If you can overlook the fact that we might not being playing it for another six months, there's plenty of good news behind Rockstar's shocker GTA IV delay.
For one, it's (hopefully) guaranteed to be a more polished and complete product by the time it's out for release. Secondly you now have a chance to enjoy all these Christmas releases, which might've previously been lost in the GTA carnage...
Bioshock Amazing review scores are already starting to pour in for Irrational's moody first-person shooter. Our Microsoft-endorsed mates at OXM gave it a perfect 10/10 in their exclusive review, and the mouse and keyboard chaps at PC Gamer had similar good word to share, awarding it a massive 95 percent. Now that's GTA IV's out of the way, Bioshock has a chance at getting a rightfully deserved spot at the top of the Christmas charts.
Army of Two Releasing in November - right between the one-two bitch slap of Halo 3, GTA IV and Mass Effect - was never going to do Army of Two any good. Which is a shame because it looks like its going to offer hours of distraction to fans of co-op shooting, who can now work through its gun-ho mission without fear of Liberty City distraction. That's if you're not still playing Halo 3 co-op...
Lair Set to release just a few weeks before, PS3 flagship title Lair was in real danger of being lost in GTA IV's shadow. Now, despite the dodgy review it's just got from the States, you're going to have the option of spending your GTA pennies on Factor 5's dragon flight-sim and making up your own mind.
Haze We're sure Haze is going to turn out as one of the better shooters this Christmas, but seeming as its one of a truckload of obligatory end-year FPS games - and its not exactly getting a Hollywood-level advertising budget from Ubisoft - it could really do with a month to itself. Now (apart from erm, Army of Two and Call of Duty) it's got one. At least it's not coming out in September, eh?
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Call of Duty 4 looks fantastic. Unfortunately, this isn't any ordinary Christmas; not everyone can afford Halo 3, GTA IV, Mass Effect/Heavenly Sword AND Infinity Ward's latest shooter. Reduced competition thanks to Rockstar's delay, and a no-doubt massive advertising blitz from Activision, should help Call of Duty 4 rake in even more cash for the hit shooter series.
Assassin's Creed The key player in Ubisoft's November blitz, Assassin's Creeds got to compete with Ubisoft's own big hitters, let alone the stellar titles coming from the rest of the games industry this Christmas. With GTA IV out of the way, we reckon Ubisoft's assassin-em-up will benefit from a massive boost in word of mouth (provided it's actually any good).
Heavenly Sword Heavenly Sword is the Ace in Sony's Christmas deck. Well, it is now that GTA IV's nestled in with Metal Gear Solid 4 in the Q2 2008 buy-fest. With the biggest game of the year out of the way, Heavenly Sword will no doubt benefit from extra attention and advertising in GTA IV's absence. Let's hope for Sony's sake it can put up a fight against Microsoft's Christmas line-up as well...
my thoughts? well, besides Army of Two (and thats only because i don't know much about it) i'm actually looking forward to every other game on that list MORE than GTAIV. but i guess i'm just that kinda gamer, the kind who believe that the two supposed "800 lb gorillas" of the gaming industry (Halo and GTA) are both hype. granted, i've always personally enjoyed GTAIV a little bit more than Halo, but i think its overrated all the same. gimmie Assassins Creed, Heavenly Sword, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank 5, Haze, CoD4 LittleBigPlanet, Socom: Confrontations this year, and i'll be a-ok. GTAIV MAY get some play time next spring, depending on my Killzone 2, MGS4 and Fable 2 schedule. besides, i haven't even beaten San Andreas yet.
aaaaaaaand........Ace combat 6, Halo 3, Everbodys golf 5, PGR 4, Rachet and clank, Little big Planet, War hawk, Metroid prime corruption, Super mario galaxy, plus the ones that you have mentioned and that should keep me busy (and broke) until GTA 4 pops up.Hurrar!!
I think the list is misleading to some extent, of the seven games maybe only Army of Two isn't a widely anticipated game. All of the titles would have suffered from GTA (and Halo 3 is still in that schedule lets not forget) but they were always going to sell very well, especially the PS3-only titles Lair and Heavenly Sword. Now they may all just do better. However I think they're very obvious choices and that the games that will benefit most from GTA's delay are the smaller titles that wouldn't have stood any chance against so many huge titles in such a small time period.
