Video game releases tend to reflect the seasons of the year: during those hot summer months, very few developers attempt to lure you into your living room for a gaming session.
Then, as soon as the nights draw in and you can no longer stand facing the drizzle and cold to go anywhere for a drink, a feast of games fill the shelves, forming something of a bottleneck up until Christmas. New Year arrives, your wallet is empty, but you've finally got a catalogue of games to work through until spring rolls round again.
With November looming large, 2016 is set to reach the business end of the gaming calendar. Grab a pen, clear your diary and charge up that controller: these are the best games set to arrive in the next few weeks. There's something for everyone.
4 November
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
In short: Huge multiplayer binges, insanely quick gameplay and a sci-fi single player from the biggest shooter franchise going.
Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Football Manager 17
In short: The most granular, exacting football management experience you've ever encountered.
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
8 November
Robinson: The Journey
In short: The best reason to own a PlayStation VR to date. Explore a barren world, filled with dinosaurs.
Platforms: PlayStation VR
11 November
Dishonored 2
In short: A super slick stealth action game, dripping in steam punk visuals and supernatural special abilities
Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC
Nintendo Mini NES
In short: 30 of your favourite old school NES games, resurrected on a tiny NES system that plugs straight into your TV.
Platform: It is a platform - all you need is a TV
15 November
Watch Dogs 2
In short: Hack everything. When that doesn't work, sneak in and take the bad guys down with your home-made weapons.
Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC
29 November
Final Fantasy 15
In short: The long, long overdue update for that video game you spent a lot of your childhood obsessing over. Massive bosses, big hair, bigger weapons. It's bonkers.
Platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4
6 December
Dead Rising 4
In short: While scary, zombies can also be really good fun. Particularly if you're ploughing through swarms of them on a flame throwing lawnmower you made in a shopping mall. Dead Rising rises again, to let you kill the undead for fun. Again.
Platforms: Xbox One, PC
9 December
The Last Guardian
In short: It's that classic story of boy meets giant griffin, feeds it food and wanders around a ruined world solving puzzles and avoiding equally mysterious creatures. Beautiful, if weird.
Platforms: PlayStation 4
Super Mario Run
In short: There's still no exact release date for this, but some time before Christmas you're destined to lose most of your iPhone battery making Mario jump over bad guys, collect coins and run through endless maps in the fastest time possible. Don't pretend you can't wait.
Platforms: iOS (Android to come in 2017)
