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19Jun 07
Good evening faithful Gamespotians. I am the great and mighty prophet Nostrajimus.
One of the great advantages of making predictions with a long-term (defined in the modern era as being beyond two weeks) timeline is that you get all the credit of making a firm stance on something that hasn’t happened yet without any of the downside of people coming back and reminding you of how wrong your predictions turned out to be. (For further reference, look up the terms “Dick Cheney”, “Iraq” and “last throes”.)
So I figure I have nothing to lose by making my own list of ten incredibly fearless predictions of things that I believe will happen over the next twelve months. Before I do so, I have a quick side note that needs to be stated.
Spineless Disclaimer: As the more astute reader may have noticed, the word I used before the word “predictions” above was “fearless”. It wasn’t “popular” or even “accurate”. The word was fearless. This means that if you disagree with these predictions, well, I’d love to hear your reasoning but do try and keep it civil. I have a job and a girlfriend already, which means I’ve already heard all the many, many ways that I can be called an idiot that mankind has invented over the years.
Without further ado, onto the predictions!
There will be increased scrutiny of how video games are rated and marketed, particularly in the U.S.
This is the least fearless of my predictions by a long shot.
While it may be tempting to believe that with the more liberal Democrats in control over Congress for at least the next year and a half we’ll see a relaxing of the scrutiny the industry receives over the contents of its products, this would be a faulty assumption. While it is true that in most areas, Republicans tend to be a bit more into legislating morality, Democrats are not far behind their counterparts when it comes to scoring easy political points at the demonized video game industry’s expense.
Several of the more prominent Democrats out there, such as Hillary Clinton and Joe Liebermann (though some would argue the latter is no longer a Democrat) are among the biggest crusaders against mature content in video games. A simple search on gamespot reveals that hardly a day goes by without some new article about the scrutiny of the industry. With Republicans aching to get control of Congress back and Democrats practically orgasming at the thought of getting the White House back, both sides will be doing everything possible to grab up the “values voters” demographic. Sorry everyone.
Japanese game developing will continue its decade long slow decline in the face of stiff competition from America and Europe.
Let’s play a little game. What is the first name that comes to your mind when you think of a top-tier game developer? If you’re around thirty years old or older, then chances are you’re thinking of a Japanese company. If you’re in your mid-twenties or younger then you’re probably thinking of a company in the U.S. or Canada.
I’m closer to thirty than I am to twenty. And I grew up with Square (now Square Enix), Capcom, Konami, etc. as the guys who made the best games. However, that has gradually changed over the last decade or so. The shift has been slow, but these days well over half of the best game design companies in the world are on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. I’m talking about Bioware, Bethesda, Bungie, Take-Two/Rockstar, Blizzard, Ubisoft and EA. (Okay, maybe I threw that last one out there just to see if you were paying attention.)
The biggest reason for this is innovation. The Japanese names I mentioned haven’t trotted out anything new since I was a teenager. Don’t get me wrong, I love some of the games from Japan more than my beloved pet cat. I cut my video game teeth on Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. But let’s face facts folks, Square Enix hasn’t trotted out an original idea in about a decade. It tweaks its existing stuff and character archetypes just enough to make it seem new, slaps on some new textures and a couple of CGI cutscenes, then repackages and ships it out. Final Fantasy XII may as well have listed George Lucas in the credits. In fact, if I was Mr. Lucas I would have sued for about twenty different copyright infringements.
It amazes me that more people don’t make the connection between the rise of American based game design companies and the success of the mostly American based Xbox 360.
Moving on.
The next twelve months will kick off the Year of the RPG.
At last! At long last! The last year and a half have been, shall we say, a little on the dry side when it comes to quality rpg titles for the new generation of video games. While shooter, sports and even racing fans have been gorging on the feast of quality titles that have been presented to them, rpg fans have been quietly sitting back and cursing them all into the deepest, darkest corner of hell we’ve been so jealous.
