Oh look there's a new Assassin's Creed coming next year. And….. another Call of Duty. Oh….. there's….. a new Halo too. Okay, I don't know about you but I'm pretty tired of certain games coming out every year.

Any dedicated gamer will know how long a game has been development, and there's a reason for that. It's because most people know that good things take time. Most great games have a three, sometimes four year development cycle; in order to not only come up with great ideas but to make sure they are fully fleshed out. My biggest pet peeve: Annualization. It's what I like to call a hindrance to both gamers and developers.

The one year development cycle has become a big problem, especially amongst sequels and licensed games. With sequels publishers try to catch lightning in a bottle twice, especially while the game is still fresh in the mind of gamers. We saw this with the rise and fall of the Guitar Hero series. Every year there were at least one or two Guitar Hero games on the market. Eventually leading to the series cancelation as everyone became tired of it.

That's the problem with annualization amongst sequels: franchise fatigue. No matter how great a game is, if it comes out year after year people will grow tired of it. What I like to say is make me miss it. That's why I have problem with titles like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty and Halo coming out so frequently. Year after year it losses its luster, a year isn't enough time to make a game feel like it's bringing something new. A game can become too familiar to a point where subtle changes become overlooked. I need something new with my something familiar.

 If I here requiescat en pace one more time!

Anticipation should be a strategy among publishers. If the first one was great, take your time, people will want it even more. When Half-Lie 3 comes out, how many people do you think are still going want it?

The worst offenders of this trend are licensed games. I can't tell you how well licensed games sell, but they're definitely not breaking the top 10. I think we'll all agree, most gamers aren't stupid. We can usually tell a bad game when we see one. A licensed game, loosely based on a movie, with little development time and set to release around, if not the same day as the movie is usually a bad game.

Now, there are some exceptions when it comes to licensed games. The biggest one that comes to mind is Batman Arkham Asylum and it's sequel. However, take a look at the series. Not based on the Dark Knight movies, instead takes inspiration from the rich lore of the comic books. It isn't forced to out alongside the movies. Even when it's sequel was announced, a mere couple of months after the first games release, Rocksteady took at least two years to develop the game.

As frustrated as I get over this, I begin to wonder. How much time is enough time? Is two years enough for certain developers to craft a great game? Is it enough for gamers not to fell franchise fatigue?

I ask this because I recently had an odd experience with Uncharted 3. Let me get this out the way now, I think Uncharted 3 is a great game and deserves praise for its story and gameplay. However, this nagging feeling came over me when I finished it. It felt the same, it wasn't worse than Uncharted 2, it just did the same. The story, while great, left more to be desired and certain plot points were just left unresolved. That nagging feeling left me asking, did Naughty Dog need more time? I can't help but think it they had an extra year would I see Uncharted 3 differently from Uncharted 2?

I don't know, I'm no developer, I can only see trends from a consumer perspective. Three years, maybe more seems to me like the right amount of time to craft a great game and appreciate it. Then again you can't take too long or else you might end up with a mess like Duke Nukem Forever. Maybe developer are too overconfident, perhaps publishers are too anxious. I can only guess what factors into a games release. When it comes down to it, I only see negatives when any game comes out a year after its predecessor and continued trends like this can only end badly.