2009 was the year of...?
 

2009 is drawing to a close now with the last few note-worthy titles squeezing onto shelves this week and so it is that various discussions are starting to take place around the web and gaming media in general about the year as a whole. Saving GOTY discussions until next month (keep an eye out for details of that at some point in the near-ish future) I got to thinking about what the big thing in gaming was this year.

I know at one point, probably at the point I was playing my fifth racing game in as many weeks (or possibly fewer) I found myself saying to people that it's been a really good year for racers. But then there's also been a lot of other stuff being pushed this year: motion control (again, and as part as a peripheral push in general), pre-order and limited edition shenanigans, digital distribution, DLC (and DL games), PS3 taking off, Wii sales slowing down, about seven new DS models (or so it seemed), co-operative play, and more besides.

So my question is: as far as gaming is concerned, 2009 was the year of what?

Personally I can't think of anything I could say was 2009's own. We had some excellent titles, both retail and DLC, wonderful indie gems, and horrible games that sold well regardless. Just like last year.

I say 2009 was the year of more of the same, in both good and bad.

Although again personally, 2009 was the year that reintroduced me to the wonders of modern PC gaming. I'd been reintroduced to the wonders of PC gaming a bit earlier, but upon realizing that nearly every multiplatform release ran smoother, looked better and cost less on my PC, as well as providing built in 360 controller support, I can no longer justify buying console versions if I my PC can run the game. And that's not even thinking backwards compatibility or custom content and improvement.

So yeah, 2009 was the year of the love for PC, for me.

2009 has been the first (and possibly only) year I've seen a large amount of people brave the threat of a hurricane for a single, albeit extremely successful, video game. Modern Warfare 2, obviously.

There were some pretty kickass titles and some awesome announcements for next year. All in all though, 2009 wasn't quite as good as 2008, and 2010 looks to kick a fair amount of ass right from the get-go.

2009 was the year of populist rage in gaming.

The only thing that comes to mind is the coverage indie games have been getting, and that's a continuing trend from 2008, as Qwarky said. Still, the big heavies didn't land until late 2008 (Braid, World of Goo), and 2009 has had prominent stuff like Flower, The Path, Zeno Clash, and Machinarium. The "art game" hubbub was probably bigger in 2008, though.

2009 was the year of being a blizzard fanboy and waiting for Starcraft II.

I dun had a gud enuf puter tah ran dem famcy puter games.

Year of Sony makin' its comeback.
PS3 slim + Uncharted 2

Also year of Wii motion control knock-offs

Was also the year that I ran out of money to pay for games

2009 was the year I realised that their are still games getting made that are fun without going online and that I really can't be arsed with online FPS games any more. In fact, I'm playing on Live less and less at the moment and when I do it's only with friends. Playing strangers has really lost it's appeal for some reason.

There have been some decent games released this year but I've not been excited enough to really buy any of them.

The year that I didn't buy anything until July, because there wasn't anything good released until then. The year in which every game I bought was a sequel of some sort, except Dragon Age. The year in which my Xbox didn't red ring.

2009 was the year of old properties getting the best games involving their characters. Ghostbusters, Arkham Asylum, X-Men Origins: Wolverine (possibly more? I forget). Pretty much the best games for any of those IPs.

Punch-Out was rather good, wasn't it? Street Fighter IV as well...

2009 was the year of gaming with friends.

( ´・‿- ) ~ ♥

For me it was the year of the PS3. I never thought I'd play so many games on this Blu-Ray player of mine.
Not that the PC or Wii has collected dust. There was just so much more to play on the PS3 this time around.

I'd be content if it wasn't for the lack of time on my hands.
Moving to a new apartment effectively kicked a whole month's worth of gaming time to the groin.

2009 is the year that I realised that my level 24 self in real life is more important than my uber level 100 and something avatar in [insert game]. Consequently, I only completed TWO games this entire year: Shadow Hearts Covenant and Punch Out Wii. But at least I now know how to fix a toilet and roast a bird.

2010 may be the year I buy a PS3. For the Blu-ray, of course.

2009 was the year of finding out Mario isn't the best hero of all time... :(

Oi. Idiots.

2009 is the year of _________ in terms of the GAMING world. No one gives a fuck about your journal entries. They are boring, pointless and the stories behind these little blurbs are no doubt even more dull and meandering without any sort of meaningful payoff.

