By Nelson Schneider - 06/08/13 at 02:08 PM CT
Welcome to another look into the near future. It has been an entire year since I began tracking the monthly embiggening of my backlog due to new releases. While, on paper, it would appear that my backlog has increased by 15 games over the course of the past year, in actuality, most of those games just went on my wish list, so as to prevent my backlog from growing out of control. Since they’re on my wish list, I can still keep track of them, but I can also wait for them to drop in price. When one has 40+ games backlogged, paying full-price for anything new would be completely idiotic. Of course, since I haven’t been feeding it and have been plugging away at completing old games that have been lingering in it for years or decades, my backlog has actually shrunk by ~20 games. I’m happy about that!
But what will happen to my backlog in June? This month is typically smack-dab in the middle of the Summer Game Drought, during which few games come to light. However, it’s surprising just how many new releases there are in June 2013. Maybe all of the developers are rushing to release their last-gasp efforts on 7th Generation hardware before it all becomes obsolete?
Unlike last month, there are actually a few licensed games coming in June. What’s interesting is that out of the four licensed games coming, two look like complete crap while two look pretty awesome. Of course, it’s easy to be crap when based on a Fourth Wall breaking comic book super-goon or when based on LEGOs without construction as the central gameplay mechanic. It’s noteworthy that licensed games tend to be better (though this is not guaranteed) when they are based on OTHER types of games, specifically tabletop RPGs. Aside from the crap, June is giving up a compilation of arcade Beat ‘em Up ports from Capcom based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and an Indie sequel to the Shadowrun RPGs that graced the SNES and Genesis so long ago. While I’ve never actively taken interest in Shadowrun as a setting, I might need to give “Shadowrun Returns” a second look and attempt to expand my RPG horizons due to the dearth of traditional RPGs to be found anywhere. “Chronicles of Mystara” is definitely hitting my backlog and will be enjoyed via coop by the MeltedJoystick crew as a tide-me-over until “Dragon’s Crown” finally sees its oft-delayed North American release in August. The problem I’m having, though, is deciding which platform I should use for “Chronicles of Mystara.” PSN is all but guaranteed to die when the PS4 launches, WiiUWare is guaranteed to be just as clunky and cumbersome and DRM-laden as WiiWare, and Steam kind of defeats the purpose of local multi-player… At least “Shadowrun Returns” is PC exclusive, so the decision has been made for me.
Aside from licensed games, there are only two multi-platform releases slated for June. Mainstream gamers who love their “AAA” games can choose between the drab and uninteresting Action/Adventure game, “Remember Me,” or the drab and uninteresting motorcycle porn game, “Ride to Hell: Retribution.” Barf.
In lieu of dozens of multi-platform simultaneous releases, June is bringing the multi-platform love primarily through ports. The frequently-delayed Xbox 360 port of “Minecraft” might appear in June, as will the temporarily-Steam-exclusive version of “DARK” (another delayed game, that will have even less time as a PC exclusive before the Xbox 360 port hits). The PS3 is getting a little bit ‘Yo Dawg’ and porting its own PSN games to itself in a disc-based compilation, which promises to be the first volume of many. I strongly approve of the idea behind the “Best of PlayStation Network,” and hope to see more compilations of good PSN games in the near future. Then there’s the Vita, a handheld with no games getting ports of PS2 and Wii games… while “Muramasa” was an excellent Wii game, I don’t know how suitable it is for handheld play, not to mention the questionability of playing second-string 3D platformers like “Jak & Daxter” on the go…
Exclusive releases in June look significantly less dire than last month, as every platform, aside from the Xbox 360 and Vita, is getting at least one exclusive that is not also a port. The PC is getting a bland military RTS sequel and an annual motocross sequel. The PS3 is getting a military flight sim and “The Last of Us,” a generic-looking Survival Horror game that incorporates an escort mission as its central mechanic… Chris is soiling himself in excitement about it, so I imagine other Survival Horror fans feel the same way… but I just don’t get the appeal of that genre at all. The WiiU is finally getting a new game… but unfortunately it’s the more-appropriate-for-mobile-play-on-the-3DS, “Game & Wario.” Finally, the 3DS is getting three new exclusives: A sequel to “Animal Crossing,” a shovelware vehicular combat game, and an extremely meta videogame character crossover TRPG.
The Summer Game Drought appears to have broken early this year. Between “Shadowrun Returns,” “Chronicles of Mystara,” and “Best of PlayStation Network Vol. 1” I’ll have plenty of embiggening to worry about. Of course, we don’t yet know what July will bring. Will all of June’s games meet their expected release dates? Will July’s Steam Summer Sale shove the 30+ games on my wish list into my backlog? Is this a false break in the drought that will see it return even stronger? Contemplating too far into the future of videogame releases is always a futile endeavor… I’m just going to enjoy my current backlog and worry about the future as it becomes the present.
Backlog Embiggened: +3
Comments
Chris Kavan - wrote on 06/16/13 at 12:35 PM CT
Despite being shovelware, they keep pushing that Crash City Mayhem game back and back - now it will show up in July (maybe). The PS3 Pacific Conflict flight sim has also been pushed back until August. The important games should still be coming out though the Chronicles of Mystara still carries the vague release date of June 2013 - so that may ultimately get pushed back as well.
