Edge 2000-2009 Best Of awards

[Warbie]

Game of the Decade: World of Warcraft
Runners Up: GTA III, Half-Life 2, Halo: Combat Evolved, Resident Evil 4.

Hardware of the Decade: PS2
Runners Up: DS, Wii.

Developer of the Decade: Nintendo
Runners Up: Rockstar North, Valve.

Publisher of the Decade: Nintendo
Runners Up: Activision Blizzard, Sony.

Person of the Decade: Soturu Iwata
Runners Up: Shinji Mikami, J. Allard.

Failure of the Decade: Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death
Runners Up: PS3's Difficult Launch, Gizmondo.


Half-Life 2

'The FPS remains gaming's most popular genre; Half-Life 2 was the game to shape its development, enabling the transformation from a bloody version of whack-a-mole to an emotionally involving and naratively sophisticated experience. Setting a benchmark for voice-acting and dialogue that lamentably few games have since matched, Half-Life 2 created engaging, endearing charatcers who made the setting feel more alive and your role in it more purposeful. But its greater achievement, and one that is a triumph peculiar to this interactive visual medium, is in how it tells stories without words - via environments that, through the player's act of exploration, reveal the lives and deaths of their previous occupants. If, by the end of 2019, the firstperson perspective is no longer primarily used for shooting things, it will be Half-Life 2 that truly inspired the possiblity for it to do more.'

 

[Shift]

Superb review of Half-Life 2, couldn't have put it better.

But WoW is NOT game of the decade. Just because loads are addicted to it, it doesn't make it amazing, its just one big grind for crying out loud.

 

[Barnz]

Sometimes, I dream about cheese.

 

[Shakermaker]

But WoW is NOT game of the decade. Just because loads are addicted to it, it doesn't make it amazing, its just one big grind for crying out loud.

Not entirely true. There is so much to do in-game. It isn't necessarily about grinding. Slowly leveling up and taking your time to explore Azeroth can be an adventure in itself. I know it is in my top 5 of the decade. It isn't my number one though.

 

[knut]

Superb review of Half-Life 2, couldn't have put it better.

But WoW is NOT game of the decade. Just because loads are addicted to it, it doesn't make it amazing, its just one big grind for crying out loud.

I AM SHIFT, THE OPPOSING OPINION OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIKE WOW.

 

[Shift]

I actually happen to like wow, even though I don't play it religiously and haven't touched it in a good while. Its just not game of the decade.

 

[Warbie]

There's probably millions who'd disagree. It's not my choice either, but there's no denying WoW is doing something very right. I must have spent months of my life grinding and raiding while chatting away on comms with friends.

 

[Eejit]

Popular and easy to play and get into does not necessarily equate to good, let alone great or 'best of the decade'.

 

[VirusType2]

Honestly, I don't know if there is even any competition to WoW for game of the decade. I mean, it's probably got the most money, the most hours playing, the most people playing - it's the most objective choice.

If you simply want to pick one game that is 'more fun' or whatever, then OK. What about you? What game would you pick?

 

[Shift]

Half-Life 2. I actually REALLY felt for the characters it created, I cared about the world I was fighting for, its immersion mechanics have never been matched imo. That is power you can't mess with, and I don't immersed into games very easily at all. And that was all coupled with the best graphics around at the time, one of the best phyiscs engines and incredibly satisfying action with a brilliantly diverse set of levels. For me its the greatest game ever made, never mind game of the decade.

 

[VirusType2]

Hmm, that does kind of make sense - Half-Life2 would be one of my top favorite games of all time, and WoW wouldn't be on the list, even though I liked WoW, but ehhh I haven't played HL2 since... years.

Mostly because of the whole annoying Steam thing. Actually, I haven't got a video card or free time anymore, so eh.

Yea, I'm working right now.

 

[jondy]

most hours playing, the most people playing - it's the most objective choice.

Solitaire - GOTD!

Ok so it doesn't make a lot of money

 

[VirusType2]

No no no, that's game of the century. Solitaire is $200, it comes with a free operating system.

 

[jondy]

I hate how they pad out quality titles with shovelware.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

Yep, that was undoubtably going to cause a huge argument.

 

[Viperidae]

I really don't see how Nintendo beat out Blizzard for developer. Sure, Starcraft was made in 1999, but that doesn't make its effect on the industry until now any less. It coupled with D2, WC3 and WoW make Blizzard nigh insurmountable. Everything they touched was gold.

