This image has threatened traditional gaming since around November 2006.

It’s been a year of worry for the traditional gamer. Whilst gaming might seem to be an ever growing past-time, some of the traditional elements which make up the industry have seemed fragile. Publishers have been busy shutting down traditional developers, especially those famed for 3D racers, but beyond too.

We have seen shops such as Gamestop starting to seriously invest in alternative delivery platforms such as their own tablet and streaming services, fearing a fast-arriving dead end to their current business model. Indeed in the UK, where GAME have been less aggressive in moving into new areas of the business, we are witnessing the start of what will be a contraction of its street presence over the next five years. HMV, too, are struggling and are being quite open about the idea that they might not be around in the next 2-5 years in any shape or form.

Alongside this we have seen traditional hardware providers, such as Microsoft and Sony, in effect pour cold water on the idea of an early start to the ‘next generation’ as it is only really now that they are generating real profit dollars from their investment in current hardware and software. Whilst they might feel the urge to produce something new in the face of the soon to be released Wii U, both companies will resist in the knowledge that they have healthy, steadily improving install bases and technology which still won’t look outdated, even compared to the Wii U. I suspect they have noticed that the current generation of hardware is actually perceived to be cutting edge by many consumers today, despite being very behind suped up PCs. Hence there is little demand to bring a new, expensive console solution to the market in these difficult economic times.

Look, look I got some new plastic! But no games or applications to use with it!

Nintendo’s own year has been a difficult one, until the final quarter came around with the upturn witnessed in the holiday season. The launch of the 3DS was undermined by a range of mistakes. A high price, which did not actually put off day one early adoption but which did kill day two, three and further afield purchases. This drop in sales and consumer relevance was then compounded by the device having no actual new software (quality or otherwise) for months after release! It was almost as if Nintendo itself was surprised by the release of the console. One suspects that this observation might be closer to the truth than some might realise. Could it be that Iwata suddenly panicked when he saw the drop off in DS hardware and software sales in late 2010 and early 2011, and thought a hardware launch, which was due for November 2011, should be brought forward? Could it be that he actioned this change of timeline, forgetting that the software development teams couldn’t speed up, pro-rata?

This would explain the lack of software, both in terms of game titles and the also slightly unfinished operating system, which is still having parts of its online functionality added by firmware to this day; but which the software team have admitted were due to be there from day one.

Indeed Nintendo have taken a bashing on behalf of traditional gamers everywhere. Analysts the world over have decided that Nintendo could be the RIM (the makers of Blackberry products) of the games industry. Everyone likes to be the one who can call the end of the world (just ask the Mayans) and analysts are as human as the next guy (really they are) and Nintendo was their punching bag in 2011. The narrative went like this – people are moving from dedicated gaming devices to iPads and smartphones. Why spend £30 on a game, when you can get freeware or £1 software? The logic was sound, but too simple. People will always buy something they want, you just need to give them something they actually want, and come the end of the year Nintendo seemed to be achieving this. The 3DS sales are now running ahead of all predictions and confidence is not only building in the platform, but in the traditional games market in general. What started as a bad story for Nintendo and the industry as a whole has started to evolve into a success story.

Of course the area of growth which has probably received the most headlines, is the continued march of the social and casual gaming market. This encompasses everything from the Just Dance franchise, to the exponential growth of the Farmville type experience. There is no question that the online ‘Sim’ style of gameplay is not only hugely compelling but ideal for multi-platform, cloud play. Users can switch from the PC to their tablets, and in theory continue on the Sony Vita, as many of these games start being released in the platform agnostic HTML5 coding language. Indeed as televisions become ‘smarter’ with their own implementation of Kinect-like experiences, merged with an appstore, we can expect to see continued growth in the use of such genres. For hardcore gamers, this can be seen as a threat, as it potentially pulls funding from the type of projects they would traditionally welcome. Indeed if one looks, as an example, at Disney Interactive, it is moving evermore into this social and casual space and further away from traditional AAA game titles.

