2011 - The Best Year In Video Games

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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Skyrim - Patch 1.3

Another Skyrim patch (namely 1.3) is now available for download from Xbox Live.

The patch, which is already available on Steam for the PC version, improves stability and fixes several problems with the Radiant story engine and fixes the issues raised in their previous patch.

The latter issues like Dragons flying backwards and resistances not working have now been resolved and therefore this should be downloaded immediately if you were foolish enough to download 1.2 (no offence)

The full specification outlined by Bethesda can be found below. Of course I’ll update this further should any other changes or points of interest occur.

•General stability improvements.

•Fixed Radiant Story incorrectly filling certain roles.

•Fixed magic resistances not calculating properly.

•Fixed issue with placing books on bookshelves inside player purchased homes.

•Fixed dragon animation issues with saving and loading.

•Fixed Y-look input to scale correctly with frame-rate.

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Industry Changes in 2011

A few years ago editorials and articles across the globe were outraged at the high price of gaming. People were furious that developers had increased store prices to cover their ever higher production cost and it was falling on the public to pick up the pieces. It’s strange then to think that it is now common place for free gaming in 2011.

On mobile devices, social networking sites and MMO’s the free game is extremely common and developers are looking at loyalty as a way of making money. They now expect a small percentage of players to pitch in some coins for in game items, collectables or personal customisation.

It’s surprising to think that Activision’s biggest roll-out this year was their new Elite offerings that gave people extra ways to enjoy Modern Warfare 3.

Obviously the other big player this year was the increased volume of games being supported with deep and steady downloadable content. This has become a more and more common sales tactic recently and provides us all with extra reasons to pick up and play last month’s big releases. Developers have pulled resources from their new-IP’s and given them the opportunity to add depth to their AAA titles.

On the other hand Steam has become even bigger too over the last 12 months. The online service proves that impulse purchasing is the norm when looking at the reduced pricing schemes. It once again shows that a fancy box does not necessarily sell a game and instead proves gaming is about the experience of the player.

Demos and Trials are common place too on both XBLA and the PSN; with each developer pushing for your attention. These come in all shapes and sizes and give the player enough time get them interested before performing the common curtain call.

Games have of course had a tough year in general but when you look at the quality released then you can see why this is still the most exciting sector of the entertainment industry. Lets hope 2012 continues to bring us blockbusters every month.

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Halo 4 - Character Changes

Finally some news on Halo 4 – even if it is just an interview I’m still excited.

Halo has of course been one of the standout successes on both of Microsoft’s home consoles and it look like the fourth outing is going to run the same path. 343 Industries recently confirmed that we won't be seeing the same old Master Chief in Halo 4 that we are used to.

In an interview the Halo franchise director, Frank O'Connor, confirmed that the Chief's armour will undergo some changes in the new game.

Not much else was expanded on this apart from saying that these changes are both for aesthetic purposes and other are for story related reasons.

According to O’Connor it’s not only John-117 that has undergone a change; Cortana has also evolved since the Halo 3 ending.

In the Halo Universe it has been said that the lifespan for a smart AI is 7 years before they enter a state of rampancy. She has been exposed to far more information than an average AI so her information intake will affect her more.

It is well known the Halo 4 will be the beginning of a new Halo trilogy that will attempt to bring back the same sense of discovery that made the original game so popular.

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Gamer being sent to War?

To demonstrate that a new audio system “takes you there” a New Zealand branch of a headset company are taking a 24-year-old Kiwi gamer into a real war zone: Iraq. Let’s face it – it’s not the perfect backdrop for an advertising campaign.

This is not about politics and no matter how you feel about the conflict there has obviously been a significant human cost. The Middle East is not a playground and I’m sure the families of the men and women serving in the area would agree that this is a very distasteful exercise.

Estimates have put the civilian cost at well over 100,000 and if you include deaths due to lawlessness and poor health care that number would only increase further.

