I know that I'm getting old because I look at the calendar and wonder where the Hell the year went. My wife is anxiously awaiting the famous Staples commercial which heralds the kids going back to school. And I stare at my travel and speaking schedule trying to see the silver lining – that maybe the points and miles will rationalize. But from a game consumer's perspective, Labor Day marks the beginning of a deluge of goodness; about four months chock full of highly anticipated games.

Over the past four cycles I do believe that we've gotten better at not jamming the calendar with Q4 releases. We've made progress in staggering the schedule for a variety of reasons: day and date movie/DVD streets, shelf space availability, impact on financials, etc. But the very best reason for staggered releases is that we're starting to care more. It's less about the packaged good and more about the medium. Games are released when they're done (not always, but more often). Developers aren't required to work the grueling hours and pace that once was the case. And games themselves have become such an enormous investment that we simply cannot afford to rush an unfinished product out the door. We care more.

I'd argue that, as an industry, we have a higher percentage of people who love their jobs than most and for me that's key. Why do something that you aren't passionate about? Why spend a third – or more – of your day doing something that you don't feel productive about? For us the answer is easy: we grew up as gamers or otherwise surrounded by them. They affected us. And now we have the opportunity and privilege to do the same for others, except now it's not just children. We're impacting society. What we do effects change, influences minds and changes the course of millions of people's respective lives. Jason Della Rocca, my counterpart at IGDA, famously said that games clearly do affect people and answering our critics otherwise is both false and undermines the art form.

So while you and I look at the Q3 and Q4 crush, let's keep in mind that it's our honor to do so and it's a decision we make each and every day. We choose to be a part of this amazing and spectacular evolution of a medium. Plus, wear your consumer hat for a minute and realize how cool the upcoming games will be to play. I'm getting 'fanboyishly' excited thinking about it. Now get back to work so we can play 'em!

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Hal Halpin is the president of the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA).