2007: Most Expensive Gaming Year Ever?

You definitely need to move Mass Effect into your must-have list.

Why?

Because it's developed by Bioware, the geniuses behind Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. The game will be an RPG with action elements, so it'll be like Oblivion set in the future. The dialogue is also innovative and unique, straying from the standard dialogue trees and moving towards a more natural conversation dynamic.

I expect it to be a lot of fun.

Fair enough, I just hadn't heard much about it. Sounds fun.

I'm very picky with the games I play. I'm not going to be able to purchase some great games this year. I just won't have the time. In 2007 I want to play HALO 3, Guitar Hero II, and Rapala's Tournament Fishing on the XBOX 360.

H3. Well, duh (although I am little worried that it's going to be too CoD3-ish). I expect it to get a lot of play out of me at the end of the year. It will have the most replay value over any console game I get this year.

I'm taking a risk on the fishing game. I don't think it will have much replay value, so I'll sell it soon after launch. But, I've never been let down by a fishing game.

GHII is a ton of fun on the PS2. It's going to be even better on the XBOX 360. It'll be a great party game.

I'll pre-order HALO Wars just because it's a HALO-related game. I don't expect it to be out until '08 though at the earliest.

It will be up to the PGR4 and Forza 2 demos to get my business. I will not own both if I own one at all. I liked Forza better than PGR3, so I'll be surprised if I end up getting PGR4. Forza 2 will have to do something really impressive for me to bite.

Crackdown is going to have to jump out of my XBOX and make me coffee before I buy that game. The demo is fun but I just don't feel like it's a game I'll want to play a few weeks after purchasing it. I'll feel like I've left something behind if I don't explore every building in that huge world.

On the PC, I will be playing HALO 2 for Vista and Shadowrun (also available on 360). After they are released, I won't be found on the XBOX 360 until HALO 3 comes out.

Looks like 2007 is Oculus' most expensive gaming year: http://hushedcasket.com/node/1738#comment-15778. I hope it's mine, too.

I hear that. Hopefully, that thing will last a good while

Come to think of it, I could probably get my fix on several of those with just a rent. The Darkness, GRAW2, and Too Human probably don't have replay value, so a week with them would be enough for me.

Well, you just saved yourself $165.

I had no idea you had a bike. What kind? I sold my 650cc Suzuki a couple years ago. Too many close calls, plus I had other interests. It was hard to keep it under 100mph, and that's for a mid-powered one

I rode a 2003 R6. I sold it before I deployed because the California market is a seller's market and I could either
A) continue to make a motorcycle payment at 6% interest while deployed and unable to ride
B) sell the bike and have my money make interest for me before the 2007 models were released

I had a great time with it, especially on Palomar Mountain. As you mentioned, I am lucky I had so many great rides and never crashed. Perhaps I crashed enough from age 8-15 to last a lifetime.

I just realized you are right about this year being an expensive one. There are a few games on my list of 'must have' that I will not be able to do without. I have not included "maybes" because I have proven time and time again that I will shelf most games I buy, so I hope to streamline the process by not buying them in the first place.

360:
Halo 3 Legendary Edition
Shadowrun (because rapture has made such a fuss, I know I'll end up buying it)
Halo Wars (it has the Halo name... you know you'll buy it)
Crackdown (just purchased)

PC:
Crysis
Unreal Tournament 3
Quake Wars
Shadowrun (I can't decide which platform I want to play this on, both?)

On my 'oldschool' list:
Quake 4 (just purchased)
Unreal Tournament 2004

Windows Vista (for obvious Direct X 10 reasons)

I just purchased Quake 4 (pc) after playing the demo for a few nights. It brought back good memories. In no time, I was back to owning random n00bs in the deathmatches. I have read that the major competitions use a mod called Q4MAX designed to tweak the multiplayer capability to tournament level standards. I plan on installing this as well. I played the demo of Unreal Tournament 2004 and had fun, I will end up buying it since I remember how I liked the original UT.

That also applies to me, so here's my own must-have list.

360:
Halo 3 Legendary Edition
Mass Effect
Bioshock

PS2:
God of War II

Yup, pretty sparse. I need a car. These games I absolutely cannot do without.
Also, Halo Wars is not coming out this year.

Halo 3
Crysis
Halo 2 Vista
C&C3

That's all I can mention off the top of my head.

I'm not going to pitch the game unless I think it will be something that everyone here will like. I've got some very good reasons to share the game with you all. I'll share more later. That said...

Shadowrun is beta software. Being software that isn't finished, it may not even make it out this year (although it is supposed to).

Also, everything you've seen and read is a work in progress. Graphics are changing. Some gameplay elements are changing.

So, I don't expect Shadowrun to be on anyone's list because all Shadowrun is right now is beta.

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I think UT3 will be a game worth getting. Quake Wars will, too. I just don't know if I'll have time to play them.

OC: I've got some old PC games that I'm not using. Q4. UT2k4. BF2.

I'll borrow UT2k4 from you sometime if thats cool. It'll hold me over until UT3. Yea, time is an issue for me as well. I'll probably end up just sticking to a few on my list, Unreal and Quake are mostly for old times sake and as far as gameplay goes, nothing has really trumped them on the PC for me yet.... Quake wars will probably trump BF2142, because there's some things about the aiming in BF2142 that are irking me lately.

I'm just kidding about Shadowrun, it looks pretty good from the videos I've seen. I'm hopeful for H3, as everyone is.

Aside from H3, I anticipate alm ost no single player game playing time for me in the next year or so.. I've found that for the majority of games, I just don't have the time or interest to finish the single player, so I spend most all of it in multiplayer from the time I buy a game... Every now and then (GoW, Halo1,2,3) I will play through it. For craps sake, I was already bored of crackdown after 3 days.