Summertime, and the living is busy

Say hello to Mr Blue Sky for the summer is here. Time to go out and play, or are the reasons to stay in and play?

{ Wed 25th June 2008 }

British summertimes are quite something: the weather can swing between roasting hot and torrential downpour at the drop of a hat; strawberries are consumed on mass; we place ridiculous expections on the current British hope for Wimbledon (only to be disappointed with crushing inevitability); and, in the tradition of all good Brits through the ages, any hint of a clear sky will be taken as ample excuse to strip down to the bare essentials for a spot of sun bathing.

And it's that last activity that rather typifies summer, getting out and enjoying the sunshine (whilst it lasts). Whether a side-effect of the game industry's singular focus on the Christmas market, or whether they're actually aware of this, summer also tends to signal something of a dry spell in the gaming calender. This is often a welcome break for the financially-drained and sun-starved gamer. That said, for those of us who ended up purchasing more games during the winter campaign than we could get around to playing, this can also be a good time to play a bit of catch up, and to be honest, that was my plan. Now admittedly there are a few factors currently affecting my progress on the old gaming backlog, but the games industry aren't helping matters with an unexpected stream of quality titles landing on the shop shelves this summer.

The numbers may not match the flood that usually hits in the lead up to Christmas, but the wealth of titles deserving of attention is impressive. Unless you've been living under a rock, which itself lives under a bigger rock, you couldn't fail to notice the recent release of Grand Theft Auto IV, a considerable time-sink in and of itself. Then there's Rock Band, which finally landed in Europe a few weeks back. Despite my annoyance at the price I caved and picked up a copy, and the game is so damned addictive that any spare time I have for games playing disappears in the blink of an eye and the thump of a fake drum pad. Of course let's not overlook Metal Gear Solid 4, Lego Indiana Jones, The World Ends With You and Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core which are all sat on my desk begging to be played.

Oh and then there's that little game Super Smash Bros. Brawl that hits at the end of this week, which is enough of a temptation to deal with (I will not buy a Wii for one game, I will not buy a Wii for one game...), but it's far from the only one out there; I'm currently doing my best to resist the urge to pick up Race Driver: GRiD, which I really want. And then I look at the titles arriving soon, there's Battlefield: Bad Company, Top Spin 3, Space Invaders Extreme, The Bourne Conspiracy, Soul Calibur IV, Final Fantasy IV DS and Final Fantasy Tactics A2, all of which I'd happily shell out for, and those are just the titles I can think of off the top of my head.

All of that is a lot of gaming to try and squeeze in amongst all those other things I do and want to get done, especially once you subtract time for a cheeky visit to the odd beer garden or two. Oh well, guess the old backlog will have to grow a little more. I will get to these games one day. Hell, if nothing else, that's my retirement sorted.