No longer! The next 12 months have an absolute bonanza of highly anticipated titles coming up.
Blue Dragon
Eternal Sonata
Final Fantasy XIII
The Last Remnant
Lost Odyssey
Mass Effect
Two Worlds
The Witcher
Fable 2
The list goes on and on. But the reason I’m as excited as the school nerd who just found out that the head cheerleader has agreed to go to the prom with him is that nearly all of these upcoming rpg games look really good. The names I mentioned are merely a handful, and it is already a murderer’s row lineup. I’m three weeks away from taking my Swedish girlfriend back to Sweden so she can be married near her family, and then going on a honeymoon on the Mediterranean coastline in Spain, and all I can think about is how much Mass Effect is going to rock.
Mass Effect will be the Game of the Year from Gamespot.
Mass Effect is going to be the best game released over the next twelve months period. Notice again that I did not say that it would be the most popular. I said it would be the best. Others may suggest other games. You’ll hear people mention Halo 3, Final Fantasy XIII or Assassin’s Creed or several other top contenders. Those people would be wrong. I am right.
Why am I so certain? I have two reasons.
First and foremost, last year Oblivion got robbed of the game of the year award in one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen outside of a rigged boxing ring. Don’t get me wrong. Gears of War was, and is, an excellent game. However it was not nearly as breathtakingly innovative, daring, and expansive as Oblivion was. Gears of War was great, but so were a dozen or so other shooter titles released around the same time. GeOW did not bring anything to the table that hadn’t been brought before.
And second, because Bioware is pulling out all the stops here. Bioware is, hands down, the Ferrari of game developers. It is Michael Jordan on steroids. Name a badly rated Bioware game. Go ahead and try. I dare you. You can’t do it because there are none. Bioware is the gold standard for consistent greatness, and this is Bioware’s first foray into the new generation of video game consoles. Anyone who isn’t tracking this game should do so. Anyone who doesn’t get half a chubby at the trailers that Bioware has released needs a quick shot of Viagra because something is definitely wrong with their man-parts.
The gaming industry will continue its slow journey of discovery with regards to women.
If you want to laugh your hind parts off for ten full minutes then listen closely and do exactly as I say. First, find yourself a video game playing girlfriend, or at least a girl willing to pretend to be one in order for a good joke. Second, have them go into a video game store. Follow them in and lurk nearby as the girl approaches the counter. Then, have the girl tell the pale faced dude behind the counter that she would like to cancel her preorder of Mass Effect. Last, watch the reaction and listen to the ensuing conversation closely.
This is what I did recently. The reaction was astonishingly funny.
For the record, before I go any further, the reason my girlfriend and I were cancelling our preorder is that we have a friend who works for Microsoft that can get us the game for a lot cheaper than retail. So we switched our preorder to Bioshock.
In any event, the reaction was about what you’d expect. It was dumbfounded amazement that A) A girl was in a video game store B) She actually knew what Mass Effect was and could talk about it intelligently and C) Wanted to actually cancel a preorder of what will likely be the Game of the Year.
The gaming industry has come a long way in how it portrays women in gaming. Much of this growth can be directly attributed to the rise of Western game developers that have slightly different cultural ideas about women. But it is astonishing how female gamers are still treated like unicorns, beautiful creatures that are wonderful to dream about but don’t really exist. This point was driven home quite well by my girlfriend when she sat with me watching me play the demo of Overlord recently off of Xbox Live.
“Why can’t you play an Overlady instead?” And you know what? She’s right. I do predict that games like Heavenly Sword will continue to slowly break down the stereotype that in order to be tough and “macho” you need to have a specific set of breeding equipment only found in the male gender.
That’s it for today. Watch for part two of my predictions in a day or two when I'll make predictions about PC gaming, exclusives, the console war between the three major consoles, the format war between HD-DVD and Bluray and one final surprise topic.
