I'd like to say that 2010 was the year I've bought the most games in my whole life, in general I've spent more this year on gaming then any other year as a whole as well. I got the new XBox 360 slim, Kinect, Mass Effect 2, Fable 3, Splinter Cell Conviction, Kinect Sports and many, many more titles. I'll be the first to say I usually buy games used, I'll buy a game I'm not sure of used for certain. That being said I now realize the total lack of inventiveness in most games out in the world today, things are cookie cutter and they pump out sequels to no end. Even though I love Gears and Halo and Call Of Duty and I buy those games new, I also feel the need to buy other ips new and show support in that way as well. It's the people's lack of support that causes us as consumers to be bogged down with lackluster titles and sequels.
Great titles like Metro 2033 and certainly Alan Wake, both which are XBox 360 exclusives were both well received by critics, however they lacked the selling power of other games that came out this year. Alan Wake was a game made by Remedy and was in development for about five years. The graphics are wonderful and the story itself is amazingly well done. However, they decided to release it the same day as Red Dead Redemption and we can guess what happened to Alan Wake. It's sold only around one million units. It should receive a slight bump because the game is being bundled with the Xbox 360 Holiday bundle, which is $299 and comes with Alan Wake and Forza 3.
People talk big talk when it comes to "exclusives" but then they don't buy them. I mean I too am weary of blowing $63 on a new ip that I'm not sure about. A good comparison would be the new Epic made game "Bulletstorm". Now this game looks pretty good, an over the top style shooter. I have it on my maybe list, I love most everything Epic has done, especially Gears, but when I heard you can get access to the Gears 3 beta by pre ordering the Epic edition of Bulletstorm I felt the urge to do so, but at the same time I felt the urge to hold off a bit. Next year is going to start off with a ton of great games and I'm looking forward to Dragon Age 2 which hit's early on. I don't want to spend $2000 a year on games and gaming again next year, so perhaps I wait, but then again what if Bulletstorm is really amazing and yet other people think like I'm thinking? Then the game goes the way of other top games like Transformers War For Cybertron, which was an amazing game made with the Call Of Duty engine. It was really fun. I played the demo online and it was an utter blast. Instead of getting the game though I got a sequel to another game. Now Activision isn't sure if they want to put money out to do a sequel for the game or not.
Looking back I wish I had bought the game. I know a lot of you buy used games and I do too, but I urge you to really support the makers of interesting and new games as well as your favorites and sequels to your favorites. In this cookie cutter world we need new ideas and new directions to go. We as people are turning into such sheep and conformists it sometimes sickens me. A few examples of this are Myspace and Facebook. I loved Myspace when it first came out, you could design it the way you wanted it. Add your own music, backgrounds ect... Then Facebook comes out and people flock to it, though everyones page is all the same. Cookie cutter at it's best. People are also so worried about keeping up with technology and things like 3-D that movies and games both are going to suffer greatly. Companies will slap 3-D on something that is mediocre and it will cause a ripple effect on other media.
Why let what others think about games or movies or anything influence the way we feel about it? I've never lived my life this way, I've always paved my own way. Sometimes I'll be on a single player game, say Viva Pinata or Kameo, both games made by Rare and are Xbox 360 exclusives. I love these games, they are colorful and bright and a lot of fun. Yet some people might be ashamed to play those games for fear of what a fellow clan member or friend would say. My advice is don't miss out on amazing games, movies or music because your afraid to not be a sheep.
My new years resolution is to better support game developers and new ips. Who knows the next Halo or Gears could actually be better then those games. Sometimes you need to take a risk to reap the benefits.
Good day to you all and Happy Holidays from Crapgamer and Team {MOH}
