We've spent a lot of time this year getting 'hands-on' with titles, or sitting through controlled demos and as a result, writing far more previews than reviews. Like last year, it seems the fourth quarter of 2008 (and a little from Q3 as well), is where the money games are at, and rather than having our lengthy manifest of previews strewn about news archives and hidden among game titles, we've compiled a seminal holiday guide to what's hitting store-shelves by the end of this year (and conversely addressing whether or not it's fair on consumers to have to face so much all at once as opposed to a much more palatable yearly release spread).

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Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
Release Date: September 11
Available On: PC, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2

Mercenaries 2: World In Flames offers gamers a massive open-world to feast upon with countless clientele up for the taking. You are, after all, a mercenary and so it's in your best interests to maintain the order of chaos, lest you run out of business (while the world predictably runs out of oil). Take to the air, ground and seas in an effort to please your client and make some hard-earned cash.

EA and Pandemic have worked pretty hard to offer up a robust, rich world with plenty of opportunities for action, free-roaming and explosions (lots and lots of explosions). Unfortunately the setting for this, and the narrative backbone (everyone is after oil, again) doesn't do much to maintain any sense of desire to finish, let alone 'get the job done'. Marred with broken tech and equally broken gameplay, the game-world on offer is less than dynamic, while the missions offered do little to encourage full use of what boring sandbox elements there are. It can definitely be fun blowing stuff up and taking to the world in the various vehicles on offer, but when your enemies are mindless; coming across more as target practice dummies rather than convincing AI, it might be time to look elsewhere.

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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Release Date: September 17
Available On: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS

Star Wars fans have been readily counting the days until this releases on September 17 here in Australia. A demo for the game was released on both the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Networks to much fan elation and the consensus overall has been pretty good (after all, who doesn't want to play as a secret Sith apprentice to Darth Vadar?).

We did an extensive hands-on report that highlighted much of what the game has to offer, though putting aside the gushing Star Wars fan in me, I did point out my disappointment at a lack of overall freedom. Having the three touted technologies working together in harmony - only to have your ability to utilise them to their fullest - reigned in through invisible walls and narrative constraints just seemed a bit of a jip. Still, despite not having the freedom a Jedi truly deserves, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will sate fans looking for bridges between Episodes III and IV and anyone else who's ever dreamed of throwing Storm Troopers out into the vacuum of space or piercing the skull of a Rangkor with their Lightsabre.

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Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Release Date: September 18
Available On: PC

WarCraft can't steal all the fantasy RPG gamers out there, and EA and Mythic Studios aim to capture a chunk of the market with Warhammer's first foray into the MMO realm, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. Pulling from the series' long history and extensive lore, Warhammer: Age of Reckoning invites fans into a fully 3D game-world unlike any they've experienced with Warhammer before.

Despite many similarities (due to the type of game), Warhammer Online differentiates itself from World of WarCraft and many other games with unique features such as being able to decorate your character with trophies from your fallen foes (you can wear the head's of fallen victims, etc), a goal to have characters physically changing as they level up (not initially available from launch though) as well as a unique 'Career' concept (sort of like Classes), that is specific to gender and archetype to keep character creation as unique as possible (especially when handling a number of characters in your personal stable). Another unique feature is a dedicated set of Oceanic servers that seem to do a better job than most of what we've seen available for MMOs in Australia at the Beta stage.

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Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway
Release Date: September 25
Available On: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

Gearbox and Ubisoft continue the WWII history lesson with the latest update to the Brothers in Arms series, Hells Highway. Promising to deliver a far more competent online gaming experience, renewed visuals, an even more compelling and emotional story as well as plenty of action with the 101st tackling that most infamous of early US WWII encounters, Market Garden.

Anyone who has played this series before will know that, despite a flooded market of WWII games, Gearbox's effort is a little different. For one, there's nothing arcade about their experience - almost every detail of skirmishes, locations, units, vehicles and tactics is pulled from the annals of history. They speak to veterans, dig through records and have one of the best military advisors knowledge can buy to ensure every facet of their game is as close to the real deal as possible. With Hell's Highway, they've continued the march forward with a chapter pulled from history that saw the 101st Airborne clearing a path for the British XXX Corps to make their way through. They fought on a stretch of road that would become known as Hell's Highway, named thusly for good reason.

