animathias
05-21-2008, 02:11 PM
May 21st, 2008 · 10 Comments (http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/05/2007-is-the-new-1998.html#comments)
by Animathias (http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/author/animathias/)
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/bestyear.jpg
The year of 1998 is one that many gamers remember fondly. Whether you owned a Nintendo 64, Playstation, or PC, you had plenty of top-tier options from January through December. It was a pinnacle year of gaming that remained unchallenged for nearly a decade.
That changed when 2007 was over and done with. While the first half of the year wasn’t very notable, a few gems appeared in the earlier months with God of War II, G.R.A.W. 2, and The Burning Crusade. Amazingly, those gems are completely overshadowed from August 21st on, when, Bioshock, the first of many Triple-A titles was released.
Follow the jump to see my comparisons between 1998 and 2007, plus what I think 2008 has in store for us when we look back on it years from now. It’s a hell of a time to be a gamer.
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ocarina.jpgIn 1998, we were barraged with a number of triple-A titles through the entire year. Titles we still reference today were released with Resident Evil 2, StarCraft, Pokemon, Half-Life, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Baldur’s Gate. It wasn’t until a decade later that gamers’ wallets were so stretched thin when Christmas came. The holiday season of 2007 brought The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, and a number of other top notch titles. Of course, 2007 also brought us the gems known as Hour of Victory, Vampire Rain, and Two Worlds. We can’t all be winners.
The key difference between the years would of course be the number of top games released. Over the last decade, more and more titles have been released on average, and for a long time most of those titles turned out to be crap. Although there’s a number of great titles to be found in the last 10 years, a majority of them turned out to be less than stellar. I don’t know if the stars aligned or game developers got a hold of some sort of alien technology, but the last quarter of 2007 had so many quality titles that even games like Assassin’s Creed that would normally have been praised by the media were pushed under the rug to shine the spotlight on better titles.
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/force2.jpg2008 is starting to look like it’s going to be just as good, and it’s off to quite a start. Even though the top titles so far were pushed back from Holiday ‘07 (imagine what it would’ve been like if they weren’t delayed,) GTA IV, Smash Bros Brawl, and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 are top-tier releases that seem to be just paving the way for the year to come. We still don’t know everything that we’ll be seeing this holiday, either, since Nintendo has been extremely quiet with E3 right around the corner.
The games that we do know about; The Force Unleashed, Fable 2, Resistance 2, and Halo Wars would be enough for most years as far as top titles go, but I have a feeling that today’s game developers aren’t going to sit on their laurels. While the “next gen” started years ago with the Xbox 360, I think we’re just now starting to see the full effects of the generation change. Developers are getting comfortable with the systems they’re writing for, and the quality of games is really starting to show itself. What would once be considered a blockbuster game is seen as lackluster because of the number of quality titles released alongside it.
I don’t see 2008 or even 2009 slowing down in term of the number of quality titles that will be released. Microsoft and Sony are throwing the best of the best they have at each other. Nintendo is selling their system like hotcakes, and third-party developers are riding the train and making the most out of it.
After a decade, it’s the best time to be a gamer.
by Animathias (http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/author/animathias/)
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/bestyear.jpg
The year of 1998 is one that many gamers remember fondly. Whether you owned a Nintendo 64, Playstation, or PC, you had plenty of top-tier options from January through December. It was a pinnacle year of gaming that remained unchallenged for nearly a decade.
That changed when 2007 was over and done with. While the first half of the year wasn’t very notable, a few gems appeared in the earlier months with God of War II, G.R.A.W. 2, and The Burning Crusade. Amazingly, those gems are completely overshadowed from August 21st on, when, Bioshock, the first of many Triple-A titles was released.
Follow the jump to see my comparisons between 1998 and 2007, plus what I think 2008 has in store for us when we look back on it years from now. It’s a hell of a time to be a gamer.
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ocarina.jpgIn 1998, we were barraged with a number of triple-A titles through the entire year. Titles we still reference today were released with Resident Evil 2, StarCraft, Pokemon, Half-Life, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Baldur’s Gate. It wasn’t until a decade later that gamers’ wallets were so stretched thin when Christmas came. The holiday season of 2007 brought The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4, Rock Band, and a number of other top notch titles. Of course, 2007 also brought us the gems known as Hour of Victory, Vampire Rain, and Two Worlds. We can’t all be winners.
The key difference between the years would of course be the number of top games released. Over the last decade, more and more titles have been released on average, and for a long time most of those titles turned out to be crap. Although there’s a number of great titles to be found in the last 10 years, a majority of them turned out to be less than stellar. I don’t know if the stars aligned or game developers got a hold of some sort of alien technology, but the last quarter of 2007 had so many quality titles that even games like Assassin’s Creed that would normally have been praised by the media were pushed under the rug to shine the spotlight on better titles.
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/force2.jpg2008 is starting to look like it’s going to be just as good, and it’s off to quite a start. Even though the top titles so far were pushed back from Holiday ‘07 (imagine what it would’ve been like if they weren’t delayed,) GTA IV, Smash Bros Brawl, and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4 are top-tier releases that seem to be just paving the way for the year to come. We still don’t know everything that we’ll be seeing this holiday, either, since Nintendo has been extremely quiet with E3 right around the corner.
The games that we do know about; The Force Unleashed, Fable 2, Resistance 2, and Halo Wars would be enough for most years as far as top titles go, but I have a feeling that today’s game developers aren’t going to sit on their laurels. While the “next gen” started years ago with the Xbox 360, I think we’re just now starting to see the full effects of the generation change. Developers are getting comfortable with the systems they’re writing for, and the quality of games is really starting to show itself. What would once be considered a blockbuster game is seen as lackluster because of the number of quality titles released alongside it.
I don’t see 2008 or even 2009 slowing down in term of the number of quality titles that will be released. Microsoft and Sony are throwing the best of the best they have at each other. Nintendo is selling their system like hotcakes, and third-party developers are riding the train and making the most out of it.
After a decade, it’s the best time to be a gamer.