So...looking at this year it has dawned on me that this is likely the peak year for diversity of content in this generation given where the bases are and trends in software purchasing.
Fighting: Super Street Fighter IV, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Blazblue, couple others.
Sports: NBA Jam, Sports Champions, Madden, NCAA, NBA Elite, NBA 2k, MLB 2k, MLB the Show, Fifa, World Cup, PES, WWE, MMA, Motion Sports, Tony Hawk, Shaun White, Kinect Sports, Deca Sports 3, Inazuma Eleven 3, NHL, Inazuma Eleven Wii, etc.
Racing: Gran Turismo 5, Need for Speed, Kinect Joyride, others
Platformer: Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country: Returns, Little Big Planet 2, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Flip's Twisted World, Sonic Colors, Epic Mickey, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Super Meat Boy, Super Mario Collection, Prince of Persia, And Yet it Moves, Mario vs. DK, Bit Trip Runner, Cave Story, Mega Man 10, and other indie titles.
RPG: Monster Hunter 3, Monster Hunter 3G, Dragon Quest IX, Bioshock 2, Final Fantasy XIII, Mass Effect 2, Golden Sun, Kingdom Hearts DS, Kingdom Hearts PSP, Dragon Quest VI, Pokemon Black / White, Fable III, Fallout, Dark Siders, FF: 4 Heroes of Light, etc.
FPS: Halo: Reach, Goldeneye Wii, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Medal of Honor, Metroid, Crackdown 2, Quantum, Lost Planet 2.
Singing & Dancing: Just Dance 2, Dance Central, Michael Jackson, Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, Rockband, Dance Dance Revolution, Dance Masters, Zoomba, Broadway Musical, Def Jam, Singstar others.
Fitness: Your Shape Kinect, others.
Sandbox: Red Dead Redemption, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
Action: Splinter Cell, Kinect Adventures, DQM: Joker 2, MGS: Peace Walker, Red Steel 2, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, Pokepark, My Sims: Sky Heroes, Sengoku Basara, God of War III, Castlevania, Lego Harry Potter, etc
Strategy: Starcraft II, RUSE, Fire Emblem...not much.
Party / New / Other: Wii Party, Create, Start the Party, Art Academy, Kinectimals, Invizimals, Layton, Super Scribblenauts, Carnival Games, etc.
I would say generally that it looks like it an exceptionally strong year for Platformers, Sports, Singing & Dancing, Action and RPG stuff - shooters / racing and some of the other genres are seeing OK years but the market is concentrated on only a few hits. Weak year for sandbox, party, fitness and strategy stuff.
My five main genres are Platformers, Strategy, Fighting, Sports and niche / indie stuff so its a good year for me in terms of new content - best year for platformers since I was like six, and a couple good games from the sports, rpgs, niche, and fighting genres for me as well. I'm getting through my strategy backlog on DS too, so I'm rather satisfied in all five counts at the moment.
What do you all think of 2010 as compared to other recent years?
People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.
When there are more laws, there are more criminals.
- Lao Tzu
