Sometimes you have to dig more..... I search for game forums and just browse ones that I have never been to before.....Then I see a thread about a game bought and a recommendation, then as I read down the thread I see others joining in saying what a good game it is 'and thanks for telling me about it' type messages. This, for example, is how I found out about Space Rangers 2. A Game barely anyone has heard of, is a small publisher product, not an indie game, and once known and looked for it will not be hard to see how loved it is. But the media doesn't know how to handle games that are full of gameplay but not uber graphically. Hence not listed on any 'Reader Game of the Year 2006' so you could vote for it and not mentioned in any game of the year awards, and yet, just one site, Gamespy, put it at No.4 in their Top 10 games of 2006. Just the one site. And yet, if you check the reviews, it got plenty of high 80's and low 90's scores, so was worthy of lots of attention, but just didn't get it because the media doesn't know how to handle these 'smaller' publishers, with their 'smaller' games. Hence nothing anywhere, and then this one beacon, and the total reverse for the Oblivions and Company of Heroes, etc, of this world.
So when we talk about modern gaming, I think we are talking about the major publishers and the product they put out. But underneath, if you look, there are gems in the dust. Space Rangers 2, comes with Space rangers 1 for free and is like a Sid Meier's Pirates in Space, with a touch of Elite, Star Control 2 and MOO, with a dash of Asteroids, Infocom and Mech Warrior thrown in for good luck! I have about 60 hours into it and have restarted 4 times. I doubt it will leave my hard drive this year, or maybe even next year. It is modern 'retro', and with the success of the Wii and retro becoming huge on all the consoles and through DOSBox on PC too, I think we will see more of these 'modern retro's' and they will get more attention. If they don't, and things stay the same, I think we could be looking at the last 1 or 2 years of PC gaming.
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