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MotorStorm Pacific Rift
Release Date: October 8
Available On: PS3

Racing Fans who got a little bored with the drab, arid setting of the PS3's launch title, MotorStorm can rest easy as its much anticipated follow up, MotorStorm Pacific Rift, shifts things from one extreme to another, dumping players into the dank, wet and lush green forests of an undisclosed Pacific island. Oh and this time there're Monster Trucks as well!

The original MotorStorm is still arguably one of the prettiest games on the PS3. MotorStorm Pacific Rift shifts things to a greener, jungle setting; ramping up the visual quality ten-fold with plenty of recourse for insane level design. We got a chance to have a bash with the new Big Rig vehicles at Sony's most recent PAUSE event as well as enjoy the new game-setting. It's looking stunning, but for the most part not a great deal has changed fundamentally. You still race, you still come apart when you crash spectacularly and it's still frustrating waiting to respawn. That said, it's still pretty fun, with 20 people being able to play online alongside the newly added four-player split-screen action, so you can abuse your mates from within the same room, face to face.

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LEGO Batman: The Videogame
Release Date: October 8
Available On: PC, Xbox 360, PS3,Wii, PS2, PSP, Nintendo DS

Traveller's Tales continues their LEGO videogame legacy, combining another cult favourite with the plastic blocks we all grew up with. LEGO Batman: The Videogame takes characters and sets from the LEGO Batman block range and adds to them other famous Batman villains and heroes in a light-heartedly dark Gotham City imagined in LEGO form!

While the LEGO videogame theme seems to have found its niche and formula benchmark, adding new characters, scenarios and humorous narrative situations doesn't seem to be getting too old just yet. Indiana Jones proved this, and now Batman is set to prove it again. Characters will include the staples Batman and Robin, but will also include The Penguin, Catwoman, Batgirl, Man-Bat, Killer Moth and of course, the Joker (among many more). Naturally as you'd expect, each character has special abilities to use (Penguin can glide with his umbrella, Catwoman can use her whip (ala Indy) and the Joker's electric hand-buzzer can start up machinery. It's pretty much business as usual, but the game is visually stunning, has a meaty cast of characters and you get to drive the Batmobile!

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Far Cry 2
Release Date: October 23
Available On: PC, PS3, Xbox 360

50sqkm of free-roaming open African Savannah is available to players within the world of Far Cry 2, a game that has set out to do what so many other games try and fail at: redefining the first-person shooter experience. Core FPS foundations remain, but the way in which the player engages the world and the immersion at hand here have created a shooter experience unlike any other.

Though the original Far Cry team moved on to create the PC-crunching Crysis, Ubisoft retained the rights to the series and took in interesting and outwardly directions. Here though, they've taken away the mutants and replaced them with real-life threats. All you have in the Far Cry 2 world to help you are your wits, and ability to recon your way through any portion of the massive game-world meaning you can approach pretty much any situation armed with knowledge of what's around you and how best to handle it, as outlined in our E3 coverage preview. On top of that, destructible environments, fire that spreads and helpful NPC associates create one of the most immersive game-worlds yet seen in the shooter genre - this is one to watch out for.

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Fable II
Release Date: October 23
Available On: Xbox 360

Set 500 years after the first Fable, Fable II opens the moral implications of the first in massive ways along with the overall game-world, your freedom within it and introduces you to your new best friend, the dog. With grand promises from creator Peter Molyneux that we'd finally see a game with truly definitive dynamics in the way of an ever-changing game-world, Fable II has a lot to live up to.

Having had more than a few jabs with this game (at E3 and LGC), we're pretty excited about what we've seen so far. However, Molyneux is pretty well-known for promising the universe and barely delivering a particle, so we're still reserving final judgement. Still, what we've seen is pretty promising with the ability to literally go anywhere on the map, talk to anyone you see (and rename them), date whoever you want and, apparently, join in on some swinger orgy action (according to the official Fable II Achievements list). You'll also be able to invite other gamers into the Fable II world you've shaped, but actions they perform in there will have lasting affects, offering up some seriously dynamic gaming. And if you downloaded the XBLA Fable II Pub Games, you can use your winnings right away!

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Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Release Date: October 24
Available On: Xbox 360, PS3

The illegal street racing king is back with Midnight Club: Los Angeles taking you through a virtual City of Angels. All the famous LA landmarks have been included in this as you tear through the grid-designed Downtown, star-studded streets of West Hollywood or all the way out to Santa Monica pier and back. A host of vehicles and customization with open-world play - what's not to like?

