Twenty-Ten

[finalark]

Link to original post: [drupal=2903]Twenty-Ten[/drupal]



I now take a deep breath as I recall the last ten years. In a few days, the 2000s will be over, and we must welcome the decade of the tens. It's been a ride of a bizarre and frankly, disappointing sort for gaming in the last ten years. But with the next decade on the horizon, I now take this time to look at what's happened in the past, and look ahead at to the future.

2000: Bleak beginnings for Sega, bright beginnings for Sony

The Sega Dreamcast was going strong in the US since it's release, but nothing could stop the coming of the PlayStation 2. The monolith of a machine loomed over Sega, with it's DVD support (which caused it to double as a cheap DVD player) and PS1 support it was hyped as hell and everyone and their dog wanted it. So much to the point where it was near-impossible to find one in it's early days, Sega was just no match for the hype and sales of the PS2.

2001: Death of a dream, birth of a cube and a box

This was the year that Sega fans had their dreams crushed. With Nintendo releasing the GameCube and Microsoft the Xbox, Sega just couldn't compete. They gave up, dropped the Dreamcast and went third-party, ending their first-party days with the swan song known as Sonic Adventure 2. Meanwhile, Sony continued to dominate sales charts with Grand Theft Auto III. And the previously mentioned Game Cube had a rocky start that would mirror the console's financial success during its lifespan.

2002: Nintendo's great mistake, Microsoft's great gain

Financially, Nintendo was being stomped on by Sony and Microsoft wasn't that far behind. The GameCube was nowhere near as successful as the Nintendo 64 was. Being a company, Nintendo needed to make some serious money. Microsoft came along and offered a large amount of cash for Nintendo's second party company, Rare. Miyamoto already disliked the company (he HATED Donkey Kong Country), thus making it the perfect deal for him. This was a mistake that I'm sure at least part of Nintendo regrets. While Miyamoto may have not liked Rare, nearly every Nintendo fan in America did. This mistake cost Nintendo more than just money, in America Rare's fan base was surprisingly large. With the company sold to Microsoft, many Rare fans decided to go Xbox that generation.

2003: Zelda fans get angry, messy beginnings start to fade

By 2003, that generation of gaming was in full swing. It started off messily, though. Business deals being made, Sega pulling out and Sony dominating, but in 2003 things finally started to calm. We got some greats games this year too, such as Knights of the Old Republic and Soul Calibur II. However, this year also brought some controversy to the Zelda community. Wind Waker was released this year, and while it was critically acclaimed, it received mixed reactions from the Zelda community. Some abselutely loved it's game play and style, with others despised the sailing and cartoony graphics.

2004: EA Maddens gamers, Ubisoft refuses to submit

Ah EA, why is it that whenever I find a reason to like you, I find ten other reasons to continue boycotting you? EA attempted to hostilely take over Ubisoft on 2004, at the same time they get the exclusive rights to the NFL. And hence begins the insane milking of the Madden NFL franchise, the biggest joke of a video game I've ever heard of in my life.

2005: A new generation begins, some hot coffee is brewed

Microsft kick-started the current generation of gaming with a machine that you'll use for about a week before hardware defects turn it into a paperweight the Xbox 360. Thus creating the standard that all gaming consoles for that generation would be held to so I guess this means that a system isn't good anymore unless it breaks at least three times a month meaning that systems were expect to have strong online play with intense competitive multiplayer and a great library of downloadable classics. But for most of us, this is the year that we remember for the infamous Grand Thief Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee mini game. Since then, the most mainstream game with any sex in it all of was Mass Effect, and I've seen worse sex scenes in PG-13 movies.

2006: The door is open, fighters step into the area

With the Xbox 360 released a year earlier, Sony and Nintendo had to do some serious catching up to Microsoft. Nintendo put their unappreciated GameCube to rest and brought forth the Wii. At this point in time, the Wii looked like it would be yet another great system for the big N. As for Sony third version of the PlayStation... well, the high price tag and shootings were enough to scare of sales. This generation started off clean, no messy business deals, nobody dropping out of the race. The three systems were ready to duke it out, with a clear as day beginning to the seventh generation, nobody could be certain would the future would hold.

