A Decade of Gaming: 2006

By Chris Cesarano

The year that the next-generation began. Xbox 360 was beginning to see a slew of major releases and the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii were hitting store shelves. To many, however, it was a bit disheartening. The previous generation felt like it had just begun and didn’t even reach full swing. The only games to truly push the original Xbox to its limits were Halo 2, Riddick and Doom 3. There was still so much more that could be done! What was next, new systems releasing in 2011?

In the end, it feels like the games industry has been rushing to this point since they first hit 3-D gaming. In one massive sprint to get 3-D graphics that looked movie quality while simultaneously having enough processing power to draw hundreds of foes on screen at once.

Even so, there were a select few titles that made players feel optimistic about the future of the industry. Unfortunately, this is also where we’d start seeing hype build into the massive force it is today. It genuinely feels less about making fun games and more about making the greatest marketing campaign, as that is what will determine sales numbers and the spread in a magazine you’ll have dedicated to your title.

Still, it was ok to be naïve. After all, each console was bringing something new to the table in one way or another.

Playstation 3 releases

There is no doubt about it, Sony was conceited. For two generations in a row and an entire decade they had been the top dog in the console gaming business. They kicked Sega into platform obscurity twice and pushed Nintendo into second fiddle. Why would they have to worry about the Xbox 360 when they trounced their premiere system so hard?

Then came their horrifically bad press conference. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that boomerang controller wasn’t a fluke, it was a warning. While everyone was busy exclaiming Nintendo had lost touch with the gamers, we never noticed that Sony never understood us, or the market in general, to begin with.

The Playstation 3 was intended to be sold as a computer entertainment system where they envisioned it competing with the likes of Dell, Apple, Toshiba, etc. They didn’t expect people to compare the price tag to other game consoles but to other computers. This was their fatal mistake. The Playstation brand was already ingrained in the market as a gaming machine. While the ability to play Blu-Ray discs was a nifty feature, it wasn’t a convincing enough selling point at the time. If someone wanted a computer for the home office, they’d go out and buy one.

This is nothing to say of the launch games. Resistance: Fall of Man is one of the most boring and generic shooters I’ve ever touched. Genji 2 was a lame sequel to a lame game no one had even bought on the Playstation 2. The Ridge Racer series has been showing its age and decline in quality ever since the spin-off R: Racing Evolution. Everything else was cross-platform, so why bother?

Yet Sony pushed head long into a nonsensical marketing campaign and shot their mouths off every chance they could. They claimed Nintendo would be a gimmick and threw insults in Microsoft’s direction regularly. In the years to follow, Sony would be forced to redact smart ass statements at their competition and eat some humble pie. The world wide market does not know of brand name loyalty. All it takes is the smallest of mistakes to nudge someone over to your competitor. The key to the success of the Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 was the game library, and when comparing the three different platforms and their price points, it was clear. The Playstation 3 was just not worth the time or money.

It’s actually refreshing to see that Sony has since learned their lesson, and has begun putting out a lot of quality titles as well as great marketing campaigns.

Wii Would Like to Play

After everyone had been so skeptical of the motion controls, Nintendo came in that E3 and screamed “WHAT NOW?!”. We had become enamored. The press loved it, gamers were excited, and Nintendo was slowly beginning to capture the interest of everyone else. You know, the non-gamers.

I still recall the midnight launch for the system. I had been in line with several other members of RIT’s Electronic Gaming Society to apprehend what would become the hardest to purchase game system in history. Once in possession we headed to campus and snuck into an empty classroom to make use of its projector screen.

Playing Wii Sports with my friends for the first time was one of the most enjoyable experiences in my life. We tried each of the games, discovered which each of us were best at, and played for hours into the morning. However, we also gave Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess a whirl and discovered the sad truth of motion control. It was imprecise and inaccurate. We would swing the nunchuck and Link would delay in following the command. More so, he didn’t follow where we precisely held the controller as we had expected.

We figured that it was alright since it was a launch title and originally built for the GameCube, but this trend continued on. It would become apparent that Nintendo’s technology didn’t work as precisely as advertised, both by the company themselves and by the press. Add in the lazy programming done by third parties wanting to cash in on what they expected to be a gimmick, and the library was quickly flooded with disappointments.

Still, no matter what your thoughts on the system are, there is no doubt that it has changed the face of gaming forever. Everyone is doing it now. Everyone wants to have a Wii. Whether this will truly bring games to everyone has yet to be seen. All we know is we are one step closer to being a regular part of every day life.

