Bold Predictions 2010

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2009 was not a good year for me. Not only did I predict that Duke Nukem Forever would be released; I did so without any loop holes or qualifications. My proclamation just lays there like a dead pigeon pulled out of a magician’s hat. I even said Alan Wake would finally be released before the year was out. I think someone was messing with the prediction hat.

Don’t let that sway you because my 2010 predictions are like solid gold. You could bet your house on them! What’s that? Don’t believe me?

- This year will mark the beginning of the end for Rockstar’s pre-eminence in the gaming industry.

We have lots of predictions from the GWJ staff for 2010 after the jump. Be sure to add your own in the comments and check out the 2009 thread to see how amazing/horrible your predictions were.

Shawn “Certis” Andrich

- The Nintendo Heartbeat Sensor will release this year and be successful. Not Wii Fit successful, but it will hit the target audience squarely. It will launch with a stress reduction game.

- Project Natal will launch at $59.99 and include a mini-game collection. It will stumble on multiplayer games when people are waving their limbs in front of each other and messing up the tracking. Games will primarily settle with one player at a time experiences in the long run.

- Apple will announce a MacBook tablet with 1:1 portability for all iPhone apps and games willing to adjust for the higher resolution.

- The PS3 will finally catch up with the 360 Live experience; including cross-game chat, party chat and in-game notifications. It will continue to be free.

- The PS3 will begin to consistently outsell the Xbox 360 by the middle of the year.

- PC game prices will begin to stabilize as the formula for digital sales becomes more clear. Top tiered games will continue to launch at $49.99 and predictably drop to a median $19.99 after six months if reviews have a meta score of less than 70.

- Microsoft will be the first to have rumblings of a new console in the works. It will be a smaller technological leap than before, mostly being a refresh along the lines of the PS3 slim. Expect it around the Natal launch.

- More studio closures in California, major publishers will establish deeper roots in places like Austin to escape high taxes.

- Open world games will finally jump the shark as more uninspired clones clog the marketplace. Coop will be king.

Wordsmythe

- There will be at least 3 9+/10 games that I will be passingly interested in at best, and will deride as not really be worth playing unless you have extra time to kill. A couple of these will show up toward the bottom of next December's "best of 2010" lists.

- Efforts to bring more "non-gamers" into the flock will stall as "real gamers" call for games that are harder, faster and longer.

- 2010 will be marked largely by a continuing trend of games that seek to iterate on and polish established styles and mechanics. Even "indie" games will seem to largely focus more on polish and presentation.

- And some other weasel words to make it easier to back out of or justify predictions when 2011 rolls around. Anyway: Wordsmythe will get grumpier and more self-righteous, like some sort of terrible lovechild of Gaald and Elysium. This will occasionally be assuaged by board games, historical strategy games, and titles by the likes of Rohrer, Weir and Benmergui.

- Though potentially offensive stereotypes in games will continue, we will see more, significant progress toward games with important characters that aren't straight, white men and that aren't stereotypes of minorities.

Chris "Clemenstation" Clemens

- At least one video game in 2010 will feature the term "fudge funnel". Zero games will feature the term "ramburgler".

- Achievements/trophies will be used to get people to play (and actually complete) more corporate advertising games than ever before. In fact, we'll see a big increase in companies and services trying to get people to complete consumer surveys or view ad content in exchange for game-related virtual perks. Microsoft will announce a new Xbox console late in the year (to be launched in 2012), and one of their first press releases will confirm that Live profiles and achievements will be compatible with / ported over to this new hardware. Yes, people will care about this.

- Project Natal and the Sony Eyeraper -- or whatever it's called -- will roll out with great fanfare and then promptly fall down, as adoption of the technology into AAA games that people actually want to play will be slow and hesitant. As the lackluster reception to recent peripheral-centric games like Tony Hawk: Ride and DJ Hero suggests, consumers are fatigued with material add-ons that don't seem to hold much long-term value. High retail costs will scare people away from Natal/Eyeraper, or at least delay mass purchases until the platforms grow past the tech demo stage and it is proven that we're not looking at another PlayStation Eye or Sega 32x here.

