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| You haven't seen the last of me gamers!!! I'd have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you pesky kids! |
Ladies and Gentlemen...I have returned. It's been about a good solid two weeks since I've posted on my blog. I know you all have been begging for my eventual return to the keyboard, at least, the four or five of you who read this, but with the holidays behind use and a new year upon us it's time to have a little chat about my favorite topic...gaming. So let us begin.
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| Heavy Rain...one of the best titles of 2010 |
2010 brought some nice thrills in the gaming world. Titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Halo: Reach injected a nice dose of blockbuster action, while games like Red Dead Redemption and God of War 3 thrilled us with the dangerously beautiful landscapes of the Wild West and Mount Olympus. Starcraft II proved a 10-year wait to one of the most acclaimed Strategy games of all time is worth the wait. Heavy Rain, the most unexpectedly entertaining and surprising game of the year in my eyes, proved to us that a riveting storyline can lasso in a new direction in story-driven games. Of course there were many other titles that enchanted gamers in 2010, but there were plenty of disappointments as well. Bioshock 2 failed to capture lightning in a bottle twice in traversing and exploring the destroyed underwater utopia of Rapture, while Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II created a combat mechanic that was as entertaining as watching the Tatooine Canteen band. Nevertheless, I'm grateful these games were released. Many hard working individuals worked their butts of to make these games, both the good and the bad, and we're all the wiser because of it. Now, it's time to look ahead at the upcoming titles of 2011, but there is something that seems awry in the realm of gaming.
IGN released a very helpful release date calendar of the big games of 2011. If you noticed, I did you the honor of attaching the calendar above this text. Take a minute to look through it, and see if you can spot the same problem I do. Can you see it? Well, if we're not on the same page, then I'll just tell you what I see. Of the 39 games on the calendar so far, at least 30 of them are either sequels, or games derived of already established Intellectual properties. Of course this list isn't final, and many other games are expected to release in 2011 but have yet to receive a solid release date. Despite that, I'm starting to see a disturbing trend in gaming that Hollywood has already adopted...sequel-itis. The bigger titles of the new year are established games such as Gears of War, Uncharted, Dead Space, and Mass Effect. All great games mind you, many of which I can't wait to get my hands on, but I really question if there is still a creative spark being lighted under developer's asses. What happened to the influx of originality found in the 8-bit/16-bit era, or even the PS1 generation? We were bombarded with original Intellectual Properties harder than a Vietnam napalm strike with franchises like Chrono Trigger, Contra, Secret of Mana, Twisted Metal, and even the very underrated Legacy of Kain series. I know sequels are sometimes a necessary evil in today's world, but I get more excited when a new and exciting IP comes and injects a dose of brain-heroin through my fingertips.
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| Alright a skateboard in my room!!! Now what do I do? |
Regardless of my ambiguous relationship with sequels, I do have to be fair in this argument. As I said before, I too am excited for many of these games, especially the likes of Bathman: Arkham City (puh-lease) Gears of War 3, and Uncharted 3, but we need to point out the source of the problem, and it begins with the publishers. The Call of Duty franchise, which has become the 900-pound Roseanne clone of our generation, is now on a yearly release cycle from Activision. The company's goal is to release a new Call of Duty game every year, hoping to see success each time it happens. However if Activision wants a clue as to why this is a bad decision, it should look no further than it's mishandling of both the Tony Hawk Skateboarding and Guitar Hero series. Both franchises have hit a new low in gaming, basically becoming re-hashes of the same game mechanics from previous entries, sprinkled in with new accessories for gamers to pony up and pay for (Just watch someone attempt to do a simple ollie in Tony Hawk Ride). Both games have hit sales lows, and God only knows where the leftover guitar, drum, and skateboard plastic peripherals ended up. My guess is they'll end up on that AMC show "Hoarders" -- I thought my garage was bad.
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| Borderlands, one of the best games no one played |
Seriously though, publishers are too afraid to take risks. Some of the more recent original IP games like Borderlands, Brutal Legend, and Epic Mickey are fantastic, visceral games that don't garner the sales they truly deserve. Established franchises are fun and worth the money, but we as gamers are ultimately the ones responsible for unloading our bank accounts and determining whether a certain game succeeds. We should broaden our horizons and give the smaller guys a chance. Just browse through your 360, PS3, WiiWare online library and you'll find some of the most creative and addicting games made by indie developers. Games like Super Meat Boy, Braid, Limbo, The Misadventures of Mr. PB Winterbottom, heck, even "I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!" are all designed by development teams of less than 20 people, and are being met with more overnight success than Justin Bieber's hair cut.
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| PB Winterbottom, one of the most creative games I've played |
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