year in review
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Sony and Nintendo's year in reviews reveal your top games of 2022
Just ahead of the holidays, Nintendo and PlayStation have unveiled their 2022 year in review tools, letting you see a summary of your favorite games and more.
Nintendo's Switch year in review shows how long you spent avoiding 2020
Now that we’re only a few days away from 2021, the gaming giant has flipped its Switch year-in-review tool for 2020 live. Like the version for 2019, it’ll reveal the Switch games that took up most of your time these past months. In my case, I got “Nintendo Fan,” since I mostly played titles published by the company.
The new space race is postponed until 2018
Aboard the International Space Station, an A4-size flag of the United States hangs next to a 1:100 model of a space shuttle. The memento, placed there by the last crew to fly on shuttle Atlantis, is meant to be retrieved by the next batch of astronauts that launches on a US spacecraft. NASA had hoped to reach that goal in 2017 after awarding Boeing and SpaceX billion-dollar contracts under the Commercial Crew Program (CCP). However, the road back to manned missions is paved with thorns and technical challenges. We certainly won't see any astronauts ferried to Low Earth Orbit before the year ends, but both companies believe that 2018 is the year that flag will be returned to Earth.
The worst gadgets of 2016
2016 was a year in which the fates seemingly asked, "Oh, you think that's bad? Here, hold my beer." We lost a Prince but gained a nacho-cheese-flavored, would-be king. We saw drones that couldn't stop falling out of the sky, Snapchat filters that only a racist uncle could love and more poorly executed gadget gimmicks than you can shake a selfie stick at. Here are some of the cringe-worthiest consumer products we had the misfortune of covering this year.
The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's year in review
A year ago, Final Fantasy XIV was in a weird place. The game had already done the impossible one time around, taking a title that had failed badly and re-launching to actual attention from the world at large. Barring a slight misstep with housing, it had done all right. But a year ago, it had to do the hard part: sticking the landing. Sure, re-launching was rough. But at that point it had to bank on that goodwill and shape itself into a respectable game within the MMO space. And it managed that. What still astonishes me about the game's year of history is that despite making mistakes and bad choices, the game has continued to earn praise from players and onlookers, more so as each month rolls on and it continues to not collapse. That alone seems surprising, especially after a year like 2014. So let's look back over the year, see what the game did right, and look forward to the new year as well.
Star Citizen's Chris Roberts looks back on a year of growth
2014 was a pretty big year for Star Citizen, and not just because the Arena Commander module went from its first release version to 1.0 over the course of the year. A recent letter from project head Chris Roberts states that over 2014 the studio has gone from having 70 employees in one location to 180 employees in four locations across the globe. He also notes the huge increases in funding that the game has seen from both new backers and old. So what's in store for 2015? Big stuff for backers. The first episode of Squadron 42 and the beginnings of the game's persistent universe will be reaching backer hands, along with the first iterations of the FPS module. There's no exact timetable given, but the developers are certainly planning big for the year ahead. Take a look at the full letter for more statistics on the year past and the one just begun. [Thanks to Cardboard for the tip!]
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's past year and future
A year ago, I was excited for WildStar's future. Now I'm sitting here wondering how things went so very, very wrong. That's not true, though; I know exactly how things went wrong. I don't like thinking about it, but I do know. And so here I am, with a game I was hugely excited to play out and in the wild, and so much has gone wrong. It's easy to think that I've pretty much clocked out altogether. But that's also not true. I'll be the first to point out that I've said some decidedly unkind things about the state of the game and the choices that have been made thus far in terms of fixing them. The last column I wrote even posited that it might be too late for several of the changes being proposed to make any sort of impact when it comes to the game's image. This is why I really want the game to prove me wrong.
Share your favorite gadgets of 2014
2014 was a pretty good year for technology. We saw improvements to some of our favorite cameras and phones, and hints of a promising future. A few companies made serious progress with virtual reality headsets. Smartwatches became ever more popular and people started buying personal drones with increasing frequency. What are your favorite gadgets that came out in 2014 and what are you looking forward to in 2015? Head over to the Engadget forums and let us know! [Image credit: George Rose/Getty Images]
The stories that defined 2014
It was the year of wearables, VR and 4K. It was the year of ridiculous IPOs and massive security breaches. It was also the year Engadget took a step back and took in the big picture. 2014 was full of great advancements and big setbacks and we were here to tell you about them. Herewith, the stories that defined us and the wild world of technology in the year that was.
