Review of the Year 2011: December

I have to admit, it seems a little bit odd writing a review of December when it hasn’t quite finished yet. It would be like reviewing Mass Effect 2 before the final mission. What if we’re attacked by a giant robot thing in the last couple of days of the month and half of team TSA is lost in combat? Who will feed my fish?

It was a quiet month for game releases with the real stars coming in the shape of downloadable games. Joe Danger Special Edition backflipped on to the XBLA, finally bringing the stuntman’s antics to the Xbox 360 and adding some extra bits to make up for the long wait. Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD arrived on the PSN and reminded us all that action games and first person shooting could be colourful, vibrant and more than a little odd.

[drop2]We also saw Trine 2 arrive on Steam and XBLA, although the PSN version fell at the final hurdle and is currently being worked on to get it out on that platform as soon as possible. Star Wars: The Old Republic also launched its assault on the MMO scene towards the end of the month and, by all accounts, it’s doing pretty well. That massive download is potentially worth it for MMO fans who are still waiting for something to challenge World of Warcraft’s crown.

There was one massive on-shelf release in December: Mario Kart 7 at the very beginning of the month. Mario and his mates returned with added glider wings and underwater propellers in the best kart racer since the last Mario Kart game.

In gaming news, the PlayStation Vita was released in Japan and had some good solid sales figures. It wasn’t the runaway success that many had hoped but it wasn’t far off the 3DS’ first weekend sales figures and software sales looked strong, considering the fact that their two-day sales were measured in the charts against a full week of sales on other formats.

December also saw the launch of the new style of Xbox 360 dashboard where Microsoft took the revolutionary step of putting all of your content behind a wall of adverts and complex web of menus. Still, it looks pretty and it’ll be brilliant if we ever all own touchscreen televisions.

As the news cycle slowed down for the holiday season, we continued to bring you reviews and regular features. In addition, we scheduled some special festive features (like this one) to ensure that a day didn’t go by without something fresh on TSA for you to check out.

In the real world, the Eurozone continued to desperately search for a solution to its financial problems with French and German leaders proposing a new EU treaty to help rescue the failing currency. UK unemployment continued to rise and in the US, census result classify half the population as low-income or poor.

Armed conflict continued in Syria and the Yemen, death rates rising every day. Violence also broke out in Egypt once again with impatience for political reform leading to more protests and the resulting military clampdown.

In North Korea, Kim Jong Il showed his solidarity with the people he had been ruling over by dying an uncomfortable death. His son, Kim Jong Un will succeed him and probably get right to work in the family business of oppression, nuclear proliferation and human rights violation.

The weather was, in turns, a bit chilly and very mild for this time of year. Scotland and some areas in the North got a bit of snow but the rest of us just got our usual mix of drizzle, sleet and rain. Of course, there are still a couple of days of the month left so we might still be blanketed in glorious, beautiful snow before January arrives.