Taking Stock From the Editor
by Walt Pretorius
S
o we’re one month in for 2012, and the same question is on everyone’s lips... where the hell are all the games? It has been quiet, with very little appearing in the new section of the game stores. But lets remember that it is early in the year, and January is always a quiet month. Getting through it, doing what we do here at Gamecca, is a little like trying to walk through a swimming pool filled with old syrup. It’s extremely difficult, and slow. All that enthusiasm for the New Year evaporates pretty much as soon as the first day of work or school arrives, and most people spend more time trying to figure out how to compensate for the monetary excesses of the Festive Season than actually getting any work done. The
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video game industry is no different, really. And the fact that everyone has pretty much turned their bank account into a barren wasteland means that releasing games would see them sitting on the shelves until the next payday rolls around. Even the news front has been fairly quiet... which leads me to a little thing I want to mention. The new Gamecca website has been very well received indeed, which makes me very happy. Thanks for that. We have been trimming and tweaking the site through the course of January, so it now offers news, a review archive and current issue contents, among other things. We’re pretty excited about where it is going, and we hope you feel the same way. Anyway, back to the dearth of
games. The good news is that the drought is almost over. In fact, we’re talking just a few days from now that the games will start flooding in again. We have a big February ahead, not least of which will be the release of the new PS Vita towards the end on the month. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing what kinds of rabbits Sony will be pulling out of its hat for this device. Sure, I can go read a whole bunch of stuff about it and get a pretty good idea, but actually using one is what I am looking forward to. You will notice a few changes in the magazine this month, most notably the fact that our three dedicated console columns have now been melded into one, called Console General. Suvesh Arumugam will also be joining the columnist ranks as he jumps from one soap box to another. And, despite the games being rather thin on the ground (which always results in a thinner issue), we still have a dozen great reviews for you to check out. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to start mentally preparing for the games that are about to arrive. That, and try and figure out why my bank account looks so terribly empty... g
gamecca column • issue 32 • February 2012