Facebook's 'Year In Review' shows tragic side of software's shortcomings
Facebook's automated 'year in review' slideshows are meant to surface highlights from the year that was, but for some the virtual scrapbook simply brings back bad memories. In the case of web designer Eric Meyer, a photo of his recently deceased daughter appeared, surrounded by confetti, illustrations of party goers dancing and the exclamation "Eric, here's what your year looked like!" In response, Eric wrote a blog post about what he refers to as that app's "Inadvertent Algorithmic Cruelty," and pointing to the shortcomings of modern software design. While many have complained of the relentless onslaught of ads for automated journals like these, for people like Meyer, the persistence isn't just an annoyance.
My favorite apps for 2014: Dave Caolo
Look at that, another 12 months are now behind us. We see a lot of apps here at TUAW, and I've narrowed things down to my favorites. Here are the apps I grew to love in 2014. Todoist (Free with a pro option for $29/year). Earlier this year, Jordan Cooper gave me a hard time for switching to-do apps so often. This year I've landed on Todoist, and I'm here to stay. It works on nearly any platform you throw at it, syncs data at lightning speed and is very pretty to boot. Plus, its gimmicky "karma points," which reward you for being a productive person, totally work as a motivator. I'm embarrassed to admit how giddy I get when they increase. My Fitness Pal (Free). Earlier this year my doctor suggested that there ought to be less of me in the world. In other words, lose some weight, tubby! I figured that a gadget-y tool would keep me motivated, and I was right. I used a FitBit and My Fitness Pal (MFP) for the latter half of 2014 and it's been great. MFP grabs data from FitBit and uses it in concert with data light my height, age and weight to pick a daily calorie target for me. Recording what I eat throughout the day is easy with barcode support. It's fun to use and I'm down ten pounds. Thanks MFP and FitBit! Sleepy Fan (US$1.99). When I was young, I became addicted to falling asleep to the soothing white noise of a bedroom fan. Today I still like to hear the gentle wussshhhh as I drift off. I've used Ambiance for a long time, but this year I discovered Sleepy Fan. It's got no huge library of sounds to choose from. Instead, it offers three types of fans and minimal options for customizing the sound they produce. There's a timer and a simple tap-on, tap-off mechanism. I'm getting sleepy just writing about it. Note: some Sleepy Fan users have commented that the "loop point" in the app's audio is obvious and distracting. That has not been my experience, and believe me, I'm very aware of such things. Haunting Melissa 2: Dark Hearts (Free with in-app purchases). The sequel to the iOS-only, episodic horror film Haunting Melissa is more surreal than its predecessor and the production value is even better. The first few chapters, released on a rapid but unpredictable schedule (enable push notifications for occasional, startling prompts to watch), are confounding in a good way: what the heck is going on? Once the story gets moving, its even more satisfying. A must for horror fans. Kingdom Rush: Origins ($2.99). I love tower defense games and KR: Origins is by far my favorite implementation of the genre on the App Store. It combines challenging play, great looks and tons of Easter Eggs (fans of Disney's Fantasia will want to keep their eyes open) into a game with great replayability. Also, you get to control a dragon! KR: Origins is a stellar addition to a stellar franchise. Picturelife (Free with in-app purchases). My struggle with digital photo management is legendary. I have a camera with me at all times, and it's so easy to use, that snapping 200 photos in a day is as easy as ABC. The problem is in storing and sorting the resulting mountain of images. I still don't have a perfect solution, but Picturelife comes close. It automatically backs up all of my snaps so I know they're safe. It sorts them by time so finding what I want is relatively easy. Plus, its "Memories" feature is a very fun way to remember past events.
