January means a chance to look back at all the games I played the year before and a distinct play pattern has emerged: I spent far more time playing on handheld devices in 2011 than on any home console or computer.
My 2011 started just like my 2010 did before it, as January and February were predominately spent playing catch-up. A year-end sale gave me a reason to purchase Limbo, and it lived up to the hype. Similarly, I had spent months waiting for the release of Cthulhu Saves The World, the follow-up to the indie parody RPG Breath of Death VII, only to see it drop on New Year’s Eve. And my obsession with Castlevania Harmony of Despair remained strong thanks to a steady stream of new DLC characters and stages (as an aside, that game is on PSN now as well as Xbox Live. Everyone should buy it).
Yet as I spent my nights mashing buttons on my Xbox, my daily commute was dedicated entirely to one epic game: Shiren the Wanderer 5 on DS. I wrote about my love for Shiren last Spring, but what I didn’t realize at the time was that this would set the tone for the rest of the year. No matter what games I had waiting for me at home, there was always something to play in my pocket.
Case in point: at the end of February, Nintendo released the 3DS in Japan and I was psyched. Here was the perfect excuse to replace my aging DS with the latest tech, an expensive but very safe investment as the backwards compatibility ensured I’d never be lacking in games to play. The 3DS launch titles were not spectacular, but that didn’t matter. The Streetpass mini-games were compelling enough to ensure I always carried my 3DS with me when I left the house, even if I wasn’t planning on using it. Also fun: the built-in pedometer lead me and my wife to compete daily to see who walked the most.
On the homefront, the PlayStation hacking scandal was a major nuisance. At first I laughed it off, as I had just bought Portal 2 and I looked forward to throwing myself into the narrative-driven single-player puzzler. But once that mission was complete, it was weeks before service was restored so I could complete the co-op test chambers with a friend. While I didn’t lose any sensitive data (my card and address info were years out of date), Sony’s mishandling of the entire affair soured me on the PlayStation platform as a whole. Since then, I’ve made a point to buy any multi-platform games on Xbox instead.
As spring gave way to summer and 3DS sales faded, I was still hooked on the device. While the Ocarina of Time 3D remake was well-received, I never bought it. I was too caught up playing Link’s Awakening on the new 3DS Virtual Console. In the weeks that followed I spent a lot of time (and a fair amount of money) on old Game Boy games from Nintendo’s eShop. Those retro games and Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D (a fun game unfairly overshadowed by its save file controversy) kept my eyes locked on that small stereoscopic screen for months.
It’s not that I didn’t play games at home during this period, I just never played them for long stretches of time. I plucked my free copy of Prototype from my pile of shame and after a mission here, some free-roaming there, I managed to finish the entire game via short play sessions. There was also a weekend where I threw myself into the intoxicating El Shaddai. It’s a beautiful game but once it ended, I didn’t feel compelled to replay any of the levels for high scores.
One significant personal gaming moment came in August while I was visiting a friend in the US. After hearing him talk about it at length, I sat down on his fabulous gaming PC and played my first-ever round of Call of Duty (specifically, Black Ops). I didn’t face any human opponents because that would be a pointless exercise in getting repeatedly killed, but my sessions against AI bots opened my eyes to the appeal of competitive shooters. I can see the thrill of engaging in a game against a massive player base where, since your opponents are always improving, you are driven to improve yourself. But it’s simply not how I want to play games.
Despite bringing back a stack of games from the US, my autumn was dominated by the 3DS thanks to the Ambassador Program. Nintendo didn’t need to apologize to me for dropping the 3DS in price five months after launch, but I certainly appreciated the gesture. It’s funny how many HD remakes came out that month yet I spent all my time playing emulated versions of 8-bit games.
As the season rolled on and everyone else got wrapped up in some blockbuster game or another, I remained stuck on the small screen. My home life was partly to blame here: we moved in November which means my evenings were spend cleaning or packing rather than playing. Likewise, with a bevy of new expenses to worry about, dropping $60 on a new game simply wasn’t a priority.
That didn’t stop me from buying two 3DS games in November though: Super Mario 3D Land and a (Japan-only as of this writing) sequel to Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime. Both games were high on my wish list from the moment they were announced and the two hit store shelves back-to-back. I tore through Mario and loved it until it became too hard for me to finish, then I played Slime 3DS ever since. It’s still the game I keep in the system now and I boot it up almost everyday.
After we moved and the hectic fall releases ceased, I was still pretty hung up on portables. Word-of-mouth led me to buy the excellent PSP horror game Corpse Party. Nintendo dropped the second batch of 3DS Ambassador games, most of which I had never played before. And then there was the brand-new PlayStation Vita, Sony’s latest console which I was unable to resist despite being lukewarm on the launch lineup. But hey, now I can play Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 on the train…if I wasn’t already captivated by Wario Land 4.
As the last few days of 2011 trickled away, I and the rest of the internet was held hostage by the annual year-end Steam sale. How is it that no other digital distribution platform can match Steam when it comes to promotions? The Xbox and PlayStation stores offered a few piddling discounts in the last week of December while Steam was offering huge price cuts on new and old games alike – with lots of daily specials – plus a ten-day event where certain achievements unlocked entries in a New Year’s giveaway. I didn’t spend much money on Steam that week but I bought a lot of games. That’s money and (more importantly) time that I wasn’t spending on any of Steam’s competitors.
That’s the crux of why My 2011 was significant: there are only so many hours in the day and I can only play one game at a time. While my handheld gaming fixation is at least partially dependent on my spending hours on trains and buses, it’s a habit that can easily invade my home life as well. During a recent week-long break from work (Japan loves New Year’s!) I could have thrown myself into Batman Arkham City. Instead, I watched a ton of Doctor Who while solving Pushmo puzzles on my 3DS. And with Resident Evil Revelations, Gravity Rush and Kid Icarus Uprising to look forward to in the next three months, 2012 already looks to be spent largely in the palm of my hands.
My 2011 at a glance
Favorite games: Portal 2, Super Mario 3D Land, Stacking, Bastion, Slime Morimori Dragon Quest 3
Professional Highlight of 2011: Interviewing Keiji Inafune (one of 1UP's top features of the year!)
Geektastic Moment of 2011: I think this tweet says it all. Thanks again, Tanaka-san!
Humbling Moment of 2011: The now-infamous Vita boat taught me that some nights, being "on the list" isn't all it's cracked up to be
Brilliant Idea of 2011: The 3DS Activity Log. Why can't ALL my consoles offer such deep stats on my gaming habits?
Squandered Idea of 2011: 3DS Play Coins. Incentivizing the pedometer was a great idea, but so far few games put the feature to good use. Or any use, for that matter.
Promise Keeper Award: Last year, I predicted I wouldn't turn on my Wii even once in 2011. I was right.
Itchy Tasty Award: What Corpse Party lacked in graphical quality it more than made for in sheer nightmare fuel.
Bold 2012 Prediction: Things are going to get worse for the Vita before they get better. The price drop is not a matter of "if" but "when."
How was your 2011? Leave a comment below or, better yet, tell everyone on Bitmob with a post tagged "my 2011"
Daniel Feit lives in Japan with his wife and son. His written work has been featured on Wired Game|Life, 1UP, GamePro (RIP) and the new SideMission. Follow him on Twitter @feitclub for gaming news, Japanese oddities and photos of things Mr. Feit has eaten.