Have you ever known a time with more great games available?

[Brats]

I'm in gaming Nirvana at the moment . These are the games I've bought in the last month, all of which I regard as AAA titles or AA at the least:

Prince of Persia
PGR2
Mario & Luigi
Top Spin
Rainbow 6 3
Amped 2
Counterstrike

In the To Buy list:

Deus Ex 2
Disgea
Mariokart
Broken Sword 3
Links 2004
Karaoke Revolution

In short, I don't know if I've ever known a time when there have been so many games available at once. The first six months of next year are looking amazing too. Is this the best time for gaming ever?

[John Beaulieu]

this has got to be the best time for console gamers EVER

whats particular pleasing (plus daunting) is the amount of games which slip under the radar but turn out to be very good - for example Mission Impossible Operation Surma is a game which i took zero interest of and yet its turned out to be an above average stealth game

camps

[PeteJ]

I completely agree, gaming has exploded with good\great releases recently. I wouldn't say there have been any real classics this year (perhaps KoTOR or Mario & Luigi), however the number of worthwhile games is incredible.

Normally I'd have snapped up the likes of Beyond Good & Evil and Prince of Persia on the day of release, however I just cannot find the time for them at the moment.

Don't think I can resist holding off on Deus Ex 2 though...

[dazza_cole]

The problem, as they say, is time to play the damn things !!!!!!!!!

[Kron]

I'd disagree, Ive found very few games this year that have truly appealed or offered much variety.

This year has shown up developers lack of faith with venturing into something new.

Without 2-4 titles its been very forgettable.

[Ady]

There are indeed lots of great games out at the moment. I don't have the time to play them all so its very overwhelming!

Now if The Industry would just STFU about the next gen, it'll be happy.

[MonkeyWrench]

I totally agree. For the first time in a long time I have way more games than I can play. Here's what's in my 'playing now' pile:

Rainbow Six 3
SSX 3
Amped 2
PGR 2
Tony Hawks Underground
Top Spin
KOTOR
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
WRC 3

and a few more I've bought recently that are taking up my time - SWAT (not as bad as I thought it would be), XIII (average but enjoyable) and Mission Impossible (one of the biggest surprises of the year along with Freedom Fighters).

whats particular pleasing (plus daunting) is the amount of games which slip under the radar but turn out to be very good - for example Mission Impossible Operation Surma is a game which i took zero interest of and yet its turned out to be an above average stealth game

Glad I'm not the only one that spotted this little gem too. I've posted some impressions in the First Look folder if you feel like posting some of your own

[Crispin]

Bah, you're all fools. Don't know about Q4, but the first three quarters of the year have been decidely **** compared to last year's first three quarters. Course last year saw the launch of two next-gen consoles. So I'm not surprised.

Q4 this year has an insanely stupid no. of released titles. XIII would have sold bucketloads if it had come out in Q2 as originally forecast.
There isn't any way I can play them all/

The summer drought was possibly the worst for me in memory. And that is with three consoles as oppossed to just one N64.
I was so desperate I actually bought SOCOM. *Hangs head in shame.

It was a bad situation back then. Then we get it all in one go.

[Che Musashi]

I think XIII is more hype than gameplay. Though November has been an awesome month for games. There are too many to play.

I'd like to pick up the Cube versions of BG n E and POP. Right now I'm still stuck in Disgeae-ville.

Its a shame to think the console manufacturers think we're nearing the end of this generations 'cycle' just when everything seems to be clicking.

[Concept]

In short, I don't know if I've ever known a time when there have been so many games available at once. The first six months of next year are looking amazing too. Is this the best time for gaming ever?

Hmm. It's been a fairly good year, but I'd say '98 was by far the best year for videogames in recent times. As far as I recall, all these were released mostly within a 7/8 month period between each other:

Gran Turismo
Ocarina Of Time
Half-Life
Metal Gear Solid
Tekken 3
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Radiant Silvergun
Resident Evil 2
1080 Snowboarding
Grand Prix Legends
Colin McRae Rally
Grim Fandango
Quake II

And numerous others came out...

Personally I don't think there's been a better year since in terms of consistent landmark quality.

[Pikman]

I'd say the mid 90's (94-97) were a better time for gaming, what with the release of Virtua Fighter, Ridge Racer, Tekken, Mario 64, Waverace, Mario Kart 64, Blast Corps, Goldeneye, Pilotwings 64, Daytona USA etc.

Indeed, I can't help but feel disappointed with this generation of games; especially those by Nintendo. Waverace: Bluestorm, Mario Sunshine, Zelda: Wind Waker, F-Zero GX, Mario Party 5, Mario Kart DD and 1080 Avalanche all fall short of their respective predecessors.

And yet Nintendo remain the world's best and most creative videogame designers, it's a rather sorry state of affairs really. Truly it is.

[MartyG]

Brats - You're in danger of creating a postive general gaming thread!

Throughout my 20 odd years of gaming I've always found something enjoyable to play. This time of year we always get a lot of "Christmas" releases, I'm sure studios hold stuff back for that, but yes, there are certainly a good number of titles worth picking up atm.

Regards
Marty

[?pint]

The good thing is, that in March or so when we've finished all our Christmas purchases, we'll all be able to go back and pick up the other great games that we missed this Christmas. Sure, Christmas is slow, but in a few months time the games will still be there to fill in the gap until the next big rush. And they'll probably be uber-cheap, too

[Brats]

Hmm. It's been a fairly good year, but I'd say '98 was by far the best year for videogames in recent times.

I'm not talking about a year though, all the games released in my thread were in the last month!

But whilst on the subject, earlier in the year we had:

KOTOR
Viewtiful Joe
Wind Waker (In English anyway)
F Zero GX
VF4 Evo
Warioware
Dodonpachi DOJ
Shikigami 2
Initial D

and loads more. But the point was right at this moment, it's diamond. Loads of great games and loads of innovation to boot .

[nick_the_judge]

there is far too many top titles to play at the mo