You know, I'd have to say this year felt a little dissapointing.

[Falcondynamite]

My only disappointment with this year was that the industry returned to the practice of stuffing the holiday season with games and let the rest of the year go by with minimal releases. But the actual games I've played have been brilliant. I can't remember a Holiday season with this many great games that are all worthy of spending time with. I just wish I had more time to play all the games I ended up bringing home. I'm going to be a busy gamer up until February just with what I've already bought, and I had to skip several key games that I wanted but there were just too many.

I also think this year had the strongest Summer of Arcade and the PSN had plenty of great downloadables as well.

I respect your right to differ in opinion of course, but I cannot agree with you on it. I think this has been the strongest release schedul for gaming since 2007.

Hmmm, well I guess I can't argue with that. I just found myself buying more games last year then I did this year. But entirely though I guess I can't say that the year was a failure, considering all the good sales. I myself didn't care for a lot of them, but that's just me.

 

[TheGreatAndPowerfulZOG]

I agree OP... The games I was most excited for were LA Noire, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Rage and they were all massive letdowns. Less in the case of Deus Ex, but wtf, I thought it was going to be an RPG not another heavily scripted shoot-em-up. A lot of the games other people were hyped for I just don't care about; namely, Arkham City and any game with '3' in the title.

On the OTHER hand, quite a few games caught me off gaurd: Catherine, I hadn't even heard about until a week or so before release and I absolutely loved it. From Dust, Bastion, and Outland were all really excellent games that flew under my radar before release.

There's one huge exception obviously and that is Skyrim which I expected to love and do love.

 

[MagicAD]

The Cat and the Coup, Deus Ex, Rage, WH 40,000 Space Marine, More CoD/Battlefield stuff for those who like that kind of thing, Little Big Planet 2, Forza has been making waves, Skyrim, L4D2 was given a whole glut of maps, Portal 2, L.A. Noir threatened to take us in a whole new direction...and those are just the ones that, off the top of my head, I've played and not been disappointed with (except the CoD/BF stuff. I don't like those, but I play them for sociability reasons; essentially I will play with a friend out of charity).

That's not bad, to be honest. If you thought that Duke Nukem Forever would be good then you hadn't been watching the trailers (or played the previous games). It was hypetastic. Dead Island was probably a disappointment because of how quickly the development was pushed. That teaser trailer generated so much interest that money was poured in, and with that sort of contraction of release date it seems unlikely that th efinal product wouldn't suffer.

A thought provoking post, but with so many games being released and the market and industry continuing to grow and develop in different directions all the time it is really hard to stick the point that 'this year was a bad one'. Whta strikes me, though, is that on the 2011 list there is roughly the same proportion of sequel:new IP as last year. In that respect, we are not moving forward (at least in terms of the AAA schedule).

 

[MercurySteam]

Dead Space 2, BulletStorm, Dragon Age 2, Portal 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Gears 3, Batman Arkham City, Battlefield 3 and Saints Row The Third are all good in my books. I think you should be worried more about next year, cause I sure am. Right now I'm only really interested in Bioshock Infinite, ME3, SCII: Heart of the Swarm and maybe XCOM.

 

[Falcondynamite]

Dead Space 2, BulletStorm, Dragon Age 2, Portal 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Gears 3, Batman Arkham City, Battlefield 3 and Saints Row The Third are all good in my books. I think you should be worried more about next year, cause I sure am. Right now I'm only really interested in Bioshock Infinite, ME3, SCII: Heart of the Swarm and maybe XCOM.

Which is exactly what I feared... While by now I can say "ok fine, it was a good year for games" however next year doesn't have a lot to look forward to though... Oh my God, it's the end of the world! (Not really) But that's definitely something we may see parading around the streets next year...
We might have some rare pop ups so lets hope that some of those exist for next year too!

 

[MrSalamandra]

I still don't understand why people thought that Duke Nukem Forever was going to be good at all. I had seen gameplay videos before it came out, and it looked terrible. I wasn't disappointed by that at all, because I never touched it.

Portal 2, DE:HR, Battlefield 3, Arkham City, Skyrim are all good/very good. Spent 103 hours playing Skyrim so far. Some indie games like Bastion are really good too, and for me Limbo was released in August because that's when it was released on the PC. I thought this was a good year.

 

[UltraXan]

*Looking at title*
I disagree with you! I've loved the games this year so far! Hell, I'm still engorged with Skyrim!

