The software rush has long been a feature of the gaming calendar. Every year publishers flood the shops with dozens of titles for each format, each hoping to grab a slice of that sweet Santa money. Companies tend to hold back their biggest titles until the rush, or hurriedly push out less than fully complete games so that they do not miss out on this most bounteous of periods. The months leading up to October, when the rush begins, and those following December, when it comes to an end, are fallow times indeed for gamers. Trying to find a decent new game at these times is harder then explaining quantum theory to the 43rd president of the USA. What is most baffling to many gamers and observers is why so many companies believe that they can compete in such a ridiculously overcrowded market. Surely it would make sense to hold off for a few months and capitalise on the window of opportunity provided by the barren wasteland of new games that is the months of January to March. Or maybe speed up a bit and release your game during the waning summer months, when new games of note are scarcer then an uneaten pudding at a fat camp. Instead, for three months the number of new games that are released is truly bewildering. So many, in fact, that even if you concentrated on one machine you would be hard pushed to list off all the new games released during those crazy months. Well, unless you were looking for new release that is.

The Christmas rush of 2004 and will probably go down in history as the most intense and overcrowded one yet. Not only are there an astronomical number of games being released this year but there are a large number of new formats coming out as well. On top of the big guns of the and there is the and the new PStwo. Three brand new gaming systems and a revamp of the worlds most popular console will all add up to a lot of extra hardware for vendors this year. Christmas 2004 is likely to be an absolute bumper year for the import companies with the DS and PSP being must have products for the gaming hardcore. The plucky little Gizmondo will have its work cut out in such a hectic market, but we here at Ferrago have a soft-spot for the little guy and wish them all the best.

So we have a clutch of new hardware and a myriad of games all making their debut in the months preceding the culmination of the consumer feeding frenzy that is the modern celebration of Christmas. We also have what must be the highest concentration of AAA titles in recent memory. Many of the biggest gaming franchises of all time have very high profile sequels that are all now out there on the shelves vying for the Xmas cash. 3 opened the floodgates and has sold really rather well, even if its critical reception was somewhat lukewarm. The was treated to another eagerly awaited follow up with the arrival of The 2, EA's first big entry into the maelstrom. GTA: San Andreas followed just over a month later and broke all first day sales records in many countries. While this came as no surprise, what with being the biggest franchise on the biggest console, the sheer volume of sales will be enough to ensure and will be having very white Christmas parties. As will be the case at the end of year soirees for and as both of their opuses are breaking records as we speak.

These are the biggest gaming celebrities pounding the red carpet of sales this year, but by no means are they the only ones. We've already had Burnout 3, Donkey Konga, 2005, Outrun 2, Gradius V, Paper 2, 2005, THUG2, PES4, and more acronyms are on the way, in the form of NFSU 2, two LOTR titles, GE:RA, EQII and WoW. Some more traditional titles such as 2, new entries into the and Medal of Honour franchises, Killzone, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, 2, Sid Meir's Pirates and a certain 2 are all imminent or have just been released. All of these titles have either been very well received by the critics or are such popular franchises that their appeal will be strong regardless of their actual merit. And apart from a couple of exceptions they are all sequels or build on existing licences and franchises. The days when massive new games like Syndicate, Black & White, Half-Life stormed to the top of the charts, well, they never really existed. Christmas has always been the domain of the sequel; it's just that this year the sheer number is phenomenal.

Even more noteworthy than that is the quality on offer. Many of the games listed above are actually very good, and the big three; 2, GTA:SA and Half-Life 2 are not only selling in record breaking numbers but are getting some of the best review scores ever handed down. Even if you only own one gaming system the end of 2004 is a time of bountiful gaming goodness, with even GameCube owners having a surplus of quality titles to enjoy. If you are (un)fortunate enough to own, say an and a PC you will be swamped with possibilities. Personally I could buy nothing but games that take my fancy from the month of November and not need to buy another game until this time next year, at the earliest. Which cannot be a healthy thing for the in the long term. While the publishers and developers of the super-duper A+++ titles will be sitting pretty, scores of other companies are bound to suffer some sever financial hardship as a result of their years of hardwork and love disappearing under the tidal wave of titles. No doubt a few companies will be handing out many redundancy checks in the New Year, and the pool of creation will drain out even more. If the risks of creating a new original game as opposed to churning out another sequel were not already so depressingly apparent, the abysmal showing of such quirky titles as Flatout and Powerdrome (I know its origins but finding said original titles is very hard!) will surely influence even more publishers to slot in a sequel for Xmas 2005.

The Christmas rush is all about business. But as the glut of games this year is showing, it's now making poor business sense to blindly release your new game in the Christmas run-up period. There are far too many games out there for any but the biggest and most heavily promoted to stand any chance of recouping their development costs, let alone turn a profit. Conspiracy theorists out there may be thinking it's all some grand plan to eliminate as much of the as possible. Personally, while I do think such a thing would not be mourned by companies like EA, I feel the whole mess has more to do with a lemming like attitude amongst the suits who decide release schedules. If any of them were actual gamers they would know that we would prefer a more staggered release pattern, where we could enjoy the games we have bought and the smaller games did not slip unnoticed past the massive Christmas marketing campaigns. Unfortunately there is very little we can do about it, so I cannot see things getting better until they have gotten even worse. And next year's season will have none of the super-duper A+++ titles to puff out the numbers, so maybe even the big guys will be supping on chicken rather then turkey come Christmas Day 2005.

By Sam Gibson