The studio are quoted as saying that, "Gamers play in virtual war zones every day and night, and they want the immerse feeling of combat so we thought we'd take that experience one step further. The whole project has been an experience. Though there was a huge amount of planning it's fair to say the journey proved... interesting."

War is not a game. The Middle East conflict is not somewhere to go to advertise any product, service or experience. The reality is that this has been a devastating conflict that has affected millions worldwide and this stunt has simply tried to trivialise the entire situation.

Real war zones and virtual war zones are nothing alike. Real war is a deadly serious business, devastating local populations. Virtual war is make believe, it’s only a few steps away from playing laser quest or chasing your friends around with water pistols as a child.  For the people fighting in the armed forces this is reality, they know the job is dangerous and we should all show them the utmost respect.

IGN put this best by saying that “each piece of PR this gets – positive or negative – will only serve to make the whole stinking exercise worth it. It's why we haven't named the product involved.”

I’m doing the same thing as I also believe – “It's not appropriate to exploit real war to flog a line of video game headsets”.

I’m quite disgusted!

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Windows Store

Microsoft have started to aggressively market their new App Store challenger, the Windows Store; explaining that this will offer developers more customers, more money and more freedom.

The main corporate advantage is that developers will keep 70% of all the money made from their app sales as standard which is also set to increase to 80% when sales exceed 25,000. This means that alternative App Stores will have to decrease their sales share in order to continue competing in the market should the Windows Store take off.

"It's not a small opportunity, it's not even a medium one or a large one," said Antoine Leblond at the recent press conference. "In fact, it's the most significant developer opportunity ever."

He also explained that due to the popularity of Windows the market area is vast and the opportunity to profit from this new venture is massive for all those concerned. He shouted about Windows sales over the last 2 years and how they have exceeded the combined sales total of all iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac devices.

Initially the Windows Store will be available in over 100 languages, and support local currency payments in the top 40 regional world markets (by GDP).

Another advantage of the Windows Store is that it won’t restrict developers to certain business models and Leblond told the audience that eBay and PayPal are integrated in the support of the store.

News has also filtered down to confirm that there will be free trials available for the applications on sale too but no news yet on whether this is a necessity.

It’s interesting to hear that the Windows Store will be a lot more interactive then their competition as people can upload lists of their most useful applications and give detailed reviews on their purchases to let others know great or terrible they are.

The Windows 8 Store should be considered a glimpse of what the Xbox Live system could one day offer and sits easily on the recently released dashboard. The beta will be out late in February 2012 for everyone worldwide.

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3DS Ambassador Update - GBA Promotion Release

Nintendo have finally decided that tomorrow will be the day that their 3DS Ambassadors will be released their 10 Game Boy Advance games. In fact this is the first time that the full list has been publicly detailed.

This has come several months after releasing half of its Ambassador Program games to the public. I mean they did initially say that we would all get the game before the end of 2011 but boy did they cut that fine.

Currently the information publicly offered relates to Japan but we can imagine that this will be an exact swift for both America and European Ambassadors too.

Here is the full list of GBA games:

F-Zero: Maximum Velocity

Yoshi's Island: Super Mario Advance 3

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror

Mario Kart Super Circuit

Mario vs Donkey Kong

Metroid Fusion

Wario Land 4

WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgame

Again, this list and the release date currently apply only to Japan but this should be the same time globally maybe even the same day.

I’m quite looking forward to this new selection of game. What are you most looking forward to getting your hands? Have you played these before?

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Metal Gear Solid: Ultimate Edition

Zavvi are offering a Limited Edition Xbox 360 version of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. This used to be a PlayStation 3 exclusive and contains the same selection as their Ultimate Edition. This Xbox package is available for pre-order now and costs £69.99.

The Limited Edition is due to be a Zavvi exclusive across the UK and Europe with a mere 6000 copies on the PS3 and 4000 copies on the Xbox 360. In total only 8000 (PS3) and 5000 (360) units are being made worldwide.

