Sunday, March 3, 2024

Top Video Game News of 2009: Year of the Console

The year 2009 has been a big one for the video games industry despite the recession that was prevalent throughout. Some big things happened in 2009. There were huge ground-shattering announcements, a bevy of consoles (or console revisions) were introduced by the big players. And much, much more. The list goes on. We have compiled some of the biggest game-related things that went down in the year 2009 and put them into one nice, tidy package.

Top News of 2009

BioShock was a great game from 2K which hit in 2007. And the prospect of having five sequels is quite the piece of news. Back in January we reported that Chris Hartmann of 2K had suggested that there could well be six parts of the fantastic BioShock IP. Just the news of having so many BioShock titles makes it into our selection for top news of the year.

- Advertisements -

2009 was a huge year for one of the biggest video game companies out there, Electronic Arts. The company announced three new Need for Speed titles in January, two of which, NFS Shift and NFS Nitro, have since been released, with Need for Speed: World Online awaiting a release sometime next year. Shift really impressed us with its driving mechanics and driver profile system, not to mention its beautiful cars. Then came The Sims 3 in June, which was EA’s best-selling PC launch to date. And one cannot mention EA this year without a reference to FIFA 10 released in October. The game saw a record-breaking launch and became the fastest-selling sports video game. By the beginning of December FIFA 10 had sold more than 4.5 million copies worldwide.

The year also saw a few things that dared to change video gaming forever. Firstly is Sony’s AAA Killzone 2. The heavy-on-the-eye first person title packed more than a punch and brought us visuals and gameplay that put it among the top of the picks for 2009, even though it was a PS3 exclusive. And not to mention, somehow India got the game before the rest of the world. Another revelation has to be the OnLive Game Service which literally threatens to change forever the way we game. The service can be streamed directly to a television via a MicroConsole or to virtually any Mac or PC. You won’t even need high end hardware to play state-of-the-art games anymore. Also, don’t the MicroConsole and controller look just beautiful and futuristic! Moreover, developing a game for the OnLive service would cost much less than developing one for conventional gaming systems. And even the time taken to make such a game would be considerable reduced.

Among the fantastic new innovations in gaming, fall the three music-based titles from Activision. The company announced DJ Hero, Band Hero, and Guitar Hero 5. All these games brought not only innovation to the table but also loads and loads of music entertainment. Between the three of them, there’s practically something for everyone, not just the regular gamer.

- Advertisements -

In other big music-based video game news, The Beatles: Rock Band was released in September. It strived to document, with some degree of accuracy, the history of Liverpool’s iconic band. The game provides Beatles fans a glimpse into what it was like to be The Beatles, and features real photos and videos of the band, some of which have never been seen before. Another innovative feature is the inclusion of three-part vocal harmonies. Although we don’t see how gamers would be able to perform with such a great degree of precision while simultaneously focusing on playing the tunes of The Beatles. But it does lead innovation in such games.

2009 was also notable year for consoles. In April Nintendo brought its latest console, the DSi, to North America and Europe. In August, Sony announced a major price drop for its existing PS3 model and introduced a new slimmer version of the console dubbed the PS3 Slim. Microsoft followed suite and itself introduced price cuts to all the variants of its Xbox 360 console, also in August. Then this October came the release of the PSPgo, Sony’s new handheld with several features such as huge internal memory and no UMD drive, plus the stylish sliding screen and tuck-away buttons.

Batman: Arkham Asylum was undoubtedly one of the best games of the year. It had all the elements to absolutely enthrall existing fans and make believers out of those who stayed away from the slightly batty superhero. Then in a short span of time in December, a sequel was teased, and confirmed! This was one of the best pieces of news we received all year, and frankly, we just can’t wait for the sequel. If you thought Arkham Asylum was big, the teaser trailer for the sequel suggests that it is going to be even bigger.

- Advertisements -

Another solid game released this year was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Released in November, the game sold blisteringly well and broke day one sales records in the UK. It sold about 4.7 million copies worldwide and earned and 310 million US dollars during the first day of its release. It was so popular that it was also the most pirated game of 2009 on PC and Xbox 360. Moving towards a different kind of game, Assassin’s Creed II also made its way to store shelves in 2009. The game was a highly anticipated sequel to 2007’s Assassin’s Creed and was quite well received.

The year also saw Max Payne 3, a much anticipated title, delayed yet again. The game had earlier been pushed into 2010, only to later be further pushed back by Take-Two. But on a higher note, for fans of music based video games, was the news that Green Day: Rock Band was in development and would be coming sometime next year.

2009 was a truly great year for us, and you can check out all our previews, reviews, and more in their respective sections.

- Advertisements -

Related Articles

Latest Articles