By Lorin Baumgarten

Episode 50 of EpicBattleCry found the three amigos of Axehood celebrating the one year anniversary of EpicBattleAxe.com. On the show they decided to take a look back at what has gone on in the world of gaming since the site’s inception, just twelve months ago. Largely, they chose to focus on some high level trends in the gaming industry that occurred during the last year, such as the progression of digital distribution and the changing tide of console exclusive games. I, however, would like to look at the last twelve months in gaming from a different perspective. I would like to invite you to peer through a different kind of looking glass – one that has proven to be both amazing and insightful to me. It is a perspective that, to the best of my recollection, I have never seen anyone present before now and frankly, I am very surprised. That is not meant to be a self-aggrandizing pat on the back, quite the contrary. It is a feat that turns out to be truly quite simple…Let’s look at the last year by looking at the games!

Often times when you sit down to write, you may have several possible ideas for any given piece. Sometimes you just have to start trying on ideas the way you might try on your winter clothes the first time it turns cold. You just have to get in there and do it and see what fits. You may pull an old sweater over your head and find that it is far itchier than you remember. Then you might try on a turtleneck, only to fight with it for five minutes and still not be able to get your head through the stupid opening. Finally you reach for that old thick flannel button down that you just couldn’t stop wearing last year and slip it over your shoulders and, ahhh, it just feels like coming home. Writing can be like this too. You can’t tell if something is going to fit by just looking at it, you simply have to dive in and see what feels comfortable. So dive in I did. I thought that in order to see if there was even an interesting story to be told about the last year in gaming through the games, perhaps I should start by making a list of the games that had been released between October 2008 and October 2009. What was to follow took me by great surprise. I was awestruck by what appeared on the page.

In no less than twenty minutes I had written down forty eight games. Not just any games, mind you, but games that would be considered by a significant number of people to be very good to great games. Forty eight! Think about that. That is a high quality game nearly every week of the year! Inconceivable! To extrapolate even further – of the games mapped out on my new found list, I personally played all of, or a significant portion of, thirty two of them. That means I played a very good to great game every twelve days. That is truly incredible to me. I have to say that looking at the list makes me feel pretty good about the state of gaming. I don’t ever remember a year when I could say that I saw thirty two great movies or read thirty two great books.

Truly, this must be the ultimate yardstick by which the health of the gaming industry is measured. Well it should be, at least from the gamers perspective anyway. For those that make their living by building games and running companies, it will always be matter of money. But for those of us that take a slightly more esoteric view as to the state of our beloved form of art/entertainment/hobby/ (insert descriptor here), to see such a high quantity of high quality is reassuring, to say the least. Frankly, I cannot think of a better barometer for understanding the state of gaming than this list. And true the barometer is. Gaming is on the rise – in popularity, in quality, in availability, in interactivity, and in creativity. If you are a doubter – just look at the list. I think you will be as amazed as I was to see it right there on the page.

So perhaps we should get to the list. Alas, before we do there must be, of course, a disclaimer and explanation. This list DOES NOT contain every great game of the last twelve months. There are tons of games that I don’t play. You will not see a lot of handheld games on here or RTS’ or MMORPGs. I only included a few sports games, the ones that were dramatically revolutionized in this iteration, but there are many other very good sports games that were also released during the last twelve months. You will likely not agree with every game that is on the list and neither did I (so please don’t bother bashing any games in the comments – but do feel free to add to the list in the comments section!). But whether you agree as to a particular game’s quality or not, you should be able to see its place in the canon. So that is the disclaimer – now just check out the games that came out in the last twelve months!

Borderlands
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
The Beatles: Rock Band
Brütal Legend
Halo 3: ODST
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Red Faction: Guerrilla
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Infamous
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
Flower
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Killzone 2
Prototype
Shadow Complex
UFC 2009 Undisputed
Trials HD
‘Splosion Man
FIFA 10
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Resident Evil 5
Call of Duty: World at War
Dead Space
Fable II
Fallout 3
Far Cry 2
Guitar Hero World Tour
Left 4 Dead
NHL 09
Mirror’s Edge
Prince of Persia
Demon’s Souls
Resistance 2
Forza Motorsport 3
Street Fighter IV
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
Saints Row 2
Gears of War 2
Halo Wars
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena
The Sims 3
Trine
Punch-Out!!
Scribblenauts
The Maw
MLB 09: The Show
Fat Princess
Demigod

It is a pretty incredible list, isn’t it? How many of these games did you play? (No really, I want to know!) How many more did you play outside of this list? I found it very insightful to be able to see the last twelve months in gaming in this way and I hope you do too. It is somehow comforting, like that old flannel shirt, to see it written out like this. Looking at what has come before offers a peek into the possibilities of what is to come in the future, and what I see is encouraging. It makes me excited for the many more years of fun and challenge, of storytelling and emotion, and of jaw-dropping imagery and mind-expanding creativity. It is easy to lose perspective as you move through life and forget how good things actually are. It is nice, sometimes, to stop and reflect. With this kind of pedigree behind us, just imagine where gaming can go in the future – redefining art and entertainment, reinventing social interaction and communication. Too much to reach for? I don’t know – maybe you should re-read the list.

Lorin Baumgarten is the owner and founder of Furious Gamer Radio.