One of the great advantages of making predictions with a long-term (defined in the modern era as being beyond two weeks) timeline is that you get all the credit of making a firm stance on something that hasn’t happened yet without any of the downside of people coming back and reminding you of how wrong your predictions turned out to be. (For further reference, look up the terms “Dick Cheney”, “Iraq” and “last throes”.)
So I figure I have nothing to lose by making my own list of ten incredibly fearless predictions of things that I believe will happen over the next twelve months. Before I do so, I have a quick side note that needs to be stated.
Spineless Disclaimer: As the more astute reader may have noticed, the word I used before the word “predictions” above was “fearless”. It wasn’t “popular” or even “accurate”. The word was fearless. This means that if you disagree with these predictions, well, I’d love to hear your reasoning but do try and keep it civil. I have a job and a girlfriend already, which means I’ve already heard all the many, many ways that I can be called an idiot that mankind has invented over the years.
Without further ado, onto the predictions!
There will be increased scrutiny of how video games are rated and marketed, particularly in the U.S.
This is the least fearless of my predictions by a long shot.
While it may be tempting to believe that with the more liberal Democrats in control over Congress for at least the next year and a half we’ll see a relaxing of the scrutiny the industry receives over the contents of its products, this would be a faulty assumption. While it is true that in most areas, Republicans tend to be a bit more into legislating morality, Democrats are not far behind their counterparts when it comes to scoring easy political points at the demonized video game industry’s expense.
Several of the more prominent Democrats out there, such as Hillary Clinton and Joe Liebermann (though some would argue the latter is no longer a Democrat) are among the biggest crusaders against mature content in video games. A simple search on gamespot reveals that hardly a day goes by without some new article about the scrutiny of the industry. With Republicans aching to get control of Congress back and Democrats practically orgasming at the thought of getting the White House back, both sides will be doing everything possible to grab up the “values voters” demographic. Sorry everyone.
Japanese game developing will continue its decade long slow decline in the face of stiff competition from America and Europe.
Let’s play a little game. What is the first name that comes to your mind when you think of a top-tier game developer? If you’re around thirty years old or older, then chances are you’re thinking of a Japanese company. If you’re in your mid-twenties or younger then you’re probably thinking of a company in the U.S. or Canada.
I’m closer to thirty than I am to twenty. And I grew up with Square (now Square Enix), Capcom, Konami, etc. as the guys who made the best games. However, that has gradually changed over the last decade or so. The shift has been slow, but these days well over half of the best game design companies in the world are on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. I’m talking about Bioware, Bethesda, Bungie, Take-Two/Rockstar, Blizzard, Ubisoft and EA. (Okay, maybe I threw that last one out there just to see if you were paying attention.)
The biggest reason for this is innovation. The Japanese names I mentioned haven’t trotted out anything new since I was a teenager. Don’t get me wrong, I love some of the games from Japan more than my beloved pet cat. I cut my video game teeth on Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior. But let’s face facts folks, Square Enix hasn’t trotted out an original idea in about a decade. It tweaks its existing stuff and character archetypes just enough to make it seem new, slaps on some new textures and a couple of CGI cutscenes, then repackages and ships it out. Final Fantasy XII may as well have listed George Lucas in the credits. In fact, if I was Mr. Lucas I would have sued for about twenty different copyright infringements.
It amazes me that more people don’t make the connection between the rise of American based game design companies and the success of the mostly American based Xbox 360.
Moving on.
The next twelve months will kick off the Year of the RPG.
At last! At long last! The last year and a half have been, shall we say, a little on the dry side when it comes to quality rpg titles for the new generation of video games. While shooter, sports and even racing fans have been gorging on the feast of quality titles that have been presented to them, rpg fans have been quietly sitting back and cursing them all into the deepest, darkest corner of hell we’ve been so jealous.
No longer! The next 12 months have an absolute bonanza of highly anticipated titles coming up.