Last month Zavvi announced it had altered the contents of the Metal Gear Solid HD Ultimate Edition set, which it original advertised in August. This was the PS3 only version that included a download code for Metal Gear Solid 1 and also five exclusive art cards.

You now get the following alongside a copy of the game:

• Metal Gear Solid steel book

•Exclusive Metal Gear Solid T-shirt

•Exclusive 250 page premium art book showcasing the artwork of Yoshi Shinkawa (character designer of the series)

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Xbox Dashboard Update

The new Xbox 360 dashboard has been released today but continued to be plagued by problems up until release.

Users have been flagging issues to Microsoft’s customer services all day which have ranged from video issues to bricked consoles. One of the most common issues is that some Xbox Live accounts are completely unable to connect to the service.

Microsoft’s Major Nelson has been tweeting all day with updates on the progress of this issue and has continually stated that they are ‘aware of the issues’.

If you are one of the unfortunate few experiencing problems then please keep an eye on the status page on the Xbox website for up to day information.

The dashboard itself looks lovely and is very user friendly. It might take some time to get used to it but it’ll be worth the effort. Also ‘Inside Xbox’ can now been found in the Video section.

Hopefully this should all be ironed out before the end of the day.

Good luck Microsoft!

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Microsoft vs Sony

Over the last few weeks various sites have given their opinion in the console war and which one has particularly won 2011. All arguments that I have read have actually come off the back of some very well thought out decision processes.

A few weeks back IGN, in particular Colin Moriarty, published an opinion piece suggesting that the PS3 will beat the Xbox before this generation is over. He gave a very deep opinion of the conjectures of lifetime sales, world averages and actually made a bit of headway with me. Obviously I disagree with his opinion but feel that his views do have a good set of reasons behind them.

He spoke a lot about numbers but for us 360 users it’s interesting to see that his argument that the 360’s current lead in sales over the PS3 is due to the earlier release. The point he didn’t mention was that the system was able to achieve more then the market share and that people brought it not just because it was the next generation, but because it was an amazing piece of kit. Obviously it was also the first HD console on the market which does help somewhat.

The early adopters like me have backed the 360 from the start and I’m pleased to see that Microsoft continues to improve the Xbox community and have even increased sales this year by 20% over the same period in 2010. In fact the Xbox 360 currently holds more than 40% of the whole market share which in itself is very impressive.

 What if the PS3 had the earlier release? Would their head start have fared better than Microsoft’s? The biggest feature of the PS3 was its ability to play Blu-ray movies and which only improve the viewing quality on HDTV’s. Unfortunately for Sony the HD market didn’t really kick off until 2007 and this was thanks to some aggressive pricing in the 2006 Christmas period. Had the PS3 launched in 2005 before the Xbox 360 then it would have suffered due to the investment that was involved for many non-HD gamers.

The other big factor that we need to consider is the exclusives for each console as the top 50 games on each platform are usually multi-platform IP’s anyway. In fact the PS3 has 16 exclusive titles on its top 50 list whereas the Xbox 360 only has 15. The amazing thing about this is that although the PS3 has more exclusive titles and a worldwide unit total of just over 57 million the Xbox 360 has sold over 82 million units of its exclusive titles.

Overall the PS3 has suffered from both poor early decision making and generally bad marketing but has fought extremely well against their odds. The Xbox 360 however seems to be stronger than ever and looks like it is the sure fire bet to win the battle of the HD generation.

[UPDATE] – Microsoft announced this week that they have sold 960 thousand Xbox 360 units. This actually makes it the most successful seven days in the history of the consoles lifecycle. In fact 800,000 of these units were sold in a single 24 hour period (presumably the US shopping day Black Friday)

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Skyrim Patch 1.2

As I’m sure most of you are aware the open world epic, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, has been released with its fair share of glitches that have been very publicly noted over the past few weeks. Bethesda have now confirmed that their update patch will be released this week and should rectify all the major issues players are experiencing.

