Gaming news always seems to slow down in December which, at first, seems unusual. This is the most profitable financial quarter for many game publishers, so one would think it'd be impossible to get them to shut up about their products. The problem is that it seems few companies want to discuss what's coming up for next year. They don't want people to focus on that yet. They want us to look at the store shelves right now and buy new games and accessories. If all anyone wants to talk about is The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or Halo 3 then that won't translate into sales and revenue right now.
Instead they'd rather we explore Mario Party 7 and Perfect Dark Zero, games that are on the shelf right now for sale in that all important holiday sales window. Buzz does no good if it can't be turned into revenue this time of year. Things will kick up again in mid-January, but for now there's a lull. We go through this every year, but it still catches me off-guard. All of the press releases and media announcements stop, leaving us only with the deafening silence of (in the words of the shopkeeper from The Legend of Zelda) "Buy somethin', will ya!"
