In approximately 50 days the annual trade show circuit starts in the video game industry. At that time video game journalists and affluent bloggers from all over the world will start an "amazing race" of their own that will span six months and three countries. The race starts in Los Angeles with e3 in June, then takes professionals overseas to GAMESCom in Cologne, Germany in August, in September I'll welcome everyone to my backyard for PAX, and the finish line resides in Makuhari Messe with TGS in October. During these conventions, save PAX, I'll be home constantly scouring the net for info on games to come out in...2010.
That's no typo. There are only a few highly anticipated games to come out this year; those being God of War 3 (PS3), Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360), and Modern Warfare 2. And regardless of what people will say about "the economy," this year's lack of blockbuster titles is only a sign of the bi yearly condition of the market.
Which in turn means that for you, the majority of info that will be dropping this summer will be about annual sports titles, sequels, movie based ip's, and handful of casual games. The likelihood that anyone of us laymen will be able to see raw gameplay footage will be towards the second half of the trade circuit at PAX and TGS. Publishers, and the big 3, will use e3 and GAMESCom to show behind the scenes footage, talk about future hardware, and announce games that will come out in 2010.
This doesn't mean that the year is a waste, only an optimal time for you to get geared up for 2010. And that may sound like a lame thing to say. But consider the plethora of games that came out from the end of 2008 till March 2009. Can you honestly say that you've played every worthwhile title in that time frame?
I know I can't.
Use the next 8 months as a pivotal time to catch up on the backlog of games left from years of past. Or use the time to build a game with Blender, XNA, or Flash. Now's a perfect opportunity not to get distracted.
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