Should we as traditional gamers be worried by this? Probably not. Firstly the world is not black and white (even though according to my dad, when he was a boy it used to be – just look at old films back from when he was a youngster he tells me) and hence some of us also play those social games (maybe less so the dance titles). After all they are really very similar to RPGs, but often the character is the ‘farm’ or ‘restaurant’. However it also means that those AAA titles that are released get an increase in funding, and hence we should see an ongoing rise in production values and overall quality. The end of year titles released in 2011 are probably the best evidence for this. The range of software in your local GAME or Gamestop is reducing, but who can dispute the quality of Batman Arkham City, Skyrim, Uncharted 3 and the top shooters, MW3 and BF3?

Let us not forget the great games that have come out on XBLA, PSN, Android/iOS and recently on the 3DS, which is starting to have some quality digital titles. If you are a dedicated gamer, and not just someone who dives in to kill some time, you have never really had it so good.

What will 2012 bring to the story? For sure, we will see the ongoing decline of brick and mortar shops. Boxed product will still exist, and we will probably continue to see the ongoing investment into ‘limited edition’ versions which will help to prolong the life of this boxed product. However for many they will only order via online, postal only services. Shops will simply start to close or become trading and part exchange locations.

Game of the Year 2012?

The year ahead, when it comes to software, is going to be a very exciting year. Max Payne 3, Grand Theft Auto 5, MW3 map packs and BioShock Infinite (have Take 2 already sewn up 2012?) are already in our consciousness. The 3DS has some superb first and third party exclusives arriving in early 2012 too, and the industry will have the US and European launch of the Vita to look forward to.

The Wii U will release. Nintendo will see this as a slow burner, as the Wii at its new price is still selling strongly. However for those wanting to upgrade it could spoil the party for the current levels of PS3 growth and Xbox steady sale projections. Why? Because for those who already have a Wii (and only a Wii) and are considering what to step up to then if the Wii U ticks a number of boxes, it’ll be the natural platform to choose. What are those boxes?

• If the Wii U has the same range of ‘adult’ software as the 360 and PS3 in addition to being 100% backwards compatible with all their Wii content.
• If it allows them to play all the new Mario titles, along with new Nintendo only IP. Expect Nintendo to make a push to position the Wii U as the first console to take MMOs seriously with a controller designed for them.

The ultimate home based tablet and server solution?

If the above happens, then who would not buy the Wii U over one of its HD counterparts? Those of us already with a Wii and 360, or PS3 will probably fail to become early adopters. That’ll be fine by Nintendo though, as once the new inevitable Mario games and Pikmin are released, and once the hardware does eventually drop in price, they know we will still invest.

What Nintendo decides to do with its online provision for the Wii U though is very exciting. Nothing is really known, but all the rumours suggest a very open online service, perhaps with multiple portals such as EA’s Origin and Steam. However, if they could be linked with a single Wii U identity (not a friend code!) it suggests a range of delivery services, offers and perhaps even streaming services being offered through the platform, alongside its own propriety content.

2012 could be Take 2's year, at least when it comes to Metacritic scores. Sales will surely follow.

As the economy continues to stumble, the games industry will clearly find that growth and expansion is stunted by the social and economic factors around them. Yet if any leisure industry will succeed in these tough times, it’ll be ours; and 2012 will be another step forward.

The following article comprised of dangerously opinionated views will contain SPOILERS covering the whole of Modern Warfare 2′s story and should be read at your own risk. This is your only warning.

What follows is not a review of Modern Warfare 2, at least not in the conventional sense. A review is an opinion, but a good review balances up an opinion against the masses. A good review may point out flaws, but at the same time suggest the type of person who wouldn’t mind them or offer balance with what was good. The following article will not be so balanced and will only focus on flaws, at least for the most part.

