What I Hate About 2008

I’m going to put my unbridled anger aside for a moment and wish all of Random Gamer’s readers a Happy New Year. Now that’s out of the way let’s get down to business. 2008 was an interesting year for me on a personal level. Without going into any detail it was definitely the best and worst year of my life. Let’s ignore my mundane life and move onto something that everybody cares significantly more about: video games.

This past year, just like my life, was one of the best and worst for video games. The industry experienced significant growth, several highly anticipated titles were released to much fanfare, and God reminded us of his existence by blessing all gamers with the disbarment of Jack Thompson. The silver lining on 2008’s rain cloud is very easy to see. That’s not why I’m here though. I don’t say “good will come from the bad.” I’m more the type of person who says, “2008 was a steaming pile of disease ridden shit that will only get worse.” This is what I hated about 2008 in video games.

Sequels up the ass. I like revisiting previous franchises as much as the next person. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying the sequels that came out this year were shit… or were somehow shoved up my ass. What I’m complaining about is every highly anticipated release, every blockbuster, was a sequel. There was Devil May Cry 4, Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto IV, Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Prince of Persia, Fallout 3 and on and on. The income from just the franchises I mentioned is greater than the GDP of several small nations combined. There were a handful of notable new franchises: Dead Space, Mirror’s Edge, Too Human, Spore, Left 4 Dead, but the big money makers were sequels. If I forgot to mention your favorite franchise that’s because I don’t care enough about it to remember it off the top of my head, sorry. No wait, I’m not sorry.

E3. The real E3 is supposed to be returning this year but it was in terrible form in 2008. It was comparable to a middle aged man going through a gruesome divorce from a marriage that lasted 20 years. It was overweight, alone, had hypertension, and enough cholesterol in its blood to butter my toast. In days of old I would sit with one hand in my pant pocket ready to toss off the moment the executives said something worthwhile through their “I’m actually cool” attire. This year was so underwhelming that I’m not sure I recall the announcement of one good game from the entire show.

The Wii. I’ve complained about the Wii in the past and this occasion is no different. Other than several heaping fistfuls of shovelware and new installments in the Mario franchises, there wasn’t anything worth my time released on the Wii. I’ve heard great things about No More Heroes but I’m very leary about games that reach the bargain bin before they’ve celebrated their first birthday. I drink beer that has an older born on date than No More Heroes. I guess I fell for the hollow promises of Reggie just like the next guy.

The PS3. I was really hoping 2008 was when I needed to buy my first ever Playstation. I was totally wrong. There was MGS 4 and Resistance 2, but neither of them had enough to offer that would justify another $400 milked out of my middle classed ass. There is the devastating blow Bluray delivered HD-DVD and consumers in general when Toshiba announced they would no longer manufacture HD-DVD drives. I was prepped and ready to buy an HD-DVD player but then those hopes were shit on and here I still sit with only a DVD player. I won’t spend hundreds of dollars on a game system that I won’t play games on and Bluray discs are still $10 more expensive than normal DVDs. The step up from VHS to DVD was far more significant than the step from DVD to Bluray.

For the most part the Xbox found its place in the video game world and with the drastic price cuts, increased customer service, and competitive game line up I can only complain about the hardware failure rate before and after the NXE. They did reduce the wait time from a month to a week the last time I had to mail in my console but it is getting out of hand. Whoever starts that class action lawsuit give me a ring, I’m ready to sue.

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