there was literally nothing new about it. Arkham City is when I started to feel the grind. Love Arkham Asylum, but City was not to my liking at all. It's a great game but the plot and general layout of the game really turned me off. Those who played it know and I don't want to spoil anything but generally it all felt so stupid. One of the first missions you get is literally "go blow up 3 radar jammers the Penguin has set up around Arkham city. Radar Jammers? Where.. I mean..I felt the rest of the game followed this ridiculous tone. I was a fan of Demons Souls and when Dark Souls came out I dove right into that but it couldn't sustain me. I felt like I was playing the same game again with new levels and as anytime in the past that would literally be enough for me here it just wasn't. Originally I was going to purchase Modern Warfare 3 because I enjoy the fast paced shooting but I just skipped it after seeing that even parts of the HUD elements were literally the same as MW2. So now I decided to get Assassin Creed Revelations before I get Skyrim. I didn't even play Brotherhood, I stopped at AC:2 and this game is that, again. So far I get bombs and a little mini game to defend my dens.

So I mean is it just me? Have you guys felt that same sort of deja vu when playing these releases or were you fine with it? More Ezio, Marcus and Dom is all you need to keep you satiated?

I think I'm just eagerly awaiting exciting new IP's

Am I the only one to think of Skyrim?

I did kind of feel that way with Arkham City and Battlefield 3 though.

Even Gears of War 3 felt that way to a degree, though the multiplayer and such has changed (somewhat).

No I understand what you mean. I've played pretty much every major release this year for my podcast (shameless promotion), and I felt pretty much the same for most of them. That being said Catherine, Bastion, and Trackmania 2 are all really unique and interesting games that I think you should try if you want a change of pace. Catherine in particular is a really unique and fantastic game that is kinda fucked up, but will make you excited about the future of games.

I'm not sure if 'Literally' is the word you are looking for, because 'literally' speaking there are definitely new things in sequels especially Gears of War 3 but you 'feel' like it hasn't changed. It has, just not enough for it to make an impact on your perceptions. Also, it is never just you. You are not unique. Shouldn't take it out on you, but that REALLY gets on my nerves.

I play sequels because they are sequels. I enjoy great games. There have been plenty of fresh experiences this year but I don't want that from a sequel. You need to look further, and not just at the best selling games.

no, i've not felt that.

When it comes to games I put more stock in things like immersion and fun over innovation. Sure, a brand new IP or fresh idea is always exciting, but if the game isn't fun I won't play it.

I never played Demons Souls, so for me Dark Souls was an entirely new experience. LA Noire came along and did something new with success, as did Bastion. I never thought I would get to play another Deus Ex worthy of the name until Human Revolution came out, so in that case playing the same game again was a godsend. There were also really good sophomore efforts with stuff like Dead Space 2 and Portal 2 that were better games than their respective originals, which were exciting new IP's in their own right.

I am always ready for fresh new ideas, but I'm also perfectly happy with the games that came out this year.

I've spent less money this year on buying games than I have the last few years coupled together. At the same time, I've spent more money this year renting games than I think I have for the entirety of my life. Games really are becoming more like movies, in that I watch/play it then toss it on a shelf and forget about it. The only exceptions are games like Skyrim and Dead Space 2. Beyond that, the only games I've felt are special and worth my money and attention at all have been indie/downloadable games.

Well, I see your problem right there. You haven't gotten Skyrim yet.

60+ hours and I'm still having a ton of fun.

If anything, I'm finding renewed interest in gaming. Even though I feel like there haven't been a whole lot of releases that interest me this year, the ones I'd been graced with have all been amazing. Admittedly, a lot of them were different mostly because of how infrequent their release schedules are, but even in those cases there was enough tuning and refinement and new ground to be tread that it kept things interesting.

And then there are Steam sales, where I can relive the best of yester-year.

I agree to a smaller extent. I felt Dark Souls was around when this year felt interesting. Arkham city was fun, all be it  more the same from that franchise and nothing interesting enough innovation wise. Skyrim and Dark Souls are the only games this year I've played that perked my interest in any major way, to be honest. 
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Arkham City, Dead Space 2, LA Noire, Shadows of the Damned, Portal 2, MK9 and even Bullet Storm but I can't say they did anything to make me feel much for this year in gaming. I was actually surprised a little Jeff felt this way- I thought maybe something was wrong with me haha 
 
Skyrim and Dark Souls, though, gave me hope for the future. I never played Demon's Souls but it felt like Dark Souls perfected what From Software was going for (just from what I have seen and read about Demon's Souls) and I've played all the TES games except maybe the first and Skyrim feels like Bethseda finally made the game they were trying to make all these years. To boot both are very fun and different which helps sustain my interest in them.
That's just my take on it, though.

Yep. I've played all the biggies this year, but won't play Skyrim because I'm of the Orcs are for Dorks mindset and the best thing I've played is what I started a few days ago: Timesplitters Future Perfect on the old xbox. Nothing has come close in terms of fun. 4 Player co-op on Gears 3 was good, but not in the same way.

Get together with a buddy and play some Terraria. Check out the bazillion indy titles on Steam if you're tired of the Hollywood mainstream experiences. Hop on Good Old Games. Fire up their top ten list and pick up $20 worth of titles you've never played.