The 2010s: A Revolutionary Decade in Gaming

“Have you heard of Minecraft?” My little brother asked me as I peered over his shoulder. It was winter 2009, and I honestly had not heard of it before. I gathered from watching him play that it was a peculiar survival-based game, a sim, some sort of creative sandbox-style free-for-all, and I don’t even know what. Yeah, it seemed like a real strange game, but it was intriguing.

By the end of the last decade, most of the video game landscape was dominated by massive, action-packed, AAA titles from the Halo and Zelda franchises, to the massively multiplayer titan that is somehow still kicking, World of Warcraft. Interesting and engaging titles were being released all the time on every conceivable platform, from the fast-paced and visually breathtaking Mirror’s Edge to the quirky and off-kilter Portal, from the atmospheric and occasionally thought-provoking Bioshock to the fantastic and whimsical Super Mario Galaxy. But by and large, most of the PC gaming landscape could be boiled down to hack ‘n’ slash action RPGs like Torchlight, and apart from Nintendo which always did its own thing, console developers had become fixated on multiplayer military shooters like Call of Duty and the gang, and epic RPGs with dialogue trees.

So then along comes this simple sandbox survival game, a humble bit of freeware launched by then-nobody Notch. These two separate concepts were far from new, but together they had spawned a game defined by limitless creativity. Little did anybody know it would kick off an absolutely revolutionary decade in gaming, that saw the medium ascend from a gradually accepted form of mainstream entertainment to one capable of producing art. Minecraft in particular would end up becoming central to the trends in this decade. Most notably, it paved the way for sandbox survival games like Don’t Starve! and Rust, and more horror-oriented entries to the genre like The Forest.

Today, in recognition of the absolutely amazing decade in gaming we have had, I wanted to count through some of the most important games of each year. Maybe we’ll even learn something about the defining trends of the decade along the way.

Here’s how this is going to work: the games on this list didn’t have to be wildly successful or even financially successful at all, but they did have to be well-known. I mean, you can’t have a revolutionary game if it wasn’t influential to the gaming industry at large, right? Remakes and ports of games from the 2000s and 1990s are out – only games that are original to the past decade will do (sorry Halo fans). Also, I am not going to count expansions to World of Warcraft and other games that predated 2010. This is really just an attempt to tell the story of the trends and major releases of the decade.

Strap yourselves in, because this is gonna be a long one.

Remember to vote on the 6th of November

In case you needed motivation:

Stressed Out: The Millennial Generational Anthem

Not only a breakthrough hit for the band, twenty øne piløts’s 2015 hit single Stressed Out has the potential to become the Hey Jude of a generation.

Oh, those darn Millennials. They eat avocado toast, they destroy all our industries, and they won’t stop complaining about everything!

2008: Remembering a Banner Year in Film

In a year where most of Hollywood was focused on escapism, 2008 was especially remarkable for its films that reflected the shifting tides of society in that year.

Hey folks, welcome back. Nerd Revolt is less than a year old, but it has seen some tumultuous times: protests all across the country, the Russia investigation, a potential Blue Wave, and more. But I can’t help remembering ten years ago, one of the most eventful years in our country’s history: the Great Recession, regarded as the worst global depression since the 1930s; the Iraq War entering its fifth year; and the 2008 election, which brought us Barack Obama, the first black president, and a moment promising Hope and Change.

That moment in history came with a bunch of movies, some that were critically-acclaimed and very successful, and others that were a little more obscure, that appeared to define the times. No, not define them – it articulated them. While much of Hollywood appeared to be set on escapism, such as with the first MCU movie Iron Man and with fantasy films like Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Hellboy II, here is a list of films that examined our society head-on, and which will one day be recognized for indicating the changes that were coming. Click through to check it out.

Good Times and Noodle Salad: Ten Great Movies About Writers and Writing

I want to do things a little differently today. As some of you may know, I have had a lifelong passion for writing, and spent much of my life trying to write novels – it’s part of why I chose this creative outlet, actually. It’s probably no coincidence then that I love movies that involve or revolve around the lives and work of writers. When someone truly understands what it’s like to love and struggle for (or with) writing, it translates really well onto the screen, so I thought I’d give a few recommendations of my own and then ask you all to share your own favorites. Click on to check them out.

Adventure Time Has Gone On Its Last Journey to Distant Lands in “Come Along With Me”

After eight years, ten seasons, and nearly three hundred episodes, the legendary animated children’s fantasy series, Adventure Time, has come to a close. Come on, grab your friends as we say goodbye to one of the most intriguing and successful cartoons of our time. But before we do that, let’s take a closer look at the cultural phenomenon that is Adventure Time.

WARNING: In case it wasn’t obvious, MAJOR spoilers ahoy. But really, if you haven’t watched the series up until this point, why are you even reading this?