Bioshock Dev Declares 2011 "The Best Year Since 2007" for Games

[Marshall Honorof]

Bioshock Dev Declares 2011 "The Best Year Since 2007" for Games

According to Ken Levine, 2011 offered the strongest selection of games since his own Bioshock came out four years ago.

2007 was a good year to be a gamer. Between Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Super Mario Galaxy, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, The Orange Box, Uncharted, and a number of other titles, there was something to please just about every gamer's palate. Ken Levine, the creative director at Irrational Games, remembers 2007 as the year his company produced its seminal steampunk odyssey, Bioshock. While the intervening years have generally been kind to gamers, Levine believes that 2011 represents something special. Between impressive games and record-breaking sales, Levine claims that 2011 is the best year for gaming since 2007 - even without a new Bioshock title!

Levine calls 2011 "a year to be proud of," citing games like besting James Cameron's Avatar [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8806-Portal-2-Review] by one day. "It's a year to be proud of everybody because people are delivering this year in a way the industry hasn't delivered in a very long time," Levine explains.

With Bioshock: Infinite on the way, some fans may wonder where Levine found the time to play the biggest releases of 2011. "I always make time for games," says Levine. "That's important. If you're not playing games you're compromising your ability as a game developer to make good games." Levine's company has indeed produced some very good games, and is looking to produce another one next year, so his opinion carries some weight in the gaming community. Was 2011 all Levine believes it to be?

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-22-ken-levine-2011-the-best-year-for-games-since-2007]

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[ZeroMachine]

It's definitely one of the best I've experienced in my 15+ years of gaming.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Levine calls 2011 "a year to be proud of," citing games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/8806-Portal-2-Review].

If you were paying attention, you might have noticed that all of these games are sequels. And if you weren't paying attention, *CLAP CLAP* OI!

 

[wooty]

I've seen an awful lot better years for games, this year seems to have been........mostly forgettable for releases, with a few gems on top of it.

 

[Zhukov]

Sure, I'd say it's been a nice year.

The good stuff certainly outweighed the bad.

 

[Owlslayer]

I have to agree, it was quite the nice year. Portal 2 really did blow my mind away, and Skirim was also pretty damn epic.
So, yeah. Well done, video game people!

 

[Vault101]

I have to agree, it was quite the nice year. Portal 2 really did blow my mind away, and Skirim was also pretty damn epic.
So, yeah. Well done, video game people!

seconded

I was worried about portal 2 (also weather or not I could afford it)..but it took my expectations and blew them out into space..its rare when a game does that

well done Valve

 

[lostlevel]

I was racking my brain to try and think what games I have actually bought this year and actually can't remember. The games I thought I bought this year were all out in 2010 so I guess I've just been playing the old ones this year.

 

[Omnific One]

That's been my opinion for a while; this year was fantastic.

 

[Plazmatic]

I've seen an awful lot better years for games, this year seems to have been........mostly forgettable for releases, with a few gems on top of it.

Yeah I suppose I could go on a site that talked about video games and troll about how Portal 2, Skyrim, Battle field 3, uncharted 3, Deus Ex human revolution, and every other game that came out this year sucked when compared to pong, and that, in fact 1972 was the best year for video games, but I don't feel like it.

On topic, yes this was a great year, and I think it might just spill over into 2012, but I also thought 2008 was a good year for video games as well, so this pattern holds well with previous years (same thing with 2004 - 2005, 2007 - 2008, 2011 - 2012???)

I looks like these things will continue in 3 year intervals.

though I'm not sure if 2001 was one such year (I know the original halo came out that year, but what else that was good) when did this trend really start?

 

[Inglorious891]

This year is probably my favorite year, with Bulletstorm, Portal 2, Saints 3, and a shit ton of other games I've loved that all came out this year.

Next year with Bioshock Infinite, however...

 

[TheXRatedDodo]

This year has been bloody excellent, I must admit.

My top 5 of the year:

1. Dark Souls
2. Skyrim
3. The Witcher 2
4. Alice: Madness Returns
5. El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

all of these games are incredibly creative and distinctive, and to me, all of them are works of high art as far as the gaming world is concerned.
I mean that's not even beginning to encompass all the other great stuff that came out this year. Portal 2, Battlefield 3, Uncharted 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Arkham City..

Whether sequels or not, this has been a year for quality indeed. People shouldn't just write sequels off. Unless a franchise is being milked, where's the problem? After all, without sequels, we never would've got Super Mario Bros. 3 or Ocarina of Time!

 

[JakobBloch]

Not to mention some of the smaller powerhouses as well.

Magicka
Bastion
Frozen Synapse
Jamestown
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (strictly speaking just a localization... but bite me)

And we haven't even mentioned Crysis 2 (not as good as the first but still a far cry better then other FPS's)

Indeed 2011 was a good year for gaming. If 2012 beats it I am going to be a very happy "camper"... and a hungry one.

 

[MercurySteam]

Add to that list Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2 (no, I'm not kidding), Gears 3 and Saints Row the Third and Ken is basically justifying what I said last year. 2012 won't have as many good titles but will have a few good highly anticipated titles.

 

[Zeriah]

I actually have 2011 higher than 2007 on my list, this year was outstanding.

 

[Bobbity]

Every single one of them is a sequel. And by damn, it was good.

This has been, in my humble opinion, the best year for gaming yet, though 2007 isn't far behind.

/edit
A bit off-topic, but why did I have to sign a new agreement about posting? From what I can tell, nothing has changed...

 

[Duruznik]

Not to mention some of the smaller powerhouses as well.

Magicka
Bastion
Frozen Synapse
Jamestown
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (strictly speaking just a localization... but bite me)

Yeah, I came here to mention that too. Not to mention this is the year when Minecraft really got in stride (it went from 1 million users to over 4 million), and there's no forgetting Terraria. 2011 has been a good year for the smaller companies indeed.

 

[DanielBrown]

Aye, it's been an awesome year.
Adding InFamous 2 to the list. Had so much fun with that game.

 

[GeneticallyModifiedDucks]

2010 was most certainly not kind to gamers. It's the worst year for games that I can think off the top of my head and I've been doing this thing for about 12 years. 2011 wasn't bad at all, so I suppose I agree with Levine. The sequels were for the most part good, great even, but they were still sequels. Some great things happened in the indie scene, though. However, 2007 was a standout because of all the new IP's and no other year this gen will probably ever top it, maybe next gen companies will do new IP's. But dear god, don't let us live through another gaming 2010...