Blue Dragon
Eternal Sonata
Final Fantasy XIII
The Last Remnant
Lost Odyssey
Mass Effect
Two Worlds
The Witcher
Fable 2
The list goes on and on. But the reason I’m as excited as the school nerd who just found out that the head cheerleader has agreed to go to the prom with him is that nearly all of these upcoming rpg games look really good. The names I mentioned are merely a handful, and it is already a murderer’s row lineup. I’m three weeks away from taking my Swedish girlfriend back to Sweden so she can be married near her family, and then going on a honeymoon on the Mediterranean coastline in Spain, and all I can think about is how much Mass Effect is going to rock.
Mass Effect will be the Game of the Year from Gamespot.
Mass Effect is going to be the best game released over the next twelve months period. Notice again that I did not say that it would be the most popular. I said it would be the best. Others may suggest other games. You’ll hear people mention Halo 3, Final Fantasy XIII or Assassin’s Creed or several other top contenders. Those people would be wrong. I am right.
Why am I so certain? I have two reasons.
First and foremost, last year Oblivion got robbed of the game of the year award in one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen outside of a rigged boxing ring. Don’t get me wrong. Gears of War was, and is, an excellent game. However it was not nearly as breathtakingly innovative, daring, and expansive as Oblivion was. Gears of War was great, but so were a dozen or so other shooter titles released around the same time. GeOW did not bring anything to the table that hadn’t been brought before.
And second, because Bioware is pulling out all the stops here. Bioware is, hands down, the Ferrari of game developers. It is Michael Jordan on steroids. Name a badly rated Bioware game. Go ahead and try. I dare you. You can’t do it because there are none. Bioware is the gold standard for consistent greatness, and this is Bioware’s first foray into the new generation of video game consoles. Anyone who isn’t tracking this game should do so. Anyone who doesn’t get half a chubby at the trailers that Bioware has released needs a quick shot of Viagra because something is definitely wrong with their man-parts.
The gaming industry will continue its slow journey of discovery with regards to women.
If you want to laugh your hind parts off for ten full minutes then listen closely and do exactly as I say. First, find yourself a video game playing girlfriend, or at least a girl willing to pretend to be one in order for a good joke. Second, have them go into a video game store. Follow them in and lurk nearby as the girl approaches the counter. Then, have the girl tell the pale faced dude behind the counter that she would like to cancel her preorder of Mass Effect. Last, watch the reaction and listen to the ensuing conversation closely.
This is what I did recently. The reaction was astonishingly funny.
For the record, before I go any further, the reason my girlfriend and I were cancelling our preorder is that we have a friend who works for Microsoft that can get us the game for a lot cheaper than retail. So we switched our preorder to Bioshock.
In any event, the reaction was about what you’d expect. It was dumbfounded amazement that A) A girl was in a video game store B) She actually knew what Mass Effect was and could talk about it intelligently and C) Wanted to actually cancel a preorder of what will likely be the Game of the Year.
The gaming industry has come a long way in how it portrays women in gaming. Much of this growth can be directly attributed to the rise of Western game developers that have slightly different cultural ideas about women. But it is astonishing how female gamers are still treated like unicorns, beautiful creatures that are wonderful to dream about but don’t really exist. This point was driven home quite well by my girlfriend when she sat with me watching me play the demo of Overlord recently off of Xbox Live.
“Why can’t you play an Overlady instead?” And you know what? She’s right. I do predict that games like Heavenly Sword will continue to slowly break down the stereotype that in order to be tough and “macho” you need to have a specific set of breeding equipment only found in the male gender.
That’s it for today. Watch for part two of my predictions in a day or two when I'll make predictions about PC gaming, exclusives, the console war between the three major consoles, the format war between HD-DVD and Bluray and one final surprise topic.
- Posted Jun 19, 2007 7:59 pm PT
- Category: Editorial
- 94 Comments
94 Comments