2018 in Review- Gaming

With the new year ahead of us, it's good to look back at the previous year and see how much gaming has changed since we said goodbye to 2017. Like last year, I'll be giving you some of the good, the bad, and the downright UGLY of 2018.

THE GOOD:

1. 2018 saw the release of instant classics of gaming, such as God of War, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Monster Hunter World, Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, Dragon Ball FighterZ, just to name a scant few.
2. After a disastrous 2017, PewDiePie is back into the good graces of the Internet thanks to his Youtube Rewind 2018 but it's actually good video. As of this writing it has 31 MILLION views, 6 and a half MILLION likes, and only 53 thousand dislikes. All this barely a week after release.
3. It wasn't just Triple A titles that deserved attention this year! 2018 also saw the release of many small name, but no less fantastic games. Ni No Kuni 2, Kingdom Come Deliverance, Octopath Traveler, Spyro Reignited trilogy, Celeste, holy cow did we have great games released!
4. You know what? I'm just gonna go ahead and say it: 2018 may well be the BEST year in gaming of the entire 2010's.

THE BAD:

1. With the release of Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, Nintendo has closed the book on the seventh generation of Pokemon, starting a new era in which said franchise will find a new home in Nintendo's Switch console. That said, this debut was rather lacking in dazzle, being more bare-bones in comparison to what had come before. No Natures, only 153 Pokemon TOPS, no held items, nothing? I'll pass, thanks.
2. Now I'm not saying Fortnite's a bad game, but I do question if it deserved to be called Game of the Year in the same year that saw the release of Spider-Man, God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2... If it had been last year, sure I'd believe it. But in 2018? All the more reason to not put stock into gaming awards.
3. (added January 3, 2019) Blizzard, Blizzard, Blizzard...what were they thinking with their Diablo Immortal announcement? I saw that announcement and I almost vomited. Why isn't this in the Ugly? Because I'm almost certain the game's going to flop, and we're all gonna have a laugh at Blizzard's expense pretty soon. Either the game flops and we have a laugh, or it succeeds and we just shake our heads at how poorly Blizzard initially announced the game.

THE UGLY:

1. Fortnite getting sued for copyright infringement due to copying the Carlton Dance from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Games have been making references to popular dances for years now, like how League of Legends has Garen do the Monkey, or how SMITE has Tyr do the Techno Viking dance. But Fortnite CHARGES players to unlock the dances, whereas the previously mentioned games do not. This is bad news for Fortnite. We'll see how this lawsuit plays out during the year.
2. Anita Sarkeesian criticizing Ninja and calling him a misogynist for refusing to stream with women. At the heels of Tyler "Ninja" Blevin's, as well as pro-gaming's, finest achievement, Anita Sarkeesian has chosen to open her big mouth in an attempt to fight for equality and stand for women's rights RUIN A HISTORIC MOMENT IN GAMING HISTORY in the name of scoring feminist brownie points. Tyler Blevin was to appear on the COVER of ESPN Magazine, one of the most widely circulated sport's magazines in the world. This is a HUGE honor in sports, and for Tyler Blevin, it may well have been his finest achievement. Further, Blevin was the VERY FIRST professional gamer to ever make the cover, a historic moment in not just competitive gaming, but all of gaming. In case you're wondering, Blevin refuses to stream with women for the sake of his marriage: he doesn't want trolls to attack his beloved wife with rumors that he's cheating on her with whatever girl he's streaming with. So congratulations, Sarkeesian, you've done feminism proud this year.
3. (added January 5, 2019) Fallout 76.  EVERYTHING about it. Will this kill the franchise? I don't know, but damn did it do a number on its reputation.