Holiday Not-So-Much-Buying Guide 2010

By Marino October 12, 2010 2 Comments

So it's mid-October now and we should be in the midst of the holiday game season, right?  So why doesn't it feel like it?  For the last few years, I actually plotted out what games were being released in relation to my biweekly paychecks and made some tough decisions on what I wanted to have on day one versus what I could wait til after Christmas for.  Last year this list began with the end of August with Batman: Arkham Asylum and the beginning of September with The Beatles: Rock Band, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, and Scribblenauts.  Then there was Halo 3 ODST and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.  With October came Demon Soul's, Uncharted 2, Brutal Legend, Borderlands, Tekken 6, and Ratchet & Clank.  And the weeks leading up to Black Friday brought us Dragon Age, Modern Warfare 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Assassin's Creed II.  Even after Black Friday we had Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.  Like many years prior, it was a full on assault of top tier stuff. 
 
But, as for 2010, I've come to the realization that there's really just not that much coming out that I care about.  And I'm trying to figure out if it's just a slow year/season or if it's just me becoming more jaded than I already was.  For September, all I planned to buy was Halo Reach.  I don't really even like Halo all that much, but it's one of those games that is increased in value by the number of friends I know playing it.  Then I fell into the life-siphoning trap that is Civilization V.  I've never even played Civ before, and now I truly have no idea why.  Anyway, what do we have in October through December?   
 
There's still a sizable amount of games that publishers and retailers are trying to tell me are must have games, but I'm just not interested in the majority of them.  Through the rest of the year I think there's four games that spike the Care-O-Meter.  

 

Rock Band 3

After two years, it's certainly time for a full-on sequel.  I was never really worth much on guitar, so when the first Rock Band came out, I dedicated myself to the drums.  So I'm looking forward to see how many of the new songs I can clear on expert on the first try.  But I'm really excited about trying to learn pro keyboards.  I can't really explain why.  I never learned to play an instrument as a kid, and I never wanted to honestly.  My only problem with RB3 is that it comes out on the same day as the second game on my list.  
 

 

Fable III 

I wasn't a huge fan of the first Fable when it released.  I played it, but I didn't finish it.  Then, a few Summers ago I got an urge to play an adventure game.  And rather than going out to buy something new, I inexplicably threw Fable into the 360 and fell in love with the world of Albion.  Fable II was my favorite game of 2008, so clearly I'm pretty excited about Fable III.  I've been trying to stay in the dark in regards to much of the game, but I did give in to the temptation at PAX Prime 2010.  
 

 

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood 

Like pretty much everyone else, I was pretty skeptical about the idea of AC multiplayer.  But if you watched the Friday night members only show a couple weeks ago or got to see it at PAX, you know that the guys at Ubisoft have come up with something special.  I think MattBodega said it best when he compared it to Burnout.  Even when you get killed, it happens in such an awesome manner that you're still having fun regardless.  And some more Ezio storyline can't hurt.   


 

NBA Jam 

Now that we're (presumably) getting the same content from the Wii version plus online play on PS3 and 360, this has become a must have.  I played it at PAX with random strangers and it was amazing fun.  And that's always been my true test of fun multiplayer ever since playing Mario Tennis 64 at E3 one year with people that couldn't speak English.  

 
 
So, am I crazy?  What's out there that I should be excited about?  All I know is that Q1 2011 is gonna be crazy.    

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