A Gamer's Thanksgiving: What I'm Thankful For in Gaming in 2016

Steve Anderson : End Game
Steve Anderson
The Video Store Guy
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A Gamer's Thanksgiving: What I'm Thankful For in Gaming in 2016

Long-time readers of this blog know that, when Thanksgiving rolls around, I softball a bit and go into the Gamer's Thanksgiving mode, an article I've written slightly differently every year for the last five years now. This has let me survey the landscape, make a few general pronouncements, and all for the cost of very little research. So before you head off to the warm embrace of family, stuff yourself full of turkey, and express a little gratitude for all the good things in life, why not catch up on some of my own reasons to be thankful this year in gaming?

Open World Gaming Carries On

This is a development I'm super happy about. While not all open world games were that great, most of them were at least somewhat entertaining. While open world gaming was plenty big in 2015, it's still going strong, and it's set to carry on into 2017 with some further releases as well. With another open world Dead Rising coming, an open world Final Fantasy coming, and several open world games before it, there was no shortage of open world joy to go around.

E3 Carries On as Well

The reports of E3's demise appear to have been at least somewhat exaggerated. That's great news for gamers, who now have a beautiful second half of most every year, with game makers showing off what's coming and the holiday shopping season allowing them a convenient place to release many of these games. Thanks to Bethesda's impressive E3 showing back in 2015, the time between reveal and launch is likewise starting to narrow, even if there are plenty of games still playing the "not quite ready yet" game.

New consoles

I admit, I'm not planning to buy an Xbox One S, because my Xbox One is still doing just fine. But when Project Scorpio comes out, I may well pick up one of those little beauties for the sheer advancement it represents. It's a little bit amazing, seeing how far we've come in just a few years, and wondering how much farther we may have yet to go.

So, that's what I'm thankful for this year in gaming. I'm also thankful for those of you out there who still stop in to read this; hopefully next year I'll be writing up another batch of things I'm thankful for. In the meantime, have a happy Thanksgiving, maybe get a little Christmas shopping done on Black Friday. I won't be out in that particular fray ever since I discovered online shopping, but I'll be settling in for a long weekend of gaming ahead.


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