When historians look back upon 2013 in terms of gaming...

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

...what sort of year would it be?

As in, what are the trends of 2013, in terms of gaming?

To me, it's the year of great story-telling; practically all of the "great" games released this year were praised because of their excellent stories or the telling thereof (Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us, GTA V, (to an extent) Beyond: Two Souls, and The Wolf Among Us), but not completely devoid of good-excellent gameplay, what with the release of Saints Row IV and Shadow Warrior(and to an extent GTA V, but the gameplay and the structure of it seem the same, aside from the heist missions).

So tell me, when this year in gaming will be looked back upon, how will it be seen?

(Pardon me if I don't make a lot of sense, I sometimes find it hard to put ideas into text)

 

[Zhukov]

I expect that for many people it will simply be 'The Year That GTA5 Came Out'.

For me personally it will be 'The Year That Bioshock Infinite And The Last of Us Came Out'. Wasn't really much else worthy of note for me. (Haven't played Wolf Among Us yet.) So I guess in trend terms that would equate to 'The Year Of The Citizen Kane Of Gaming... Again' or something.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

'The Year Of The Citizen Kane Of Gaming... Again'

God I hope that we forget that saying as time goes by.

It still sounds a bit patronizing.

 

[Evonisia]

They'll probably judge it as the year of Sony. With Nintendo's terrible sales and the Xbox One catastrophe, historians will look back on how good Sony was in 2013 (despite not actually doing much to support themselves), especially with the PlayStation 4 and The Last of Us.

GTA V may be a strong contender for overthrowing Sony though, and Infinite may be remembered too.

 

[ChupathingyX]

2013 is the year in which the god Torotoro gave his final gift of three to humanity. Which was then delivered to us by his prophet, Rogue, who journeyed to the West to deliver his swan song upon mankind.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Well I will forever remember it as the year that the industry pushed to hard and the year of backpedaling.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I think it'll be seen as the year the PS4 and Xbox One came out. I mean, a system is a tad more important than a game.

 

[Vegosiux]

Some healthy historical distance and objectivity will have the historians see 2013 as pretty much unremarkable, or in the best case "Oh look, for the seventeenth year straight, people felt it's the year of 'TEH BEST GAEMS EVAH ZOMG!'"

Where would Bioshock Infinite and TLOU be without the preceding hype? Where would any other "Citizen Kane of Gaming" game? Speaking of which, was Citizen Kane a movie hyped as heavily as any of those games before it was even released?

 

[FourCartridge]

2013 will likely be remembered as this gen's swan song and/or "The year of DRM". Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us, & GTA5 are great ways to end any console's lifespan(though admittedly not the best). Say what you will, but high metacritic scores and sales mean they were a success even when new consoles were announced and everyone was saving up cash.

On the news front there was also possibly the most massive grassroots movement in #PS4noDRM, who's inital members has no idea it might succeed at all, let alone get Microsoft to reverse their policy as well. The pre-launch console war has been very interesting as the industry might have taken a very different direction.

Hardly "unremarkable".

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

They will laugh at the complete cock-up that was the Xbone launch.

Seriously, even those outside the gaming industry consider it a failure.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Yeah I'll throw my hat in with storytelling progress (but nothing on the gameplay side).
And obviously there is the kickstarter breakthrough, yet to be determined whether good or bad in the long run.

Sadly also the year every existent political rights group tries to clam gaming as their own soap box and toilet at the same time... and I would like to invite all of them to fuck right off.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

'The Year Of The Citizen Kane Of Gaming... Again' or something.

Goddamnit! I was people would stop saying that! Fuck Citizen Kane! Why do we need to compare ourselves to a 50+ year old movie? Why don't we instead strive to make a game that films would want to compare themselves to?

OT: I think this'll be looked at as the year of the colossal fuck up. The year when Microsoft royally shot themselves in the foot.

 

[Saltyk]

The thing with games is that they aren't quite as static as movies. Old movies like Casablanca or Gone With the Wind are still as epic as they once were. Lord of the Rings will still be a great fantasy adventure and one of the best adaptions to date. Star Wars will maintain a great deal of it's influence and will always be mandatory Sci-Fi viewing.

Games don't get the same treatment. Games will always evolve. Because of the type of experience that they are. Graphics, gameplay, and even story telling are always changing. You might be able to point out certain significant games, like Mario or Final Fantasy, but even those experiences will feel different to later generations. Despite having grown up playing Mario, going back to the first game feels very different to me.

And that's the thing. Because gaming, at least for the foreseeable future, is limited by technology which will always strive for bigger and better, it is a medium that continues to grow. I doubt any one year will be considered significant. A single game or console might, but not any years.

 

[Pink Gregory]

And that's the thing. Because gaming, at least for the foreseeable future, is limited by technology which will always strive for bigger and better, it is a medium that continues to grow. I doubt any one year will be considered significant. A single game or console might, but not any years.

Was about to post something along the same lines.

Who the hell cares? We're at a point now where we have a surprisingly diverse market (unless you're an Xbox 360-only gamer...christ you chaps are getting shafted, not so good), so the remit for games being significant is a much, much broader spread across audiences.

People seem to keep trotting out this line of 'you won't remember it in a year's time' as a catch-all criticism of games they didn't like; but who on earth cares what the public remembers as significant? It's more important for each individual to build up their own record of historical significance.

And that line is bollocks, anyway. I'm not going to be forgetting Bioshock Infinite or Dishonored any time soon, regardless of what people tell me I'm going to forget.

