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OCAU News |
Gaming Special - Year in Review 2008
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Monday, 15-December-2008 00:00:33 (GMT +10) - by BlaYde
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With 2008 nearly behind us, IGN has posted a series of "Year in Review" articles for the 4 main gaming platforms (PC, PS3, Xbox360 and Wii) as well as the 2 main handheld gaming platforms in PSP and Nintendo DS. So sit back, relax and check out the highs and lows, the news and reviews that made 2008 and see what 2009 might hold in store for your gaming platform.
Despite the frequent assertions that PC gaming is dead, or at least terminally ill, it has been a very good year for fans of the most versatile and egalitarian gaming platform around. We had a number of amazing PC exclusives that sold incredibly well, from Maxis' artful Spore to Mythic's Warhammer Online, which firmly and proudly emphasized the "multiplayer" in "massively multiplayer online game." Even CD Projekt's 2007 The Witcher managed to move lots of units thanks to the numerous improvements it made to the Enhanced version. - PC Year in Review 2008
2008 was quite the interesting year for all things PlayStation. The PS3 has just wrapped up its second full year of existence, and what a year it was, with an incredible amount of fantastic releases. The PSP had its share of stellar titles, though the amount of games we saw released for the system each month could be counted on your fingers, sometimes just one hand. The aging PS2 just saw the release of Persona 4, which will probably go down as the last great game for the system, all but signaling its unofficial death. - PlayStation 3 (inc. PSP) Year in Review 2008
Microsoft has an arsenal of ways to define its success in the videogame space. When the NPD Group releases its monthly report on the state of the videogame industry, Redmond is quick to respond with its own facts and figures, citing attach rates, Xbox Live subscriber numbers, and even peripheral sales to bolster its claims of living room supremacy. That's all well and good, but without great games none of that matters. And fortunately, 2008 was a blockbuster year for games on the 360. - Xbox 360 Year in Review 2008
As 2008 draws to an end, many Wii fans have mixed feelings about the console's library. Nintendo started the year off strong with the hugely-anticipated fighter, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a game that scored an "incredible" 9.5 from IGN.com. It followed up in April with Mario Kart Wii, a speedy racer that -- with its seamless connection process and leader-board ranking system -- truly heralded the arrival of the system's online service. And then in May it delivered audiences the ultimate bridge title in Wii Fit, an exercise program that is positioned to keep its shelf life at least through 2009, if not longer. The aforementioned releases represented a three-punch combo for the publisher's first quarter, but while the Big N may have come out swinging, it ultimately didn't have the stamina to go the full 12 rounds. - Nintendo Wii Year in Review 2008
It sounds like a broken record at this point, but once again the Nintendo DS handheld has had its most successful year on the market. 2008 was an unbelievably auspicious 12 months for Nintendo on both the console and handheld side of things, but the company's dual-screen and touch-screen handheld continues to dominate as the most fortuitous videogame platform of this generation. Worldwide the system surpassed 85 million units as of September 2008, so don't be surprised to hear that the hundred million mark was nailed at the end of this year. - Nintendo DS Year in Review 2008
As always, you can keep up to date in OCAU's Games and Game Consoles forums.
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All original content copyright James Rolfe.
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