As gamers, we all know that gaming is an expensive hobby. Okay, it's not as expensive a hobby as jet skiing or dirt biking, but then those aren't hobbies enjoyed by millions of people across the UK. In reality, the consoles themselves aren't the big problem. When a machine is released the avid gamers amongst us will suffer the pain of a ludicrously high price tag, normally around £300 or something equally as agonising. Most sensible folk out there though will hang on until it drops in price by 50% within the first year. Hold on long enough and eventually a machine will hit the golden £100 price point. Only a couple of months ago one high street store was offering GameCube's at £40, a fiendishly low price for a fantastic piece of kit.

The real trouble is the price of the software. £40 is a lot of money for a game, though in real terms gaming has never been cheaper. Back in the 1980's NES software was selling for the same amount. I still remember paying £90 for an imported copy of 2 on the SNES back in the day. So taking inflation into account gaming is now the cheapest it's ever been. It's true that you'd have to be mad to pay £40 for a game nowadays. Nearly every title is available for £30 on the day of release online, and even Burnout 3 was selling for £32.99 in a couple of the high street stores merely days after launch. Nonetheless, when you consider that a DVD is maybe £15 and a CD a few pounds less, games are still a tad pricey.

Still, taking the modern market into account it's possible to keep your collection topped-up throughout most of the year, but come September something strange happens in the gaming industry. After suffering months of nearly barren release schedules, we're suddenly inundated with a tsunami of quality releases all demanding our attentions. We weather the storm, pillage our overdrafts and barely manage to keep on top of it all, then suddenly come February... nothing. A couple of good titles may be brave enough to come up for water around Easter, but after that the gaming release schedules become a barren wasteland until the Q4 rush begins again in earnest the following September.

It's a bizarre situation. No other seems to suffer the same schizophrenic behaviour patterns. You have the infamous summer blockbusters in the cinema but you'll never turn up at your local multi-screen on a Friday only to find there's nothing new on offer. The market is greeted with major releases all year round. But games are different. It's not just a symptom of the immature state of gaming either, though it's certainly true that our industry is a comparatively infantile one. There are lots of possible reasons for it in reality. Despite growing in popularity all of the time, gaming is still primarily a hobbyist pursuit. Folk who aren't normally fussed about buying games for themselves instead rely on presents to top up their collection. Still, the major reason is not so baffling - the truth is, that reason is YOU.

Many years ago the government spent billions of dollars building a hugely complex super computer the size of a small house (or even an Xbox). Into this computer was entered all of America's financial outlines for analysis. The scientists (whomever they may be) then asked the machine what is the single most important thing they could do to boost America's economy. The answer? Have Christmas four times a year. We are all well and truly Christmas mentalists. Quite why the death and subsequent resurrection of Christ spurs us on to spend all of our savings is a bit of a mystery, but this is what happens. 90% of the games sold in western markets are sold between September and January.

It's no surprise then that publishers choose to release the bulk of their titles in this golden quarter. After all, if all you need to do to boost the of a title by 500% is to hold back the release for a few months, it's really a bit of a no brainer. It may seem absurd. An initial reaction can be to say "Hang on, with the schedules so empty for most of the year, why not release your titles then and face less competition?" This is sound in theory, but unfortunately not in practise. Eidos' recent problems are at least in part attributed to the early summer release of Hitman Contracts. Whilst performing reasonably in the charts, it's sales were highly disappointing. At the moment, only a few months after release, wholesalers are already selling it onto retailers at sub-platinum prices.

Its not all roses and champers for the distributors though. The mad rush at Christmas might be great for their bank accounts but there's a real danger of the market suffering from over saturation. Whilst the big hitters like Grand Theft Auto, Fifa and sell at a truly obscene rate, there is still a limit to the amount of money out there. As a result, for every Christmas blockbuster there's a handful of triple-A flops. Last Christmas saw massive titles like Jak II, Beyond Good and Evil, XIII, and World Rally Championship 3 fail to dent the charts and pass by relatively forgotten. The truth is that no matter how buoyant the market may get, there is still nowhere near enough room to accommodate the sheer number of titles that publishers try to cram into the period.

No doubt this Q4 will prove much the same. It's been pleasing to see the likes of Second Sight penetrate deeply into the top 10 on release, but with several big hitters around the corner, some publishers are surely preparing themselves for the worst. With titles like San Andreas, 2, Killzone, Half Life 2, and 4 (possibly) set for release (as well as 4 hitting Live), a large number of sales will be absorbed by a small number of huge titles. Undoubtedly this will result in some quality games being more or less completely ignored. Battlefront? Donkey Konga? Fable? Flay Out? Animal Crossing? All big titles, but all early contenders for a premature trip to the bargain bin.

The reason I find this frustrating is that as a gamer, I simply have to own all of the big titles. Even if I'm convinced they'll be utter chaff, I have to try them out regardless (try telling that to my ex!). So, as I buy up plainly third-rate titles throughout the summer in the vague hope that I might discover a hidden gem, I also have to find the funds to keep my appetite quenched in the busy Q4 period. The only way this madness will change though is if we start to change our behaviour. Care for and feed your console all year round and the industry in turn will do the same. Continue to ignore it until Christmas and this madness will no doubt persist. Remember this - a Playstation is for life, not just for Christmas.

By Ben Parfitt