Having tore it up for ourselves, Midnight Club LA has already proven a winner for car nuts, race fans and arcade gamers alike. It blends the best of free-roam, open-world play with accessible racing options, tons of customisation, a robust online mode and speed, speed, speed. Utilising their proprietary Rage game engine (the same used for GTA IV), Rockstar San Diego have done an incredible job mapping greater LA, and the ability to partake in races at pretty much any given point makes the game feel utterly inviting. Moreover, it's not nearly as hardcore as has been in previous iterations; players garner points simply by competing - unlocking races without having to come first every time. Add to this the typical slick presentation and DUB sponsorship and you have the best Midnight Club game yet.

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Fallout 3
Release Date: October 28
Available On: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

After procuring the Fallout license from Interplay before they went belly-up, Bethesda Softworks have been working on an all-new chapter in the series bringing the famed RPG out of the traditional isometric plane and into the modern world of open-world 3D gaming. The result is one of the most impressive looking game-worlds to-date with literally thousands of gameplay choices before you.

With news just in the alterations made to the game for release here in Aus would also be made for the worldwide release, gamers everywhere can relax and rest easy in the knowledge we're only missing out on official names for the various medications available within the Fallout 3 game-world. Beyond that, Bethesda's recent bombardment of gameplay videos showed the uber-dangerous world of post-apocalyptic Washington DC as you emerge from Vault 101 in search of your father. Battling mutants and raiders in either real-time or turn-based combat, with inventive weapons, upgrades, abilities and perks make this a game for RPG and action junkies alike to look out for this October. And now there's no need to feel like you're missing out, because the rest of the world is missing the same thing, too!

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Dead Space
Release Date: October 30
Available On: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

In the engineering boots of the not-so-subtly named Isaac Clarke, your job is to investigate the USG Ishimura, an interplanetary mining ship that has lost all communication. Once onboard, however, Clarke discovers this is more than a simple short circuit as he faces off against an angry alien species brought onboard from mined rock. No weapons and scared, he must use his wits to survive.

At this year's E3 we were massively surprised to see this game presented with so much polish and atmosphere. While the sci fi parallels and homage's are clearly present throughout, it's still looking like a massively scary romp with some innovative ideas. For one, there is no HUD, it's all imbued within the game-world and main character. Ammunition is represented on your actual weapon's readings, Isaac's suit will show you how much health you've lost, and all game interactions are performed at various computer terminals throughout the Ishimura. The introduction of Zero G and realistic physics creates an extra dimension to fight in (and be weary of), and adding to this a tool that literally tears limbs off and rips bodies apart, helps create one very interesting sci fi/survival horror experience.

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Gears of War 2
Release Date: November 8
Available On: Xbox 360

Sequel to one of 2006's hottest, most successful Xbox 360 games, Gears of War 2 ups the ante with more Locust Horde, bigger monsters, newer weapons and brutalities galore. You'll once again take control of Marcus Fenix leading Delta Squad against the ugly Locusts as the fight for humanity is kicked up more than a notch. Bam!

More action, more enemies, more weapons and in bigger portions, seems to be the design motto behind Gears of War 2. Fundamentally the game has remained marginally unchanged, with the same third-person cover and fire system running alongside Halo-inspired 30-second bottlenecks all more than in-check. Now, however, there are more enemies on-screen, bigger and badder monsters and a level of detail to die for. Visually this is still one of the most impressive series' to grace consoles and Gear of War 2 knocks it up even more, with destructible environments and bigger locations - More! More! More! Add to this a more balanced and robust online experience with new multiplayer modes and you can see where a lot of Microsoft software revenue will be coming from this year.

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Mirror's Edge
Release Date: November 11
Available On: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

Clearly inspired by free-running, Mirror's Edge is a game set in the future where a totalitarian government monitors all communications and outlaws anything that does not fit their regime. In response, free-running couriers are employed to carry messages to specific targets, high above the city with a penchant and ability to avoid the authorities without a need for mindless violence.

