Welcome back once more to our celebration of the last decade in gaming. Together we will be counting down to the launch of a Game of the Decade vote remembering ten years of video gaming with all of you. We are excited to introduce our brand new voting system our tech team has been hard at work on that will allow users to consider games for special awards like those seen in the big awards shows. We are just two years into the decade and much as already happened for a look back click here: 2010 / 2011. Today were are taking a look back at the last full year of the seventh console generation 2012!
As the end of the seventh console generation began to loom over the industry, 2012 would prove to be a slower year for the decade with developers focused on finishing their last games for the cycle or already kicking into gear for the next consoles. Nonetheless, we did still have some news hit through the year the first of which came with the release of Binary Domain from Sega. Binary Domain, for those unaware, was a game in which global warming has flooded major cities killing a significant portion of the population and the development of robotics has led to the creation of the "Hollow Children". Now you'd be forgiven if you didn't know about Binary Domain, it didn't sell well at all, selling 20,000 copies in North America two months after release. Not great for a Triple-A release from a major publisher. The games failure led to mass layoffs in Sega's western division and a significant reduction in their plans for western releases for years to come. Goes to show you can't put too much faith in just one title, even two titles would be risky. If you were in a place that the fate of your future was reliant on just two things I wonder what you would call that. Maybe some kind of binary place. Like a domain but for two things. I am dragging this out too long, aren't I?
Moving on, we had an eventful E3 for 2012 with Nintendo especially arriving with an expansive slate of twenty-three games set to release that fall with the launch of the Wii U in November. These titles included showings for games such as Pikmin 3, ZombiU, and New Super Mario Bros. U. Nintendo also featured a small lineup of games for the 3DS which was set to receive its first update with the Nintendo 3DS XL in August. Other significant showings for the year include Microsoft who riding high on a generation of success hosted "Xbox: Entertainment Evolved" introducing Xbox SmartGlass, Xbox Music, and doubling down on Kinect. In addition to the entertainment focus, they also showed some games like Halo 4, Resident Evil 6, Tomb Raider, and new IP LocoCycle. Sure is strange seeing Xbox go so hard into non-gaming or peripherals at a show, I am sure that won't be repeated once going forward.
In addition to these events, we also saw the twenty-fifth anniversaries of several beloved franchises with Street Fighter, Mega Man, and Metal Gear each hitting the notable milestone. For the first two, it meant the release of Street Fighter X Mega Man a crossover game featuring Mega Man face off with various Street Fighter fighters. Metal Gear fans got to enjoy... Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops? But really the anniversary did come with Hideo Kojima teasing the next game in the franchise through various demos, and a trailer, kind of. A game was debuted at the Spike Video Game Awards where a trailer for The Phantom Pain by the previously unknown Moby Dick Studios debuted including an interview with totally bandaged lead developer Joakim Mogren. People quickly found this all bizarre and did some detective work. This detective work would eventually bear fruit when in 2013 The Phantom Pain was confirmed to be the next Metal Gear.
Briefly, we also saw the western release of the Playstation Vita in mid-February. If you missed it you can read more about that system in the 2011 recap.
As the generation began to wind down 2012 found itself a bit sparser than many of the other years in the decade. That is not to say there weren't some major releases though, franchises continued to dominate the year with the biggest splash of the year coming from Mass Effect 3, which was... controversial. Coming as the conclusive game in a beloved series expectations were set high, and well for many, the game didn't hit the mark. As the conclusive game in the trilogy, it saw Commander Shepard make one last stand against the Reaper invasion in a dramatic conclusion that sought to guide the player to one final choice in the fate of the galaxy. In other controversial titles, Resident Evil 6 released. Following the success of the action-oriented Resident Evil 5 turning the action up to eleven with four separate campaigns that intertwine and split out again as they take on viral outbreaks around the world. In other apocalyptic events, Darksiders II followed up the first game with War in chains Death seeks out evidence that his brother is innocent of all crimes accused and maybe resurrect humanity along the way. In other epic adventures, we also have Borderlands 2 a sequel that takes a dramatic step forward from its predecessor with off the wall writing and a massive campaign of looting and shooting as you and your vault hunting team go up against the charismatic Handsome Jack. In a similar vein of charismatic villains, Far Cry 3 released sending the player on an island adventure out of their element against the charming Vaas Montenegro and an army in the hopes of rescuing some innocent friends.
