Heralding what is surely the official start of the festive season, ELSPA (Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association) has announced today the main contenders for the much coveted "Official Computer and Video Games Christmas Number One." Once again, the odds for this year's dead certs and complete outsiders have been compiled in collaboration with Ladbrokes, the UK's favourite bookmaker. Whilst any contest for such a prestigious title will be always be contended with passion, fervour and undoubted good spirit, 2004 is expected to be fiercer than ever before as the games industry gears up and braces itself to make record-breaking sales this festive season.
This year's runners include well-known sequels to evergreen and ever-growing blockbuster franchises such as EA's Need for Speed and GoldenEye and Sony's The Getaway: Black Monday as well as several exciting new titles such as Activision's Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Also listed is GTA: San Andreas from UK developer Rockstar North, which smashed UK records as the fastest selling game of all time. The 2004 Christmas line-up is one that caters for all tastes, genders and age groups with Sony's Singstar: Party and EA's The Urbz likely to appeal to a wide target in the quest for truly mass-market offerings.
The year's hopefuls, compiled by Ladbrokes in association with ELSPA contains, among others, the following titles:
4/1 (joint favourite) - Call of Duty: Finest Hour
4/1 (joint favourite) - GoldenEye: Rogue Agent
7/1 - GTA: San Andreas
7/1 - Need For Speed: Underground 2
8/1 - Halo 2
10/1 - FIFA 2005
10/1 - Burnout 3: Takedown
10/1 - The Getaway: Black Monday
12/1 - Tony Hawk: Underground 2
16/1 - Half Life 2
20/1 - Pro Evolution Soccer 4
20/1 - WWE: Smackdown vs Raw
25/1 - SingStar: Party
25/1 - Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within
33/1 - Star Wars: Battlefront
33/1 - Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
33/1 - The Urbz
33/1 - Mortal Kombat: Deception
33/1 - Fight Club
50/1 - Miami Vice
50/1 - Football Manager 2005
50/1 - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
50/1 - Ratchet and Clank 3
"This year promises to be incredibly exciting with many titles in real contention for the No.1 slot," commented Roger Bennett, director general of ELSPA. "But it also looks certain that record books will need to be re-written once again as all the expectations are that the industry will enjoy a truly bumper festive season. Projected revenues for the period firmly establish video games above both music and film, putting games and consoles at the top of Christmas wish lists up and down the country. The UK industry should be especially proud of its achievements as homegrown British-developed software will account for much of this season's revenues."
David McMorrow, Ladbrokes Marketing Manager said: " We are absolutely thrilled to be associated once again with ELSPA and the official computer and video game number one. Last year's winner took some people by surprise and it was not even considered a dead cert or even a favorite early on. This year, with such a hotly contested leader board already, and the potential for outsiders to break ahead of the pack, it really is all to play for. Industry pundits may wish to add a crystal ball to their wish lists!"
