It was supposed to be a great month. The dawn of the second age of gamekind, the month the great games came upon us all. And then there were none. The plump hits started dropping off like dead parrots from a perch and suddenly, June is looking decidedly unappetising. Batman Arkham Asylym has been snatched back after making us salivate and has now been plonked squarely at the end of the year to taunt us a second time, which was bad enough.
Now Sony have stepped in at the last minute (presumably with a very fat wallet) and bagged Ghostbusters as a PS3 exclusive in Europe. How and why this happened when it has long been acknowledged as multiplatform title is both mystifying and disappointing to say the least. So that’s two down…what next? After all, two of the three big titles which were to swallow my life in June are now gone, leaving but one. Sims3. Arguably this title, if it hasn’t been screwed up, could potentially swallow more time than the other two put together and multiplied by a googol, but I was hoping for some variety, some relief from the neighbourhood of Pleasantview. Where better to look for variety than the dark bedlam of Arkham or the Staff Puft stained streets of NYC, but sadly, no longer.
I have never been one for outlandish conspiracy theories, but perhaps EA have performed some secret curse (possibly involving a rubber chicken, sans pulley) and are forcibly trying to make sure that I play Sims 3 and only Sims 3 until the next wave of games in the Autumn. At this rate, it seems that that is exactly what will be happening. Light heartedness aside though, this is a worrying trend and one which I sincerely hope won’t catch on for the rest of 2009’s promised titles, otherwise Hydrophobia will be washed away, Red Dead Redemption will vanish without shooting it’s load, and Heavy Rain will become a Wii title in which you have to play a series of WiiMote mini games to avoid a Nintendo-censored serial killer who smothers his victims with candy floss.
It does seem to be one of those years though…Alan Wake is camping out at June’s farthest reaches at the moment, but given it’s skittish flirting with an actual solid release date, this is to be taken with a handful of salt – now more so than ever and will likely slip back. Other half’s gift-to-be of the Two Worlds sequel has already been dragged back to the third quarter after a previous slip, and my lustful eyeing up of Aliens: Colonial Marines is bound to end in heartbreak before the year is out. A sane mind won’t even consider the now likely defunct Duke Nukem Forever or the eagerly awaited Final Fantasy 13 this side of the year end.
June is going to be a bittersweet month – the games that do escape into the open to be enjoyed will have a sad tinge to them as I consider what I was supposed to be playing. Looking into the mists of third and fourth quarter ’09 seems as much an exercise in hope as it is patience… so here’s hoping that by the time June comes and goes, it’s once proud line up, now perched forlornly at the end of the year along with everything else, doesn’t slip from the fingers of 2009 entirely.
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