The 'featured' title released at launch faces a serious challenge: it must hold up as an excellent core gaming experience, while using new modes of input (visual/auditory) to somehow enhance this experience, not supplant it. Fable II plus the occasional NPC character who yells "I love the teal coloured shirt you're wearing, m'lord! And your lady friend in the background there appears to be quite voluptuous!" as you stroll past is not going to cut it. Neither is a collection of novelty mini-games.

- I think we're going to have to wait through a year or so of really poor fumbling with potential before we figure out how games can benefit from this technology, as opposed to simply 'supporting' it as a series of tacked-on, marginal features. Hopefully Sony and Microsoft stand by their beloved Natal/Eyeraper devices as they suffer through growing pains and an inevitable price reduction (probably 6 months after release).

- Someone on the GWJ trueachievements.com leaderboard is gonna get poisoned.

Julian “rabbit” Murdoch

- Civ Network will launch, and be a breakout title for "social gaming." We'll see the defection of at least one more high-profile NON-strategy developer to Zynga or Playfish.

- Someone will announce a "Facebook" version of a major First Person Shooter franchise. The game will succeed where the lite versions of Battlefield and Quake failed.

- OnLive will enter limited markets (urban) by the end of 2010. It will, surprisingly, work for most games. It will, unsurprisingly, continue to be a whizbang solution to a problem core gamers don't really have.

- iPhone/iSlate game sales will close the year as the third largest console by dollar volume.

Sean “Elysium” Sands

- Half Life Episode 3 will be officially announced and released this year. It will feature a similar Orange Box style package and include Portal 2, which everyone will agree is fun but lacks the surprise charm of the original.

- Starcraft II will release this year, and while it will develop a sizable following there will be some widespread consensus that the pure RTS genre has been played out and sales outside of Starcraft strongholds such as Korea will be solid but seem short of expectations.

- World of Warcraft will remain the dominant North American MMO with Cataclysm's launch likely to be within 1 month on either side of Star Wars: The Old Republic.

- We will go another year without any of the major three console makers announcing a true generational hardware upgrade.

- Apple will not get involved in the console industry this year.

- Valve will be able to announce by the end of 2010 that more PC games are purchased directly through their online store than any other retailer, including brick and mortar locations.

- Activision will suffer double digit losses vs. 2009 and 2008 as rhythm game sales weaken and the Call of Duty franchise becomes soft. By the end of the year Bobby Kotick's job will be in serious question.

- The Southeast US will begin to establish itself as a gaming and technological center. EA Atlanta will be among the first, but people will begin talking about places like Florida and the Carolinas.

Allen "Pyroman[FO] Cupcake" Cook

- By the end of the year, big publishers will begin to frequently target Android with ports of successful iPhone games.

- Indie developers will actually begin to become profitable as digital distribution becomes easier and more widespread.

- In order to set themselves apart from the mainstream digital-only "casual" releases, indie games will have to become more gimmicky, quirky and shocking. At first the indie gaming reviewers will eat this up, then at some point people will begin to call bullsh*t and being quirky will become unfashionable for a bit.

- There will be fewer iPhone games released in 2010 than 2009, however there will be more iPhone games sold in 2010 than 2009.

- The hacker community will find tons of uses for Project Natal hardware and it will live on as an underground sensation well after Microsoft cancels production on the hardware.

Alex “Spaz” Martinez

- Rumors about the potential of the Xbox successor will fly. Someone will report Windows 7 as the backbone of the new console's experience, opening up the possibility for hybrid discs of games to be sold to both the PC gamer/console owner crowd. Solid state drives will be used.
Someone will mention apps or widgets, others will groan.

- iTablet announcement will steamroll gadget lovers. Mass campouts at select retailers will begin. Others will scramble to find where to place tablet computing on the Smartphone > Netbook > Laptop spectrum. Apple once again pushes the envelope and causes the market to catch up.

- Microsoft's own Courrier tablet device will offer an impressive alternative interface. Compatibility with popular office suites will prove useful, as will its collaboration technology. Unfortunately, it won't be as hip as the Apple-flavored version. Lack of widespread adoption hampers use and popularity. Microsoft will release a Courier compatible environment for PC users to work with Courier formats, but it will require a few updates to achieve usability and will be relatively late in Courier v.1's lifespan.

- XBox Community Games continue to mostly suck... but by the time the annual XBLA Days of Summer lineup is announced, we'll have one or two breakout hits.

