2011 was a big year for video games. The number of blockbuster titles over the last few months alone was staggering. Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, Infamous 2, Skyrim, Dark Souls, Halo: Anniversary and a lot more. Some of these I have had a chance to play, others will have to wait. For me one of the biggest gaming developments personally was getting to play PC games for the first time in years due to my wife having gotten me a good PC a little over a year ago. I was introduced to Steam, I took an active role in more gaming blogs and even started to work on mine again as a result.
Not everything was rosy in gaming of course. Nintendo made some missteps that stunted what should have been a successful 3DS launch. They also neglected the Wii in favor of the Wii U, in no small part alienating some of their most loyal fans.
Sony had its issues with hackers taking down the PlayStation Network and potentially compromising user account information. Steam saw their system get attacked as well - as did the forums of several other video game developers.
There is a lot to look forward to in 2012 as well. The Playstation Vita is a big one for me, though the price of the memory sticks is a cause for disappointment. Will the Wii U be released this year then? Are we going to see glimpses of the next generation of Microsoft and Sony systems? There are a lot of hotly anticipated games coming up as well - Tomb Raider and Mass Effect 3 being of particularly high interest for me.
What about you? Any particularly good or bad memories in gaming for you last year? Anything in particular you are really looking forward to in 2012?
What about in the world of non-gaming? I have a fairly crazy potential year ahead of me, with some potential work changes, my kids getting older and hitting specific ages of significance - it's going to be an interesting 2012 I suspect.
Wishing you all a happy, safe New Year!
Quick Bioshock reference above. Sure, the year's wrong, but it's the thought that counts. :)