It’s that time of the year again where we are due to assess the cream of the crop from this years biggest Xbox 360 releases. Today I will be providing a run down on the games, the people, the stories and the disappointments that followed.
Of course not many people would argue that 2011 has been one of the biggest years in gaming, the 3DS was released, new consoles were predicted and massive games were played my millions around the world.
There have been some amazing game designs; the quirky Portal 2, the solid FIFA 12, the enormous Skyrim, the deep Batman: Arkham City, the dastardly Dark Souls, and the finale of a global king came in the form of Gears of War 3. Each is brilliant in it’s own way and made for some fantastic pieces of entertainment.
The biggest point of debate this year that is really highlighted by my list is the fact that each and every one of those games is a sequel in some respect. Here in lies the industries biggest monster; originality.
Obviously we are coming to the end of the current console generation but that should mean we need sequel and remakes to keep us happy. Originality has always been the key to cracking a market open and it’s up to the developers to take that risk. Maybe it’s the recession that they are worried about or that the line between a game being a hit or a miss becoming too defined. Over the last few years it has become tough to find games that performed at an average level – games either perform really well or slump.
Developers have said that they are getting as far as possible with current specifications and have been tricking the systems into doing what they want it to. Cliffy B and the like are now looking towards the next generation with their new IP’s and looking at what they want the new hardware to do.
2011 is certainly the peek of this generation as a time for the best talents to produce their greatest work. It’s distinctive in the way things have been produced this year and the plethora of HD remakes we have seen.
I would not say that 2012 is looking like a bad year but it is a general form that console cycles suffer towards then end of their lives.
The biggest things to change in the industry this year has to be the increase in PC and online gaming. The release of OnLive has tested the cloud gaming market and the Steam users list has also increased dramatically over the last 12 months. It’s a smart innovation and a great direct to go for all those involved as this will give people the chance to play almost anywhere.
Obviously mobile gaming has been one of the shiners this year – I mean who’d have thought that GTA III would ever be played on your phone on the go. People have always played games by the millions and if you think now 93% of all iPhone users play games too that has probably increased by a substantial percentage too.
It’s not every year that a new console arrives and this year we have been treated to two – albeit the Vita will arrive any day now but has been out in Japan since February. If you’ve been following the gaming websites this year you will have heard the uproar about handheld gaming ever since the 3DS hit in July. The sales figures are still well shy of 10 million units worldwide and when you compare this to the 150 million iPhones in circulation I can see why people think this form of gaming is dying out.
Obviously mobile gaming is technically behind the handhelds but this market is indisputably about pick up and play games and not necessarily your 10 hour stints. It’s suffice to say though that mobile gaming has come a long way and has had some great additions over the last 12 months including of course GTA III and the brilliant Infinity Blade. Its interest to think that you can have a fully functioning GBA on your Android phone which could very easily play N64 games too.
I am personally starting to believe that the dedicated handheld systems are behind us and mobile gaming is where to look for the future. The iPhone may be winning at the moment but it hasn’t quite won the war.
Of the back of the poor 3DS sales we can see that Nintendo have had a bad year. Their truly killer games were slow to emerge and I don’t even think the Christmas period will have saved their blushes. They have given their console a massive price cut which is also never a good sign when you look at historical console releases. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
The standard Microsoft vs. Sony vs. Nintendo debate has been as hot and messy this year as all those previous but we can strip away Nintendo due to the above. I’d have to say that Microsoft has won this year with their exclusive IP’s and their higher market share. Kinect has gone down a storm too and has been on most people’s Christmas lists while Sony has failed to bring anything new to the table. Of course this could all change next year as the biggest console announcements arrive in the form of the Playstation 4 and the Xbox 720 (if that is their real names).
The current generation has settled into its groove now and I think it’ll be a hard fought war over the closing periods of the specified lifecycles. The Xbox sales are still going well and had it’s strongest week ever at the end of November whereas the price cut on the Playstation
Motion sensitive gaming is still going ahead and both the Kinect and Move are expected to play at part in the new consoles from both the big companies. Neither have produced anything of shear worldwide quality but that isn’t to say they never will.
Both have invested plenty of money into exclusive downloadable content and it’s difficult to truly tell who has the best console up their sleeves. It’s been a hard year for everyone and the gaming community has suffered too. You can almost bet your bottom dollar on this being the reason why sales have suffered and also why companies have been less invested in taking on new IP’s.
Here's to a great 2012! Merry Christmas all and enjoy the New Year.
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