Bow down before NOVEMBER

A lot of Very Important Games are coming out in the next one and one half months. Every damn person is going to buy these games, myself included. And for good reason! These games all come from--in different ways--amazing pedigree. At the end of the day they are all well understood genre pieces, but they promise to make you poop against your inseam nonetheless.

Behold: the buy-a-console-just-to-play-it LittleBigPlanet, the credit-crisis-resolving Wrath of the Lich King, the no-snappy-prefix-inspiring Mirror’s Edge, the you-get-a-puppy! Fable 2, and the zomg-inducing Fallout 3. It promises to be a sexless month, but who really even does that anymore. Gross.

I should not have to explain why Wrath of the Lich King is an important release, except to say C.R.E.A.M. Blizzard Entertainment, now Activision Blizzard, has a Swiss watch’s reliability when it comes to doing everything perfectly and making mad dollar bills because of it.

Speaking of Switzerland, Mirror’s Edge comes to us from the land of hot chocolate and mafia banking, from the people who brought you the Battlefield franchise. Again, reliability in doing what they do is Digital Illusions’ claim to fame. They don’t quite reinvent the wheel a la Blizzard, but the have consistently produced polished titles that people buy and play.

Fable 2 is the latest brainchild of the perpetually overreaching Peter Molyneux. Say what you will about Black & White and the first Fable, Molyneux is always pushing games and gamers in a way that is both historically important and personally satisfying.

Fallout 3 is not being helmed by the same development studio that brought us the first two installments. Not a biggie, as Bethesda Softworks has their own track record to speak for them. What really matters is that all the PR points to Fallout 3 being, besides incredibly polished and handled with care, very true to the first two in the series.

LittleBigPlanet, a plucky indie title, made Sony look silly when it overshadowed the designed-by-committee PlayStation Home. The pedigree for LittleBigPlanet is not that of its producers or designers. What LittleBigPlanet offers is a pedigree of game mechanic of a type that no publisher or development studio was giving any attention. As original as LittleBigPlanet is, the Rube Goldberg-inspired game has existed for a long time (though please do give it significant props for being Turing complete).

So, why all the fuss? Well, LittleBigPlanet IS pretty original. You can definitely trace its historical precedent, but so can you in the case of most great works of culture; this does not keep it out of the culture club.

On the flip side you have Wrath of the Lich King, which is merely the second expansion of a four year old game that was itself a well polished retread of worn gameplay clichés and SHOULD suffer from XKCD’s Fiction Rule of Thumb. Expect it to break sales records. Lord knows I’m buying it.

Somewhere in the middle you have Fable 2, Fallout 3, and Mirror’s Edge. The two F’s will be coasting a bit on brand recognition; Peter Molyneux and Fallout 1 & 2, respectively. Mirror’s Edge will be an exciting title because Parkour is awesome. And all three are bringing something new to the table. They have to. They are not fucking Bejeweled.

Fable 2 has that dog, which will represent love, or something, along with a whole slew of secondary mechanics that may or may not meaningfully impact the gameplay. Fallout 3 has the “Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System” which is the in-game fictional wrapper for the semi-real-time combat. Mirror’s Edge apparently nailed the feeling of free running in a game.

They will all be great and worth your time, but it is important to be aware of the place of these games in the general canon and to be able to say why you care. You care because these games will be fun. They will be pretty, they will be the cream of the crop, they will have plenty of “holy shit” moments, and I’m putting my money on LittleBigPlanet for instant classic status.

What they suffer from is an abundance of precedent. None of these games will add a new brush to designers’ palettes. I gotta restate this, because if I don’t the fanboy masses will smother me in “yoar gay” comments: All of these games will be great. And, for the record, having a scarcity of precedent does not a great game make.

But, those games that, for better or worse, try something completely new are the ones that expand gaming permanently for everybody. Katamari Damacy made I don’t even know what hip and cool, as well as front new and addictive gameplay. Thief brought us the stealth genre. Robonixon wouldn’t have his beloved Rockband were it not for PaRappa the Rappa. Every designer and avid gamer, as well as many movie producers, novelists, and computer manufacturers owe Gary Gygax and Shigeru Miyamoto a tender reach around.

But listen, not every game that expands the medium is art, and not making a bold new statement with the mechanics and style prevents a game from exalted status. Just know what you are playing.

Peace in my butt crease,
-Ben