Been meaning to point this out for quite some time, but I am for some reason quite proud to see N'Gai Croal and Stephen Totilo representing us admirably among the somewhat more mainstream media over at Slate, along with the NYT's Seth Schiesel and Slate's Chris Suellentrop, at the web mag's extensive roundup on the year in games. It's a bit stranger-in-a-strange-land for me to see -- after all, it's a enormously intellectual twelve-part discussion on games, and you rarely see stuff like that outside particular circles of dedicated non-traditional game writers (don't worry, Mr. Gillen, I will utter no sentences involving paternity or N.G.J.) What I mean is, it's interesting to see writers deal intellectually with games without being "games writers" per se.How useful's that to us? Dunno. Suellentrop identifies two big themes of 2007: "The first is that this was the best year ever for video games, that never in the past 35 years has there been such an abundance of worthy titles. (Hey, game studios, wanna think about releasing some of those during the first half of 2008?) The second is a lingering sense of frustration that games aren't even better, now that the medium (and many of its players) approaches middle age."
This was the best year yet, but we want games to be better. Couldn't that be a theme for any year in our comparatively short history, really? I dunno, if I had to identify two big themes for 2007 (I already said accessibility's the watchword for 2008), I'd say casual-ization, firstly -- and I realize that's not really a word -- and networked gaming, secondly. I mean, the biggest commercial success of the year, Halo 3, is known for its multiplayer component above all. That says something, right? And I also feel Nintendo's E3 demo was sort of a pivotal moment. For me, at least, that's when I realized gaming would never belong solely to me and my complicated little niche ever again. Wii changed everything. And, as much as we resisted admitting it, so did Diner Dash, Peggle, and Club Penguin.
This may really be the best year yet for games. And while we had some killer titles -- maybe some of the best ever, true -- I think the significance this year lies more in who was playing them, and how they felt about it, and the discussion that was fostered.
Or maybe I'm just a little pouty and jealous because I was not invited to participate in Slate's Gaming Club. Aren't I "Fab Five," after all?
[Via Level Up]
