2010 was a wonderful year in gaming.
Mass Effect 2 kicked the year off with a bang and the year kept bringing in the hits. Red Dead Redemption took the usually dead summer months by storm and the year continued its hot streak all the way through the always heavy holiday season, which brought us the millions selling Call of Duty: Black Ops and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.
Despite the many triumphs of the year we still had some moments more awkward than Justin Bieber and Usher’s friendship. So here are my Top 5 Failures of 2010.
5) Wii hardware
The Wii has lost a lot of steam lately, despite some stellar games such as Donkey Kong Country Returns and Kirby’s Epic Yarn . As Nintendo’s competitors try to compete with their own motion gaming hardware, Nintendo seems to have stalled everything to do with the Wii’s hardware.
Sure, the 3DS is looking very promising but the Wii seems to be backtracking. They are stopping the use of Wii Speak as a communication device, and what happened to the Wii Vitality Sensor? Sure, no one seems excited about it but you think it would at least be available.
4) Call of Duty Map Pricing
This failure is more on us than Activision. They are simply running a business. Yes, they may be run by perhaps the most hated man in the video game industry but when they have a product they can price it however they want.
But the prices for the Modern Warfare 2 map packs were more than a bit exorbitant. The Internet was set ablaze with such passionate cries as “No way dude,” and “Oh, c’mon man”. I would like to say in a show of strength we as gamers banded together and forced them to lower their prices by refusing to buy such overpriced content.
But no, we bought it. In fact we made it the most successful DLC to date. Great job everybody.
3) Harmonix sold for $50
Harmoix is the studio behind both the original Guitar Hero and the Rock Band series. When they were purchased by Viacom, the same company who owns MTV, it seemed the perfect marriage. For a while it was. The music game boom hit and everyone was getting in on it.
But, as with everything the bubble eventually burst and music gaming has seen a steady decline in sales. Viacom’s selling of Harmonix for fifty dollars is a little extreme, but maybe Harmonix still has some life left in it. Their game Dance Central has been lauded as the best Kinect game and is selling pretty well. Still, it is shocking how fast things change.
2) Medal of Honor Taliban
Medal of Honor has been trying to claw its way back into the fight for this generations top shooter franchise. They went all out for their latest title, with tons of marketing about how this was going to be the most realistic shooter out there. They talked to a bunch of soldiers, trying to really capture the modern climate of war, and also the majesty of the beard.
One of the steps they were taking was to include Taliban in the game, and not just “guys who really are Taliban but we are going to call them something else so no one gets offended”. So, since they decided to take the bold step to include Taliban, the media got involved and decided that they weren’t OK with it. Never mind that soldiers who had actually fought the Taliban had assisted in the making of the game and were fine with it. Journalists who had no war experience were offended and you all know how the rest goes.
The Medal of Honor devs stood tall for around two seconds and then bowed out and removed the Taliban from the game.
1) Metroid: Other M
Nintendo has the most storied history in gaming. No one can come close to their cabinet of classic characters. One of the most beloved of these is the heroine of the Metroid Series, Samus Aran. So when Metroid: Other M was announced gamers were both excited and a bit wary at the chance to see a Metroid game with more characterization.
Unfortunately they were right to be a bit scared. Team Ninja (and Nintendo) took one of gaming’s premiere female characters and turned her into a whiny little girl.
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