2007: Wii cry, Halo launches

Everyone remembers the hype of Halo 3. This was the most massively hyped release since the PlayStation 2. While Microsoft fans had found their savior, Nintendo had unintentionally tapped into a new market. Wii Play, a little tech-demo of a game that had a collection of mini-games that showed off what the Wiimote was all about. The only selling point was that it came bundled with what it was meant to show off. Normally, this sort of thing would go generally unnoticed, so nobody could have predicted the sales of this game. Here is where I believe Nintendo realized that there was more financial potential in the casual market than there was in the core market, thus creating their Endless Ocean strategy. And from that year onward, real Nintendo fans all over the world have shed tears of disappointment.

2008: Nintendo dominates, Sony gets up after taking a beating

Nintendo struck gold with Wii Play. From then on, they started catering the the casual market, with "core" titles being dumbed down so that casuals would have an easier time playing them. Nobody could touch Nintendo in terms of sales that year. However, this was also the year that the PlayStation 3 got a price drop and Sony fans got titles that were worth paying attention to. If you were like me and you were one of the people who went out and bought a PlayStation 3 before it was considered cool to own one (I love giving the finger to popular opinion) then you got treated to games like Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet. Yeah, 2008 was a pretty good year to be a PlayStation 3 owner, but not as good as being a PlayStation 3 owner in...

2009: PlayStation 3 becomes cool, early 90s reincarnate

As yes, 2009. The year that's just about ending now. This year, most of Nintendo's "core" fans pretty much moved on and gave up on the Wii. The PlayStation 3 became cool thanks to a price drop, the slim and plenty of blockbuster exclusives for the system. Part of the Xbox 360 crowd has moved away from the system and developed a liking for the PlayStation 3, thus causing once passive-aggressive hostilities between the two fan bases to erupt into much more open flame wars. It's 1993 all over again!

2010: What's to come

The next decade is in a few days. What do we have to look forward too? Well, we have the possible return of the real Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy fans will rejoice at the thirteenth installment in the series and if the five-ish year cycle continues we might even get some new consoles announced at E3. I really don't know how to feel about the future, this generation of gaming has disappointed me somewhat. But there's always hope that the next decade will be a great one.

Happy new decade, everyone.

 

[urdailywater]

I personally hope things sort of stay how they are and hope that nintendo keeps bringing in mote gamers like they have been. It makes it more fun definetley. They are keeling a balance with these core releases but it would be nice to have more but it is getting harder and harder to please the core audience but it's nintendo they've surprised me in the past . As of now they've given me no reason to buy any other consoles so I guess I'm not as dissapointed as u? Good read finalark.

Typing on iPhone is awkward as hell

 

[Holty]

Two words: awesome read!

 

[finalark]

I personally hope things sort of stay how they are and hope that nintendo keeps bringing in mote gamers like they have been. It makes it more fun definetley. They are keeling a balance with these core releases but it would be nice to have more but it is getting harder and harder to please the core audience but it's nintendo they've surprised me in the past . As of now they've given me no reason to buy any other consoles so I guess I'm not as dissapointed as u? Good read finalark.

Typing on iPhone is awkward as hell

I'll be honest, in my book the Wii is the only system that will really let new gamers get into gaming this generation. Think about it, every other system has oh screw it just read this:

http://www.smashboards.com/showpost.php?p=9159280&postcount=1

Yeah, I've heard that the iPhone's typing is kind of weird.

Two words: awesome read!

Thank you. In all honesty, I thought that every was going to decide that it was too long and they didn't want to read it.

 

[Sucumbio]

Not a bad summary, though I don't necessarily agree with all your conclusions I agree with many of them. Endless Ocean fans can also be Core gamers, tho But I see your point.

This new decade should see a larger devotion to portable gaming. The PSP, DS and iPhone will all get more titles and upgrades in functionality.

The libraries will continue to disperse amongst the ranks... each console maker getting releases of mainstream titles, but unique versions of each, rather than the same title on each. It's a win-win, seeming exclusivity masked in core title fandom.

The new generation of consoles will take awhile to even come out. I expect blue-ray to become the new standard across the board, and I expect Nintendo's next console to return back to more traditional interfaces, and concentrate heavier on graphical strength while still somehow keeping the newer technology of motion-control cutting edge.

