Flood of eagerly-awaited games due

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Thankfully, the frustrating drought of good games releases is about to come to an end.

Games sales in the US were down across the board for the month of August, reflecting as much the lack of blockbuster releases as the recession although the latter has caused an increase in second-hand games sales or budget-priced older titles rather than more expensive new releases.

Sales last month dropped about 15% on the month before but in fact the US retail sales of video games have been dropping for six months in a row now. All the more work cut out for Christmas games sales.

Xbox 360 has a big week with the release of

Halo: ODST

which early critics praise as a satisfying six-hour campaign. The Orbital Drop Shock Troopers drop into the ruined city of New Mombasa, looking for clues behind the Covenant's catastrophic attack on the city.

Let's face it, anything with Halo in the title will do well, especially to move more 360s off the shelves.

Other old favourites will be returning in the next few months.

PS3 is slimmer and cheaper so Sony will be hoping for a strong Christmas.

Next month, Sony's PS3 has sequels to its old PS2 legendary duo Ratchet & Clank called

A Crack in Time

and a sequel to the Naughty Dog developed early PS3 title

Uncharted 2

(

Among Thieves

). The first one was an intriguing Indiana Jones-type action adventure.

I've had a sneak preview of some of EA's strong pre-Christmas titles and they feature some familiar names. In its Need for Speed franchise, there are two titles -

Need for Speed: Shift

, and

Need for Speed: Nitro

for Nintendo's Wii and DS platforms.

November sees the much-anticipated Baldur's Gate style Bioware role player,

Dragon Age: Origins

. Check out this trailer.

With party (music) games all the rage (

The Beatles: Rock Band

and

Guitar Hero 5

satisfying the latest cravings of fans), EA has an intriguing October release that's a mix of music and action.

Brutal Legend

features the voice of actor Jack Black. You're a heavy metal roadie that battles barbaric overlords.

I'm especially looking forward to an open-world action/adventure out in December called the

Saboteur

, and on PC, 360 and PS3. Set in Nazi-occupied France, you're after revenge with the help of the French Resistance and British intelligence.

Just out on PSP, is a new MotorStorm, called

Arctic Edge

which as the title suggests involves offroad racing in freezing temperatures which allows for more boosting over frigid terrain.

Sadly, a number of expected releases are still slipping further back with launch dates being pushed out.

Bioshock 2

, for example, was expected this year but will now be out next February. The reasons are the common ones provided - to "provide additional development time for the title" and "deliver what its fans expect and deserve."

Long gone are rushed-to-release games, perhaps now with more focus on solid titles and solid sales.

Sony's long-awaited

Gran Turismo 5

is sadly once again, still not a Christmas stocking treat - February 12 next year is the current release date.

The Mad Gamer