Well, it's now a little less than halfway through August. I have exactly one week left before I have to head out to Campus. However, I'm not here to talk about the beginning of my college experience, I'm hear to talk about delays. Again, "It NEVER ceases to amaze me".

I have been waiting for a number of games this year, ever since early January, and sometimes even last year in '06: Spore, Too Human, Mass Effect, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, Age of Conan, Unreal Tournament III, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Fable 2. After seeing what the multiplayer looked like in Medal of Honor: Airborne, I lost interest, as well as Two Worlds, which didn't interest me after they released gameplay footage at IGN, and after learning that console versions are limited to 8 Player Coop when the PC gets an entire MMO aspect.

So, here we are, in the middle of Q3 '07, and not a single game that I've been waiting for. I purchased Shadowrun for the 360 and played that for the better part of the summer along with my friends and clan allies over in the Angels of Apocalypse. We even made a CAL team, but the CAL Shadowrun League went downhill even before the regular season started. Now, with the prospect of college literally right around the corner, I am in desperate need of some fresh games to keep me busy.

Unfortunately, as you may know, almost every single game that was supposed to be released either in Q3 or Q4 '07 has been delayed. Aside from a few games, like Fable 2 and Spore, which are either still in early to middle development or was previously delayed to next year. Too Human, either because of legal rights with an ongoing case with Epic Games, or the simple fact of needing more time to polish the game, is delayed to '08 as mentioned at E3 this year. Also at E3, Sony announced that Unreal Tournament III would be exclusive to their console until '08, which means I wont be played it till then. One shocking delayment was that of GTA IV, which had been set for October 16th '07 from it's announcement at E3 '06. GTA IV is now delayed to '08 as well because of the need for more polishing, but the need for more money is more likely the case. And finally, just announced yesterday, Age of Conan is now delayed from it's previous release date of October 30th '07 to March 25th '08.

While these delayments severely limit my gaming library for the rest of this year, there are still a few games that have not been delayed that I will most definitely pick up because of my predicament. Call of Duty 4 is looking incredible, and since it's being made by Infinity Ward, I am being promised the same gratifying multiplayer experience that I had in Call of Duty 2. And also, because of a new Party System and new multiplayer aspects, I think CoD4 will keep me pinned to the television screen for weeks to come. Another game that hasn't been delayed is Mass Effect. Over the summer, I purchased the prequel novel, Mass Effect: Revelation, which filled me in on the incredible background of the Mass Effect universe, while also delivering a interesting story of what happened a couple of years before the game. I look forward to playing both Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4 in November, that is, unless they get delayed as well...

And now, finally, there is but one more game that hasn't been delayed, and it comes out near the end of next month. Yes, it is Halo 3. Now, believe me, I have spent some time thinking about this before I made my decision. I have taken into account the extreme failure Halo 2 was for me and a few others out there: The seemingly endless community of prepubescent children, the horribly unbalanced weapons, the unbelievable amount of exploitable glitches, the inexcusably high number of modders, the proxy chat, etc. It is everything that killed Halo 2 for me, hell even the singleplayer story was rushed to get the game out the window. However, I have hopes that Bungie will not screw around this time. I have hopes that they will not deliver a terrible game, or atleast not as terrible as the rushed Halo 2.

Considering all these things, and the fact that practically nothing is coming out till November at the earliest, I have decided to purchase Halo 3. I just hope my decision doesn't come to bite me in the ass. That being said, I will still be looking at gameplay footage to the day it comes out, and if it doesn't look like Bungie has delivered, then I will cancel my order. There are a couple of intriguing features that has caught my eye about Halo 3, however. I like the idea of the Saved Film, since it allows me to capture and keep the most memorable moments when playing with friends on Live, and I also like the new customization options, and the simple mechanism to mute players who are idiots, something that I imagine will come in handy. I just hope Halo 3 isn't easily moddable, and I hope that the glitches that will no doubt be found within a few hours after Halo 3's release will be fixed quickly in a patch.

Here's to hoping that no other games get delayed, and I also want to wish everyone I know who is going to College a fun time. Hopefully the incredible amount of things to do at college wont keep us from playing together, in whatever game we choose to play. Have Fun!