- You will have exactly ONE friend that has a 3D capable TV -- for the record, you'll tire of the glasses very, very quickly and decide that Monday Night Football isn't worth the hassle, though the beads of mid-air sweat give the sport a nice bit of class.

- You will have no fewer than SEVEN PC gamer friends (if you know that many, nyuck nyuck!) with 3D enabled graphics cards. Surprisingly, StarCraft, Diablo, WoW and L4D work pretty well with the tech. So well that you purchase a low-range card and make due with the glasses left over from last week's Avatar screening.

- Natal? Expect a popular dance tutorial program (Learn to SAMBA!), and a Yoga instruction program to take it by storm.

- Sony makes strong home theater gains this year, as the company finally realizes that their products should complement each other. PSPs will stream video content to PS3s. DNLA-enabled Sony TVs will work effortlessly with VAIO laptops. The PS Store becomes a bit more useful as a result. The unified Sony dashboard finally becomes iconic.

- The PSP Go platform stabilizes after Sony makes some much-needed PR concessions. Look for pre-installed demos, minigames, and (yes) the requisite Twitter-app to be bundled in with the system. Without the agonizing download wait, the initial impression of the PSP Go will be much more faborable.

- Google Chrome reaches out to "Casual" game developers. Expect to see a notification tab that lets you know your turf's been jacked in Mafia Wars.

- As gamers shy away from peripheral-upgrade cycles, RockBand will continue to limp along thanks to its excellent DLC strategy. Guitar Hero will see two more "band flavored" expansions, and maybe a 6th iteration before being shelved completely. DJ Hero will see a sequel then quietly be put to pasture.

Colleen “momgamer” Hannon

- SquareEnix will crush jRPG fans back into their couch cushions yet again with Final Fantasy XIII, but somehow still snatch a loss from the jaws of victory in the eyes of the more vocal fans of other genres. Fans won't care because they're too busy trying to activate the full power of the Irridescent Spagetti Strainer of Smiting by smacking all 204 catuar graffitti hidden in the Wasted Ruins before they go after the big bad guy.

- I will suck at Halo: Reach so hard that it will unbalance air conditioning systems as far away as Cleveland. But I will love it anyways and I won't care.

- Someone may wade upstream through all the marketing-speak and figure out exactly what the heck Ubisoft's I Am Alive actually is before it ships. The words "Jade Raymond" will figure prominently and repeatedly in the text of any attached article comment section for no reason whatsoever.

Gorgeous Rob Borges

- Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony will have no new console news as they will be focused on trying to push their new peripherals as the next big thing in gaming.

- Activision will have a horrible year compared to 2009, as their rhythm game ip's take a nose dive. There will be much rejoicing on the internet.

- Bioshock 2 will suffer from poor sales as much of what made the original game great will have been lost in the sequel.

- I will finally find a way to make a living doing what I love, and all will be right with world. (One can dream can't he?)

Jeremy "Nyles" Greenfield

- Microsoft and Sony will push through simultaneous updates so that every Trophy a player earns will delete one Achievement, and vice versa. Choose, or die.

- Telltale Games will discover one of the few adventure game licenses which already features an episodic format, no significant fan base to placate, and dirt-cheap scenery recycling: Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist.

- Rumors of a new Call of Duty game push the release dates for Mass Effect 2 and God of War III to 2011. The game in question turns out to be Cabela's Duty: Terrorist Deer Hunt 2010.

- Cheaters in BioShock 2's multiplayer mode are richly rewarded for having the audacity to seize victory without regard to the common man's notions of "fair play" or "wall hacks."

- Half-Life: Episode 3 will contain a full, completely satisfying conclusion to the story of Gordon Freeman. To balance out this narrative karma, Team Fortress 2 will introduce a new class: The G-Man. His only ability is to show up 30 seconds before a match ends and disconnect the server.

- The only Wii game I will bother playing in 2010 will be No More Heroes 2. I will, however, create a jury rigged Project Natal by swallowing a Wiimote and gluing the sensor bar to my cat.

Comments

Demiurge wrote:

Unless we count the iPhone. Can we count the iPhone? No? Oh, then I was totally wrong.

Considering that I've gone from PSP to DS to Iphone as my sole mobile gaming device, I think we absolutely should consider it - just not for your prediction

So instead of just criticizing other people's predictions, I'll offer one (related) one of my own:

- Apple will finally learn from Nintendo and open its own iPhone game development branch. Its first game will be released by Christmas 2010 and sell gangbusters.

