Topic: What Games Were You Playing Ten Years Ago?

It's hard to believe that it's been almost a decade since the PS3/360/Wii era ended. So I was wondering, what games were you guys playing in the year 2012?

2012 was a special year for me as I started playing more seriously on my 360. I played through GTA IV, Red Dead Redemption, Borderlands and Portal 2 for the first time and those were such phenomenal games. Then I bought a PS3 later in the year and experienced a lot of PlayStation franchises for the first time, such as Ratchet & Clank, God of War, Killzone, Jak & Daxter and inFAMOUS. I think that year as a whole was a new beginning for me in terms of gaming because before that I was primarily playing on Nintendo systems like Wii and DS. It's so weird to see how much has changed since then.

2012 was firmly the 3DS days. I played Virtue’s Last Reward towards the end of that year which totally stuck with me. Also Theatrhythm, Rhythm Thief and Kingdom Hearts 3D. My memory’s shocking but I’m sure I was playing DS games as well, Pokemon Black/White 2 were that year and really great games. I probably played loads of Skyrim at my Dad’s as well since he had the PS3.

I was mainly playing one game at that time, World of Warcraft. The Cataclysm expansion had been out for a few years now, and was wrapping up as the next one, Mists of Pandaria was coming out in September 2012. So I was pretty hard into the raiding scene at the time and was in a guild at the time. I was in between jobs at this time as I didn't start my next job, which I am still at to this day, for a few more months so I had plenty of time to play WoW. I would play sometimes for 8 hours a day.

We did have a Wii, and a 360 at the time too but my son mostly played those. If I did play a game on either of those it was with him and more then likely it was a WWE game or Mario Kart Wii.

So yeah 10 years ago I was playing World of Warcraft.

I'd have been playing a lot of Skyrim in 2012 on PS3. I also got a Vita which I played a lot in 2012/13/14 - I guess in 2012 I'd have been playing a lot of Everybody's Golf, Virtua Tennis, Hotline Miami, Gravity Rush and I think Velocity but that may have been 2013?

I am sure I also replayed MGS1 > 4 that year, with 2 & 3 mostly being played on Vita.

Finally I would have replayed Shadow of the Colossus that year on PS3.

The dark ages. The last game I remember playing was Galaxy 2 on the Wii, which would've been all the way back in 2010. Didn't play many games until mid 2013, when I got my Wii U.

I was probably playing something on PC, can't remember what though.

I was on the 360 I think, it was around this time the games slowed to a crawl and nothing much exciting was coming out. Looking enviously at the like of Uncharted and Heavy Rain as I didn't have a PS3.

I went on a bit of a retro hit if memory serves me right with a load of sega games and stuff for the GB advance.

I'd imagine I was still playing Skyrim by the turn of 2012... and I'm pretty sure I played Saints Row 3... maybe Starhawk too (if it was released in or before 2012).

By 2012 things were definitely starting to slow down on the Xbox 360 and the Wii was dead. My 360 got the dreaded red ring of death just before Final Fantasy XIII-2 came out. Oddly it seemed to remedy itself for a while, but then it happened again a week or so later and was permanently done for. Thankfully my Final Fantasy save was on the cloud, so I didn't lose anything. Also remember playing Gears of War 3 and Halo Anniversary, as well as starting Mass Effect 3 (although finished in January 2013). I got most of 2012's biggest games for Christmas so didn't start them until 2013. On other systems, games that stick out are Persona 4 on the PS2, which I absolutely adored, and Xenoblade Chronicles.

I think I must have been playing more on handhelds at the time, mainly the 3DS and PSP. So lots of Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy and Mario Kart 7, along with Kingdom Hearts 3D, Resident Evil Revelations and many others. According to my 3DS Activity Log I also played 171 hours of Pokémon Soul Silver and 67 hours of Pokémon White 2. On the PSP there isn't an activity log, but off the top of my head played a lot of Trails in the Sky.

I was playing the Back to the Future Telltale game with my wife. It was pretty good, we enjoyed the narrative, one of their more memorable titles.
We had recently played the fantastic Portal 2. Wow, what a game that was.
And I had also just played through Arkham City, another great experience.

I do love a game with a well written narrative. And the latter two games definitely had that, and some truly amazing voice talent.

Really enjoyed reading all your posts! It's so interesting seeing how different everyone's life was ten years ago, both in terms of gaming but also our regular lives, and how much has changed since then.

Keep the posts coming!

This is an interesting exercise and, my how time flies…
Looks like I was playing some really great games — Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Assassin’s Creed Revelations and Assassin’s Creed III that year (yikes!), Uncharted 3, and tons and tons of Skyrim which led me to play Kingdoms of Amalur and then looking for more fantasy games — a few hours of my first foray into FromSoft, the original Dark Souls. Ironic as I’m currently playing Demon’s Souls. And by the time is the year is up, I hope to play the remasters of Uncharted 2 & 3.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Looking back on it, those really were the dark ages for gaming 😂

@nessisonett Haha, I was just thinking the opposite — what a golden age it was for gaming!

I checked my trophy list, can throw these in the pile that I forgot about:

Max Payne 3 (loved this game, after Dead Space 2 probably my favourite game of that gen!)
Uncharted 3
SSX reboot (so disappointing)
The Walking Dead (really tried to convince myself I enjoyed this one, but Tell Tale games are not for me)

@kyleforrester87
The most bizzare thing about the ssx reboot was the lack of proper online multiplayer. No idea what they were thinking there. I think they added it in later by which point everyone had lost interest.

@LieutenantFatman to be honest I was not really into online console gaming back then (and frankly haven’t been since, aside from Destiny) so I didn’t really miss that. Although I did have the PS2 network adapter and played SSX3 online a few times back in the day - that was a real chore to get going!

The reboot was just so boring and uninspired compared to the trilogy before.

in 2012 (the last year of the greatest gen ever , long live wii/ps3/360) i was playing -

left 4 dead 2
Black ops 2
Super Street Fighter IV : Arcade Edition
Far Cry 3
Halo : Reach

I can’t really remember

@kyleforrester87
That's true, they were probably planning to sell the more interesting stuff later on as dlc and microtransactions.

This would have been in the year after I left uni. I'm trying to think what I would have been playing that year but I don't think it was much to be honest. I believe I was well into my year long marathon of the entire star trek series at this time.

I remember I had a diddy CRT TV hooked up to watch Star Trek on (just so I could get the full experience, I got totally lost in that little tube).

I think the only game I can remember really playing around that time and on that TV was Links Awakening DX, the GBC version on the game boy player on GameCube. I played it from the beginning and finally finished it that time. I remember I got stuck on it when I was a kid but I'm glad I revisited it as a proto-adult because it was so good.

This was in my final year of university so probably a historical low for me regarding interest in gaming.

That said, I did manage to get some mileage out of my Wii, DS and PS1:

• Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was probably the biggest new title for me at the time.
• I was likely still playing a large amount of Pokemon White and HeartGold from the years prior.
• I frequently played Mario Kart Wii and Mario Party 8 with my housemates.
• Some university friends and I had some great times attempting to speedrun Final Fantasy VII and VIII.