Mirror's Edge is a neat concept from the super creative guys at EA DICE. Set entirely in the first-person, you play the game as a young female courier named Faith, who carries messages and the like out of sight of the authorities, utilising acrobatic free-running skills; jumping from building to building, tight-walking across pipes and wires, shimmying down silos and crawl spaces. Throughout the game Faith avoids any need for fire-arms or use of deadly force, opting instead to take out her pursuers with physical take-downs using the environment and her acrobatic and athletic skills. Everything here looks very promising, but our only concern is being given all these abilities only to be made to follow set, scripted paths in order to progress the story. Whether or not this is case though, remains to be seen.

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Call of Duty: World At War
Release Date: November 12
Available On: PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS

With the incredible success of last year's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warefare, it was only a matter of time before we saw another series update. This time, however, Treyarch have taken control and we've been whisked back to WWII, only focusing on the Pacific theatre for Call of Duty: World At War. New additions to gameplay include the powerful Flamethrower and four-player online and local co-op.

We've had a pretty good run with Call of Duty: World At War, both at this year's E3, the Leipzig GC and Activision's annual Activate Asia event and we keep walking away impressed with what underdogs Treyarch have. Despite the decision to jump back in time, doing so with the Pacific campaign and the Russian revolt against invading Germany was a smart move and has given enough differential to see skirmishes in both devastated cities and thick, dense jungle. The inclusion of far more destructible environments alongside the flamethrower (flames will burn anything they're able to) and Molotov cocktails has also opened up gameplay, and with the announcement of a Beta, we're about to see what they [Treyarch] do with the multiplayer portion (utilising the successful foundation of CoD4).

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Guitar Hero World Tour
Release Date: November 12
Available On: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii

The official fourth installment in the Guitar Hero franchise also happens to be the biggest step. Introducing drums, a microphone and new guitars that make use of both bass-specific and guitar-specific gameplay elements, Guitar Hero World Tour already has plenty to offer. However, the inclusion of a music studio for your own recordings and releases and online battle of the bands, adds plenty more.

Having played through famous tracks like "Beat It", "Everlong" and "Are You Gonna Go My Way", we can already tell you this game is a winner. However, the fact not even all 85 original songs have been announced as of writing this means the guys at Neversoft and Activision have plenty more up their sleeve. With an incredibly solid and responsive wireless drum kit (with velocity sensitive pads), a solid-state mic and redesigned wireless guitars (with a touch panel for slide solos and bass slapping), Guitar Hero World Tour's full band package may be highest on your list of purchases. You can use previous guitars though, and Metallica fans can equally download the new Metallica album for GHIII, and it will seamlessly translate to the World Tour. This one's a no-brainer.

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Left 4 Dead
Release Date: November 20
Available On: PC, Xbox 360

Fans of Counter Strike, get ready to utilise your accrued knowledge and skills as renowned developer, Turtle Rock, has moved their efforts to Left 4 Dead, a co-op game based off the latest Valve Source Engine that uses many unique features to create one of the most grueling, horrific and intensely fun multiplayer experiences in a long time.

Up to four players fight for survival in this first-person co-op extravaganza that takes cooperative play to the next level. We got to check out the game at this year's E3, and walked away all warm, fuzzy and terrified. The dynamic nature of the game (based off an AI system called the "Director"), creates a unique situation each time you play. There are no random or pre-determined spawn spots for the enemies (known as "The Infected"), they appear dynamically based on the way you're playing; skill level, weapons, abilities, location etc, all go toward the game creating the most balanced resistance yet found in a videogame. There's also a four-player deathmatch mode, just to open up the multiplayer that little bit more, but really do we need more? First-person co-op Zombie killer. Nuff said.

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Battlefield Heroes
Release Date: TBA 2008
Available On: PC

Taking the formula of the incredibly successful Battlefield franchise and loosening it up some with a more accessible set of tools, a far more appeasing visual appearance (for newcomers) and tacking on the "Free To Play" model, should make the latest in EA's online multiplayer epic a much more digestible game for all. It's also being handled by original developer DICE, so you know it's in good hands.

A lot of Battlefield veterans are likely worried about EA and DICE's attempts at opening up the franchise to newcomers, especially given the challenge and depth seem to have been replaced with accessibility and easy-to-navigate-and-understand mechanics, but given the game has been branded with EA's new "Free To Play" model, it makes sense to make such moves. Revenue for the game will be made via advertising and micro-transactions (ads don't appear in-game, and buying crap for your avatar has no affect on how you'll play the game, you might just look cooler or lamer). No longer set in the first-person, Battlefield Heroes gives players a chance to advance to level 50 with a reasonably deep match-making system that will allow for matches to reflect player skill and level.