In series resurrections XCOM: Enemy Unknown saw UFO: Enemy Unknown and XCOM come together to bring a turn-based tactics look at the alien story as the player fights with their squad against an alien invasion. Similarly, Halo 4 revived the story of Master Chief with a new studio as he is reawakened to face new threats the Didact as Cortana begins to face A.I. rampancy from extended time in service. Finally, we also saw the revival of Max Payne with Max Payne 3 developed by Rockstar Studios. Having acquired the rights of the franchise to tell this story Rockstar takes an older Max Payne on a journey of corruption in Brazil as he faces his demons in a linear cinematic story unlike the first games in the series nor other Rockstar games.
Out of Japan, we saw a slew of handheld releases for the 3DS and Vita that dominated the market. First, we have Gravity Rush (called Gravity Daze in Japan) a gravity bending game where you play as the amnesiac Kat as she uncovers her past. Then we have the Resident Evil spinoff Resident Evil: Revelations which sees Jill Valentine on a mission to uncover the mystery behind Veltro and the destruction of the floating city of Terragrigia. In other franchises Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 released in the West becoming the first proper sequels in the series seeing a return to Unova a few years later after the defeat of N and Team Plasma following the resurfacing of the villainous team with a new mission. Finally, we also saw the release of Persona 4 Golden on the Vita with an expanded story and gameplay features.
In the realm of new IP, there were some very exciting new games released. In a subversion of the typical third-person military shooter Spec Ops: The Line brought the player face to face with their actions of destruction in a wartorn Dubai. Dishonored saw Arkane Studios brought Arkane back from a creative slump after a few canceled titles with an immersive sim set in a plague-stricken nation following the assassination of the empress. Finally, Sleeping Dogs brought a new perspective to the open-world game as Wei Shen descended into the underworld of Hong Kong determined to take down the triads and face a split allegiance between his friends in the underworld and his duties as to the law.
2012 in many ways was a breakout year for many reasons on the indie scene as game developers were seeing greater and greater successes. Leading this charge was the widely acclaimed Telltale's The Walking Dead which saw Telltale rise overnight to widespread adoration as they told a story of family and forgiveness in episodic form. The game was a success for many reasons from its diversity of choice, youtube popularity but more than anything people took away from it a success in character as the player is put into the shoes of a man who is a killer and is forced to reckon with his past when he is given a second chance in the end times.
In further explorations of artistic endeavors, Journey told a story of companionship in which the player was automatically assigned to another person somewhere in the world playing at the same time and never told who they were and never given ways to communicate beyond those gameplay mechanics built into the story. This unique game made a huge splash and has continued to be remembered fondly for each player's own experiences. One final story focused indie title is Dear Esther a minimalist story in which the player explores an abandoned island as they discover remnants of the past coming to their own conclusions about the stories told.
In the gameplay side of the indie space, a few titles dominated for unique and inventive mechanics of play. Fez impressed with a unique world turning puzzle platformer and later becoming the center of a larger conversation about the games industry and its developers. FTL: Faster Than Light saw players devise inventive strategies as they pushed through eight sectors of space facing new threats at every turn knowing all the while that defeat set them back to the starting line. In other genres, Hotline Miami introduced players go up against the mafia in an ultra-violent neon-soaked world where every movement brings the player closer to death and success.
Finally, we saw the ultra success of Slender for its youtube driven thrills in which players were guided around the woods hoping to find pages in hopes of surviving the night. The game despite its simple concept was successful for its endless watchability with fans enjoying the high tension thrills of their favorite creators not unlike that of Amnesia just two years prior.
To 2012s credit the awards season revealed that it doesn't always have to be the biggest studio or IP to garner recognition with the top two award winners being from smaller studios. In 2012 according to gotypicks the big winner was Telltale's The Walking Dead with 75 total awards. It was a comfortable win with the next three awards winners coming in at 57 awards for Journey, 51 awards for Far Cry 3, and 49 for Dishonored. The major awards shows awards are as follows:
So in a strange year for the industry we saw some amazing games release, we can't discuss them all so we will hand the conversation over to you. What was your favorite game of 2012? Did we talk about it here or not? We encourage you to keep thinking about these years in the context of the decade at large. Next up we will be discussing 2013 a significant year for the industry as the eight console generation took off!