2009 was the year of the PC for me. Machinarium and Dragon Age saw to that. Add in the new Tales of Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Wallace and Gromit stuff as well as a bunch I'm no doubt forgetting and wham. Year of the PC.

Jesus, how hard is it to read an original post?

I did read it... again... And changed the post as you were writing your rant... ;)

Okay now I'm curious. What destroyed Mario as the hero for you?

I just hoped everyone else thought the same as me when gamespot had their contest...

But I GUESS... he is still my hero... However, it was disappointing to see it go not to Mario... Kind of big news... maybe not?

I think the biggest non-story was the continued lack of coverage and overall update on GT5.

Who picked it up?

If you say Cloud I will murder at least six Japanese people tomorrow.

SOOOO tempted to say Cloud right now....

I think it was Master Chef..... Or is it Chief?

I think 2009 was the year gaming left behind people who enjoyed playing games alone. While games like Gears of War, Guitar Hero, TF2 and WoW existed before '09 and made online or co-op multiplayer a very viable choice, this was the year that seemed to hammer home the idea that if you're not relying upon other people for your gaming experience, you might as well not be playing games at all.

Left 4 Dead 2, Forza, Street Fighter IV, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Little Big Planet, MW2 and numerous others I'm not thinking of because I just haven't been exposed enough have thrust online multiplayer into the forefront. It seems like developers are now creating games with the multiplayer experience first in priority. Single-player, offline playthroughs are something of an afterthought; it's an option, but the experience will intentionally no longer be as rich. A good example is Resident Evil 5; though it could be experienced alone, it was designed to be at its best with a friend by your side.

I don't blame the industry, since broadband technology pretty much mandated that gaming go in this direction, and the surge in social networking's popularity probably hasn't hurt the idea either. And it's not like there weren't unique single-player games available. Scribblenauts, Ghostbusters, Punch-Out Wii, Brutal Legend and Uncharted 2 were all worthwhile solo experiences. But the pulse of the industry was clearly on multiplayer this year.

Didn't it go to Gordon Freeman?

Do we care?

Also, I'd make the argument that there are just as many quality SP experiences to be had as MP, you're just not looking in the right place if you're lacking.

This "focus on online MP" has been sort of the thing for 4 years on consoles, more if you include simpler, less prevalent implementations from a generation ago, and if you even have a PC in your peripheral vision you're looking at over a decade, so.

You're probably right. But as I haven't been able to buy as many games, let alone a PS3 or 360, I probably haven't been looking as hard as I otherwise might. (I'm not dumb enough to call the Wii an online experience.)

And yes I know, online multiplayer is no new concept in gaming. I just think this is the year it officially became the new order, and single-player was collectively decided to no longer be as important in the gaming world.

And uncountable more on the DS. Although fishing through the shit might be annoying, finding your quality single player fix there is probably the best bet AND the most economical.

Okay, sure. I said I was sure more existed.

I don't know what you're trying to prove. Single player isn't dead, it's just not the main focus anymore.

I just feel like this is the year that cemented that. 'Tis all.

Unreal Tournament and Quake III back in 1999 was a pretty Big Deal.

Makes me wish I'd had a computer that could handle UT99, and a connection that wasn't crap at that time also.

Perhaps I'd be, you know, good at FPS games now.

I would love to see The Longest Yard in Modern Warfare 2. Can you imagine the bullshit? It would be GLORIOUS.

2004 Convoy's where it's at, bitches.

YouTube Video

I don't give a shit about online vidya gamin' and I probably never will, but 2009 was/is/when/who awesome for single player games. But then, my tastes are usually pretty terrible, so I dunno. Maybe it wasn't.

But there was a new Giana Sisters. Giana Sisters! Where did that come from? It came from somewhere. That alone makes 2009 better than those other years. You know the ones I'm talkin' about.

TOO LATE, THIS IS ALREADY A UT2K4 MUSIC APPRECIATION THREAD

YouTube Video

Tune was so awesome even I suddenly got good at using the shock rifle

Sorry Crash, but on this one you're just wrong. Co-op play and multiplayer may be appearing in more games than before, and for some titles multiplayer is a focus (Left 4 Dead, for example) but single-player is very much still the main focus in the majority of cases. Even Modern Warfare 2, which is arguably the biggest thing in multiplayer gaming right now, had its focus on the single-player experience. Sure it has a massive online component that will likely receive more play hours (nature of the beast and all that though), but you fire up that game and the single-player mode is front and centre. They could have done a lazy job and crowbar-ed in 4-player co-op on their story game but they didn't, it's a pure single-player experience.