Some how I don't think the likes of; Bioshock, COD4, Assasins Creed or Heavenly Sword were saved.
Bioshock - Loads of people will buy this as its out end of the month, looks amazing and has gotten extremely high review scored. COD4 - For some people, this is THE FPS to play this year. Graphics are superb and its finally lost the WW2 theme meaning more people will give it a look in. Assasins Creed - Been hyped up for ages. Alot of people want this game and have been following it since it was announced. Ubisofts biggest game this year. Heavenly Sword - Due to the lack of quality games on PS3 alot of people are placing their hopes on this game. Graphics look pretty good and the demo was pretty fun.
This list is supposed to list games that have been saved due to the delay of GTA4. To start with, Crysis is a PC game and GTA4 isn't even listed as coming out on PC yet... UT 3 is PS3's biggest game next to GTA this year so thats hardly been saved...
I think what should have been included in the list is some of PS3's lesser games such as Uncharted and Warhawk etc. People will now have more of a reason to check those out.
I think it's the more unknown titles that'll be saved by the delay. Army of Two, Haze, etc just don't have the pre-built audience that (for instance) CoD4 and Bioshock have - being sequels (Bioshock sort of) they have their fan base sales already.
I think Lair and Assassin's Creed are too different to really be affected by GTA4 (looking at game type rather than just cost) so they'd probably fare the same either way.
I like the way the article presumes that the only game we all want to play is GTA4. To be honest, i'd pretty much forgotten about GTA4, and didn't know when it was coming out anyway.
Personally, i've been waiting for Bioshock, Crysis and Assassins Creed more than anything, plus there's always going to be a game that will pop up and surprise everyone. Games like GTA4, and to a lesser extent, Halo 3, i will play, but just as much due to the hype as well as whether they're any good or not. I find it hard to get too excited about something so commercial.
I too am not that bothered about the GTA4 delay. Even if the game was to be released on time, then i'm sure that gamers like myself would not be so focused on GTA4 that we would simply over look titles that we have looked forward to for so many months. I think we all have a mental list of what our purchases are going to be over the coming months and holiday season and it would be foolish to believe that GTA4 is the 'be all and end all' in gameing. The hype machines are beginning to turn for titles like Heavenly sword, Call of duty 4 and the other titles that are on the above list so again, even if GTA4 was to pop up before the holiday season then these multi million ( Dollar/Pound/Yen etc ) titles would (and will) be doing everything they can to get yours, mine and everybody else's attention (and money!) and simply wouldn't sit back and let GTA4 take all the lime light. They couldn't afford too!
i like gta but i don't think it help the other games because it's delayed,i think that people are tired of playing it and will buy something new first and they will buy gta4 latter because of games like bioshock,cod4 and other games on this list that i think will be better
Unreal Tourny is my game of xmas on ps3. Apparently the devs have confirmed a mouse and keyboard set-up for it as well. Mario Galaxy is my second choice because xmas without Mazza would never be the same. Bioshock looks like the most interesting game out for the 360.
i agree with most posters here, most of the 7 games hold their own. it would have made sense if u are addressing that article towards people who'd buy ONE game in the last quarter of the year. Lair is out september along with heavenly sword both very different games from GTA4. people who like these type of games would have bought them irrespective of gta, so u can say that the presence of gta would have hurt their sales or its absence would have boosted it. by the same token, YOU can say that certain games may cause thier corresponding platforms to sell better or worse than others, like lair and heavenly sword will most certainly be console movers for ps3. how THAT affects 360 sales remains to be seen. IMO, halo 3 alone, though a good game but an older IP would not cause alot of change in 360 sales. people would want pick consoles this season based on how new IP perform. coming to lair specifically, i seriously doubt the credibility of egm's alleged review. most game sites have had hands on experience with lair and the previews have generally been positive for the gameplay part while high praises for the visuals (as was expected). we;ll just have to wait and see WHEN the game is released.
Didn't ubisoft delay SC:Conviction until early next year due to having to compete with GTA. Well they must be p**sed now cuz their now gonna have to compete with mgs and gta. Maybe they'll bring SC's release date back to november again.
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