The Great Fanboy Wars

There have always been fanboys out there. Star Wars vs. Star Trek, Apple vs. IBM, Linux vs. Everything else, Nintendo vs. Sega. There will always be people that believe their favorite thing is somehow better than another.

Yet the release of Xbox 360 and coming release of Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 called forth something dark within all of us. A pair of Nintendo and Microsoft fans started up Wii60, a web page and forum dedicated to supporting all things not Sony. I myself was a part of that site, as many of us simply did not like what Sony thought of us gamers and where they were going as a game developer. Later on, the Sony Defense Force was founded, as well as a slew of other sites such as PSWii60 (perhaps the only ones of us with some sense) and PSWii movement.

Interestingly enough, the only site remaining active is the Sony Defense Force. I won’t speak of whether the owner of Wii60 and SDF were one and the same (except that the guys at Kotaku are bags of dicks for not printing clarification from the ACTIVE moderators and front page managers of the site), nor will I speak of my reasons for leaving the site altogether. Still, that these sites even exist go to show just how insane the fanaticism had become. Sony die-hards were defending their platform to the death, and fans of Nintendo and Microsoft were teaming up as if for war. It’s like all the scrawny kids decided to surround the bully in the school yard and overtake him in a joint effort.

Of course, later such alliances would end as the “Xbox hardcore” decried the titles on Nintendo as lame and cash-ins while the Nintendo loyalists would exclaim the Xbox 360 games lacked imagination. It was the peak of immaturity and in some ways persists to this day.

Still, I’m not ashamed to admit I was a part of it. After all, I got to meet a lot of cool online friends there and it helped inspire me to write about video games more. This site wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for my days at Wii60. Still, that any of this happened at all shows just how “mature” us gamers truly are.

Blizzard cancels Starcraft: Ghost

2006 marked the year that Blizzard would become one of my most hated game studios ever. In fact, they are the only studio I hate. I’ve never even felt such animosity toward EA or Sony, and I still don’t hold such anger towards Activision.

After buying out Swingin’ Ape Studios and transforming them into their console division, Blizzard announced the cancellation of Starcraft: Ghost. They insisted on focusing on next-gen game development, even though the game looked beautiful and complete enough that another year of development to port to Xbox 360 architecture wouldn’t have hurt. Still, at the time I figured why not? I was angry, but I could wait and see what they had up their sleeves. After all, Swingin’ Ape, developers of Metal Arms, were now their console development position. A sequel to Metal Arms was likely impossible, but who knows what they would make?

Since the cancellation of Starcraft: Ghost, Blizzard has released two expansion for World of Warcraft, is working on another expansion, and is getting set to release Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. None of which are console games, and none of which are titles I have much interest in as my background is purely in console gaming.

If Blizzard had at any point announced they were developing a console project, I may not mind. Yet it feels as if they stole an excellent developer and put them to waste on IP that would have been made anyway. What am I left with? Nothing.

That isn’t to say I feel Blizzard is a company that everyone should hate. After all, anyone that is primarily a PC gamer has no reason to feel anger or rage. I just personally feel robbed not only of what could have been a good game, but of what could have been a great studio. Now there is nothing to show for it but a slew of sequels that were going to be made anyway and were guaranteed to sell.

Mother 3

I unfortunately have not been able to play the game all the way through yet via the English translation patch. Time is tough and the PC is more of a working tool than a gaming tool. Yet I can certainly say the game is something special and well worth the wait.

If only Nintendo had released it in North America.

I cannot really explain the company’s thinking. EarthBound (Mother 2 in Japan) has a cult following that has only grown thanks to ROMs and word of mouth, yet Nintendo figured it just didn’t have a market over here. This is nothing to say of an audience forming simply from new gamers stumbling upon it, or the number of new and old gamers desperate for a decent RPG on-the-go.

Even so, Mother 3 continues the goofy and imaginative humor that could be found in its predecessor, painting an absurd world that is fun to visit every once in a while. In addition is a very, very serious story that honestly tugs at the heart strings. It literally is a game that cannot be compared to any other simply because of the imagination behind it. Instead of trying to mimic or simulate the feel or style of another major franchise, Mother 3 is content with making its own.

With luck there will be some sort of release in the future, be it on the next-generation WiiWare, DSiWare or some other form of distribution that won’t trouble Nintendo too much. However, current view is looking unlikely.

Prey

Let me be honest with you. Prey is not on this list because it was a mind-blowingly awesome game. The A.I. and overall design was as bland as either Doom 3 or Quake 4. However, it was still a fun title.

Before everyone’s favorite casually hardcore title Portal released, Prey emphasized exploring the environment in all the best unconventional means. From defying gravity to stepping into portals that took you from one point to another, Prey was all about taking your typical environment and literally flipping it upside down. It was loaded with clever puzzles and level-design, as well as an interesting atmosphere and setting.

