As I was posting the weekly list of new releases on Sunday morning, it occurred to me that an awful lot of big-name titles were dropping this month. Sure, summer is officially over now, which means that the yearly gaming drought has finally come to a close. It is to be expected that as the temperature drops, the industry heats up as far as retail releases go. That being said, September 2009 seems to be chock full of triple-A titles, a hearty combination of yearly sports installments, anticipated sequels, and a few new and promising games. With plenty of quality titles to choose from every week of this month, is it safe to say that the holiday season has started early this year?

Some September games shouldn’t come as a surprise. For example, both NHL gaming franchises traditionally come out in September, giving sports fans a new fix after the August Madden hype has died down. This month also saw the launch of what is possibly the year’s most anticipated music game, The Beatles: Rock Band, on 09.09.09. Besides the fact that the date (or more specifically, the repeated number nine) has significance within the band, this isn’t a shock since Rock Band 2 also came out in September last year. However, unlike last year, the latest Guitar Hero installment was out the door on the first of the month, which one can assume might be, at least in part, to steal some of The Beatles: Rock Band’s thunder.



Perhaps learning from some of the missteps of 2008, new games are being given a chance to shine in September instead of waiting for the overcrowded last three months of the year, when gamers with little cash to go around turn to tried-and-true sequels. Maybe if Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, LittleBigPlanet, and Valkyria Chronicles had launched last September, they all would have had higher sales numbers. Not about to get lost in the shuffle, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, WET, and Scribblenauts—all new games that have gotten good early buzz—have been or are slated to be released this month (all three should be in stores by the end of this week, to be more specific).

In addition to some shiny new titles, sequels and yearly installments are finding a new home in the September release schedule. The Need for Speed franchise has had a yearly installment come out every November for the last six years; the last NFS game to come out earlier was Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 in 2002. Perhaps with all of the competition in the genre, as well as declining popularity and review scores for the racing series, EA felt a September release would be safer. Long-awaited sequel Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has a mid-September release date, which is also a bit surprising, given that the first game came out in November of 2006.



Other noteworthy games launching this month are Champions Online, Dirt 2, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Katamari Forever, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and Dead Space: Extraction. Halo 3: ODST, sure to be one of the biggest titles of the month, comes two years after the shocking (and earlier than expected) September launch of Halo 3; the ninth month obviously worked out well, since the newest installment in one of Microsoft’s biggest series is following suit. The sheer number of notable games is a far cry from September 2008, in which the big titles were Silent Hill: Homecoming, Lego Batman, Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, Pure, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Rock Band 2, and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. Looking back, it seems that using September as an extension of the holiday season began to reach trend status last year, with even fewer releases in September 2007 (among them Dirt, the disappointing Lair, forgettable Stranglehold, too short Heavenly Sword, and Skate). However, the absence of September 2007 releases may also have something to do with Halo 3 launching that month, after being moved up from its original November release date.

Examining the September releases of the last few years, it’s clear that this month is becoming increasingly crowded. This could mean that the insanely busy holiday season, which used to pick up every October, now officially begins the minute that summer ends. However, there is also the possibility that developers and publishers are realizing that not every best-seller must be released in October or November, and in fact, squeezing more releases onto the calendar during that period could do more harm than good. Perhaps within the next few years, gamers will be treated to a more evenly distributed game release schedule, instead of waiting all summer for big titles only to be overwhelmed when fall hits. Then again, there is always the chance that this month is simply a fluke, and in 2010, September will be a sparse month for gaming once again.