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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

3rd Annual State of Games

     As the year draws even closer to an end, we are reminded of the year in gaming. This year has shown off a multitude of AAA titles, and major indie titles that have shaped the modern prospects of the gaming industry, becoming the standard. 2015 has been the answer to a less-than-stellar 2014 year of barely any major titles on either system. 
    With Halo 5, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Fallout 4, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, and Mortal Kombat X, it seems to me to be a better year for AAA titles than 2013/14 where Journey was the number one game (sic) of the year by most standards.  This year was really the first year of this generation of consoles, and the first time we nearly get away from the seventh generation of consoles. 
     Gaming has bounced back, as all these games are destined to be some of the biggest games in history, let-alone of the year.  As a gaming analyst, and journalist, I can assure you that this year was as good as 2011 for games, and yes, it may prove to be even better. Next year looks great as well, as Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, which is a prequel, not a sequel,mshich is a winning idea; since Mirror's Edge was amazing artistically, it most die rely had a lacking in mythology. Now we will learn more about Faith, and although I'm not sure I like the open-world concept, I feel deeply gracious to have another chance at some awesome parkor that isn't a la, Assassin's Creed. 
        The gaming community has been through a lot this year: a new Fallout title, a newer Mortal Kombat, with a Season Pass that did so well, WB decided to hit you again with another Season Pass. Mortal Kombat X technically came out last year, but seeing as the fiscal year just ended, it's still relevant. The same could be said for Batman: Arkham Knight which is also a great GOTY nominee. Most people can agree that the world is full of great games, but year has some of the greatest games that are such profound gems, they will be seen as the classics of this console cycle. 
      The state of games is inherently better than in 2014, the Indie trend is going away, or so it seems, as games like a Journey Fahrenheit taking home as much applaud as they had in 2012-2013, and as mentioned above, it seems to me that the gaming industry is now out to show just what these next generation systems can muster, and why we should be infested in the third party and first party development each has in store for us over the next several years. 
     Most gamers seem new to this trend, they seem to. Or understand that most consoles are going to last about eight-to-ten years, so systems like Playstation 5 and Xbox Two will. It be out until the every earliest, 2020. Are they in development, probably, but the Xobox one and PS4 are barely out of their diapers, let-alone up for retirement. Things are going to get interesting come next holiday season however, as the yearly trends may have to change-up to bolster sales. I don't think Ubisoft can keep up Assassin's Creed, and a Call of Duty may have to liscense a whole new brand, as modern Warfare and Black Ops are getting rather stale. Sure, CoD Ghosts 2 could be on it's way, and honestly, I'd love to see just how they make thwt work, but I think the trends will tell us if that's the best bet zinfinity Ward can place to continue their dwindling fanbase. 
      The same for Assassin's a creed, because Ubisoft has gained much higher grounds in America, and with the Jasonese markets going out to pasture, European developers and licensers now have a rare opportunity to overtake the market, where before they were just mincemeat for the growing American Indie developers to jab at with with jests of irrelevancy. Companies like Hello Gsmes, and the aforementioned Ubisoft may have been non-existent, or jokes when I was younger, but they have the capability of making mainstream success a commonplace deal. Rockstar has done it with Sam aha user leading the charge for decades now, it's no surprise that companies like Konami,  and Cspcom are now in dire straits, while American, aeuropean,mand genreslly a Western companies grow to replace them.
     Konami has also announced it's done making games, which of course was a very small part of the companies gross do estic product. They still have alienated a great deal of Western fans, and Japan. Ah not cover from that sort of distrust with their foreign audience. Many Japanese companies are not dominating the markets like they had two decades before, and with a growing world, the Third-World countries have now been able to start the infantile stages of breaking into this market. Countries like China, India, the Southeast Asian countries of South Korea, Laos, and Malaysia, are now able to develop games at an exciting rate. This means the products we used to know and love from companies that have grown so huge, they are household names, will be slowly replaced by companies not even yet born from countries that up until a few years ago, were farming and cultivating in indigenous tribes, to data farming on some of the richest, untapped technological wonders of the world. 
       Games are global, and they are growing to be even larger than television, and film. It is then preferred form of entertainment for our generation, and admittedly the generation before, and a sure-fire form of entertainment for generations to come. Still, the state of being currently is going through problems, especially with sales. Still this year has been, and is continuing to look like a great year for the digital medium. DLC sales are up, and cable,mand conventional television sales look to be replaced by gaming consoles, which are what younger people find more enticing, even if the charges are irredeemably ridiculous. Although I personally hate DLC, I cannot fight the change that it will be the standard, and one should always pick the proper battles. Still, I can decide not to join the fray, and I intend to watch from afar, as we develop this way of gaming further. Still, it almost seems to me like the Phantom will win in the end as a concept, as consoles will grow to be no -existent in the next few cycles. 
  In conclusion, the state of games is solid, and proving virile this year. Next year looks to have more of the same, with a few special additions like Mirror's Edge:Catalyst. From how it appears, the gaming community is going to be going strong for at the present moment: for a long, long time. 
   

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