This article will also not mention the competitive multi-player available. Why? It isn’t my thing, so I can’t really comment on whether it’s good or not. It doesn’t interest me and from an outside view seems no different to the first Modern Warfare’s multi-player (which I also never played). A great single player or co-operative experience is what I’m looking for. If my disinterest in the incredibly popular multi-player has already made you dislike me, then you might as well stick with it and read on.

To spare me some hate mail, death threats and angry glares as I play ‘lesser’ games for more enjoyment than this provided me, I should point out that I thoroughly enjoyed the first Modern Warfare. To an extent I also enjoyed the sequel, in so far as the graphics were astonishingly good, the voice work was above par and the gameplay was fairly smooth. But that is where it ends for me.

Modern Warfare 2 is a game of extremes to be sure and, at the time of writing, it is already confirmed that at least five million copies have been sold. A sizeable chunk of those sales will be in America, but we British will also have paid out to play this game. We British also had the joy of paying a greed based publisher’s premium to get our hands on this game (assuming you didn’t make the most of the supermarket price war).

Due to circumstances I won’t bore you with, I had to wait an extra two days after release until I got my copy of Modern Warfare 2. This didn’t bother me since I had successfully avoided all hype surrounding it (partly because I didn’t want to risk spoilers, but also just because I had no intention of buying it). I sat down earlier today with it though, ready for my extreme experience. I fired my PS3 up and four hours, twenty-six minutes and fifty-two seconds later I was done.

Is this what passes for a single player experience in the most anticipated game of 2009? The game that scared so many other developers enough to push back their release dates to next year? Not even five hours of my time? Don’t yell at me about higher difficulty levels, Spec-Ops and multi-player – those are added extras. Yes, for many people it may in fact all be about the multi-player, but that isn’t why I play games. I want to be immersed in a decent story for a decent length of time and enjoy every second of it.

How happy I was when the first Modern Warfare came into the present and near-future. The Call of Duty obsession with World War 2 was just getting morbid. Concessions were made as a result and what we, as the player, got to experience was a loosely strung together tiff with terrorists in ‘made-up-istan’ setting off a nuke and a mad Russian with one arm plotting against America that was in no way original. It was a great experience though, I think partly because it was a new direction for the Call of Duty series but also because they had made it look so good. The graphics made you forget that you were working your way through a generic action movie plot. Well, the graphics and Captain Price’s mutton chops.

How disappointing then that the first Modern Warfare also featured one of the worst endings of recent times. Having survived everything with your squad and going through hell and back you sit there and watch as each is killed for no good reason, then you get to kill the nasty Russian and that’s it. Not that the story had much focus anyway, but to wrap things up like that was lazy, uninspired and did the rest of the game that preceded it no justice. Modern Warfare 2 manages to pay homage to the first game by featuring an ending almost as bad, albeit for slightly different reasons. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My understanding of Modern Warfare 2′s story may not be entirely accurate. This is because lack of information made the last quarter of it very hard to follow. Let me run this by you to see if I’ve got it clear (and if I don’t, do point it out).

An American soldier formally stationed in Afghanistan is hand picked to become a spy in a Russian terrorist cell. To get close to the leader of this terrorist cell involves taking part in an airport massacre (more about that in a second). However, it seems the leader of this cell knew that the American was undercover and kills him in order that his body is found, America is pinned for the massacre, and Russia can go to war with America in a justifiable way that would mean no one would come to their aid. That about right so far?

I have a few problems with that airport level. The first is that it was clearly only put in to create media uproar and get a ton of free advertising as a result. If they really just wanted to evoke hatred in the terrorist leader Makarov (because, you know, the fact he’s a terrorist isn’t quite good enough it seems) they should have placed the player in control of a civilian trying to escape. The second is that it is the first of many plot holes. The undercover American you have control of isn’t the only terrorist that dies at the airport. Two of the Russian terrorists die as well, so why is America blamed? Why is America blamed at all even if the American was the only one to die? Countries don’t go to war just like that and they certainly don’t suddenly clone American satellite network controls and launch a sneak attack invasion of Washington DC.