Special thanks to B-Dubs for help in putting together and revising things, to Delphine for help putting together graphics, to pjl93 for help compiling games and events for each year, and to the entirety of the Game of the Year team for their input.
As the end of the seventh console generation began to loom over the industry, 2012 would prove to be a slower year for the decade with developers focused on finishing their last games for the cycle or already kicking into gear for the next consoles. Nonetheless, we did still have some news hit through the year the first of which came with the release of Binary Domain from Sega. Binary Domain, for those unaware, was a game in which global warming has flooded major cities killing a significant portion of the population and the development of robotics has led to the creation of the "Hollow Children". Now you'd be forgiven if you didn't know about Binary Domain, it didn't sell well at all, selling 20,000 copies in North America two months after release. Not great for a Triple-A release from a major publisher. The games failure led to mass layoffs in Sega's western division and a significant reduction in their plans for western releases for years to come. Goes to show you can't put too much faith in just one title, even two titles would be risky. If you were in a place that the fate of your future was reliant on just two things I wonder what you would call that. Maybe some kind of binary place. Like a domain but for two things. I am dragging this out too long, aren't I?
Moving on, we had an eventful E3 for 2012 with Nintendo especially arriving with an expansive slate of twenty-three games set to release that fall with the launch of the Wii U in November. These titles included showings for games such as Pikmin 3, ZombiU, and New Super Mario Bros. U. Nintendo also featured a small lineup of games for the 3DS which was set to receive its first update with the Nintendo 3DS XL in August. Other significant showings for the year include Microsoft who riding high on a generation of success hosted "Xbox: Entertainment Evolved" introducing Xbox SmartGlass, Xbox Music, and doubling down on Kinect. In addition to the entertainment focus, they also showed some games like Halo 4, Resident Evil 6, Tomb Raider, and new IP LocoCycle. Sure is strange seeing Xbox go so hard into non-gaming or peripherals at a show, I am sure that won't be repeated once going forward.
In addition to these events, we also saw the twenty-fifth anniversaries of several beloved franchises with Street Fighter, Mega Man, and Metal Gear each hitting the notable milestone. For the first two, it meant the release of Street Fighter X Mega Man a crossover game featuring Mega Man face off with various Street Fighter fighters. Metal Gear fans got to enjoy... Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops? But really the anniversary did come with Hideo Kojima teasing the next game in the franchise through various demos, and a trailer, kind of. A game was debuted at the Spike Video Game Awards where a trailer for The Phantom Pain by the previously unknown Moby Dick Studios debuted including an interview with totally bandaged lead developer Joakim Mogren. People quickly found this all bizarre and did some detective work. This detective work would eventually bear fruit when in 2013 The Phantom Pain was confirmed to be the next Metal Gear.
Briefly, we also saw the western release of the Playstation Vita in mid-February. If you missed it you can read more about that system in the 2011 recap.
As the generation began to wind down 2012 found itself a bit sparser than many of the other years in the decade. That is not to say there weren't some major releases though, franchises continued to dominate the year with the biggest splash of the year coming from Mass Effect 3, which was... controversial. Coming as the conclusive game in a beloved series expectations were set high, and well for many, the game didn't hit the mark. As the conclusive game in the trilogy, it saw Commander Shepard make one last stand against the Reaper invasion in a dramatic conclusion that sought to guide the player to one final choice in the fate of the galaxy. In other controversial titles, Resident Evil 6 released. Following the success of the action-oriented Resident Evil 5 turning the action up to eleven with four separate campaigns that intertwine and split out again as they take on viral outbreaks around the world. In other apocalyptic events, Darksiders II followed up the first game with War in chains Death seeks out evidence that his brother is innocent of all crimes accused and maybe resurrect humanity along the way. In other epic adventures, we also have Borderlands 2 a sequel that takes a dramatic step forward from its predecessor with off the wall writing and a massive campaign of looting and shooting as you and your vault hunting team go up against the charismatic Handsome Jack. In a similar vein of charismatic villains, Far Cry 3 released sending the player on an island adventure out of their element against the charming Vaas Montenegro and an army in the hopes of rescuing some innocent friends.
