Video Games Year in Review: 2006

Dec 23, 2006

With two major system launches, the last ever E3, and a rash of great games, there's no question that 2006 was a year worth remembering. Join us for a look back over the events that made video game headlines over the last 12 months.

Q1: Crashed Enzos, Oblivion, and lines

Think back to January 1, 2006. As the New Year kicks off, Liberty City Stories is tearing up the PSP chart, new 360 owners are crazy about Call of Duty 2, and Mario Party 7's avalanche of four units sold rocketed it to the top of the GameCube chart. Ha. The PS3's controller still looks like a plastic banana, and the Wii is still surrounded by mystery. Actually, it's not even the Wii -- it's the Revolution.

Even though you can pick up a 360 virtually anywhere now, its notorious launch shortages continued right through Q1 '06. Worse, the 360 was still beset with , as many livid owners found their machines would overheat and expire prematurely. You'd be mad too, if you'd spent three weeks lining up in the rain for a 360, only to get it home and have it die half an hour into your first game of Project Gotham 3.

Also making headlines for the wrong reasons was World of Warcraft. A player named Sara Andrews caught flak from Blizzard reps by recruiting for a homosexual-friendly guild. Although Bliz originally stuck to its guns, the inevitable and widely predicted backdown didn't take long and Andrews received an apology. Still, the issue raised important issues about how real-life personality aspects relate to the development of virtual worlds, and marked the first of many 2006 news stories connected to massively multiplayer games that made world headlines.

Meanwhile, in Malibu, Los Angeles, a Swedish man called Stefan Eriksson crashed his Ferrari Enzo into a pole at almost 200 mph, putting a period to an almost unbelievable tale of video games intrigue, high society, and total failure. Eriksson, who survived with only slight injuries, was formerly a bigwig at Gizmondo, maker of a spectacularly useless handheld of the same name. His tale - involving the Swedish Mafia, fake Homeland Security officials, and a mysterious individual known only as "Dietrich" -- is far long to tell here, but Wired has a great piece on it.

Right up until mid-March, Sony was sticking with a "spring 2006" release date for the PlayStation 3, despite much skepticism and fun-poking in the media. In the end, it fell to former Sony boss Ken Kutaragi to announce the new date: November. Of course, he still didn't quite get it right, as he said at the time it would be a worldwide release, and as our European readers will testify, they're still waiting. Such is life.

The quarter ended up with big news on the 360 front, as Oblivion hit the streets. Its open-ended gameplay and lifelike world disappointed few, and it's a serious contender for Game of the Year despite its early-entrant handicap. What else made critics happy this quarter? Not a lot. Star Wars: Empire at War did well on the PC, as did Fight Night Round 3 on assorted consoles and Burnout Revenge on the 360.

Q2: Brain Age, we meet the Wii, and the last E3

This quarter began with a couple of major companies dipping their toes into the challenging world of episodic games. Both Half-Life 2: Episode One and SiN Episodes: Emergence hit the "streets" of Valve's online distribution system Steam this quarter, and both met with critical acclaim. Sadly, following a major staff exodus from its developer Ritual in the last few weeks, a question mark hangs over the remaining SiN episodes - but Half-Life: Episode Two is expected early next year.

Brain Age also came out in April, giving us a little taste of Nintendo's "blue ocean" marketing plan: making games that appeal to more than just video games nerds. Brain Age, released on the DS handheld, used voice and handwriting recognition to put together a "brain training" game that purported to actually improve your mental faculties. Did it work? It certainly proved popular, but we're not sure we're ackchully enny better thinking and stuff.

On the topic of unusual spellings, the Wii. WTF? Nintendo unveiled the new name for the console previously known as the Revolution in April just before huge video games trade show E3, no doubt to get all the snickering out of the way. To be honest, we were sniggering for a few months after that as well. What do you expect when you name your console after a euphemism for urine? But for all our off-color jokes and innuendo, Nintendo was right about one thing -- we got used to it.

Speaking of LA-based uber-trade show E3, May saw the last one, ever. We didn't know that at the time, of course, as we watched Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, EA, Vivendi et al jockey for mindshare via press conferences and vastly expensive exhibits. Next year, all those theatricals will be replaced by smaller, more focused events, no doubt with fewer hot booth babes and less free alcohol. Color us depressed.

Looking back on it, the shape of E3 neatly summed up the year ahead. Sony's big pre-show press conference was a widely-criticized mess, and its Genji "Giant Enemy Crab!" demonstration is still being lampooned -- Microsoft's Viva Pinata poked fun in its loading screen!

Microsoft, in contrast, had a solid show with few surprises, but gave the world its first look at Halo 3, and confirmed Grand Theft Auto 4 will be coming to the 360 late next year. But it was Nintendo that stole the show, drawing huge crowds to its exhibit and wowing them all with Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and of course Wii Sports.

Although you might have thought that Louisiana state legislators had enough to do, what with that whole Hurricane Katrina business, they still found time in their crowded schedules to pass a bill criminalizing the sale of certain violent video games to minors in June. The bill -- co-authored by anti-game windbag lawyer Jack Thompson -- was eventually ruled unconstitutional in November. No doubt the good folks of Louisiana were delighted to see their tax dollars going to fight unwinnable lawsuits.

