2009 has been a pretty good year for games, so far.  Already, we have Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter 4, Guitar Hero: Metallica, and Killzone 2.  However, that’s it, as for really big titles, we don’t have much more than that.  Sure, GTA: China Town Wars, Pokemon Platinum and Resistance Retribution are out for the portables, but you would think that the publishers would’ve learned their lesson from last year.

Top 10 Games of Calendar Year 2008

1. Wii Play w/ remote – Wii – Nintendo – 5.28 million
2. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel – Wii – Nintendo – 5.00 million
3. Wii Fit w/ balance board – Wii – Nintendo – 4.53 million
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl – Wii – Nintendo – 4.17 million
5. Grand Theft Auto IV – Xbox 360 – Take-Two – 3.29 million
6. Call of Duty: World at War – Xbox 360 – Activision – 2.75 million
7. Gears of War 2 – Xbox 360 – Microsoft – 2.31 million
8. Grand Theft Auto IV – PS3 – Take-Two – 1.89 million
9. Madden NFL ’09 – Xbox 360 – Electronic Arts – 1.87 million
10. Mario Kart – DS – Nintendo – 1.65 million

#’s 1, 3, & 10 = WTF!

Last year (and every year before it) saw very few “big” games come out prior to the holiday season.  The four big pre-Christmas games last year were GTA4, MGS4, Mario Kart Wii and SSB Brawl.  These four titles all sold gang busters throughout the year, even through the holiday.  All the while, decent games that were scheduled to hit during the holiday season, failed to really get their footing at retail.  Examples of this are, Prince of Persia, Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Valkyria Chronicles, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, and Farcry 2.

I know what you are thinking, “Hey, most of those were pretty big hits!” Yes, they were, but when they are put in the shadow of huge hits like Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War, Left 4 Dead, Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band 2, Fable 2, and hell even Madden, they ended up competing for the same dollars.  Its obvious that the industry needs to spread releases out a bit more.  This month’s biggest titles are a Riddick game, The Godfather 2, Wheelman, Wanted: Weapons of Fate, Rythmn Heaven and Excitebots.  Seriously, games like Legends of Wrestlemania and Gardening Mama are getting press coverage as if they were real games.  In my opinion this is a waste of the gaming media’s time.

If Prince of Persia or Dead Space were released during this time of year, they would get much more attention.  Everyone knows, that the more attention you get, the more copies you sell.  Releasing these games in the off season would actually give them a chance at being sales powerhouses and not just footnotes next to the Gears of War 2 numbers.

So, what games are the publishers going to try and squeeze into our pockets this holiday?  Here’s a short list of what we are supposed to be paying attention to.

Dark Void
Assassin’s Creed 2
Halo 3:ODST
The Beatles:Rock Band
Uncharted 2:Among Theives
Dead Space: Extraction
Modern Warfare 2
Tekken 6
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Bioshock 2
Dante’s Inferno
Forza 3
Max Payne 3
and many many more…

That’s not counting what will be announced at E3, and that list only includes one Wii game. Not all hope is lost. We do have some decent titles hitting prior to the holiday (InFamous, Prototype, The Conduit, Bionic Commando, Wolfenstein, Wii Sports Resort, and Batman: Arkham Asylum), but most of those are unproven franchises that could very well suck horribly. I love holiday rushes, but if this year is anything like previous years, you can expect a lot of games to sell in smaller numbers than expected.