Chella Ramanan writes:
"'Tis the season of good cheer and decking halls and all that Dickensian nonsense. 'Tis the time when we make lists and cast a bleary-eyed glance back at the year that was. And 2007 was a hard act to follow, but it has to be said that 2008 was a bit lack lustre on the old gaming front. Sure there were a few highlights, but last year there were just too many to choose from. Nonetheless, I've pulled together 2008's best bits and some of its disappointments.
The first half of 2008 went pretty smoothly and was dominated by the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV. It was the second part of the year, when this started going a bit pear-shaped, what with the recession and Sarah Palin nearly making it into the White House. All in all, the games industry isn't doing half bad. With 86% of UK games retailers confident about 2009 (according to a survey by trade publication MCV) and 58% expecting their Christmas takings will surpass last year's, many are suggesting that the games industry could be recession proof.
Well, never mind all the figures and speculation, all we want to know is what was good, what was bad and what are we going to be playing this Christmas?"
It's important in life to maintain a broad palette when it comes to culture and the arts. Hideo Kojima agrees, as he continues to use video games like Death Stranding to introduce people to music and other elements they might not otherwise discover.
Mojang has partnered with Merlin Entertainments to build the world's first Minecraft theme park in the UK.
A three-episode live-action adaptation of the first two Yakuza video games will debut Tuesday, March 17 exclusively IGN. Each episode is about an hour long and will stream on IGN.com and IGN’s YouTube channel.
