No New Games 'til June?

I've decided that I (probably) won't be buying any new games for the first half of this year. 

Nothing until June (probably), which is when Street Fighter 6 and Final Fantasy XVI are due to be released. I'm unlikely to be able to resist that pair, even if I am shit at Street Fighter and single-player Final Fantasy hasn't been properly-good for sixteen years.

It hasn't been great for twenty-two.

I'm sure I'll miss some quality new releases between now and then, but nothing I absolutely must play immediately. Resident Evil 4 is great, but like everyone else, I've clocked it several times before. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be near-flawless I'm sure, but no other objectively-great series excites me less than Zelda. While I'm over the moon that Cosmic Smash will soon be revived In VR, I'm just not interested in buying a PSVR 2. I'm sure there'll be plenty of other new releases of note that I'll miss, but nothing immediately comes to mind, which suggests that waiting several months shouldn't be too painful. 

So why this sudden restraint? Well, there are three reasons, and thanks for asking.

Firstly, I wanted to tighten the purse strings, having just shelled out a stupid amount of money for an Analogue Pocket, a purchase that I'd been mulling for the best part of a year. While I'm excited to eventually get my hands on one, I feel like a prize muppet for spending that kind of money on a product with only a vague "2023" expected delivery date, and from a company that's notorious for giving you the bare minimum of updates. Not good enough, but I decided to go ahead anyway as I've been impressed with my Mega Sg and have heard very encouraging things from friends who already have a Pocket. It'll be worth the wait.

That purchase has put me in a "spend-less" mindset. On games, at least.

Secondly, Game Pass. The most generous of console subscription services continues to serve up games of interest. With the exception of the final stretch of Tactics Ogre Reborn on PS5, I've spent almost all my gaming time in 2023 thus far on my Series X. The wonderful Pentiment, Prodeus, Hi-Fi Rush, 007 GoldenEye, more Forza Horizon 5, and a deeply nostalgic return to Age of Empires 2 via the Definitive Edition. I also have stacks of titles lined up to Play Later - Norco is at the top - and I always forget that I can access game trials through EA Play. Game Pass has me covered until June and beyond.

Thirdly, I want to work through my non-Xbox backlog. I cracked the seal on God Of War Ragnarok just the other night. It's hard not to be impressed by the sheer spectacle, but I'm wary that it'll drag before its thirty hours are up. I still haven't touched Gran Turismo 7, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 or Far Cry 6, and I must make time for Live A Live at some point, lest my Switch thinks I've completely abandoned it. 

A recent purchase of a fairly-basic but effective HDMI converter cable has breathed life into my Saturn, and encouraged me to dip into several games that I've been procrastinating about for years. It's so much more convenient being able to game on a modern monitor, and I've been able to reclaim some tabletop space by semi-retiring my CRT. Of course I'm playing old favourites - Sega Rally never gets old - but I've also been giving long-owned but long-ignored games like Exhumed and Burnout Rangers a proper go. As I told you last month, my Mega Sg has been seeing far more action of late, having been moved upstairs. I've been playing a handful of Mega Drive and Master System titles in short spurts, between other tasks. 

With that lot, I could easily survive for the rest of the year without buying a new game, but where's the fun in that? If you see me crack, and I'm tweeting about playing Tears of the Kingdom or waxing lyrical about Resi 4 before June, go easy on me, yeah? I'm only human, and I really like games. 

I'm sure you understand.