*reading OP*
Oh... Well yeah, you have a point there. Although I personally feel there are more gems than turds.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

Hell, I'm still engorged with Skyrim!

You're...what?

OT: This was the best year for games in quite a while. Next year doesn't look like it has much going for it. At this time last year we already had a massive list of exciting-looking upcoming 2011 games, but we only have a small handful right now. And most of the ones we do have were pushed back from that aforementioned 2011 list.

But a lack of 2012 games makes things all the better for the success of Guild Wars 2!

 

[SonicWaffle]

For all that went around, I kind of feel like the year was a step backward, sure I suppose it would be generally my own opinion. We ended up with multiple disappointments, and few gems.

That's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. However, what I will never understand is why, every single year, somebody feels the need to post something like this. They can't all have been bad years, surely? Well, except for those people who still insist that gaming is drowning in a pool of games about space marines saving the universe / "casual" games / realistic grey-brown shooters and that the end of video gaming is nigh, but who listens to those guys? They probably have a bad year every year, yet they keep buying the games they claim to hate just so they can complain.

In my opinion, this is one of the best years I can remember. Others have already mentioned some of the many, many excellent games we've had this year so I don't feel the need to do it again, but suffice to say there are plenty. There's been something for everyone. Even my disappointments, like Dragon Age 2, were still great fun to play - just not as much so as Origins and Awakenings.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Hell, I'm still engorged with Skyrim!

You're...what?

Engorged. He's consumed so much Skyrim, spent so much time playing it, that it has bloated him physically. As you know, it's a big game, and all those experiences have to go somewhere. Unfortunately, in Skyrim there's just too much stuff to hold in your brain, and so the body begins to store memories in the stomach. This leads to an unpleasant gassy feeling, as well as a rapidly expanding waistline as you devour more and more Skyrim.

It's possible to be fitted with a sort of gastric band equivalent. Which is to say, pay someone to come and switch off your console every few hours then force you to watch Two And A Half Men for a while. The vapid emptiness will cleanse the mind, thwarting any attempt at thought and leaving the inside of your head a bleak, empty wasteland. This will free up some space for more Skyrim, and avoid that messy problem of becoming so engorged that you explode.

 

[nbamaniac]

Wow... I'm very relieved that someone immediately brought up BASTION. It could easily cancel anything disappointing this gaming season.

OT:

Hell, I'm still engorged with Skyrim!

As of now my penis is also overflowing with Skyrim juice.

 

[Falcondynamite]

The Cat and the Coup, Deus Ex, Rage, WH 40,000 Space Marine, More CoD/Battlefield stuff for those who like that kind of thing, Little Big Planet 2, Forza has been making waves, Skyrim, L4D2 was given a whole glut of maps, Portal 2, L.A. Noir threatened to take us in a whole new direction...and those are just the ones that, off the top of my head, I've played and not been disappointed with (except the CoD/BF stuff. I don't like those, but I play them for sociability reasons; essentially I will play with a friend out of charity).

That's not bad, to be honest. If you thought that Duke Nukem Forever would be good then you hadn't been watching the trailers (or played the previous games). It was hypetastic. Dead Island was probably a disappointment because of how quickly the development was pushed. That teaser trailer generated so much interest that money was poured in, and with that sort of contraction of release date it seems unlikely that th efinal product wouldn't suffer.

A thought provoking post, but with so many games being released and the market and industry continuing to grow and develop in different directions all the time it is really hard to stick the point that 'this year was a bad one'. Whta strikes me, though, is that on the 2011 list there is roughly the same proportion of sequel:new IP as last year. In that respect, we are not moving forward (at least in terms of the AAA schedule).

While I can't say the sales of this year probably weren't good, they were indeed much more higher (Considering MW3 big money). While it felt like I either enjoyed about the same as last years, but again that's just me. You're point on CoD and BF are about the same as mine (I live around people who've only ever played those two and those two only).

Actually with Duke Nukem I did watch a lot of the trailers... It's just a spot in my mind just generated a little bit of hope, that maybe, just maybe, it would be good... Which then it accordingly stomped on that hope and I try not to remember it. Dead Island I already had itchy feelings ever since I viewed the development time established on, but regardless, I rented it and gave it a shot (I can't really say I didn't like a game till I lasted 3 or more hours playing it) I wasn't surprised afterwards.