- The iPhone will become available on a carrier other than AT&T. It will continue to be the handheld gaming platform of choice for non-traditional gamers, although Android ports of major and successful iPhone apps will begin to appear.

Oh look someone is trying to pimp a Microsoft product and say how great it will be if only Big Bad Apple would give poor widdle Microsoft a chance. Apple is SO MEAN to Microsoft. How utterly adorable! So cute I could pinch your cheeks! Yes I would.

Ahem... As far as predictions of my own:

-- Take 2 and Electronic Arts both get new CEOs; Bioshock 2 won't meet the expectations set for it and neither will Red Dead Redemption (largely because the expectations are astronomical). EA will continue into a death spiral of diminishing returns propped mostly by BioWare.

-- Sony's Clitorial Stimulator / Motion Controller wand bombs. Later developers complain they got no support from Sony on its use or implementation.

-- Games come out; a lot of these games will be good.

-- Final Fantasy 13 bombs in America (yeah I said it)

-- People who hate Apple will insist the iPhone is a dying platform and its all about Android... Until June when iPhone 4 comes out. Then the People Who Hate Apple people will whine because people aren't buying Android phones even though its better than an iPhone. And they'll also proudly insist Zune is the future of MP3 players.

-- NATAL; who knows? I think its 50/50 depending on the software at launch.

-- I think Nintendo finally announces WiiHD for 2011

-- Sony will do something to further confuse the PSP market

-- Companies, Game Publishers, and movie studios that bet on home theater 3D to save them will be sorely disappointed this year. The T.V.s are too expensive and the whole "Wear Blu Blockers at Home!" is still an awkward solution.

-- Between the iPhone, iSlate (or whatever its called) and a revamped AppleTV with motion controls Apple will have snuck into Nintendo back base by the end of 2010 like a Black Turtleneck wearing Ninja. Nintendo will be oblivious to the threat. Nintendo Fanboys and Apple Haters will team up to create a message board that will supplant Yahoo! Personals as the most pathetic place on the web.

-- Infinity Ward will announce a Call of Duty / Modern Warfare MMO that will essentially be MAG Done Right and Without a Stupid Name.

-- TreyArch's Call of Duty in Vietnam game will have A LOT of Full Metal Jacket references

-- People Still Can't Figure out what to do with Google Wave

-- Valve will announce Half Life: Episode 3 for 2010 and will ship it in Fall 2011

- Valve will release info on a new IP, probably the one that the DotA guy is working on.
- We will see the beginning of the PC gaming revival which will be in full force in 2011-2012.
- Blizzard will not delay the first part of StarCraft 2 any longer!
- The hardcore Nintendo titles will not meet the expected sales.
- There will be less platform exclusive games to fuel the fanboys' ranting fires.
- Treyarch's CoD will be more critically acclaimed than MW2.

- iSlate (Apple's new tablet) will also be a portable gaming machine with HDMI for the big screen
- Valve buys EA
- New Wii this year
- PS3 will overtake the XBOX360

I went for the obvious predictions that hardly can go wrong. Just like to be on the safe side...

Hobbes2099 wrote:

- Nintendo will announce a hi-def Wii which won't be available until Q2 of 2011, it will release yet another DSx/i/y/ñ model with an even larger screen.

This will happen because nvidia has the contract to supply it's tegra chip to do the 3D. I guess it'll be announced/released this year if it's just a souped up DS, or announced this year and released the next if it's a substantial revision.

larrymadill wrote:

Oh look someone is trying to pimp a Microsoft product and say how great it will be if only Big Bad Apple would give poor widdle Microsoft a chance. Apple is SO MEAN to Microsoft. How utterly adorable! So cute I could pinch your cheeks! Yes I would.

-- People who hate Apple will insist the iPhone is a dying platform and its all about Android... Until June when iPhone 4 comes out. Then the People Who Hate Apple people will whine because people aren't buying Android phones even though its better than an iPhone. And they'll also proudly insist Zune is the future of MP3 players.

You're not bitter, are you?

Hmmm...

