2010-Best Year Ever?

Ok.  I'm three months late, but I wanted to comment on how silly-awesome 2010 was for video games.  Let me recap my top three:

Mass Effect 2
The first game brought Bioware's famous role-playing skills (just look up Baldur's Gate) and added a great science-fiction story and third-person shooting. Mass Effect 2 is Bioware's 2nd episode of their space odyssey trilogy.  I loved the whole game and can't wait to play through the final chapter of the trilogy next fall.

Red Dead Redemption 
Another great developer (Rockstar Games) brings their famous Grand Theft Auto sandbox-style to the wild-wild west.  The results are amazing and must be played if you enjoy video games.  The story, graphics and even the soundtrack is top notch.

Halo:Reach
Can you spot the theme: amazing developer, this time Bungie Studios, makes the final version of their the Halo Franchise.  This if the fifth game of the series, and Bungie pulled out all the stops for their coup-de-grace.  The real highlight from Bungie is their AI.  The enemy and friendly AI will behave differently each time you fight through a particular area.  This results in a campaign that can be replayed time and time again.  Other shooter's reward you for memorizing enemy locations.  In Halo:Reach, enemy location is far less important than skill, patience and using the right weapon for the right enemy.

This short summary doesn't include some of the other huge games released last year: Starcraft 2, Call of Duty Black Ops, Mario Galaxy 2, God of War III, Civilization V, and Gran Turismo 5.  Seriously, if no new games came out this year, I could continue to buy and play last year's games for another year!  2010 was a year to remember.

When will you stop playing those games?

"When will you stop playing those video games?"

Not only have my parents, and wife asked/wondered this question; I have to admit: I have also asked myself this question. Now that I'm well into my mid thirties, the current answer is: "I don't know."

It seems that I'm not alone. According to the E.S.A (Entertainment Software Association), the average age of person buying games in 40, and the average age of people playing games is 34. A USA today study found the average age of game players was 29 (and this study is 6 years old). Video games are much like TV from past generations: if you grew up doing it, you just don't out-grow it.

Still, stereotypes die hard. Let's face it: playing games is still not a "cool" activity, unless of course you live in Korea and play Starcraft; but that's a different article, for a different day.

But, the purpose of this first post is just to lay out my reason for making this website. I enjoy video games, and don't see that enjoyment ending anytime soon. So why not do something with this hobby and write about it? Gabe agrees, and hopefully you enjoy our musings.

-Todd