The BBC has been chatting to prominent computer and video game developers lately and asking them what they think of the year ahead in terms of gaming line-ups and potential innovations, with the consensus being that 2009 won't be anything special.
"It's all looking a bit dry," said Fable 2 designer Peter Molyneux in his interview.
"All the triple-A titles came out this Christmas and while there is stuff in 2010 we can look forward to, off the top of my head I cannot think of anything next year that really excites me," he continued. Molyneux also questioned whether gamers would be getting decent value for money from their games this year.
We're sure Molyneux will change his tune when his next game, codenamed Dimitri, comes out though. Supposedly his next title will show-off some truly astounding new tech, but it's all very hush-hush right now.
Meanwhile, Ultima creator Richard Garriott was a bit more positive and lauded praise on Blizzard for "showing what good game development is all about" with the latest World of Warcraft expansion. Garriott's own MMO, Tabula Rasa, proved a bit of a flop last year and is currently totally free to play - pick yourself a copy up at the official site.
Garriott did say he wasn't done with game design yet though and that he'll soon be starting work on a new medieval-fantasy MMO game.
Sims creator Will Wright was the friendliest of all though, saying that he saw games this year moving away from a competitive focus and becoming more about social networking and teamplay. If that means a bit more Left 4 Dead-style co-op gaming then we're all for that, though social networking in games has a turbulent history at best.
What do you think 2009 will hold for gamers? Let us know in the forums and be sure to check out our thoughts on what the best and worst games of 2008 were.
"It's all looking a bit dry," said Fable 2 designer Peter Molyneux in his interview.
"All the triple-A titles came out this Christmas and while there is stuff in 2010 we can look forward to, off the top of my head I cannot think of anything next year that really excites me," he continued. Molyneux also questioned whether gamers would be getting decent value for money from their games this year.
We're sure Molyneux will change his tune when his next game, codenamed Dimitri, comes out though. Supposedly his next title will show-off some truly astounding new tech, but it's all very hush-hush right now.
Meanwhile, Ultima creator Richard Garriott was a bit more positive and lauded praise on Blizzard for "showing what good game development is all about" with the latest World of Warcraft expansion. Garriott's own MMO, Tabula Rasa, proved a bit of a flop last year and is currently totally free to play - pick yourself a copy up at the official site.
Garriott did say he wasn't done with game design yet though and that he'll soon be starting work on a new medieval-fantasy MMO game.
Sims creator Will Wright was the friendliest of all though, saying that he saw games this year moving away from a competitive focus and becoming more about social networking and teamplay. If that means a bit more Left 4 Dead-style co-op gaming then we're all for that, though social networking in games has a turbulent history at best.
What do you think 2009 will hold for gamers? Let us know in the forums and be sure to check out our thoughts on what the best and worst games of 2008 were.
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