Dairly Cardinal Gaming Awards '05
Compiled by some of us at The Daily Cardinal
The past year saw many developments in the world of video gaming. Nintendo finally found a competitor to their Game Boy in Sony’s PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft created the successor to the Xbox with the 360. These events alone ensure creativity, unique games and general awesomeness for years down the road.
The Daily Cardinal takes a look at some of the larger accomplishments and failings of the 2005 year in video games.
Best Series Reviving Game Award—“Resident Evil 4”
When “Resident Evil” debuted in 1996, gamers hailed it for jump-starting the survival-horror genre. However, much like Capcom’s other mega-series “Street Fighter,” “Resident Evil” suffered from sequel-itis in which the latter games brought nothing new to the series. Even a trip online with the “Resident Evil: Outbreak” games did not rejuvenate the series.
But then “Resident Evil 4” dropped in January to much acclaim. The game got rid of the zombie aspects while keeping the scary vibe that is inherent to the series. It also improved the admittedly flawed control system and created one that is both unique and intuitive.
While “Devil May Cry 3” helped restart its series by going back to its original greatness, “Resident Evil 4” takes the award because it revived the series by bringing amazing new elements to the game.
Most Disappointing Delay Award—“The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess”
Originally scheduled for release this holiday season, the new Zelda game has been pushed back to sometime in April, leaving creator Shigeru Miyamoto’s legion of loyal fans heartbroken.
Nintendo gave the standard “we don’t feel it’s ready yet” response, telling fans that the wait will be made up by a higher quality final product. This sort of delay has become a sadly predictable move for Nintendo who may need to reevaluate the amount of focus they give to their fans, especially given their struggling position in the modern gaming market.
Worst Value for an MP3 Player Award—The PlayStation Portable
When the PSP hit in March, its game, movie and MP3 playing ability received much acclaim. However, the games were a bust with “Lumines” being the only decent one. Few wanted to pay $30 to get a PSP movie when they could get a full DVD for half the price.
The MP3 capabilities lived up to the hype where the others failed. The PSP audio experience actually turned out quite well, and the included memory card could store up to 30 minutes of songs.
However, the lagging other features raised the price of the system to the point where it is nothing but a glorified overpriced MP3 player, of which there are already many on the market.
Country With the Hardest of the Hard-Core Award—China
If you think American youths are screwed up by violence in video games, then you haven’t been paying enough attention to our friends in the lands near the rising sun. More bizarre video game related crimes and deaths take place in eastern Asia than any other area.
China takes the cake by far, with recent video game-related occurrences including a murder over an auctioned off virtual sword for the game “Legend of Mir 3,” a couple marathon gamers dying from exhaustion after playing an online role playing game too long and the Chinese government thinking about taking action to prevent more instances like this. Congratulations, China, you are truly hard-core.
The “Not Quite Ready to Move On” Award—The Gaming Public
Last May at the annual E3 expo in L.A., all three major console makers disclosed information regarding their next generations of hardware. To the shock and awe of the corporate big wigs, nobody really cared. Technophiles were drooling over supposed tech specs and (pre-rendered) game footage, but most people paid more attention to upcoming software releases and top-tier franchises.
The largest “what for?” reaction had to be when Microsoft announced the new Xbox to little fanfare. Sony and Nintendo are waiting a bit longer to release new hardware, but the current generation of hardware clearly has more to offer and is being shelved far too soon.
The “Jumped the Gun” Award—No HD-DVD Drive in the Xbox 360
It is two weeks after the launch of the Xbox 360, and already the skeptics are pointing out the lack of storage space on the standard DVDs used for the games. Rumors of a prominent third party game spanning four discs have already surfaced. As a proponent of HD-DVD technology, you would have thought Microsoft would have included next-gen technology in their next-gen console. Oops.
The past year saw many developments in the world of video gaming. Nintendo finally found a competitor to their Game Boy in Sony’s PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft created the successor to the Xbox with the 360. These events alone ensure creativity, unique games and general awesomeness for years down the road.
The Daily Cardinal takes a look at some of the larger accomplishments and failings of the 2005 year in video games.
Best Series Reviving Game Award—“Resident Evil 4”
When “Resident Evil” debuted in 1996, gamers hailed it for jump-starting the survival-horror genre. However, much like Capcom’s other mega-series “Street Fighter,” “Resident Evil” suffered from sequel-itis in which the latter games brought nothing new to the series. Even a trip online with the “Resident Evil: Outbreak” games did not rejuvenate the series.
But then “Resident Evil 4” dropped in January to much acclaim. The game got rid of the zombie aspects while keeping the scary vibe that is inherent to the series. It also improved the admittedly flawed control system and created one that is both unique and intuitive.
While “Devil May Cry 3” helped restart its series by going back to its original greatness, “Resident Evil 4” takes the award because it revived the series by bringing amazing new elements to the game.
Most Disappointing Delay Award—“The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess”
Originally scheduled for release this holiday season, the new Zelda game has been pushed back to sometime in April, leaving creator Shigeru Miyamoto’s legion of loyal fans heartbroken.Nintendo gave the standard “we don’t feel it’s ready yet” response, telling fans that the wait will be made up by a higher quality final product. This sort of delay has become a sadly predictable move for Nintendo who may need to reevaluate the amount of focus they give to their fans, especially given their struggling position in the modern gaming market.
Worst Value for an MP3 Player Award—The PlayStation Portable
When the PSP hit in March, its game, movie and MP3 playing ability received much acclaim. However, the games were a bust with “Lumines” being the only decent one. Few wanted to pay $30 to get a PSP movie when they could get a full DVD for half the price.
The MP3 capabilities lived up to the hype where the others failed. The PSP audio experience actually turned out quite well, and the included memory card could store up to 30 minutes of songs.
However, the lagging other features raised the price of the system to the point where it is nothing but a glorified overpriced MP3 player, of which there are already many on the market.
Country With the Hardest of the Hard-Core Award—China
If you think American youths are screwed up by violence in video games, then you haven’t been paying enough attention to our friends in the lands near the rising sun. More bizarre video game related crimes and deaths take place in eastern Asia than any other area.China takes the cake by far, with recent video game-related occurrences including a murder over an auctioned off virtual sword for the game “Legend of Mir 3,” a couple marathon gamers dying from exhaustion after playing an online role playing game too long and the Chinese government thinking about taking action to prevent more instances like this. Congratulations, China, you are truly hard-core.
The “Not Quite Ready to Move On” Award—The Gaming Public
Last May at the annual E3 expo in L.A., all three major console makers disclosed information regarding their next generations of hardware. To the shock and awe of the corporate big wigs, nobody really cared. Technophiles were drooling over supposed tech specs and (pre-rendered) game footage, but most people paid more attention to upcoming software releases and top-tier franchises.
The largest “what for?” reaction had to be when Microsoft announced the new Xbox to little fanfare. Sony and Nintendo are waiting a bit longer to release new hardware, but the current generation of hardware clearly has more to offer and is being shelved far too soon.
The “Jumped the Gun” Award—No HD-DVD Drive in the Xbox 360
It is two weeks after the launch of the Xbox 360, and already the skeptics are pointing out the lack of storage space on the standard DVDs used for the games. Rumors of a prominent third party game spanning four discs have already surfaced. As a proponent of HD-DVD technology, you would have thought Microsoft would have included next-gen technology in their next-gen console. Oops.
posted by Jason Ducat at 6:31 AM
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