 

[Kadayi]

Game of the Decade: World of Warcraft

Oh dear.

There's probably millions who'd disagree. It's not my choice either, but there's no denying WoW is doing something very right. I must have spent months of my life grinding and raiding while chatting away on comms with friends.

It's IM/skype with quests people, nothing more.

 

[bam23]

But then again it's Edge.

WoW just does a good job of dangling the prize in front of you while making it take very long to actually get so you feel compelled to keep playing. Then there's your friends and guild to help you forget you're grinding. Then there's roleplaying.... Yea lol.

I don't think it deserves a Game of the Decade award, and in fact I feel that even games like Rock Band/Guitar Hero deserve a spot ahead of WoW, but also not as the game of the decade.

Anyway, it's Edge.

 

[Warbie]

It's IM/skype with quests people, nothing more.

I'm not advocating WoW for game of the decade here, although - depending on your criteria of what constitutes a great game - Edge make a convincing argument.

'World of Warcraft is responsible, almost singlehandedly raising this once-obscure genre from the doldrums of nerdy obsession to one of the most popular expressions of the medium. This, despite the fact that it has goblins.'

'But it's not just Warcraft's popularity that underscores its significance: by leading the expansion and evolution of the mmog space, the game has been at the forefront of a shift in how we play. It has overseen and largely determined the transformation of gaming into a broad social activity, one that encompasses many different behaviours, often driven by the players themselves. A game that's necessarily online all the time, World of Warcraft's ability to conjure competition, co-operation and community would not have been possible on such a scale in any previous era; this is the one genre which has benefited most from the proliferation of the interet, but within it, no other game has adapted with such assiduous efficiency and foresight.'

'WoW defines a change in gaming habits, but this is itself part of the wider change in how we consume media - not as individual packages pulled from the shelf, but as services, always evolving to meet the needs of their growing audiences. WoW has certainly done this, its expansions extending not just the game's content but the ambition behind it.'

'Does WoW have the capacity to be extended indefinitely? Certainly no other title is as likely to be the game of the next decade, too'


WoW gets better over time. I played it on and off for two or three years and over that time it consistently became more streamlined, ambitious, with richer and more varied content. I haven't played it for a few years - a job, familly, and a desire to play other games do not mix with mmorpgs - yet have little doubt it is a considerably better game than it was when I did. Bashing WoW for the ceaseless grinding involved at end game is fair enough, as is labelling it msn with stuff to do, but to ignore how well crafted and realised the game is, the huge scope and variety of activities available, is to be purposefully blinkered.

It's not my choice for game of the decade, but is my most played and the game I had most fun with while playing.

 

[jimbo118]

It isn't my number one though.

What is?

 

[Shakermaker]

What is?

Probably the Battlefield series as a whole.

 

[jondy]

It's not my choice for game of the decade, but is my most played and the game I had most fun with while playing.

What other criteria are you using? I suppose you could argue that other titles gave you a deeper or more emotional experience, but the above is a really strong statement.

 

[Warbie]

What other criteria are you using? I suppose you could argue that other titles gave you a deeper or more emotional experience, but the above is a really strong statement.

It's prety hard to rate games that focus on co-op. How much fun is the game and how much of it is the people you're playing with? I think you're right in that other games gave a deeper, more personal experience, and stand out as being the better for it.

 

[Seppo]

I would've chosen WoW too...

for the dumbest playerbase award. He he he!

 

[jondy]

How much fun is the game and how much of it is the people you're playing with?

Very cool question. I can't decide whether 'more fun with friends' doesn't disqualify a game that aspires to top-ten status, in the same way that waterparks or clubs are better with friends as entertainment experiences. Clearly, WoW is co-operative in the same way, but if Blizzard's world facilitates a person having the most fun they've had in a videogame, doesn't that hold some merit too?

It's weird, 'cos I wouldn't put WoW at the top of any of these lists for exactly the same reason; I don't really feel it's 'responsible' for the enjoyment it gives people in the same way that (as an example) a crafted SP shooter is, but the emergent co-op that WoW does so well is clearly best-of-class and massively successful as a result. To be honest I'm not really sure you can compare it and whack it in a list

 

[Kadayi]

@Warbie

All Blizzard did was take the same level/loot/grind model that Everquest and all of it's ilk had employed beforehand and made the entire thing idiotproof. That anyone could pick it up and get to grips with it is why it's been so successful (the joke was, the game came with a manual you didn't need remember?). They've not actually innovated on that model in any way shape or form whatsoever, they just made MMOs a lot more user friendly. The truth of the matter is though, devoid of the social aspect of the game there isn't much going on under the hood, which is the tragedy to this selection.

