Holiday Gaming: The Biggest December Landmarks of the 21st Century

The holidays are almost upon us, which means sooner or later we procrastinators really need to start, you know, shopping and stuff. December is always a wonderful time of year for gamers—sure, November starts the race … especially on Black Friday … but the real joy comes in the first real snow-flying month (unless you live in California … jerk).

In celebration of our favorite time of year, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at December sales and landmark events in the past seven years—that’s the entire 21st-century thus far according to the good ol’ Gregorian calendar. So sit back and read on, and I hope you enjoy. :) The full feature is up at RadNerd, but here’s a brief preview:

Developers, publishers, and gamers put down their controllers and join hands for that special time of the year when they break fingers and rush out in a mad stampede to buy the latest and greatest of the tie-breaking holiday season. The winter holidays are as big and influential for the gaming industry as summer is for popcorn movies, and this season will fall in line just like a pixel-decorated, shining … okay, insert your own politically correct object here. Let’s just say Charlie Brown would weep with joy and throw that stick figure excuse for an ornament-hanger in the trash with all the annually recycled wrapping paper. Here are the top December games of the last seven years—because 2000 doesn’t technically count (and no one loves it).

2001

One year in and the holiday season has a bundle of soon-to-be favorites to offer gamers in exchange for their merry good cheer. Of course, it was also a year of new tidings: the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox entered the popularly dubbed console war.

PS: I hope you like the banner.