Looking back over all the games I've played this year, whilst some of them feature tacked on multiplayer stuff to try and get people to not trade in games right away, nearly all of them were focussed on the single-player game.

And I don't see that trend changing; just look at some of the bigger titles for next year that we know about: Bayonetta, Mass Effect 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, Darksiders, Bioshock 2, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Heavy Rain, Dante's Inferno, Dark Void, The Last Guardian, Red Dead Redemption, Gran Turismo 5. That's just off the top of my head, and whilst some of them may include a multiplayer component they're all very much focussed on the single-player game.

Multiplayer and co-op may be more prevalent these days, but that doesn't mean single-player isn't the focus for most cases.

HYPERBLAST REDUX

Also AS-Mothership and AS-Junkyard were superior

ALso this:

YouTube Video

FUCK YEAH UT MUSIC THREAD

The Unreal Tournament series is by FAR my favorite FPS series of all time. Regarding the comment I left earlier with slight homoerotic overtones - I'm one of those people who vastly prefer playing multiplayer games to single player games, ESPECIALLY if there's some Co-op element and some degree of dicking around to be had.

I've just been playing single player games since I was a wee kid and they have simply lost impact on me, whereas multiplayer brings you closer to your "bros" even if you spend every match Team Killing or fucking shit up intentionally for each other.

I know it came out towards the end of last year, but Fallout 3 with all of its DLC from this year gave a pretty solid single player experience.

Also, if we want to talk about games being built exclusively for multiplayer, look no further than Starsiege: Tribes. That was the first FPS I ever got into, and its only single player component was five short simple levels that were based on training you to learn how the game works. Then you join a real server and find out everyone's running these crazy weapons mods and go :gonk:.

You have got to be kidding. There is no doubt that you have your basic point correct. There is more multiplayer, more co-op and even more games that don't have a single player experience to speak of, but I can't even count on both hands and both feet the number of epic single-player experiences I've discovered from this year's release list. If ya ask me, both are true. Multiplayer is enjoying an unprecedented expansion, but single-player ain't going away. I know I'm not the first (or even second) to say it, but still...

For me 2009 was the year that PS3 started to deliver the goods it has been promising. XBOX 360 is no longer the shining beacon of exclusives that it once was, and the PS3 library is growing in all directions. I don't deny that it was also the year of PC, but out of the consoles, I think we've got a major change in which one is bringing the awesome.

I kind of feel bad, especially when it comes to new games for 2009. I've only played two 2009 releases (King of Fighters XII and Street Fighter IV).

Overall I've considered 2009 the year of quality fighting games to have come out.

When you have great titles such as:

Street Fighter IV
Blazblue
Tekken 6
King of Fighters XII

The funny thing is out of all those fighting games King of Fighters XII was the one I actually enjoyed the most. I know that it is pretty much a shallow game, with a small character rooster, lack of a story mode, lack of a final boss, and a lot of other flaws but I absolutely loved the graphics for this game.

The worse thing is that there have been so much quality games that have been released this year. I absolutely have no drive to play them. I have been so dedicated into playing and buying older titles.

I've owned a PS3 for over a year now, and have never played one demo, never downloaded anything to play. I've played a total of 3 PS3 titles since I have first owned the system.

I don't even do online gaming at all. I don't know why, just pretty much all experiences (albeit small) I've had online had been negative in some way, but in all honesty its kind of my own fault because I don't put myself out there when it comes to playing online as much as I should. In all honesty I would rather play online with a close group of friends, then play with people I don't know.

I think one thing I've learned from gaming especially this year, is that I'm falling behind when it comes to playing great games, and I am becoming a retro-gamer and I personally feel that I'm becoming slowly incompetent when it comes to current gaming and DLC because simply I'm not keeping up with it.

I'm also so genre specific towards the games that I play, and sometimes my dedication towards my gaming genre makes me ignore certain genres because I feel like I may not enjoy them. That is definitely the case in this forum because with most forums that have talked about current releases, I pretty much have little or nothing to say at all.

With 2010 coming up, I'm going to start adding some of my GFF friends on my PS3 and hopefully give some other genres a shot.

Fuck off!

Over produced. Unnecessary addition of orchestral elements. Tries too hard to be epic. Sounds like a film.

F minus. That goes for the entire UT04 soundtrack.

You want this to be a UT music thread, do it properly.

YouTube Video