"Spring is the new fall."

- Cliff Bleszinski speaking at e3 2010.

Traditionally, the biggest game releases in North America were scheduled between August and January. The logic behind this practice centered around the Christmas buying season. Parents were looking for presents to buy their kids, and in turn, the kids were looking for something to play during their winter school break. On the flip side, less popular games -- the ones with smaller production budgets and fewer fans -- typically came out during the spring and summer months so that they wouldn't have to compete with big-name titles for sales. 

It appears that tradition may be coming to an end. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 released last holiday season and according to Activision, sold more than 4 million copies in the U.S. and U.K. within the first 24 hours. Competing game developers and publishers expected such massive sales numbers, and pushed back their respective titles to spring or summer releases. 

The result of these delayed releases is a 2010 brimming with strong titles throughout the first half of the year. With so many quality games coming out before July, some gaming sites and blogs have even started to make their picks for "Game of the First-Half-of-2010" awards. 

One might think the phenomenon had subsided by now. However, like a car that slams on its brakes on a crowded highway, the effects continue to spread. While the holiday lineup for 2010 is far from meager in its offerings, it certainly seems less influential when you examine the games coming out in the months immediately after. Brink, Gears of War 3, Bulletstorm, Portal 2, and Dead Space 2 demand the time and money of any self-respecting gamer, and they're all coming out after Christmas. 

Is this a temporary trend brought on by Call of Duty, or is there a larger consumer shift in the making? The idea of the holiday season being the best time to release games is arguably an archaic concept; one that goes back to the days when gamers were almost exclusively under the age of 18 and needed their parents' money to get games. 

According to the Entertainment Software Association, the average gamer is 35 years old. Most game consumers have their own income and can purchase games whenever they want. Likewise, many of these older gamers will tell you that they prefer quality games to be released throughout the year, rather than have them pile up in December. In the case of school-aged gamers, the same logic that dictates they need something to play during the winter break also applies to their summer break. So while the holiday season will continue to see major game releases, there's also justification for releasing triple A games during the rest of the year too. 

One thing is certain, gamers will have more than their fair share of great games during the next year.