We need some innovation

Jan 9, 2010 15:51 GMT  ·  By

2010 looks to be a better year for gaming than 2009. Analysts are predicting that sales of videogames will actually rebound pretty well even as hardware-based revenue continues to drop.

A quick look at the games we already know are coming for sure this year, like Mass Effect 2, BioShock 2, Command & Conquer 4, Napoleon: Total War, Heavy Rain, Halo: Reach, Gran Turismo 5, shows us that there are potentially great experiences to be enjoyed before the six months of this year are through. But looking at that list, one thing that jumps up at me is how many sequels we are getting and, more importantly, how many of those franchises are nearing the end of their life.

We know that Halo: Reach is set to be the last involvement Bungie has with the universe and it's unclear how much mileage Microsoft can get from prequels to the original trilogy. Electronic Arts has already said that C&C 4 is the final chapter in Kane's story. Epic is almost certainly working on Gears of War 3, which might be out by Christmas after an E3 announcement.

BioWare is committed to just one more Mass Effect title after the current one. The Total War series seems to have run out of Steam a bit after Empire and there aren't too many settings it can travel to. Gran Turismo 5 has been delayed long enough to believe that Polyphony Digital will never be entrusted with delivering another installment in the series.

And the bad news is that there's not much on the horizon to replace these big series. 2010 looks crowded because of all the games that ran from Modern Warfare 2 in late 2009 (and, by the way, Treyarch will probably release a Vietnam-based Call of Duty late this year). It seems fitting to have 2010 see the end of lineages that have dominated the gaming decade. The problem is that big publishers appear ill-prepared to thrust into the spotlight newer titles, which generated the same kind of attachment and emotion on the part of the gaming public.