Darris Talks About Games - Where's the Next 1998?

1998 was more amazing then any of us will ever know. In video gaming, it wasn't only the best year for creativity, but it was also the best year to be a gamer.

Pick any month (besides June... friggin' summer) and you will find an amazing, creative, original piece of art, even if you were not a PC gamer. Let's take a stroll down memory lane, shall we?

1998

Jan.-

PlayStation owners got two amazing games, one right after the other. We saw the release of Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy Tactics.

Feb.-

Tekken makes a comeback with the 3rd ineration of the fighting game series, released for the PlayStation (three great games for the PS1 in a row in 1998, lucky bastards).

Mar.-

PlayStation owners celebrate yet another victory in getting an amazing line-up thanks to a little game called Parasite Eve, one of Squares best games. Also, PC gamers get an addiction started the old fashion way thanks to the release of Starcraft. man, it did take a long time for 2 to come out, huh?

Apr.-
The Sega Saturn gets its final masterpiece with the release of the Panzer Dragoon Saga, an amazing, and epic RPG based off of the rail-shooter series.

May.-
Wow, Epic games has come a long way since this month. Unreal gets it release, using the same engine that would power many games following it and influencing how game engines were created.

June-
Well, better late than never, Nintendo. They let Rare off it's chain for a second, and Banjo-Kazooie gets released to the masses, making everyone with a childhood near 1998 remember their name.

July-                                                                                                                                                                        Uh, nothing to see here... No, really. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Summer game droughts have never been worse, especially when gamers knew what was coming out in the fall...

Aug.-
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six makes us rethink how shooters work in this team and tactics based game of skill and challenge.

Sep.-                                                                                                                                                                        Spyro the Dragon was released this month. So was Fallout 2. But no one was playing those games for long after two little Game Boy games made their U.S. debut. Pokemon Red & Blue gets etched into our brains and hearts.

Oct.-                                                                                                                                                                 Xenogears. Metal Gear Solid. Grim Fandango. Any of these games alone would have made a fantastic month. But put them all together? My god, your on to something... I feel a strange wind coming... It smells like... November.

Nov.-
Three incredible games, One amazing month. PC gamers get Half-Life and Baldurs Gate. Nintendo 64 owners get The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. If you had any free time before, its gone now. These games, along with the latest Thief and StarCraft games made this a month to remember. It was a month to be a PC gamer, and a month to bet on Nintendo.

Dec.-
Lets close off the year with a fun little shooter. There aren't many games that allowed you to step into the shoes (or moccasins) of a Native American. Even fewer let you kill dinosaurs as one. Turok 2: Seeds of Evil was released for the PC and N64 platforms.


So, 1998. You were a good year. Very interesting, very cunning. Very original. These days the most innovation seen seems to be either through indie developers or on a handheld, but the games are still being made, thank god. But there will never be quite a year like 1998. Because of that, we should look back on it as a year in the history of gaming that will be remembered for quite some time. Until then, we still have one more thing to think about:
                                                                                                                                                                                                   Where's the next 1998?