Right on the money with sequel games, that I noticed immediately. I also don't think next year is going to be any different amongst that either (not saying next year is going to be a bad year, but you know what I mean).

 

[Falcondynamite]

I still don't understand why people thought that Duke Nukem Forever was going to be good at all. I had seen gameplay videos before it came out, and it looked terrible. I wasn't disappointed by that at all, because I never touched it.

Portal 2, DE:HR, Battlefield 3, Arkham City, Skyrim are all good/very good. Spent 103 hours playing Skyrim so far. Some indie games like Bastion are really good too, and for me Limbo was released in August because that's when it was released on the PC. I thought this was a good year.

I was already in doubt of Duke Nukem, I just sort of fooled myself with hope believing it might be relatively good... At least I admit it!

 

[Falcondynamite]

Hell, I'm still engorged with Skyrim!

You're...what?

Engorged. He's consumed so much Skyrim, spent so much time playing it, that it has bloated him physically. As you know, it's a big game, and all those experiences have to go somewhere. Unfortunately, in Skyrim there's just too much stuff to hold in your brain, and so the body begins to store memories in the stomach. This leads to an unpleasant gassy feeling, as well as a rapidly expanding waistline as you devour more and more Skyrim.

It's possible to be fitted with a sort of gastric band equivalent. Which is to say, pay someone to come and switch off your console every few hours then force you to watch Two And A Half Men for a while. The vapid emptiness will cleanse the mind, thwarting any attempt at thought and leaving the inside of your head a bleak, empty wasteland. This will free up some space for more Skyrim, and avoid that messy problem of becoming so engorged that you explode.

You just made my day, thank you so much!

 

[Falcondynamite]

For all that went around, I kind of feel like the year was a step backward, sure I suppose it would be generally my own opinion. We ended up with multiple disappointments, and few gems.

That's your opinion, and you're entitled to it. However, what I will never understand is why, every single year, somebody feels the need to post something like this. They can't all have been bad years, surely? Well, except for those people who still insist that gaming is drowning in a pool of games about space marines saving the universe / "casual" games / realistic grey-brown shooters and that the end of video gaming is nigh, but who listens to those guys? They probably have a bad year every year, yet they keep buying the games they claim to hate just so they can complain.

In my opinion, this is one of the best years I can remember. Others have already mentioned some of the many, many excellent games we've had this year so I don't feel the need to do it again, but suffice to say there are plenty. There's been something for everyone. Even my disappointments, like Dragon Age 2, were still great fun to play - just not as much so as Origins and Awakenings.

Oh, I'm not thinking it's progressively think it's getting worse and worse know, in fact I'm always trying to keep high expectations regardless of sometimes of my negativity may show, I liked last year (Because I was with Meat boy) and games as ridiculous as Bayonetta kept me entertained. "I" myself was not as indulged in this year, maybe because some of the more recognised titles, didn't curtsy my fancy. But again that's just me (also I apologise, I'm new here and I've been making mistakes, I didn't feel like needlessly offending anyone). It's just my opinion, most people tell me it was a stunning year, but I myself didn't feel as much love as I felt last year, while even today I've been playing Catherine trying to gold all the hard mode levels, at least I had a few gems to keep me happy, but a lot of the major games, I personally felt they weren't remarkable.

But my voice doesn't beat a million people, so yeah. I just hope I can induldge in some other games next year, because at least I'm happy to know that that gaming is constantly growing, I just hope the quality either continues to vary and change as well as having good quality as well. In my own way I'd love to be part of the gaming industry, making hard but fun games, but cheap so that everyone can afford them and enjoy them! To me It's all about the passion, and as the gaming industry grows, I hope that, that passion that grew it doesn't go away.

 

[Thespian]

Kind of a meh year. My major highlights were:
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Bastion
Dragon Age 2

Portal 2 was a huge disappointment to me, Batman: Arkham City looks unenthralling, Assassin's Creed: Revelations I will get at some point but I'm not that excited for it.

Skyrim looks great, and I'm getting it for the holidays.

Still, last year is totally idealized for me because I started gaming (outside of the semi-annual pokémon purchase) for the first time in 2010, so every release was like a sparkly gem.

 

[Westaway]

I thought this year was pretty good. Dark Souls, Gears of War 3, Skyrim, and countless others were great, while leepijgnthe disapoijtmemts to a minimum comsidering everything. Peole who say games are getting worse can go keep to their blogs no one reads