Yes, I know analysing a story that is essentially brainless like this is probably pointless. Modern Warfare 2 tries no harder to have a moral lesson or important point buried in it than an average episode of 24, but I was just disappointed how shoddily it all hung together.

While the Americans wage war on home soil against invading Russians, you then have the special ops team made up of former British SAS from the first game and others. They somehow piece together that the Russian terrorist waging war on America wants a prisoner in a Russian prison. The reason for this is beyond human comprehension. The prisoner also in fact turns out to be Captain Price. Hurrah, mutton-chops wasn’t dead after all! Why was he in a Russian prison when last he was seen getting CPR from an American soldier?

Anyway, with the war going on in America, Price decides to set a nuke off (that clearly had no radiation in it) just above Washington, so it looks like they are now the victims and America will get aid from the world. But oh no, it turns out that Shepard – the man leading the American army and not the Spectre from Mass Effect (this distinction is especially hard to make since Captain Anderson voices Sergeant Foley) – is in fact the real bad guy and sets about cleaning up all records of…something.

Don't follow MacTavish's example. Run through the game and you'll be done in three hours.

I honestly tried to pay attention. Besides graphics, story is the most important thing for me but I just felt my brain melting out my ear trying to let all this in. I have no idea why Shepard was the villain. Something about five years ago and people not caring about the war? His soldiers dying in that nuclear blast from the first game possibly? Did he hire the Russian to do everything? Was he killing thousands just to make people pay attention and sign up to the army? The last couple stages focus purely on killing him because that achieves…? And yes, after a very stylish knife kill Shepard is indeed killed and revenge is obtained. Now what? What about that Russian and American war still going on? What about Makarov? What about Price and MacTavish being the most wanted men in the world?

To think they can just end it there is deplorable. It isn’t a cliffhanger and it isn’t closure either. It’s laziness, or desperation after giving themselves no where else to go with a broken plot. At least I hope it is, because it better not be an artificial end just so we can see the ‘real ending’ via future DLC or another sequel.

The phrase “It’s just a game!” gets flung around a lot and I can almost hear it hurtling my way right now to deafen me into submission, but hold on a moment. Yes, Modern Warfare 2 is just a game. It’s just a game that sold a few million copies in a single day. It’s just a game that got mass media attention for putting you in the role of a terrorist, albeit briefly. It’s just a game that will be judged by thousands of people to be as near to a perfect game as is humanly possible when it deserves no such credit. Modern Warfare 2 is alright. It’s not great, but it’s not bad either. It’s a horrendously short experience that will dazzle your eyes and bore your brain. It’s a 7/10 at best.

You know, despite trying to form all these really good arguments about why the story was awful and why this game was just about average, I do have one pathetically nit-picky thing to complain about. The instruction manual is one of the laziest I have ever seen. It’s barely seven pages long. It has one hint for how to play and do you know what that is? It’s how to eject the disk (seriously – check page two).

I’ve given Spec-Ops mode a whirl and it’s alright. It’s two player and I love co-op but it does beg the question (given that each Spec-Op mission is simply a scenario or section from the single player game) of why the whole thing couldn’t be played together with a friend. Despite being short, just that simple addition would have made me like it a lot more. Ah well, perhaps I will need to look to that dreaded and overly popular competitive multi-player. So will you, if you want to get any kind of value out of the over priced purchase that you just made.

• Format: Xbox360 (version reviewed), PS3, PC
• Unleashed: Out Now
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Developer: Bioware
• Players: 1
• Site: www.dragonage.bioware.com

Often when a game is released across the main consoles and on PC, they do not differ in as many ways as a Wii or hand-held port would due to similar specifications. However, Bioware’s Dragon Age Origins plays very differently on PS3 and Xbox 360 compared to PC, and as such we have decided to review both versions.