Unfortunately, whomever was in charge of the script was inadequate and shouldn’t have gotten the job. While having a Native American character who hated his heritage could have been an interesting starting point for a character, they instead took it the predictable route. They developed a complete jerk who swore way too often and refuted his heritage for the most juvenile reasons. More so, the language often felt forced and unnatural, as if it was there for the sake of getting a Mature rating instead of simulating how someone might actually react in such a situation.

Despite these flaws, the game was pretty fun to play. The multiplayer had plenty of potential, only the netcode was one of the greatest messes to hit video games. Your connection options were lag, more lag and a king’s platter of lag. As a result the game was only worth playing once. For whatever value it had, its innovations would later be overshadowed by titles like Portal and Super Mario Galaxy. Even so, I enjoyed it and still think it deserves a mention for what they tried, even if the end-result wasn’t a stellar package.

Dead Rising

Finally, a zombie game that allowed players to do what they always wanted. Make a weapon out of anything you could get your blood soaked hands on.

Dead Rising is one of the most enjoyable games out there simply due to the number of ways you can kill zombies. There are weapons everywhere, both effective and ineffective, and a slew of outfits to make the hero look as goofy or stylish as you like. As the player kills more zombies and levels up a slew of additional combat abilities are gained, allowing players to throw zombies into each other, pile drive them into the floor or even step across their heads and shoulders.

Yet the game was met with a lot of complaint. Everyone expected a sandbox title where they could do whatever they wanted whenever they wanted to. Instead it came with a time limit to complete the story, something that caused players to feel rushed and even cheated. Personally, I had no problem with the time limit. I actually liked it as it helped give purpose to the game. Just killing zombies would get boring within minutes, yet it was kept entertaining by providing me goals and a limited amount of time to complete them.

In addition to the primary story missions were additional side villains and survivors to save, unlocking special and powerful weaponry as well as providing additional experience bonuses. Being able to take photographs allowed for additional experience as well as a fun little side game, not to mention amusing commentary from our freelancing hero.

While the story wasn’t the greatest, it was surprisingly adequate for a video game plot. It was intriguing enough to garner interest, but also absurd enough that you could laugh at it. Which was the entire point of the game. A tragic event coated in layers upon layers of absurdity. It was very effective as a dark comedy video game.

Here is to hoping the sequel is as great of a game, if not greater.

Gears of War

Unreal 2 had been a major disappointment to fans of the studio and the franchise. Epic needed to release a title that would not only show off their latest engine, but would sell bigger than anything they’d done before. With support from Microsoft, they developed Gears of War, a game that felt as if it would change shooters forever.

It wasn’t as drastic a change as it first felt, but the in-depth cover system spawned a tactical stop-and-pop style to counter the frequent run-and-gun titles on the market. While Sony was hoping to win hearts with Resistance: Fall of Man, Microsoft was releasing their first major IP for the Xbox 360. While many complained about the super masculine look (and still do), the game was undeniably fun and the biggest hit of the year. Microsoft had their killer app, and Sony was left without.

No matter what you think of the story or characters, you cannot deny the simple fact that the cover system and weapons in this game are designed perfectly. Each room is littered with cover and terrain for you and your foes to dive behind. Each weapon has an ideal situation in mind, none of them being worthless (except maybe the pistol). After playing Gears of War interest waned in the Halo franchise, dethroning it as Microsoft’s crown jewel.

Other noteworthy titles of 2006:

Wii Sports, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Okami, Metroid Prime Hunters, Tetris DS, The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, The Godfather: The Game, Kingdom Hearts 2, Tomb Raider: Legend, Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, Final Fantasy XII, SiN Episodes: Emergence, Heroes of Might & Magic 5, New Super Mario Bros., Rockstar Games: Table Tennis, Jaws: Unleashed, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth 2, Chromehounds, Super Monkey Ball Adventure, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7, Ninety-Nine Nights, Star Fox Command, Enchanted Arms, Saints Row, LocoRoco, Xenosaga Episode III, Lego Star Wars II, Pokemon Ranger, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2, Baten Kaitos Origins, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Battlefield 2142, Bully, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Call of Duty 3, Guitar Hero 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, Lumines 2, Medieval 2: Total War, Final Fantasy 3, Sonic the Hedgehog, Resistance: Fall of Man, Ridge Racer 7, Excite Truck, Red Steel, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Trauma Center: Second Opinion, Rainbow Six: Vegas, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

2006 in video gaming on Wikipedia

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What do you remember from 2006?

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