The Games Are All Right

As we approach the end of the year and look back, people would be forgiven for thinking that the gaming world was on fire.

The ongoing gamergate incident saw gamers facing off against political extremists, gaming press, developers, and ultimately one another in a war of words and absolutist ideologies that not only won't go away any time soon, but will almost certainly flare up into an all-consuming conflict again. High-profile releases like Assassin's Creed: Unity and Halo: The Master Chief Collection have had botched releases, and even more, like Watch Dogs and Driveclub, were massive disappointments. Of course, I can't forget Microsoft's $2 billion Minecraft purchase, which had people all over the Internet mourning the massively-popular block-building game's apparent demise.

It's easy to forget, then, that some pretty damned good stuff has come out. Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, and Bayonetta 2 were enormous highlights, proving Nintendo still has a place in the industry. Not only that, but there have been some sweet titles outside of Nintendo's system as well. We have had arguably the freshest Call of Duty since Modern Warfare come out this year, a fantastic pair of Warriors games, a new Tales of RPG (Xilia 2), a host of sweet smaller games like Putty Squad and Trials Fusion, a masterful re-imagining of the classic run-and-gun FPS style with Wolfenstein: The New Order, and even - of all the left-field shit imaginable - a physical console release for last year's FPS slice-and-dice katana fest, Shadow Warrior. The PS4 has had a resounding success in retail, and even the Xbone has made something of a comeback, the two of them combining to prove that console gaming isn't anywhere near dead, and won't be any time soon. GoG got freaking Disney on board to re-release some of the most enduring LucasArts games of the nineties and oughts, and has grown into a legitimate alternative to Steam for many smaller titles. In fact, there's been plenty of reason to be a happy gamer this year, despite the issues that are catching all the headlines.

Obviously this industry has issues, and the sooner they're addressed, the better. However, let's not lose sight on the fact that, overall, it was a pretty good year, and with hope for more awesomeness on the horizon. Thus, while we rightly rage at the things going wrong, it's worth it to take a moment to think of stuff that's been good this year as well, and celebrate the triumphs as much as we decry the tragedies.

So how about it? What do you all think has been good from 2014? I'd love to hear what you guys think about the positives of the gaming year, so let's have some happy time, shall we?

I agree. While there were a few disappointing things happen this year overall I'd say things for the most part were really damn good. There were plenty of great games this year such as the games you mention plus Forza Horizon 2, Shadow of Mordor, The Evil Within, Titanfall, Destiny, Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition, Ultra Street Fighter IV, Sunset Overdrive, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Yeah... Games are Awesome ! Needs more Co-Op though.

nice op. i guess when looking at gaming as a whole 2014 has had its moments.

i'll admit there hasn't been an abundance of games that have really done it for me this year but the other side of the coin is i've had some much needed time to catch up with my backlog. when i'd made my way through most of those i treated myself to a ps4 and i'm really glad i did. i finally played the last of us. alien isolation was a pleasant surprise. those are a few of my positives from 2014

I laughed at the phrase and context of political extremists. It's the gaming community's Red Scare.

Yeah, there actually was some pretty good software this year.

Given how the Red Scares (especially the second Red Scare) eventually started eating into Americans' trust of one another, it's not a bad comparison.