  1. We WON'T hear about Episode 3. Valve will talk about something, but not that.
  2. This will not be THE big year for digital distribution. That'll be 2011.
  3. Developers will put more resources into communicating with the fans. Like this: http://irrationalgames.com/
  4. This will be the year of the $20, medium-sized developer, Torchlight-style, PC game.
  5. This year we will truly start to see the lack of sustainability in the current AAA business model

So, is that a telescope or a bong that Certis-domus is holding?

Either would be appropriate.

Lex Cayman wrote:

Hmmm...

  1. We WON'T hear about Episode 3. Valve will talk about something, but not that.

L4D...3

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Lex Cayman wrote:

Hmmm...

  1. We WON'T hear about Episode 3. Valve will talk about something, but not that.

L4D...3

Well, I was trying to let everyone else be surprised. Thanks for ruining it.

DanyBoy wrote:

So, is that a telescope or a bong that Certis-domus is holding?

Either would be appropriate.

It's a bong made out of a telescope.

DanyBoy wrote:

So, is that a telescope or a bong that Certis-domus is holding?

Either would be appropriate.

Depends on how last year's predictions went.

By the end of the year Bobby Kotick's job will be in serious question.

ohpleaseohpleaseohplease

Well, everyone seems to be talking Half-Life:Episode 3 so...

-Valve will announce Episode 3 with nothing but a short clip of a portal being opened up beneath the Borealis along with magnificent weather and water effects. The screen will flash and shake as the tanker drops through the portal and we'll be met with an awkardly long black screen. The screen will light up, suddenly, on the top of an ice covered mountain and the Borealis will drop through a portal above the mountain. Screen jumps to black again with the words Still Alive: Summer 2011 fading in. As they've almost disappeared a GLaDOS eye will quickly flash on the screen. The internet will need to change its underwear.

The first ever turn based, first person shooter mmo arg will be launched on Facebook and be greeted with disdain by the gaming community until they play the game and then EA and Activision will have to file for bankruptcy as this is the only game we will play from this day forward.

No one on the podcast will play Demon's Souls other than Certis.

  • Both Sony and Microsoft will adopt Steam's have-continual-sales-to-drive-interest business model, but they'll still manage to look like cheapasses by comparison.
  • Nintendo will announce a HD console.
  • Project Natal will tank.
  • At least one free to play game will adopt a business model that doesn't feel like a shakedown.
  • At least one pan-platform game will come out and be fun.
  • There will be another price drop for all 3 consoles before the holidays.
  • EA will be purchased.

Oh.. you guys missed a BIG one... totally.

Lex Cayman wrote:
SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Lex Cayman wrote:

Hmmm...

  1. We WON'T hear about Episode 3. Valve will talk about something, but not that.

L4D...3

Well, I was trying to let everyone else be surprised. Thanks for ruining it.

I do what I can.

1- Announcements for the announcement of teasers take off as the dominant marketing paradigm.

2- In an effort to keep up, Treyarch's CoD entry features a re-enactment of the My Lai Massacre. Critics debate if the scene was necessary or appropriate for a game set during World War I. Critics of the critics bemoan that games are held up to different standards than other media.

3- I latch onto a superfluous detail in a major release, insisting that makes it the greatest thing ever. This is met by condescending sighs from all my friends.

4- The technorati continue to download, the rank and file do not, people struggle to figure out how to get the two to meet.

5- The console wars are brought to an end when an unknown squire pulls the controller from the stone, uniting the land as one.

6- Heavy Rain is scorned for not running at 60 FPS.

7- The discovery of a vast expanse of time between November 30th and October 1st, many publishers fund expeditions of discovery into these dark regions, in hopes of exploiting treasures yet to be unearthed, such as the Release Day of Youth, and fabled El Q Tres, a quarter of the fiscal year made of gold!

I'd also love to see Activision get gutted, but I suspect they'll at least break even, so I'll instead hope their yearly release model gets discredited.

Duke Nukem Forever will be released, will be massively successful, and will win Game of the Year.

Scratched wrote:
Hobbes2099 wrote:

- Nintendo will announce a hi-def Wii which won't be available until Q2 of 2011, it will release yet another DSx/i/y/ñ model with an even larger screen.

This will happen because nvidia has the contract to supply it's tegra chip to do the 3D. I guess it'll be announced/released this year if it's just a souped up DS, or announced this year and released the next if it's a substantial revision.

