Final Fantasy VII Remake – dreams can come true

GameCentral takes a look back at the biggest news stories of the year, from the death of Satoru Iwata to the implosion of Konami.

Although it was certainly better than the last couple of years 2015 probably still won’t go down in history as a classic year for video games, but in terms of the industry itself there’s rarely been a more eventful 12 months. The absolutely biggest stories of the year, such as those that rocked Nintendo and Konami may have repercussions for years. So sit back and remind yourself of a very memorable year…

The year of dreams: Final Fantasy VII Remake, Shenmue III, and The Last Guardian There’s no doubting who ‘won’ E3 this year. Sony’s conference had three impossible announcements: new footage of The Last Guardian, confirmation of a Final Fantasy VII remake, and a Kickstarter for Shenmue III (which quickly broke all records). Apparently sometimes dreams really can come true and it was particularly notable that all three were Japanese-made, suggesting a possible turning point for the country’s development community. Although it’s worth noting that none of the games is likely to be released before 2017.


Nintendo embrace the smartphone era The most shocking news of the year came in March, when Nintendo announced that it was to start making smartphone games, in a collaboration with Japanese mobile publisher DeNA. This wasn’t quite as apocalyptic a revelation as it first seemed though as they later made it clear that these would be original titles and meant as a means to market their more traditional titles. Their first release, due out early next year, isn’t even really a game but a communications app that seems similar to Tomodachi Life.

Shenmue III – part of Sony’s triple whammy

Konami vs. Hideo Kojima The nearly year long feud between publisher Konami and their star talent – Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima – is easily one of the most bizarre story we’ve ever covered. In March rumours emerged that Kojima had quit or been sacked. Konami denied everything, but then Kojima’s name mysteriously disappeared from the box art for Metal Gear Solid V, as rumours emerged at how Konami was treating its other developers and their apparent plans to exit the console games business. They always refused to comment on the spiralling rumours, even going as far as to pretend Kojima was on holiday when photo emerged of his leaving do. Even just this month they refused to allow him to attend The Game Awards, before Kojima finally officially announced he’d left and started up his own company. Konami’s comic book villainy remains completely inexplicable and even lead to criticism from the boss of Square Enix.

The death of Satoru Iwata The saddest news of all for Nintendo in 2015 was the tragic death of beloved president and CEO Satoru Iwata, from a tumor in his bile duct at the age of only 55. The outpouring of fan grief and industry tributes was touching though, and the new president promises Nintendo will continue his legacy as best he can.

The Console War winner You could argue it was more confirmation than news but 2015 was when the PlayStation 4’s lead over the Xbox One began to seem unassailable. It hit a record-breaking 30 million consoles sold in November, and who knows how much more in December. In comparison Microsoft now refuses to say how many Xbox Ones they’ve sold, but estimates suggest it’s barely half Sony’s figure.

Is this the year it won the console war?

Batman: Arkahm Knight on PC – the most broken game of 2015 Broken and unfinished games were an epidemic in 2014 but much less so this year, except for Arkham Knight on PC. The game was released in a terrible state, with insiders claiming Warner Bros. knew full well how bad it was before launch. And even when a patch was released several months later it still didn’t work properly.

The secrets of Nintendo's NX console Traditionally Nintendo is considered very good at keeping secrets but there’s nothing they can do about these US patents which seem to describe the cloud-based NX console and its controller. And while there’s no guarantee the patents are NX related they do seem to match the rumours of a hybrid home and portable console almost exactly. Other rumours suggest Nintendo have already started sending development kits to developers, implying that a reveal, and possible release, is definitely planned for 2016.

Death threats and other social trends Although its adherents were still around, harassing women and anyone else that disagreed with them, Gamergate was less visible in 2015 than last year. Overall though the darker side of gaming’s fandom was no better behaved, as SWATing become epidemic, and general abuse and death threats for any imagined slight became commonplace. Perhaps the most high profile case was the furore that arose when Valve and Bethesda allowed Skyrim mod creators to charge for their work. The response from certain parts of the community was, you guessed it, to threaten to murder those responsible. Threats which, unfortunately, worked and the entire concept was indefinitely shelved.

Is the first glimpse at Nintendo’s next console?

The silencing of Silent Hills The other consequence of Konami’s fallout with Hideo Kojima was the cancellation of the very promising looking Sillent Hills. In fact not only did Konami cancel the game but they even removed the P.T. demo from PSN, as if it had never existed. Silent Hills was being made in collaboration with film-maker Guillermo del Toro, who swore off ever working in games again – after his horror project with THQ had also been cancelled a few years earlier.

Virtual Reality cometh 2015 was really the calm before the storm, considering none of the major VR headsets were actually released this year, but already Sony are positioning their PlayStation VR as a major release for 2016. Meanwhile, Microsoft are trying to offer an alternative with the HoloLens and compatibility, of a sort, with Oculus Rift. Add in Valve and HTC’s Vive and next year is going to be wall-to-wall with competing virtual reality systems.

Except to hear even more about VR next year

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