Happy New Year from TheSixthAxis!

Happy New Year!

There goes 2022, and it was definitely better than 2021 wasn’t it? But it won’t have anything on 2023, as we hope this raft of horrible viruses finally fades into the background, and there’s a cornucopia of gaming greatness coming our way as the current gen hits its stride.

On the gaming front we’ve started to see the lessening of Covid-created delays, and many of the titles we’ve been waiting for started to appear in 2022, from our PlayStation Game of the Year God of War Ragnarok, through to smash hits like Marvel’s Midnight Suns. Xbox still haven’t got a grasp on those elusive exclusives that Sony seem to find so easily, but games like Pentiment and High on Life still meant that Game Pass was incredibly relevant, while the low entry price of the Xbox Series S across Black Friday found more and more Xbox consoles appearing underneath TVs around the world.

Rumblings of the next iteration of Nintendo hardware have also started to bubble – little surprise as the Switch enters its sixth year – but when we’ve had games like Pokemon Arceus, Bayonetta 3, and Xenoblade 3 appear in 2022, and 2023 is already playing home to the Breath of the Wild sequel we’ve all been waiting for, it still seems too soon. 2023’s main hardware hope – so far – is PSVR2, and Sony will be hoping that they can tempt gamers into parting with their money. A lot of money. When the original PSVR was the cheapest entry point into VR you have to wonder whether it’s a misstep, particularly going up against the wire-free Meta Quest 2.

The last twelve months have seen some major changes in the gaming landscape, though one of the biggest, the Activision-Blizzard buyout by Microsoft, may never come to pass if the FTC’s case against them bears fruit. After a bumper few years it’s been a quiet one on the home hardware front, with the biggest story probably being that you can finally buy both a PS5 and an Xbox Series X without any hassle. That said, we have had a few new entrants in the handheld space, with the arrival of the super cute Playdate and Evercade’s second iteration on its retro platform, but it was Valve’s Steam Deck that shook things up the most, turning PC gaming into handheld gaming with a surprising lack of friction. The fact you can actually use it as a desktop is just one of the many added benefits it holds.

In-person events finally made a return in 2022, and TheSixthAxis was able to get out and about once again, gracing ‘not-E3’ in LA, WASD and EGX in London, and Gamescom in Cologne with our presence, hoovering up as much of the atmosphere as possible while getting to see what’s going to be keeping our thumbs busy in 2023. Hopefully there’ll be even more opportunities to meet real people in real places this coming year.

And with that, it’s just left to me to wish you a very Happy New Year from the entire TSA team and to say a heartfelt thank you for your support in 2022! We hope you’ll continue to join us for all your gaming news and reviews in 2023.