Already happening. The DSi XL will have improved battery life and 4.2" screens. It should be released sometime this quarter. That was a fast prediction coming true.

Elysium wrote:

- Half Life Episode 3 will be officially announced and released this year. It will feature a similar Orange Box style package and include Portal 2, which everyone will agree is fun but lacks the surprise charm of the original.

The Tangerine Box

As for my prediction...

- In an attempt to compete with digital distribution sites, Microsoft and Sony will begin to sell product code cards at B&M retailers (for $10 or so less than the price of the disc copy) for their console's games so that they can sell the games direct from XBL/PSN for the same discounted price.

Dominic Knight wrote:
Scratched wrote:
Hobbes2099 wrote:

- Nintendo will announce a hi-def Wii which won't be available until Q2 of 2011, it will release yet another DSx/i/y/ñ model with an even larger screen.

This will happen because nvidia has the contract to supply it's tegra chip to do the 3D. I guess it'll be announced/released this year if it's just a souped up DS, or announced this year and released the next if it's a substantial revision.

Already happening. The DSi XL will have improved battery life and 4.2" screens. It should be released sometime this quarter. That was a fast prediction coming true. :D

I'm gonna point back to my earlier post. DS 2, with a higher resolution is in development:

mrtomaytohead wrote:

ign article[/url]]DS also got some mention. Actually, make that DS 2! Iwata told the paper that a successor to the DS would require high resolution visuals and sensors for detecting player motions.

Also, it seems while Iwata was saying Zelda Wii is coming out this year in that interview, in a more recent interview, Reggie said it will not come out until its "perfect."

Interesting to see a couple of people pessimistic about the success of Starcraft II. I'm the same, but I can't really put my finger on why. Given the developer ad the franchise I'd expect huge sales, but my feeling is that there may be something in Elysium's point about the pure RTS genre. Some of the variations on the RTS formula seem to have done well recently (League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, Dawn of War II), but I'm drawing a blank on conventional RTS games.

Sparhawk wrote:

- Valve buys EA

I could kiss you.

larrymadill wrote:

Oh look someone is trying to pimp a Microsoft product and say how great it will be if only Big Bad Apple would give poor widdle Microsoft a chance. Apple is SO MEAN to Microsoft. How utterly adorable! So cute I could pinch your cheeks! Yes I would.

Was this in regard to the TABLET WARZ of '10?

BONUS PREDICTION:
Expect blood as big retail chains start dismembering GameStop's used game empire.

Gorgeous Rob Borges wrote:

- I will finally find a way to make a living doing what I love, and all will be right with world. (One can dream can't he?)

Sure you can, but I'm not sure that masturbation will pay that well in the coming year. (hah!)

Coldstream wrote:
Gorgeous Rob Borges wrote:

- I will finally find a way to make a living doing what I love, and all will be right with world. (One can dream can't he?)

Sure you can, but I'm not sure that masturbation will pay that well in the coming year. (hah!)

Hahaahhahaa! Ouch.

+10

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Also, it seems while Iwata was saying Zelda Wii is coming out this year in that interview, in a more recent interview, Reggie said it will not come out until its "perfect."

Isn't that normal of Nintendo though? The games never come out until they're "perfect" in their eye.

My 2010 predictions are:

-Square Enix announces Kingdom Hearts 3 for Xbox 360 and PS3.

- Mafia 2 and Red Dead Redemption are the two leading sandbox games of 2010

-Bioshock 2 will be a hit and everyone will rave so much I might buy it and Bioshock 1.

-New GTA game announced for 2011

- Alan Wake is released for Xbox 360 3 months before the PC release.

- Half Life 2 Episode 3 is announced for a 2011 release.

- L4D2 gets 8 on 8 versus fall 2010 in a campaign not yet known about.

-WoW Cataclysm will cause a GWJ " What we've been playing" section to become "WoW expansion love and hate." This one counts if they even say that they aren't gonna talk about it. That is under "hate."

- GWJ, Geekbox, Rebel FM, and the EA podcast will have a crossover for one episode. A person can dream.

- Rebel FM will finally sell shirts saying " Geekbox gives Aids"

-Last but not least EGM will have a huge subscriber base when reopened due to all the fanfare the 1Up debacle got last year.

2010 is gonna be a great year.