The Top 10 Games of Christmas 2014

The video games industry numbers among the youngest major players in the field of entertainment media, that is a fact. Despite the fact that the games industry has for the past five years made more money overall and per title than the motion picture industry doesn't change the fact that they are still the new kids on the block..

Officially it actually only became an industry in the mid-1970s -- and even then it was largely a computer video game industry at that.

Over the course of the next two decades video game consoles slowly but surely gained position until sometime in the 1990s the video game console found itself competing with the PC for market share on a nearly equal footing.

The arrival of a new player on the block - Microsoft's Xbox - changed the entire landscape though, because the arrival of the Xbox did something that we now know Sony had planned to do with the release of its next generation console... That being to integrate broadband Internet connectivity and social gaming into the mix.

Whether it was intentional or the accident so many gamers believed it to be, Microsoft beat Sony to the punch, and not only helped to define what social gaming was to be, but created the first viable online console gamer community.

At some point in the mid-00s console gaming surged ahead of PC gaming in terms of popularity and annual release numbers for games. The three-way battle between the two consoles and PC gaming helped to stimulate and create a much stronger game studio industry, as with so much money to be made the studios largely broke free from control by the game platforms.

Suddenly the gaming community did not have to choose one console over another, as the studios were releasing their games on BOTH.

The PC gaming side is still every bit the powerhouse that it always was, but its strengths have focused into specific genres. Consoles cannot compete with PC for genres like MMO, but for most of the mainstream genres the console is king, at least for now.

Established Traditions

Once gaming became an established player in the entertainment industry, it did not take long before it began to establish its own traditions, among which are the unique publishing schedules that still dominate the industry today - one quirk of which is the Summer hiatus during which very few games are released..

Specifically the tradition of spiking the months from September through mid-December with the titles that the studios feel are their strongest in terms of draw and entertainment - an unapologetic release schedule that is all about the run-up to the Christmas Holidays!

In fact the run-up to December has always been the most profitable period for most studios, but the run-up for the 2014/2015 gaming season looks like it will number among the most profitable and viable in nearly a decade.

That is not simply because there are so many great titles that have released and are about to release, it is also a statement about the strength of video games as a form of entertainment. The presence of not the usual one - but two - generations of game console is also a major factor, as the previous gen Xbox 360 and PS3, and the current gen Xbox One and PS4 are collectively a license to print money!

More accurately the presence of two active generations, as studios and publishers are still treating the previous generation as worthy of exclusive development cycles. That is a pretty big deal - and it is also why our annual Top 10 List for the Games of Christmas is far more complicated than it usually is.

As a result of this unique situation picking the best of the best for this article was a grueling process that generated some serious argument in the SuperCheats Bullpen. But eventually we got there - and without further ado, here they are:

The Unofficial SuperCheats Top 10 Games of Christmas 2014

After loads of argument and very little compromise, the issues of how to judge the Top 10 Games of Christmas 2014 ended up being down to entertainment value alone. That seemed like a good call, and it was the only true compromise that we could manage.

In fact we know it was a good and solid compromise is largely due to the fact that neither side was happy about it. And here they are:

10. Forza Horizon 2

ESRB Rating: E (for Everyone)

Price: Xbox 360: $49.99 / Xbox One: $59.99

Special Requirements: 16MB of local disk space.

Released on 30 September 2014 in two different versions based on the console generation you happen to be playing on, the direct sequel to the newest franchise in the Forza series - Forzs Horizon 2 did not fail to deliver the sort of high energy game play with its wild party and symbolic sacrifices to the Gods of Speed and Car that we know and expect!

Game development studio Playground Games (X1) made its contribution, as did Sumo Digital (X360) - both guided by series master and creator Turn 10 Studios, with the ultimate creations being published by Microsoft Studios to happiness and accolades.

It should be emphasized that its two versions are distinctly different. It is not simply a question of approach - as while both titles carry the same impact in terms of story and entertainment value, the overall look and feel are where they part ways.

The primary differences in terms of game play for the X1 version come down to interactive and social gaming presence. Well, that and the weather, the music, and oh yeah, the racing.

On the X1 gamers were treated to a rich and vibrant world with subtly improved graphics and some rather impressive weather effects. The competition in the game consisted of Drivatars who offered a much less predictable and more human feel to the opposition.

When they said open-world they meant OPEN WORLD. Almost all of the world on X1 is fully accessible thanks to its beefy processors and expansive memory. Progress through the story mode opened new radio stations with different genres of music - you can only imagine the impact that it has as you rip through the French countryside as a full symphony rips through the speakers of your whip!

There were a lot of other differences - a full and robust online player-vs-player racing scene, cars whose rendering even on the road often left you truly confused as to whether you were pulling up beside a rendered car or video footage of the genuine article.

Add in the mixture of personalities - and make no mistake, even the Drivatars that lacked the full backing of a real-world gamer who actually plays FH2 develop their own unique Drivatar Personality - the overall impression you drive away with is that of a large open world full of lots of people who, like you, came here for the racing.

The Xbox 360 version offers a much tighter game play experience that has been called more intimate - and we cannot begin to thin of a better or more accurate way to describe it. In fact the list of facts that most gamers tend to gather - and we are no exception - tends to reflect the things that FH2 on the X360 does not have rather than what it does!

Due to its aging and limited processors and memory, the 360 version has a more intimate feel to it largely because it is a more intimate game. The races are smaller in driver number, the world is smaller because you can drive in less of its open countryside than in the X1 version.

The music is down to the original 3 radio stations and their original DJ talent because why? Just because! The weather is down to sunshine and the competition is AI.

That said, what the X360 version of the game does have to offer is a very tight racing-focused game play experience that is unclouded by social play, its stable of cars almost as well-rendered as those on the X1 - the only real issue being the fact that you can only drive them one at a time!

The story mode for the games are pretty identical, with the exception that at least in terms of Showcase Events and challenges the X360 version just might have abetter cohesive game play experience when all of the impressions are tallied up at the end.

If you are a gamer who loves non-traditional racing action - or you are gifting for a gamer who does - getting or giving FH2 as a gift really is a no-brainer. The game is that good, and it really does not matter what version when it comes right down to it because the deciding factor is down to what console your gamer plays on - or you do?