It's the time of year when we all are supposed to reflect upon the bountiful year with a fond eye, then rank arbitrary totals of things in hasty lists slapped together in time for us to enjoy the holidays and read without thinking too much.
So in that vein , might I present my five favorite gaming trends, in no particular order? Great!
1. Cross-platform titles. It's good to see that even though the new hardware is out there and respective networks are up and running, you can enjoy almost any game no matter the machine on which you chose to spend a month's rent.
For every Xbox-only Titanfall, there was a multiplatform Alien: Isolation. For every PlayStation-exclusive Killzone: Shadow Fall, there was a pan-console Destiny.
The exclusives are nice, but what gamers have always wanted is to not have to carefully orchestrate a strategy to play the games we want. I wouldn't have a GameCube in my closet if it wasn't for Resident Evil 4. Speaking of which ...
2. Nintendo being exposed as a pretender. Everyone knew the Wii U was just a rehash of the original Wii. But because it was the tip of the spear for the next console generation, everyone slavered over it.
Now sales are tepid and no one seems to want the box. Nintendo is in disarray. If it wasn't for Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8, no one would be paying any attention at all.
Sure, the Wii U has sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 million units, but keep in mind less than 3 million of those were over the last 12 months, putting it behind Sony and Microsoft. It looks like no one wants a game console that Nintendo should have built last generation.
3. The price cuts begin. Hey, forget blowing $500 on that new Xbox One. You can get a console, controller, headset and two games (or more) for $349 now.
That's not yet what you could call cheap, but it is a relative bargain. It's also what a lot of people sitting out of this generation have been waiting for.
It also seems to be quite early for a hardware maker to be slashing prices. Maybe the Big Three are starting to realize consumer habits are changing, since ...
4. Mobile gaming migrates off dedicated handhelds for good. You guys remember the Game Boy? Or even the PSP? Remember the worst thing about those? Yeah, the cartridges, or discs, or whatever proprietary media was required to play the things.
In a country where any 3-year-old can pick up a phone or tablet and play Angry Birds like they were born to it, it's refreshing to see proper releases going to mobile. And you don't need cartridges to play them.
My personal fave, Telltale's The Walking Dead, showed up on iPhones and Android devices, sure, but there have been other greats like The Silent Era and Xcom. Plus, while some people like to stick to simple puzzlers, there's always Final Fantasy installments and mindbenders like Limbo available, usually for $10 or less.
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Explore all your options5. Next-gen online gaming works out the bugs. Wait, no, this one didn't happen yet. Maybe next year.
See? I told you it was arbitrary.
— Joshua Gillin writes about video games for tbt*. Challenge his opinions at jgillin@tampabay.com.