PS3 is already a really good system, they'll milk it for all its worth, like they did PS2. I'd expect them to wait until the other 2 companies have launched their systems, and I expect Microsoft to launch first once again.

 

[finalark]

The new generation of consoles will take awhile to even come out. I expect blue-ray to become the new standard across the board, and I expect Nintendo's next console to return back to more traditional interfaces, and concentrate heavier on graphical strength while still somehow keeping the newer technology of motion-control cutting edge.

I personally think that we'll see signs of a new generation soon (hey, Sony always releases the slim version of the PlayStation near the end of each generation...). I think we'll hear news of new systems in the works some time in 2010, but we won't actually see any previews of new systems until 2011. Blu-Ray will moste likely become the standard, but I don't see Nitnendo going back to traditional controls and pleasing it's core audiance again unless the casual market stops proving to be profitable.

PS3 is already a really good system, they'll milk it for all its worth, like they did PS2. I'd expect them to wait until the other 2 companies have launched their systems, and I expect Microsoft to launch first once again.

Agreed. Microsoft has the advantage for the most part, seeing them lanch first wouldn't be suprising.

 

[Sucumbio]

I dunno, i think it'll be like... a gc controller that you can take apart into 2 pieces and use independently... or something. I mean there's definitely enough games to warranty the wii-chuck combo staying another generation, but it's also been a point of contention amongst gamers, and the other consoles don't seem to have this farcical reputation and approach to motion-controls... ya know when Wii first launched all I could do was twitch and moan with visions of Power Glove dancing in my brain. God the nightmares. "Power Glove was cool!" STFU! It was so not cool. Gay is what it was, lol and so too was the commercial for it, that kid was so ******** looking. The only other thing that might have been just as bad was the NES track pad on the floor thing, I'm like, yeah you can't run fast enough to beat the CPU on track-n-field 2, even turbos sometimes it was close...

But yeah, if the ... handheld controller like the "classic" controller was made better *(ever brawl w/that? it's not too bad, actually) like thicker or something, and more shoulder buttons, like a PS controller, then make it somehow like you press a button and they seperate into 2 controllers, but still have a wire connecting them ... or something. I dunno. NES and SNES were good systems, N64 was janky, Gamecube was less janky but only by a bit, Wii was totally janky, they need to come back down to earth, instead of launching super mario universe. I mean really, after galaxy, what is there? Super Mario Everything that isn't in the previous titles. 2. >.>

 

[Nidtendofreak]

I disagree with the Rare point: How many good games have they made since being sold? Far as I know, most people consider it a good deal for Nintendo, and MS is now stuck with a company that doesn't make games like it used to.

 

[CRASHiC]

I'd like to point out something very interesting: if no new consoles are announced next year, this will be one of the longest video game generations in a long time, given that we will have to wait 1-3 years after being announced for the system to be released. Yes, there are rumors of a new Wii, but its yet to be seen and is still just rumor.

My guess is the economy as it would be a risk to put out a 600 dollar machine into the market right now, and using the motion censor boost as a tool by Sony and Microsoft to keep the length of the console alive just a bit longer. We are going to be here awhile it seems, so get use to it.

Another thing, THANK GOD FOR THE RETURN OF FIGHTING GAMES. Its the only reason I have a 360.

 

[†Slader7†]

Good read although I would like to see some portable luv

Personally, I think why Nintendo sold Rare to Microsoft is because Rare was a sinking ship at that time. The members who gave us Goldeneye, Banjo Kazooie, and Perfect Dark were leaving to go off in their own paths so Nintendo must have thought that Rare will no longer be able to create great games since the experienced staff was leaving. So what did Nintendo do with the sinking Rare? They gave it to Microsoft.

Man, I just hope Nintendo delivers a good stuff this year. And another F-Zero title

 

[victra♥]

loved the post, really fun to read ^^

 

[Poltergust]

Wait, what do you mean "real Sonic the Hedgehog"? Sonic Unleashed was actually pretty good, and the Sonic Rush series pulls off that classic 2D gameplay nicely, too. Project Needlemouse seems interesting, but at this point in time we still don't know anything about it.

