Another year has gone by, and "Duke Nukem Forever" still hasn't been released.
All kidding aside, 2008 was a hell of a year for the huddled gaming masses.
"Fallout 3" hit the streets in October, and it's probably safe to say that it's the best RPG since "Planescape: Torment" graced the cathode-ray tubes in 1997.
"Rock Band 2" literally rocked the music genre, and "Rock Revolution," Konami's attempt to re-enter the market, fell on deaf ears.
Epic made the single most depressing shooter ever made - again - in the form of "Gears of War 2." It sold millions.
Every MMO that isn't called "World of Warcraft" flopped. Subscriber numbers for "World of Warcraft" continued to soar to an unprecedented 11 million.
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And for the third Christmas in a row, the Nintendo Wii has been almost impossible to find on store shelves.
So what does 2009 have in store, besides an assurance that most gamers are going to be even more financially restricted in their choice of purchases? Next month, thumb injuries will be on the rise due to the arrival of the long-awaited "Street Fighter IV." Bioware will keep RPG fans happy for another year with "Dragon Age: Origins," while everyone waits for their new Star Wars MMO, "The Old Repubic," due out in 2010.
The new version of Windows due out in either late 2009 or early 2010 will introduce DirectX 11, which will include support for advanced 3D shading methods and better support for multi-core processors. This, and advances in the graphics arena, will probably put pressure on the console manufacturers to announce a new generation of hardware by next year or in 2011, with a release coming at least a year after that. They almost have to, as PC games just look better than their console equivalents, and have ever since "Crysis" shipped.
But this year isn't going to have the figurative flood of games that 2008 had. The economy is a big factor in that - a fair number of developers are cutting back on their projects, as well as laying off workers, in some cases. Also, the nature of development tends to predict that a year following one like 2008, with tons of releases, is not going to have quite as much activity. Instead, expect to see a lot more downloadable content than in years past, with considerably more bang for each buck. "Fable II" is getting the "Knothole Island" pack at the end of January, and "Fallout 3" is getting the first of three packs, "Operation Anchorage," around the same time. "The Pitt" will follow next month, and "Broken Steel," a continuation of the main story, will be released in March.
Overall, 2009 will be a good year for gamers, but with fewer of the big releases gamers have been used to in 2007 and 2008. Expect more low-key releases, as the publishing houses are feeling the pinch from the shrinking economy. Also, expect a lot more games through channels such as Steam and Xbox Live Arcade in an attempt to avoid the costs of retail releases.
It's hard to tell how the industry will fare over the course of the next four quarters, but who knows? Maybe "Duke Nukem Forever" will come out this year after all.
