As the wisely regular reader of Radar you no doubt are, you’ll be aware that at this time of year we traditionally start putting together our pre-emptive list of Christmas joy-discs; a jolly festive round-up of the almighty release schedule clusterf*ck you’ll be hacking your way through with a tinsel-wrapped machete come November and December. This year however, it’s different.

A certain little shooter release in November has put the fear of CoD into a large portion of the industry so, barring a couple of brave examples, late 2009 is a sparse period indeed. As the months have gone on, more and more ’09 games have been delayed into early 2010 in an effort to avoid the snipes and AC-130s of outrageous financial misfortune. And the best bit? By barrelling blindly into the air-raid shelter, they’ve found themselves packed like sardines and gasping for air. Good work, games industry! Spring is the new Christmas, and you’re going to need our help to get through it. So here is that help.

1. BioShock 2 - Multi

Expected release: February

Should you care?

Opinion is split amongst BioShock fans, and it depends which side of the argument you come down on. Some of us love Rapture so much that we’d slice off our arms and play with our feet for another run through the darkly beautiful dystopia and a new side-story to explore. Some of us love Rapture so much that we’ve cried “Rape!” ever since the sequel was announced, and loath the idea of a different team messing with 2K Boston’s masterpiece. Objectively, BioShock 2 will be a good game. Subjectively, it comes down to how passionate you are about the original.

Delayed?

Yep, BioShock 2 was originally slated for November ’09. Officially, vague quality reassurances are the reason. Unofficially, this is a big, complex-to-manage, four-team project and also an FPS.

2. Splinter Cell:
Conviction - Xbox 360

Expected release: February

Should you care?

Most definitely. After many year’s of going the way of old bread, Ubisoft’s once-killer stealth series finally looks to be getting its renaissance. Faster, slicker and more brutal, and with far more options for improvisational evasion and combat, Conviction looks to be Splinter Cell’s Resident Evil 4. It’s been a long wait, but we’re really looking forward to getting to know old Sam anew.

Delayed?

Hell yes. Conviction was originally slated for 2007 before, just like Resident Evil 4, a total production reboot knocked it back to Quarter 3 of 2009. Another delay for extra perfectionising (and possible avoidance of rival military killers), and we’re now looking at next year.

3. Red Steel 2 - Wii

Expected release: February

Should you care?

As mortifyingly bad as the first game was, we really do think so. The first Red Steel had killer app potential, but was prematurely forced out of the womb to catch the early Wii buzz. Deftly side-stepping the twitching, malformed foetus of the first game in favour of a polished, steampunk-wild-west-with-ninjas reboot, RS2 looks like everything we originally hoped for and more, thanks in no small part to the contemporary availability of the Wii’s MotionPlus hardware upgrade.

Delayed?

It’s a Ubisoft game without the word “Creed” in the title, so yes. We were supposed to get this in November, but once again, the need for extra polish has pushed it back. A stark and welcome contrast with the first game’s release, and possibly even wiser given that the usually shooter-light Wii is now getting a port of CoD 4 at the same time Modern Warfare 2 hits.

4. Heavy Rain - PS3

Expected: March

Should you care?

Yes you should, but again, opinions are split. Proffering a staggering, previously unseen level of humanity and emotion in its characters and promising a genuinely malleable narrative in which main characters can quite easily die without ending the story, Heavy Rain could be a turning point for video game story-telling. But at the same time, current experience hints that its core gameplay could be little more than an excessively QTE-heavy point-and-click with pretensions. Whether that turns out to be true or not though, for narrative aspirations alone, Heavy Rain deserves your attention like few games in recent years.

Delayed?

Yes, and they’re being admirably honest about it. Echoing what has been our sentiment for years, Exec Producer Guillaume de Fondaumiere recently admitted that Christmas is “a very crowded place to be, and certain games need more space to live their life”. We agree wholeheartedly, but it’s a quite ironic statement given the current situation.