2008 – A year in Geekism

With the past 364 days behind us, you may wonder “What the hell was so special about 2008, anyway?” Surely there were a myriad of noteworthy events, such as a controversial new president elect and Gay marriage being banned, then allow, then banned again. However that’s all stuff that you could read in any retrospective article on a news site. What exactly was noteworthy about the year 2008 for the average to over-average geek like you and I? Here, we’ll take a look about the good, the bad, and the absolutely insane of this past year.

The year 2008 was rather good to the video game industry, as a good assortment of top-name games were produced from a variety of classic franchises. Starting with the highly anticipated Super Smash Brothers Brawl late in the first quarter, sequels seemed to reign supreme, as with the releases of Metal Gear Solid 4, Soul Calibur 4, Fallout 3, and seemed to end with the recent release of Gears of War 2. Some sequels were hit or miss, as with the highly waited-for but only averagely received Devil May Cry 4 and Silent Hill: Homecoming. New original hit-offs came about, such as Left 4 Dead and Mirror’s Edge. The year 2008 seems to end on a high-note, with in-depth information and even demos being released for prospective 2009 games, such as Resident Evil 5 and Starcraft 2. What I think I enjoyed the most about the past year in the realm of gaming is were the classic revivals that seemed to make a nice notch in history, such as the release of Mega Man 9 in it’s 8-bit glory, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. If any of the gaming industry needed to look back and take notes about what works well, I think that area would be their best bet. Who doesn’t love classic revivals that actually stick to the classic way of doing games? (answer “I don’t” to that and risk being shot at)

Some rather big-name movies were the talk of 2008, whether they were savory or left a bad taste in your mouth. Of course I could go on and on about Dark Knight, but that would be too easy, so just use your imagination and pretend I ramble on about how great it was for the next half an hour. Back? Good. As is exemplified by my previous statement, comic-based movies did seemingly alright for the year, including rather enjoyable renditions of Iron Man and a redone Hulk that isn’t crap. Pixar thankfully didn’t over-indulge us with an unnecessary amount of 3D animation movies, and the result was rather pleasing with the release of the sugary sweet Wall-E. We then had a smattering of original flicks such as Hitchcock, which did well, and Cloverfield, which didn’t – as well as obvious hits such as Hellboy 2. My favorite had to be Sweeney Todd, since it was so gruesomely awesome for Johnny Depp to be singing and slashing at the same time that you simply can’t go wrong. Of course, the majority of us here on Powet wait with baited breath that 2009 won’t disappoint with the release of Transformers 2.

Oh what to say of the comics of 2008? The unfortunate thing is that the year started off on a bad-note with the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has made almost every comic book geek in Marvel’s fanbase shake their heads at least once. Marvel then tried to rinse the putrid taste in our mouths out with the long-running Secret Invasion cross-over arc, which thankfully did much better. The X-Men’s Messiah Complex arc finished up earlier this year, and was followed by Divided We Stand and then Manifest Destiny, which has many fans trying to figure out what the hell’s going on (or maybe it’s just me). DC Comics gave fans a rather long-winded ride flowing over from 2007 to help introduce its Final Crisis arc, which is still on-going and has had mixed reception. Batman comics are currently undergoing a revamp following the Batman: R.I.P arc, with the Nightwing, Robin, and Birds of Prey titles being cancelled in favor of a conglomerate mini-series called “Battle for the Cowl” that will start in March 2009. My pick for 2008 comics would have to be Marvel’s Incredible Hercules: Love and War storyline because of its well-written plot and good character representation.

A while lot did happen on the TV-front in the year 2008, due to the Writer’s Guild Strike not ending until early in February, though what did happen was large enough to matter. Heroes season 3 performed a complete 180 in terms of plot and story with the premier of the “Villains”, which has received progressively less and less favorable reviews from series fans. The 4th season of LOST came out, and despite being nominated for Writers Guild of America Award, viewers declined as the season progressed and it’s finale rating was the worst of the series thus far, with a 5th season on the horizon hoping to recoup from this fall. The USA Network seemed to do the best in terms of ratings with its ongoing 2nd season of the original series “Burn Notice”, and my personal pick “In Plain Sight”. On a side note, let it be known that the Fox Network has recently cancelled it’s 4KidsTV block, and will no longer be airing Saturday Morning cartoons – an ongoing tradition for many-a-geek since the early 1990’s. Truly, this ends 2008 on a rather somber note for television.

What is on the horizon for the world of geeks can only be projected by rumors and teasers filtered down by the various industries. Good or bad, entertainment for geeks like you and I will no doubt has similar highs and lows as it did this past year. All we can hope for in any future would be for an improvement over the previous year and not a decline. Oh, and space helicopters. We can all hope for space helicopters.