It's been a year of highs and lows in video gaming, and we've brought together some of the top writers in the industry to share with us their 2008 gaming revelations, led by the GameDaily staff, our wonderful weekly HUD panelists and a host of friends from around the gaming world. Read up, then leave a comment with YOUR surprises, disappointments, 2008 rollovers and one-sentence summaries -- we'll choose a selection and post them in next week's reader round-up!
Cheers!
Robin
Libe Goad / GameDaily
Biggest Surprise: Left4Dead doesn't have a lot of depth, but keeps us coming back for more.
Biggest Disappointment: Far Cry 2 didn't capture the greatness of the original -- and where's Alan Wake?!
2008 Game I'll Play in 2009: Left4Dead coop!
2008 in a Sentence: The rise of the casual gamer means more variety of games for each system. Huzzah!
N'Gai Croal / Newsweek/Level Up
Biggest Surprise: Sony's relentless focus on floral gaming.
Biggest Disappointment: The absence of new GladOS voice acting in Portal: Still Alive.
2008 Game I'll Play in 2009: Far Cry 2.
2008 in a Sentence: I came for the single-player, but I stayed for the co-op.
Garnett Lee / 1UP Network
Biggest Surprise: Halo's no-show at E3 and subsequent appearance at TGS.
Biggest Disappointment: In an overall satisfying year of gaming even the letdowns turned out to be good games (Resistance 2, Mirror's Edge, Animal Crossing).
2008 Game I'll Play in 2009: Easy, Left 4 Dead
2008 in a Sentence: If all the game titles with numbers at their end didn't give it away, video gaming turned in a very predictable 2008 performance, but this could be the year we look back at as the point when online game distribution really established itself.
Ben Zackheim / Games.com
Biggest Surprise: Peggle! Best casual game of all time.
Biggest Disappointment: GTA IV
2008 Game I'll Play in 2009: Left 4 Dead multiplayer
2008 in a Sentence: 2007 wannabe.
Chris Grant / Joystiq
Biggest Surprise: Nintendo finally went far enough to alienate a huge percentage of their "core" audience at this year's E3 – I was always under the impression a Nintendo fanboy would rather die than blaspheme the house of Mario. Not anymore.
Biggest Disappointment: Seeing worthwhile games – like Mirror's Edge – get swallowed by the Q4 release avalanche. How long until publishers get the idea?
2008 Game I'll Play in 2009: Fallout 3 – There was only room for one RPG this holiday season and that other F-titled sequel won the lottery. Fable 2 it is, and Fallout 3 is postponed until 2009.
2008 in a Sentence: How about in one word? "Excellent."
Dan "Shoe" Hsu / Sore Thumbs Blog
Biggest Surprise: Halo 3: Recon/ODST. I thought Bungie was moving on!
Biggest Disappointment: Grand Theft Auto 4. A great game, but it didn't hold my attention toward the end.
2008 Game I'll Play in 2009: PixelJunk Monsters
2008 in a Sentence: How on earth do I not have time to play everything, even though I'm not working??
Scott Jones / Crispy Gamer
Biggest Surprise: Thanks to Left 4 Dead and Gears 2's Horde mode, I actually sort of like going online now. Sort of.
Biggest Disappointment: Nintendo and the Wii; my Wii is covered with so much dust that it looks like something Lara Croft would find in one of her tombs.
2008 Game I'll Play in 2009: PixelJunk Monsters. I've been stuck on the same goddamn level for four months, and for some inexplicable reason, I keep at it.
2008 in a Sentence: Without a BioShock-caliber moment, 2008 was pretty much a crapvalanche of sequels, derivative rip-offs, and shovelware. And yet I still love this industry so very much.
Reader Comments (15)
well polished turd is actually very shiny but i see what u mean
There were tons and tons of Wii games out this year, but 90 percent of them were shovelware -- and game reviewers ignore that crap on EVERY system. The sad truth is that the developers don't think the "casual gamer" is smart enough to know the difference between quality software and a polished turd. So while the Wii may be the best-selling console by a mile, the number of strong titles available for it is embarrasingly low. That's not the media's fault.
Biggest Surprise: "Left4Dead." When you break it down, there's really nothing special about this game, and yet I can't for the life of me put it down. The whole is profoundly greater than the sum of its parts. Valve wins. Biggest Disappointment: "The Force Unleashed." With the amount of hype surrounding this title and its array of groundbreaking technologies, "TFU" needed to be great. Instead, it was merely very good. Bummer. 2008 Game I'll Play in 2009: "World of Goo"! Coming on the heels of other indies like "Everyday Shooter," "Echochrome" and "Braid," this one is convincing me more and more that there's hope for the future of gaming. 2008 in a Sentence: Hey, ummm, wasn't this supposed to be the year of the PlayStation 3?
@laurent1066 it SO totally is rock science. But you're right, a ginormous population of gamers are on the Nintendo Wii -- if there were better Wii games out, though, I'm sure you'd see more of them on our lists!
The numbers back me up. Game Journos? (Whatever you people are called) may not be playing with the Wii but someone is. You can point to attach rates, or whatever you want. The fact is, the Wii has that Apple cool factor and it's going to have to be contended with. If I were a developer? I would sure as hell not make a game for the PS3 or Xbox! I'd make it for the Wii there are just that many MORE people to buy games. It's not rock science
Did Laurent just call me a chicken head AFTER recommending Wii Fit? Something's wrong with this picture. Either that or he's hitting the liquor early. :D
@laurent Chill, man, chill. The enthusiast press is the enthusiast press. Yahoo! Games (of all people to call out) did a fantastic job of covering the Wii this year. But you have a valid point - just look at the YTD sales figures: http://www.vgchartz.com/ayearly.php (i'd prefer NPD numbers, but hey, not free.)
Ok. I'll admit it. I got fired up and did some name calling. You get my point.
I'm throwing all your clowns under the bus. It does not seem to me you are the right people to panel. You're all insiders and have no understanding of what is going on in reality. Ever third post is "Where is the Wii" "I never use the Wii" etc. You nerds still don't get it? IT ISN'T FOR YOU! Not one of you mentioned Wii Fit? REALLY? That just shows you have no understanding of what is going on in real homes. Most people don't get every game, most people have ONE console, not all three. If you are a kid at school, what are you going to beg your mom to buy? PS3? Oh so you can play alone right? Xbox 360? Well maybe if you are in the Chess club. No you are going to get a Wii so you CAN FIT IN! The Wii is a status item. Get with it Chicken Heads Your time is past game journo nerd-hoard. Start covering populist stuff or you'll be out of work like a Yahoo/MTV/ATT employee!
i got gta iv on christmas and im already half way through it