Welcome to the last New Releases article for 2021! As much as 2021 sucked for so many...many reasons, it also ushered in or enhanced a new era of gaming. I recently watched Power-On which is the Xbox documentery and I remember not only getting my Xbox but being amazed by it. I had been a strictly PC gamer for years prior and a group of us would regularily play Counter Strike(beta) and Team Fortress online. I used to have epic 2-3 hour long games going head to head with a buddy on Warcraft 2. Then I got my Xbox, then I brought my stuff over to a friends house and we had a small Lan party playing Halo in co-op mode, then some multiplayer. Yelling at each other, drinking beers...it was awesome. A year later Xbox Live arrived and with it Mechwarrior. I played hours and hours online. That console literally changed the world as it connected more people to the hobby we love.
I would argue that streaming has done the same thing over the past couple of years. I know it has been around for a while, my kids used to watch Minecraft streams when they were younger, but now regardless of the streaming platform, the console or PC, streamers big and small are an essential part of our hobby now. They are no longer the anomoly but the norm. However, I am not just talking about people streaming content here, I am talking about games being streamed to any device we own. I can play Halo Infinite, without downloading it, on my phone, my tablet, on my PC, even on my xbox if I wanted...and it works! Not only that, I pick up on one device where I left off on the other. I have a buddy who plays at lunch at work on his wife's old laptop! It just works!
Like that Lan port (or now wireless card), that is now a requirement for any gaming device, streaming games is going to be a required for Sony and Nintendo. At that point, I envision you could pay for just the service from each and play how you want to play on whatever device you have. (spolier...I have already done this playing Xbox games through a browser on Playstation)
What a time to be alive!
One last game to drop this year...
Dynasty Warriors 9: Empires
Release Date: December 23rd, 2021
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, XSX/S
Can you jump into a series at the 9th iteration? Will it make sense? If you have never seen a Fast & Furious movie and you start with Fast Nine, would you be like WTF is going on here? Who are these people? This trailer is a quick cinematic but I have seen other trailer for Dynasty Warrior games over the years and they look interesting but at this point, 9 games in...is it worth it?
