A Decade of Gaming – Part One (2010-2011)
Flashbacks? Check. Nostalgia? Check. Travel through time as we remember some of histories greatest games and the consoles we played them on.
The start of 2020 marks a new decade for gaming. With a new group of consoles being released at the end of this year and a shed ton of new games heading our way. lets take a look back in time at what we have had in the last 10 years.
Ten years is a long time, therefore I have decided to break down this topic into four segments which will be released weekly this month. Part one will include the years 2010 & 2011.Part Two will include the years 2012,2013,2014. Part Three: 2015,2016 & 2017 and finally Part Four 2018, 2019 and a upcoming look at 2020.
2010 – The Slim Year
Almost at the end of the 7th generation of consoles we’ve seen the release of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 S (Slim) and Sony’s PS3 Slim. If you don’t remember these, it was the 2nd incarnation of the consoles. Black and ‘slim’ was a bit of an overstatement as the size changes in the consoles are practically nil and the only changes are the appearance itself.
Microsoft did release a Kinect to go along with the Xbox 360 S. The Kinect, RIP right? It came as a package with the Xbox 360 S, with an accompany of games such as Kinect Sports,and Kinect Adventures & Dance Central. At the time everyone was so excited to get their hands on this kit. However when it came to using the Kinect, in my opinion it was only good for finding ghosts in Paranormal Activity 3. With many features such as the voice commands and motion capture not working properly, They must have learned from all their mistakes, eh?
However 2010 was an absolutely smashing year for gaming with some legendary titles that changed the industry forever. We’ve seen titles such as; Halo: Reach, Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, CoD: Black Ops and Fallout: New Vegas. WHAT A FLASHBACK RIGHT? That’s only to list the most popular. We can’t forget about Fable III, Medal Of Honor and the PS3 Exclusive, Heavy Rain. A memorable year for gaming I’d say.
2011 – The Hand-held Gaming Year
In the year of 2011 Nintendo released the Nintendo 3DS across the globe. This console changed the industry forever as it was the most popular console sold by Nintendo to date. With a launch price of $259.99 it was far cheaper than buying a new PS3 S / Xbox 360 S. Games with the Nintendo 3DS included Mario Kart 7, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and my personal favorite Nintendogs + Cats.
We’ve also seen Sony’s release of the PS Vita, which was their take of the hand-held console. One of the most popular hand-held consoles to date, selling just over 10 million units globally. A popular game on PS3, Uncharted, made a release to the console in the form of Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Other games accompanying the console included; Rayman: Origins and Mortal Kombat.
On mainstream consoles, it was another successful year for video games and players across the globe. In November we saw MineCon release the full version of Minecraft, bringing the game into version 1.0. It seems so recent to me!
In 2011 the world witnessed releases of AAA titles like the horror game Dead Space 2, Dragon Age II and the beefy console killer Crisis 2. The months April through June we saw games like Valve’s sequel to Portal, Terraria, F.E.A.R 3 and the comedic return of Duke Nukem in Duke Nukem Forever.
In the second half of the year we saw games like Call of Duty: MW 3 be released, the number one selling game of the year. However we will cover the drop in sales in a later article. My Favorite game of all time also dropped this year, THE ELDER SCROLLS V SKYRIM!! In Skyrim, we get sucked back into Tamriel as the legendary slayer The Dragon Born. The game sold over 3.5 million units in 48 HOURS! In 2016 Bethesda lead Todd Howard announced that they have sold over 30 Million copies of the game by 2016. Making Skyrim one of the highest grossing games of all time.
Conclusion
As a whole, 2010 & 2011 saw the release of flagship consoles for the next 3 years when the PS4 & Xbox one were released. These titles will be in the history books forever. Classic games that brought people across the globe together with passion.
Notable Game Releases 2010-2011
- Dead Island
- The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings
- Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception
- Saints Row: The Third
- Batman: Arkham Origins
- Dead Rising 2
- Alien vs Predator
- Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
- Allen Wake
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Article by KSI PROMETHEA