The world of Dragon Age is that of high fantasy. Really high fantasy. If you are immediately put off by Elves or Dwarfs and the like then get out while you can, because you’re going to be waste deep in pointy-eared lore here.

Set within the kingdom of Ferelden, you play as one of three races through one of a handful of different origin stories as one of three classes before being recruited into the Grey Wardens. The job of these wardens is to defeat an Archdemon, a dragon that leads an army of Darkspawn up from the bowels of the earth to destroy, pillage and generally do nasty things.

At its heart, Dragon Age is an RPG working on a system similar to D&D with the trademark diplomacy and conversation choices from other Bioware games (such as Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic) being as important as fighting.

Well...it wouldn't do the title justice unless it had at least one dragon.

Be prepared for a tough time, as this game is not easy. That is to say, that normal isn’t easy, but easy isn’t easy either. A small patch already released fixes imbalances found by players, so as long as you’ve got that, then easy should be easy and normal should be normal. Hard and nightmare are still hard and “Is that my spleen on the floor?” though, so have fun with that.

While the PC version can play like those other games we mentioned, it can also be played overhead in a similar manner to older games such as Neverwinter Nights. The action can also be paused so orders can be given efficiently and tactics better employed. The console ports do not have this luxury, and can only be played in Mass Effect type ways – with swords replacing guns. A radial wheel can be opened to pause play and select abilities (which is a must as you only have six quick slots) but this is no substitution. A similar AI tactics system to FF12′s Gambits pales in comparison to the level of control you can yield over your four man team on PC.

The lack of full tactical control also made the game feel a little too much like a hack-and-slash affair at times (though that may in fact make it appeal more to console players as a result). It is a good thing, then, that the saving grace of Dragon Age Origins is in the storytelling.

While we found ourselves getting a little bored of combat by the end, the story was captivating from the off. It does fall back on some fantasy stereotypes, but it gets high marks for not making the Dwarfs Scottish (or perhaps it loses points since they just sound American, depending on your opinion) and for putting you up against excellent choices. Your actions make a difference everywhere and it is refreshing that these choices and consequences are presented to you to shape a story rather than simply to obtain rewards.

The story is helped along by an almost entirely stellar voice cast. Stand out mentions include; Simon Templeman as Loghain, Steve Valentine as Alistair and Claudia Black as Morrigan.

Having compared the console ports to the PC version running at full settings we can surmise that (roughly speaking) the consoles get the equivalent of medium-to-high. The game is only moderately good looking. It is by no means ugly, it is just surprising that more effort was not made. In fact the only place effort does seem to have been made is in blood splatters being persistent on your characters after battles, which was a very poor choice as it’s both distracting and incredibly silly looking.

A single play through of Dragon Age Origins will take a minimum of thirty hours (and that is an absolute minimum), granted that is partly because of the vast amount of conversations you’ll be having more than anything else but that is part of the charm. It feels as though creating an in-depth and original fantasy world was the most important thing here and for RPG lovers we’re sure this will be a good thing. Those not so into their role playing may be willing to look past the mountains of dialogue, but we suspect that in most cases that won’t be possible.

For those into their RPGs that don’t have a PC capable of running Dragon Age Origins (which is possibly quite a lot of you, as it seems there are some serious problems with ATI based systems) then we can still recommend the console port – if you can put up with the limitations. At time of writing there are bugs, but the console version appears to be spared from the most serious and we only encountered one which solved itself after a while.

We will close with a warning to console owners that decide to purchase this game. There is already free and paid for DLC available and if you download either and activate them then you must play the game online and be signed into EA’s servers or your save will not load. These days most people have an always-on connection, but it is still an extremely poor decision that will hopefully be rectified in the future.

With all that said, get out there and slay dragons. Or do some talking. Lots of talking. Or bed an Elven assassin that sounds like Antonio Banderas. Seriously.

7/10