In series resurrections XCOM: Enemy Unknown saw UFO: Enemy Unknown and XCOM come together to bring a turn-based tactics look at the alien story as the player fights with their squad against an alien invasion. Similarly, Halo 4 revived the story of Master Chief with a new studio as he is reawakened to face new threats the Didact as Cortana begins to face A.I. rampancy from extended time in service. Finally, we also saw the revival of Max Payne with Max Payne 3 developed by Rockstar Studios. Having acquired the rights of the franchise to tell this story Rockstar takes an older Max Payne on a journey of corruption in Brazil as he faces his demons in a linear cinematic story unlike the first games in the series nor other Rockstar games.
Out of Japan, we saw a slew of handheld releases for the 3DS and Vita that dominated the market. First, we have Gravity Rush (called Gravity Daze in Japan) a gravity bending game where you play as the amnesiac Kat as she uncovers her past. Then we have the Resident Evil spinoff Resident Evil: Revelations which sees Jill Valentine on a mission to uncover the mystery behind Veltro and the destruction of the floating city of Terragrigia. In other franchises Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 released in the West becoming the first proper sequels in the series seeing a return to Unova a few years later after the defeat of N and Team Plasma following the resurfacing of the villainous team with a new mission. Finally, we also saw the release of Persona 4 Golden on the Vita with an expanded story and gameplay features.
In the realm of new IP, there were some very exciting new games released. In a subversion of the typical third-person military shooter Spec Ops: The Line brought the player face to face with their actions of destruction in a wartorn Dubai. Dishonored saw Arkane Studios brought Arkane back from a creative slump after a few canceled titles with an immersive sim set in a plague-stricken nation following the assassination of the empress. Finally, Sleeping Dogs brought a new perspective to the open-world game as Wei Shen descended into the underworld of Hong Kong determined to take down the triads and face a split allegiance between his friends in the underworld and his duties as to the law.
2012 in many ways was a breakout year for many reasons on the indie scene as game developers were seeing greater and greater successes. Leading this charge was the widely acclaimed Telltale's The Walking Dead which saw Telltale rise overnight to widespread adoration as they told a story of family and forgiveness in episodic form. The game was a success for many reasons from its diversity of choice, youtube popularity but more than anything people took away from it a success in character as the player is put into the shoes of a man who is a killer and is forced to reckon with his past when he is given a second chance in the end times.
In further explorations of artistic endeavors, Journey told a story of companionship in which the player was automatically assigned to another person somewhere in the world playing at the same time and never told who they were and never given ways to communicate beyond those gameplay mechanics built into the story. This unique game made a huge splash and has continued to be remembered fondly for each player's own experiences. One final story focused indie title is Dear Esther a minimalist story in which the player explores an abandoned island as they discover remnants of the past coming to their own conclusions about the stories told.
In the gameplay side of the indie space, a few titles dominated for unique and inventive mechanics of play. Fez impressed with a unique world turning puzzle platformer and later becoming the center of a larger conversation about the games industry and its developers. FTL: Faster Than Light saw players devise inventive strategies as they pushed through eight sectors of space facing new threats at every turn knowing all the while that defeat set them back to the starting line. In other genres, Hotline Miami introduced players go up against the mafia in an ultra-violent neon-soaked world where every movement brings the player closer to death and success.
Finally, we saw the ultra success of Slender for its youtube driven thrills in which players were guided around the woods hoping to find pages in hopes of surviving the night. The game despite its simple concept was successful for its endless watchability with fans enjoying the high tension thrills of their favorite creators not unlike that of Amnesia just two years prior.
To 2012s credit the awards season revealed that it doesn't always have to be the biggest studio or IP to garner recognition with the top two award winners being from smaller studios. In 2012 according to gotypicks the big winner was Telltale's The Walking Dead with 75 total awards. It was a comfortable win with the next three awards winners coming in at 57 awards for Journey, 51 awards for Far Cry 3, and 49 for Dishonored. The major awards shows awards are as follows:
- The British Academy Games Awards - Dishonored
- Game Developers Choice Awards - Journey
- D.I.C.E. Awards - Journey
- Spike Video Game Awards - Telltale's The Walking Dead
So in a strange year for the industry we saw some amazing games release, we can't discuss them all so we will hand the conversation over to you. What was your favorite game of 2012? Did we talk about it here or not? We encourage you to keep thinking about these years in the context of the decade at large. Next up we will be discussing 2013 a significant year for the industry as the eight console generation took off!
Special thanks to B-Dubs for help in putting together and revising things, to Delphine for help putting together graphics, to pjl93 for help compiling games and events for each year, and to the entirety of the Game of the Year team for their input.
