Good Riddance 2016; Hello 2017: The Year in Gaming

Every year I try to write an article that summarizes the passing year and share what I am most excited about for the upcoming one. Let’s be honest here, 2016 was a crazy year! A year ago did anyone think that we would end up with Trump for president? Or have the Cubs win the World Series? Would I after a 16 month hiatus resume paining again? Despite the turbulent year, it was yet another great year for the gaming community and 2017 looks to continue that trend. Over the last few years the gaming industry has a seen a boom as far as leveraging multiple platforms, broadening its appeal by expanding the span of topics in which we could play, and the explosion of card based games; all of these factors really point to the fact that we are in the “golden age of gaming”.

The Industry
In 2016 the value of the video games market alone is $99 Billion dollars worldwide with it expected to grow to about $130 Billion by 2019. This boom can be attributed to the growth of app based games.  Who didn’t almost run someone over while playing Pokémon Go this year? The popularity of board games has also dramatically risen  over the last few years and as more interesting titles hit the shelves this will continue to grow. Card based games such as Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Pokémon are attracting many young players to gaming and we can see the effect when 30-50 tweens jam into our local gaming stores and prevent us from getting a table. Historical based gamers have also seen a boom, this year Bolt Action came out with a second version, Battlefront’s Team-Yankee grew and has attracted many new players to the hobby. Of course the games tied to movies did well, Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars X-Wing had many new releases that were tied to the very popular Force Awakens movie.

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Review: Flames of War Digital and Forces of War

By Mitch Reed

Two new “tools” released by Battlefront in 2015 will never see the gaming table; however they will impact all players who play the game.  Forces of War and Flames of War Digital have been out for a few months now, and I have read the comments posted in the forums which range from positive to a bit disappointed for a lack of a better term.  I wanted to address some of the issues players have posted about and get to the utility of these two tools and how they can be used by the players.

Forces of War
I laugh when I think of this as a “new” product, since it is really a continuation of easyarmy.com.  When I first started playing the game I was a bit overwhelmed when it came to list making.  The web based Easy Army solved a lot of the problems I had when it came down to selecting a force for an upcoming game, and Forces of War picks up where Easy Army left off.

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