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Prince of Persia
Release Date: TBA 2008
Available On: PC, Xbox 360, PS3

A total reinvention for the series once again, Ubisoft Montreal have restarted the franchise anew, introducing a far more fantastical world, a more brazen Prince, an incredible new art-style and the concept of simply making each and every person who plays the feeling awesome as they do so, thanks to the introduction of AI helper, Elika.

We watched this game run through its paces at the year's E3 and were mighty impressed with the new direction. But beyond the visual overhaul, it's so much more about the little things that have gone into making this a game to watch. Multiple paths within a set game-world open up play so much more than previous iterations, while progression through acrobatic levels has been designed with even more fluidity in mind. A new combat system too, has helped reshape the game – creating cinematic encounters with worthy adversaries throughout. It has also helped that the game has been built off the incredible Assassin's Creed game-engine, allowing for a massively detailed and robust world to explore and expel the forces of evil from for good.

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LittleBigPlanet
Release Date: TBA 2008
Available On: PS3

Realising there's a massive market for user-created content thanks to the likes of YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and the countless PC mod communities that have existed since programming began, Sony Computer Entertainment greenlighted a project called LittleBigPlanet. In this unique title you're encouraged to use various tools to create your own levels and share them with the community.

Having played this a few months ago, we can say without a doubt this is definitely a game with potential. The real rub here though is keeping yourself interested enough to want to make gameplay levels. LittleBigPlanet offers various pre-built levels for you to go through, each showcasing the tools at your disposal, and the main character, Sack Boy (who we're am positive will become Sony's new mascot), is definitely endearing enough to keep players playing, but whether or not the community will blow up in the way Sony are likely hoping it will, remains to be seen. It's a lot of fun, but also a bit tedious. That said, it's very, very easy to use showcasing the foresight of accessibility Media Molecule have had during development of the game.

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World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Release Date: TBA 2008
Available On: PC

World of WarCraft owns a big piece of the gaming pie. Massive, actually. There are more than 10,900,000 users currently subscribed to the game - and here's the rub: it's never-ending. So naturally you reward such ongoing loyalty with an expansion or two, and in the case of Q4 2008, that would be World of WarCraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

Several new features have been added to this latest World of WarCraft expansion, most notably the ability to level up to 80. There's also the new Death Knight character, the first of a series of planned "Hero Classes" to be introduced to the game for the foreseeable future (you'll need a pre-existing level 55 character though, to trade for a Death Knight). A new continent, Northrend, has also been introduced giving players a whole new area to explore (all ripped right from WarCraft III and the Frozen Throne expansion series). Beyond all that, there's also a new profession called Inscription (permanently enhance spells and weapons), new instances, siege weapons (for PvP) - heaps, heaps more. It might be an expansion, but we're confident this will be a clear winner on the PC this year.

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So there are 20 (of more) games releasing between September 11 and the end of the year we think are worth any form of investment. There is no bias here; all games have simply been added in order of release date.

What we're alarmed about is the overall quality of them and the short amount of time between now and the end of the year. Is it really fair all publishers wait until this 'crucial' sales period to release their top games? If the average person even likes three, four or five of these games, that means between now and the end of the year (the most expensive time of the year, no less) they're likely to spend upwards of $300 or $400 on games (not including console purchases or PC upgrades as the situation may require, or anyone interested in all 20!). Yet, for the most part a better time of year (at least from a game-playing perspective) would be winter, and as this year will attest, we've barely seen anything remotely close to the quality of what we've listed here released at any point before now.

It's easy enough to understand that people generally purchase more during the Q4 holiday period, but given the power of this industry, and the equal power and allure of great games, it's not an unreasonable suggestion (or request) publishers start to spread their releases a little more evenly throughout the year. Especially given that most of the titles we've outlined here will likely be acquired by the mature gamer market.

We're not asking for reform, but we are asking for a break for gamers who have to shell out too many clams all at once to play any one of the great games our industry is consistently beginning to produce. Be sure to voice your opinions/concerns/or disagreement at what we've posted here, but also let us know what you're most looking forward to out of this list, because despite its overwhelming nature, it's still awesome to see such quality.

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