Warm weather, the beach, town festivals, concerts, and the fact that it’s not snowing all give me a reason to love the summer as a person. However, as a gamer there’s something to be desired. Movies have their “summer blockbusters” and Video Games have…the X-Box Live Arcade’s Summer of Arcade. I’m not one to complain about smaller, independent companies making games, especially cheaper ones compared to their Triple A counterparts, but as a gamer there’s a lot to be desired over the Summer.
Usually sometime around the Electronic Entertainment Expo in the beginning of June to about the end of August, when the new edition of Madden is released, is what’s known to gamers as the “Summer Drought”. It’s typically around this time when that lack of a major title leaves a lot of gamers with almost nothing to play. There is a bright side though, especially if you’re reading this article. We at New Gamer Nation have got your back. This is the official unofficial list to help you get by your Summer Drought of Video Games.
XBLA/PSN: Look around the X-Box Live Arcade, or Playstation Network have some real gems out there if you’re willing to take the gamble. Not all of them will be in your taste, but spending $10-$20 on a bad game than spending $60. If you find a great game, you get the satisfaction of finding a great deal too. The best trick is to look for something that fits what you like playing, and do a little research, whether it comes from our site, the little “customer reviewers” that have played the game. Then when you played the game, if it’s any good tell people about it. Usually these games are made by independent developers that have a passion for the product they created. If you help them make more sales, developer will make more product…I mean games.
Watch the movie, skip the game: Can we all agree that games based off the movie are (usually) pretty bad? Okay so rather than spending x amount of time playing a terrible game, why not just spend 2 mindless hours watching the source materiel? At least you’ll be outside, and if you plan it out accordingly you might actually see the sun, or avoid it altogether.
Play online: I think one of the biggest reasons a lot of companies develop more open world games is to extend the playing life outside of the game’s story. They add an online capability much for that same reason. I’m sure your First Person Shooter game has a lot of people online playing. As a bonus just listen to the laughable, ignorant, profanity laden, hate speech and take solace that you might not be one of these people. If you are one of these people seek a dictionary and use different words to call people like, oh I don’t know, “foul mouthed troglodyte”. See now you sound smart AND classy.
Play Classics: Okay so you don’t have anything to play on your current generation system (and can we stop calling it “next gen system”? We’re almost near a new generation of systems…allegedly), why not dust off your older system you have and play those games that really reminded you why you LOVE gaming so much.
Shameless Plug: In between your countless hours of gaming, how about reading our reviews, features, editorials, and previews that New Gamer Nation has to offer. Look at the previews of games that have been released…Did they live up to what we showed? Did NGN give review a game you may have been on the fence about? Which side of the editorial are you on? Do our features inform and/or entertain you? If they do, thank you. If they don’t…We’re still trying…???
Shameless Plug 2: Did I mention we have a Podcast that goes up about every week on the site? Pilot and Slacker host on a wide array of topics in the world of gaming, with special guests every week, who are not only well informed, but passionate about gaming. Rate them on iTunes to help us spread the word of your glorious NGN masters. Stand up and applause for them at the end of the show.
Finally, take a chance: There was once a game that you may have missed out on. Maybe that game has been marked down to a very considerable price. Maybe said game has a “special” edition with some DLC included. Maybe said game was rented a lot and you figure, you’d might as well buy it. Maybe, just maybe, this will help you get through your “summer drought”.