Look at a game like say L4D(2), you can see there is genuine innovation there. You've meaningful co-operative play, you've an AI system that is both reactive & adaptive to how you as a team play, you've a game that successfully puts its storyline into the world (and you as the player as a resultant) directly rather than relying heavily on text and interface as a point of translation between the game space and the player. A game where in the reward is success, not a shiny soon to be redundant bauble.

 

[Nid Banikeri]

@Warbie

All Blizzard did was take the same level/loot/grind model that Everquest and all of it's ilk had employed beforehand and made the entire thing idiotproof. That anyone could pick it up and get to grips with it is why it's been so successful (the joke was, the game came with a manual you didn't need remember?). They've not actually innovated on that model in any way shape or form whatsoever, they just made MMOs a lot more user friendly. The truth of the matter is though, devoid of the social aspect of the game there isn't much going on under the hood, which is the tragedy to this selection.

Look at a game like say L4D(2), you can see there is genuine innovation there. You've meaningful co-operative play, you've an AI system that is both reactive & adaptive to how you as a team play, you've a game that successfully puts its storyline into the world (and you as the player as a resultant) directly rather than relying heavily on text and interface as a point of translation between the game space and the player. A game where in the reward is success, not a shiny soon to be redundant bauble.

Apples and oranges...WoW does what it does in an MMO very well. LFD is a great co-op FPS. It's pointless trying to pick one best game of the decade because inevitably you will start degrading other games because you don't see them to be 'the one'. Obviously WoW got number one in this list because of the sheer numbers of people playing and publicity it has recieved, they are quite daunting figures after all...Needless to say there are other great games out there this decade which equally deserve that number one spot - way too many to have a list tell you what is the best of them all.

 

[Shift]

I wouldn't class wow as a socially orientated game at all, I don't think sitting for hours and hours and hours playing a game and talking to people you don't actually know a social activity at all.

 

[Bakurei]

Wheres Space Rangers 2!

The game of the decade that almost no one played!

Got to give credit for WoW. It's a game that can sell millions of copies while in the same time only delivering the same old shit, but with different pretty colors.

 

[Kadayi]

Apples and oranges...WoW does what it does in an MMO very well. LFD is a great co-op FPS. It's pointless trying to pick one best game of the decade because inevitably you will start degrading other games because you don't see them to be 'the one'. Obviously WoW got number one in this list because of the sheer numbers of people playing and publicity it has recieved, they are quite daunting figures after all...Needless to say there are other great games out there this decade which equally deserve that number one spot - way too many to have a list tell you what is the best of them all.

The point is popularity is the worst yardstick by which to draw any conclusions regarding the quality of something. By the rationale of the mob Transformers 2 is a better movie than Slumdog Millionaire, or No Country for Old Men.

As regards WoW being the best MMO, I'm not entirely convinced on that score either. What's the measure apart from popularity again? Does it have the best graphics? Best Ingame AI? Is it persistent?

Given EDGE set themselves up to be the industry magazine, once again they succeed in failing to live up to their ambitions. As a game journo acquaintance of mine said to me, the problem with EDGE lies in it's anonymity. They employ freelancers for reviews and it's just another meal ticket, but because your names not on the ****er, then it really doesn't matter what you write as long as it gets past the editor because there is no comeback to you as a Journalist at the end of the day regardless of how off base you might be. So they can state the outrageous and appear provocative, but the reality is they aren't because they don't put their balls on the line.

 

[Eejit]

I wouldn't class wow as a socially orientated game at all, I don't think sitting for hours and hours and hours playing a game and talking to people you don't actually know a social activity at all.

When I used to play the only thing that kept me at it as long as I did was the guild I was in and the people there. They still do regular(ish) meetups - BBQs, LAN parties, pissups etc.
At least two couples got together after meeting ingame in my old guild, and there were a few siblings who were able to play together regularly while being at opposite ends of the country.

It isn't necessarily a social game but it can certainly be a big enabler.

 

[Shift]

Well I suppose its different having met the said players in real life.