The main feature of this patch will be to fix the game-breaking bug that has plagued many PS3 based games. The updates will also fix a number of other performance based issues including the Xbox 360 texture problems outlined in my previous post a few weeks ago.

The update is available for download on PlayStation 3 now, with a PC and Xbox 360 roll-out expected this week too… actually these may have been release today.

UPDATE 1.2 will fully include:

•Improved performance issues resulting from long term play (PS3)

•Fixed issue where textures would not properly upgrade when installed to drive (Xbox 360)

•Fixed crash on startup when audio is set to sample rate other than 44100Hz (PC)

•Fixed issue where projectiles did not properly fade away

•Fixed occasional issue where a guest would arrive to the player's wedding dead

•Dragon corpses now clean up properly

•Fixed rare issue where dragons would not attack

•Fixed rare NPC sleeping animation bug

•Fixed rare issue with dead corpses being cleared up prematurely

•Skeleton Key will now work properly if player has no lockpicks in their inventory

•Fixed rare issue with renaming enchanted weapons and armour

•Fixed rare issue with dragons not properly giving souls after death

•ESC button can now be used to exit menus (PC)

•Fixed occasional mouse sensitivity issues (PC)

•General functionality fixes related to remapping buttons and controls (PC)

Unfortunately those of you that saw my tweets yesterday will have heard that although this update rectifies most problems it has also imported a few of its own. The most notable of which are the fact that magic resistance, elemental resistance, and poison resistance simply don't work at all anymore and that Dragons can now fly backwards. For example your mage with 85% magic resist will no have 0% after the update is applied. The same goes for anyone playing as a Nord that is suppose to have 50% frost resist but now has 0%. Funnily your vampire that's supposed to be immune to poison can now also get poisoned. These are not game breaking in any way but have actually made me pass up the update myself as I’ve had no issues prior to this fix.

Apparently this issue also applied for NPC’s and creatures so you can now kill that Frost Atronach with Ice Spells.

The fact the Dragons Fly backwards makes me think of Deep Blue Sea and the ‘intelligent sharks’ that cause havoc for Samuel L Jackson and friends.

For those worriers, Bethesda is aware of the problem!

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Skyrim's 40/40

Just a quick update to tell you Bethesda's gigantic open world fantasy epic Skyrim is the first western game ever to receive a 40/40 review score in long-running Japanese video game magazine Famitsu.

Famitsu asks four separate journalists to review each video game, requesting that they each submit their own score out of 10. Skyrim, according to Andriasang, received four 10/10 scores, and has therefore hit the impressive 40/40.

Skyrim does not launch in Japan until 8^th December where it is sure to sell well following such high praise.

Famitsu was established in 1986 and enjoys a circulation of 500,000 each week.

Skyrim is the 17th video game ever to receive a perfect Famitsu score. It joins an illustrious list that includes The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid 4, Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII.

Well Done Bethesda!

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3DS Ambassador Update - GBA Promotion

I thought I’d provide a quick update for us 3DS Ambassadors. Firstly several websites have advertised a delay in the ten free GameBoy Advance games promised to the early 3DS adopters advising us that Nintendo have pushed these back until 2012.

In fact one of the websites quoting this change was the Spanish Nintendo site that confirmed the GBA game s would be available ‘from next year’.

The 3DS Ambassador scheme rewards early adopters who bought the 3DS before Nintendo's massive price-drop. So far Nintendo have already spoiled members with 10 free NES games - including Super Mario Bros. and the original Legend of Zelda.

They have also advertised a selection of10 free Game Boy Advance games, including Metroid Fusion, Super Mario Advance 3, Mario Kart Advance, Wario Ware and Mario vs. Donkey Kong, which were original promised to arrive before the end of the year.

Fortunately for all Ambassadors these websites have all been wrong and Nintendo have since confirmed that the GBA offering will still be released this side of the New Year.

Bloody Right Too!

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