Vidyagaems aren't damned museum pieces, no matter how much they can be dressed up in artistic criticism. It's an interesting avenue of thought to pursue, but some people seem to take it far too seriously.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

And that's the thing. Because gaming, at least for the foreseeable future, is limited by technology which will always strive for bigger and better, it is a medium that continues to grow. I doubt any one year will be considered significant. A single game or console might, but not any years.

Was about to post something along the same lines.

Who the hell cares? We're at a point now where we have a surprisingly diverse market (unless you're an Xbox 360-only gamer...christ you chaps are getting shafted, not so good), so the remit for games being significant is a much, much broader spread across audiences.

People seem to keep trotting out this line of 'you won't remember it in a year's time' as a catch-all criticism of games they didn't like; but who on earth cares what the public remembers as significant? It's more important for each individual to build up their own record of historical significance.

And that line is bollocks, anyway. I'm not going to be forgetting Bioshock Infinite or Dishonored any time soon, regardless of what people tell me I'm going to forget.

Vidyagaems aren't damned museum pieces, no matter how much they can be dressed up in artistic criticism. It's an interesting avenue of thought to pursue, but some people seem to take it far too seriously.

I didn't actually mean it from that sort of "museum piece" point of view.

I just wanted to know that when the dust settles and we look back on 2013 next year, what would we think of?

 

[StriderShinryu]

I'll look back at 2013 as probably 3 things.

1.) The year of storytelling in games. Many of the most heralded games this year were praised for their stories. Even those who didn't do it all that well at least seemed to try.

2.) The year of continuing indie growth. From the prominence of crowd funding, to consoles built specifically for small/indie games, to games like Spelunky, Gone Home, Amnesia AMFP, Brothers, to the continuing presence of standys like Terraria and Minecraft, indie games were everywhere you looked this year. One of the major points put forward by Sony, MS and Nintendo was how they were going to start/keep supporting the scene, and Sony even made them a large part of their E3 showing.

3.) The rise of feminism in the gaming scene. Like it or not, agree with it or not, feminist critique of games on varying levels was a big deal this year. It's tough to say what sort of lasting impact it will have going forward, but to not recognize it was a big deal is to have been moving forward with blinders on.

I think it'll be seen as the year the PS4 and Xbox One came out. I mean, a system is a tad more important than a game.

And yet a system without games is just a box. Which do people talk about more, the og Xbox or Halo? The Mega Drive or Sonic The Hedgehog?

I generally agree with this. It will be remembered as the year those systems came out but in the future that's just going to be a date on a calendar instead of a trend or theme that may impact the medium going forward. And, in all honesty, when looking back I don't even personally remember the year that systems actually came out. Hardware is much more defined by it's long term contribution to gaming than it's release date, unless if happens to release with a game that's immediately groundbreaking. Heck, Nintendo's probably got more of those in it's back catalogue than most companies and I don't really have any concrete idea what exact days or even years those systems launched in/on.

 

[Pink Gregory]

And that's the thing. Because gaming, at least for the foreseeable future, is limited by technology which will always strive for bigger and better, it is a medium that continues to grow. I doubt any one year will be considered significant. A single game or console might, but not any years.

Was about to post something along the same lines.

Who the hell cares? We're at a point now where we have a surprisingly diverse market (unless you're an Xbox 360-only gamer...christ you chaps are getting shafted, not so good), so the remit for games being significant is a much, much broader spread across audiences.

People seem to keep trotting out this line of 'you won't remember it in a year's time' as a catch-all criticism of games they didn't like; but who on earth cares what the public remembers as significant? It's more important for each individual to build up their own record of historical significance.

And that line is bollocks, anyway. I'm not going to be forgetting Bioshock Infinite or Dishonored any time soon, regardless of what people tell me I'm going to forget.

Vidyagaems aren't damned museum pieces, no matter how much they can be dressed up in artistic criticism. It's an interesting avenue of thought to pursue, but some people seem to take it far too seriously.

I didn't actually mean it from that sort of "museum piece" point of view.

I just wanted to know that when the dust settles and we look back on 2013 next year, what would we think of?

Oh I'm not demonising that you're asking at all, like I said it's an interesting thought to pursue; I'm sure there are many of us that are interested in history; I just feel like there are some people who seem to view that as of importance above all else.

I'm probably exaggerating, though.

 

[SKBPinkie]

The year of games that fucked gameplay in favor of story.

Seriously, most of the games people are listing here have bad to mediocre gameplay (IMO). And don't get me wrong, the stories in these games are fantastic (especially Bioshock Infinite), but it was such a chore to play them. The gameplay, instead of complementing (or weaved with) the story, was something that I had to endure until I could find out what happens next.

Basically, after completing these games (and while playing them), I constantly asked myself "why is this a game?". Pretty much all of these titles were probably better served being TV shows or movies. One of the basic criteria that I judge games by is this - If the best sections of the game are ones that can be experienced on a YouTube playthrough, then it's not a good game. It may be a good experience, or a great bunch of cutscenes, but definitely not a good game.

For me, I'll fondly remember it as the year Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate came out. There's a good chance that it might be the last western release in the franchise.

P.S. This is, of course, just my opinion. There are quite a few people who are there for the story / characters / environment, etc. and are willing to endure "meh" gameplay for it, but I just can't stand games that do this. I'm here for good gameplay first, a good story can be icing on the cake, but there must first be a cake. That was probably not a great metaphor, but you know what I mean.