Q3: Dead Rising, Wii rumors, share options

Be honest. If we'd told you this time last year that a real-time strategy game could work just as well on a console as on a PC, you'd have laughed, right? It was EA that was laughing in July, as it released the 360 version of Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II and proved us all wrong. BFME's innovative controls worked just dandy on the 360's pad, and the game opened the door for future EA RTS games (, anyone?) to be released on the platform as well. Good times.

It wasn't such good times for major publishers Activision, Take Two and THQ, all of which found themselves under investigation by the Securities and Exchanges Commission over issues surrounding employee stock options. All three companies finished the year with strong share price improvements, however -- maybe SEC investigations are good for business. Who'd a thunk?

As speculation continued over the Wii's exact capabilities and price point, August gave rise to some great stores. Although Nintendo had already stated the Wii's price wouldn't exceed $250 (it didn't, by a mere penny), some outlets were still predicting asking prices well below $200. Confusion reigned over the function of the microphone in the controller (could it be used for text-to-speech chat in multiplayer games?). Will we be able to play Zelda with a GameCube controller (and why would we want to)? Will Nintendo be teaming up with Apple?

Although video games have been blamed for many of society's ills, August marked the first time they were blamed for delaying the release of a novel. Acclaimed sci-fi writer Iain M. Banks was forced to postpone the release of his next book into next year thanks to his Civilization IV addiction. Hey, if you're going to quit working and play your life away, Civ's about the best choice you could make. We must admit to some sympathy for Mr. Banks, having blown off our share of deadlines thanks to being hooked on one game or another.

Although it was relatively quiet on the news front, this quarter produced some of the year's best games. Nothing -- OK, except Wii Sports -- matched Lego Star Wars II for family-friendly multiplayer gaming. Prey gave us all motion sickness, but we loved it anyway. Company of Heroes proved one of the best strategy games of all time on the PC, and Okami showed the PS2 was still the place to find real creativity. Meanwhile, over on the 360, Dead Rising's Romeroesque zombie combat still stands out as one of the platform's stars.

Q4: Wii and PS3 hit stores, Gears of War, Wii breaks TVs

Two events dominated the end of 2006: the release of Sony's PS3 and Nintendo's Wii in November. The stories of both these processes are still playing out, but as the year ends, there's no sign of a let-up in demand (nor an increase in supply, sadly). If you're one of the lucky few to have one (or even both) of these desirable machines to entertain yourself over the holiday season, pat yourself on the back -- you're the second most hated video game minority around.

First place, of course, goes to the Ebay console scalpers, who snapped up a significant proportion of the PS3s and Wiis that made it to stores, and promptly flogged them to the less fortunate on Ebay. Thousands of dollars in profit awaited those with sufficiently flexible personal morality, but many auctions fell victim to vigilante-like nuisance bid attacks. Never mind, eh.

Of course, some Wii purchasers turned out to have a bit of a surprise in store. If you don't have a good grip on your "Wii-mote" -- or if the wrist-strap securing it breaks --broken TVs, smashed windows, and minor personal injuries are the results. Shock, horror: flying hunks of plastic (containing two AA batteries) are likely to break fragile objects they strike. Who'd have thought it? Commendably, Nintendo shouldered responsibility for the flimsy wrist-straps, offering Wii owners free replacements, but if you're fool enough to play without one at all, you're on your own.

Broken TVs are one thing, but broken laws are quite another -- and the PS3 seemed to spark off a mini-crime wave in some parts of the country. A PS3 line outside a Putnam, CT Wal-Mart was the scene of attempted murder when two armed men tried to rob waiting customers. In Wilmington, NC, a suspect in the theft of two PS3s wound up dead when police fatally shot both him and his dog during a raid.

But will 2006 be remembered more for the coming of the PS3, or the release of the Wii? As for who captured the imagination of the public most, there's no doubt: the Wii's casual-friendly approach and innovative controls won the day. Although neither console was loaded with spectacular games, we'd pick the Wii lineup, if only because many of the PS3's better games were ports from other systems. This story's far from over, but Nintendo is certainly off to an inspiring start.

Meanwhile, all was far from quiet on the Xbox 360 front too. Microsoft's HD-DVD drive attachment for the console hit streets in November -- and the console's online service was updated to enable users to download high-definition movies and TV shows for small fees. The release of Gears of War breathed new life into the Xbox Live scene, and the console ended the year in a strong position despite the new releases from its competitors.

As is typical for the months leading up to the December shopping rush, October and November were crammed to bursting point with AAA-quality new releases. The stunning Gears of War on the 360 was many people's choice for Game of the Year. Final Fantasy XII proved there's life in the PS2 yet. Guitar Hero II was magnificent. Zelda: Twilight Princess exceeded even the most ludicrous of our high expectations. And Resistance: Fall of Man offered enough reason to line up for a PS3.

Quick Picks: Top Games in 2006

You can't go wrong with any of these.

>> Casual Games Year in Review

>> Go to 2007 Predictions