The PlayStation Network was particularly successful, with three of our top 10 games and four of our top 20 appearing exclusively through Sony’s digital marketplace. Of the other three, two were downloadable for at least one platform the same day they appeared in stores. Seven of the 10 best games of 2012 were initially available exclusively as downloads. This year bulldozed whatever arbitrary distinctions once existed between retail and digital distribution. (Speaking of which, look for Paste’s Best Mobile Games of 2012 list some time next week.)īut this is about 2012. Tablet and smartphone games will continue to thrive while being treated as an almost entirely different industry by critics and players alike. The 3DS will probably still be the best system we rarely think about. Cutting-edge computer games will continue to demand hardware few of us can afford. The Wii U and the PlayStation Vita will have had a full year to win over consumers and critics or risk the same fate as the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast. Sony and Microsoft’s new consoles will either be looming on the horizon or already in stores. The videogame landscape might look very different a year from now.

Paste’s Best of 2012 series continues through Dec.

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