The Year That Was: Revisited

[BreakABone]

After speaking with Moogle, I have decided to entertain this thread.

Let's start with the basis for this thread, disagreement over my choice of words. As noted in the original thread.

Starting with the 360... Staying the course... playing it safe... treading water... whatever you want to use, this was not the year for the 360. I mean it still saw some quality release, but compared to prior years they seemed further apart. Also looking at the release schedule, it offered very little in the way of exclusies with the real noticeables being ODST, Halo Wars and Left 4 Dead 2 if you don't have a PC. There may have been others but the only ones that stuck out to be. Also in terms of sale, it has remained pretty flat.

I still think the original statement holds true, and even more true when I get to my later point, but the 360 didn't try to hard this year, if you agree or not, who cares.

As for my later point, I noted the 360 had some quality releases, but compared to other years it was pretty weak.

Just looking back at 2007, during the holiday season alone there was Mass Effect, Bioshock, The Orange Box, Assassin Creed, Halo 3, Modern Warfare 1, and the original Rock Band. This was all compacted into a very small time frame.

Compared to this year which had Batman, ODST, Borderlands, MW 2 and L4D 2. If you don't think that looks weaker on paper, well then you are a tougher person than I.


[/quote]Now the most controversial console as always, the Wii has also had a stellar year, if you looked at it. While there were few new additions, with the ability to use SD cards for expanded storage and the debut of Nintendo Week, and the 50 dollar price drop. The quality of software on display was quite remarkable with the banner title being New Super Mario Bros Wii, sure it is one hell of a title, but it is also one hell of a game. Mixing old-school Mario platforming with zany hijinks in multi player, makes for one of the best packages of the year. Speaking of terrific packages, there was the Metroid Prime Trilogy release, which bundled 3 awesome games into one nifty and affordable package, probably the second best deal in gaming behind the Orange Box. Of course 3rd parties were on display as well with such titles as Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, MadWorld, Little King's Story, Klonoa, Okami and A Boy and his Blob. Oh and let's not forget Punch-Out, we can never forget Punch-Out[/quote]

My statement rings true here as well. And was aided by the fact that you and Fox had to research half the games I was talking about to offer a rebuttal. There are a ton of fun and quality games if you pay attention to the console. And compared to the latter half of 2008, was a much better year in terms of release schedule and quality games.

Now this thread alone.

I have several beefs with reviews, but the biggest is how do you qualify quality. I mean you gave us review scores, but are they all standard, do they have the same number of reviews, hell are they even reviewed by the same person?

All of those factors effect the final outcome, I'm sure my review of Final Fantasy would be different than most people's on this forum, the same as my review of Street Fighter IV would differ from Moogle.

So while reviews in of themselves, are objective measures of quality, the reviews themselves may not be.

My other problem with reviews.. or the use of reviews... is that it really can not summarize how everyone would feel about a movie, off the top of my head I believe Avatar is holding in the mid-80s on RT, but I wasn't a huge fan of the movie, while GI Joe which is probably sitting at 30 something was a much more enjoyable movie to me.

The same could be said for games. They aren't meant to be read about, and as much as some of you enjoy stories, they aren't meant to be watched. They are meant to be played and enjoyed.

Case in point, I don't think I read a single review on Uncharted 2 before or after I bought the game, but

And to just prove my point with the list you used and the power of Xbox, of the games you listed for this year,
1. Modern Warfare 2 (94)
3. Batman: Arkham Asylum (92)
12. Halo 3: ODST (83)

You've owned/played 3 of them. Now who knows, you may think that 3 games spread out over 12 months makes it a quality year, its your opinion, but it seems rather weak to me.

Now to the heart of the matter, some folks get a little pissed because I said the Wii had a better year than the 360, I still believe that to be true. And while Bond will hate this defense, how the hell would most of you even know? I mean most don't play anything outside of shooters, and play even less attention to anything else.

I'm almost certain no one disputed the PS3 list because they really couldn't find something to laugh at...

Which reminds me just because a game is 2D doesn't mean its less impressive than a 3D game. Hell, I still think they look better for the most part. And if not sprites, cel-shading.