Holiday Season Wishlist

As usual, the fall-winter months are chock full of promising new releases sure to drain the bank accounts of many-a-gamer. I can't imagine I'll be able to afford more than one or two of these, but that just means I'll be able to get them later at discount prices. So it's a good thing...right?

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise for Xbox 360

Filled with fun!

This one's already out. It's a sequel to the original Viva Pinata, a bright, cheery, kiddie, fun little killing and fucking simulator. It's beautiful, relaxing and surprisingly deep. I've also got the gotta-catch-em-all sickness, and having so many different species of pinata to attract to my garden is appealing.

Fallout 3 for Xbox 360, PC

Fallout 3: Family Edition

This one's been in development for a while now. It's made by the fine folks who gave us Oblivion a couple of years ago. The Fallout series is highly regarded, and it's one of those that I bought the games, and always meant to get into them but never did. Post-apocalyptic shenanigans sounds like fun to me, it also sounds like there are several ways to play the game and, reportedly, multiple endings which will give the game good replay value. If I can only get one title this season, it'll probably be this.

Persona 4 for Playstation 2

Persona 4: English Edition - coming in November

Yes, they're still making RPGs for Playstation 2. I said Fallout 3 was tops on my wishlist, that's bullshit. Persona 3 was an absolute blast, and Persona 4 keeps several of the game mechanics from its predecessor and throws in a murder mystery plot. I love those.

Dragon Quest IV for Nintendo DS


This is a remake of ye olde NES game from days gone by. One of my all-time favorite RPGs will be receiving a graphical facelift (obviously) as well as a major gameplay tweak: your party members will no longer be AI controlled. That enough makes the game a must-buy for me.

Alan Wake for Xbox 360, PC

Alan Wake is out looking for his develpoment studio with a flashlight and gun, planning to demand a release date. Or, better yet, a release.

Alan Wake looks and sounds great. It's about horror/thriller/adventure game about a writer working in a small, secluded town and involves supernatural shit. The bad part is, it's been in development for a couple of years now, and there's no release date in sight. Putting this on my holiday season wishlist is pure horseshit, but a guy can dream, right?

Rock Band 2 for Xbox 360

Rock Band 2 will be more of the same, with a few minor tweaks. Sounds good to me.

More songs. Band quickplay will be easier. Online world tour mode. More songs. All downloadable songs from Rock Band will be compatible with Rock Band 2. Harmonix is also including the option to import the songs from the first game disc into RB2 for 5 bucks.

There are several others upcoming as well, but these are the big-uns.