Nice summary, though.

 

[finalark]

Another thing, THANK GOD FOR THE RETURN OF FIGHTING GAMES. Its the only reason I have a 360.

Holy crap yes. Blazblue, Tekken 6, Soul Calibur IV, Street Fighter IV, pretty much the most played games on my PS3.

Wait, what do you mean "real Sonic the Hedgehog"? Sonic Unleashed was actually pretty good, and the Sonic Rush series pulls off that classic 2D gameplay nicely, too. Project Needlemouse seems interesting, but at this point in time we still don't know anything about it.

Nice summary, though.

Unleashed was silly, and I'm not really into handheld gaming so I never played the Sonic Rush series. But I've learned from the Sonic Advanced series that Sonic Team can make some pretty good 2D Sonic games. So I'm looking forward to Needlemouse.

Actually, now that I think about it, I am the only one who has noticed that Sonic Team is really good at making games that are not Sonic?

 

[Bowser King]

Although I don't agree with all the things you said, you still made a great summary of the last decade. As many have already noted, keeping RARE would have only dragged down Nintendo. RARE is pretty bad right now and from Nintendo's point of view it was an amazing deal. I also don't agree with how all "real fans" cried. For one thing, I'm fairly happy with my wii and I would consider myself a "real fan". Plus, just because they started with a wii doesn't really make them any less of a fan. Everyone has to start somewhere (something you've already previously outlined).

However, I do agree that the PS3 is doing amazing right now. I'm having a lot of fun with GOW collection right now along with many other games. PS3 doesn't show any signs of slowing down into 2010 so I'm going to have an empty wallet by the end of 2010.

 

[Poltergust]

Unleashed was silly, and I'm not really into handheld gaming so I never played the Sonic Rush series. But I've learned from the Sonic Advanced series that Sonic Team can make some pretty good 2D Sonic games. So I'm looking forward to Needlemouse.

Actually, now that I think about it, I am the only one who has noticed that Sonic Team is really good at making games that are not Sonic?

Before I continue this further, what system were you playing Unleashed on?

Also, people really didn't start bashing Sonic Team until Shadow the Hedgehog came out. Every Sonic game beforehand was at least decent. =/

 

[N.A.G.A.C.E]

Rare. Miyamoto already disliked the company (he HATED Donkey Kong Country)

Is that true? how do u know this and why did he hate donkey kong country they were so good?(at least the snes ones were great)

anyway nice read.

 

[finalark]

Before I continue this further, what system were you playing Unleashed on?

Also, people really didn't start bashing Sonic Team until Shadow the Hedgehog came out. Every Sonic game beforehand was at least decent. =/

I played Unleashed on the Wii. I liked the Daytime segments, but the Nighttime parts just killed it for me.

Actually, ever notice that the Sonic games only started to suck once 4Kids started to dub them?

Rare. Miyamoto already disliked the company (he HATED Donkey Kong Country)

Is that true? how do u know this and why did he hate donkey kong country they were so good?(at least the snes ones were great)

anyway nice read.

Yes, it is true. I know it through interviews, articles, ect. Basically, he hated DKC because he thought that it was a shallow platformer that people only bought for the graphics. And I also remember that he thought that the banna collecting was stupid and pointless.

 

[The Cunning Weasel]

2008 was the year of Metal Gear Solid 4 which was non stop **** in my pants.

 

[Poltergust]

I played Unleashed on the Wii. I liked the Daytime segments, but the Nighttime parts just killed it for me.

Oh, I see.

Let me tell you this: The Wii version is vastly inferior to the 360/PS3 version. I think Sega even admitted that they had to cutback on certain features for the Wii version. It's even missing two continents!

Actually, ever notice that the Sonic games only started to suck once 4Kids started to dub them?

That's definitely how it was initially (ugh, ShtH voice-acting was awful), but voice acting was actually good in Unleashed (which is also a good game... well, the 360/PS3 version, at least).

 

[Morrigan]

Yes, it is true. I know it through interviews, articles, ect. Basically, he hated DKC because he thought that it was a shallow platformer that people only bought for the graphics. And I also remember that he thought that the banna collecting was stupid and pointless.

He was probably jealous the game was developed outside his lovely little island.