EVE Evolved: Eleven years of EVE Online
It seems that every year another few MMOs have closed their doors or convert to free-to-play business models to stay afloat. EVE Online has always enjoyed a level of insulation from these market trends elsewhere in the genre, and just last week on May 6th it celebrated its 11th year of year-on-year subscription growth. Following on from my previous column celebrating the EVE Evolved column's sixth year of operation, this week I'll be summarising all the major EVE news stories throughout the year. It's been a big year for EVE fans, one that many of us can be proud to have been a part of. The EVE community turned its financial wizardry toward the real world and raised over $190,000 US in relief aid following a typhoon hitting the Philippines, and CCP even built a monument dedicated to the community. Several massive player battles once again put EVE on the global media's radars, and the Odyssey and Rubicon expansions revitalised the game for explorers and PvPers alike. But not everyone can hold his heads up high this year, with details of more cyberbullying within EVE coming to light and several players being banned for defacing the EVE monument in Reykjavik. In this anniversary retrospective, I summarise all the major EVE news from the year in one place and take a look at what the future may hold for the EVE universe.
Super abridged Joystiq news review of 2013
A lot happened in 2013, but since we couldn't get the budget for an eight-part documentary directed by Ken Burns and narrated by Morgan Freeman, we had to pick some highlights. Our key focus ended up being the console launches, Steam Machines, along with the trials and tribulations of Electronic Arts. Not only did the aforementioned elements have a long narrative throughout all of 2013, but they'll also have a significant impact during our current trip around the sun. We tried to focus on the big subjects that had an impact through the year, but more than enough happened that couldn't fit in five minutes. Let us know if you recognized any themes. And, no, it being "the year of Luigi" is not a theme. Sorry. These were the top news elements of the years, but if you're looking for game chatter, check out our Top Games of 2013 and Best of the Rest features. We also did a whole podcast on 'em.
Switched On: The 2013 Switchies, Part Two
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. The last Switched On introduced the 2013 Switchie Awards for TV, PC and gaming products. This time, we'll take a look at the mobile and wearable devices that made their mark in 2013.
A look back at 2013, a brief glimpse at 2014
And now a look back at the year that was 2013, a year full of surveillance stories and other terrible things amid a swath of pleasant refreshes at Apple. Some have called it an incremental year for Apple, and with the possible exception of the Mac Pro, I can see that. There was a lot of product alignment, with iLife and iWork apps getting a rewrite, plus a new moniker for the iPad itself. The split of the iPhone into the S-class and plastic c-class was an interesting twist on the otherwise now-predictable line. Mavericks was certainly incremental, but iOS 7 was a fundamental shift in aesthetic (if not always operation). Still, Apple didn't release a new product category in 2013. One might argue that the Mac Pro is unlike any pro desktop Mac before it, but it still fits into the overall category of monster power desktops for pro users. As the most radical redesign of hardware in 2013, I think it foretells a coming re-imagining of many Apple product lines. Apple in 2013 continued to hammer away at perfecting its products, but its competitors did the same with theirs. There's an interesting tale in the companies Apple acquired in 2013 as well. More and more tech will be developed outside of Cupertino, and the company will likely be forced into acquiring more key components to make its visions real. After all, what else are you going to do with all that cash sitting around? From China Mobile to yet-to-be-revealed future product lines, manufacturing in the US to further refinement of iOS 7, Apple's 2014 should be another amazing year. Maybe even with a new Apple TV! iOS 7 & Software rewrites iOS 7, as has been noted everywhere, is likely the biggest story of the year. It ushers in an era where Jony Ive is doing double duty, providing vision for the hardware and software sides of Apple's house. Although it's a little rough around the edges, iOS 7 sets the stage for a lot of the future of mobile for Apple's lineup, both inside and out. Mavericks keeps OS X a little fresher, but the advantages abound when dealing with CPU activity and battery life. Combined with Apple's new MacBooks, Mavericks helps conserve battery power for extra hours of work, like a hybrid car cruising past gas station after gas station. Bigger than Mavericks, I think, are the complete rewrites of Apple's iLife and iWork applications. While these are still works in progress (no landscape view in Numbers on iPhone, really?), it shows Apple is tightening the ecosystem so that efficiencies are maximized. One code base to rule them all? Maybe someday soon. Oh, and Apple delivered these updates as freebies, which is an interesting move; we've yet to see what it means for third party developers, if anything. Unfortunately Apple's software -- including services like Maps and Siri -- are starting to seriously lag behind competitors (like Google). 2013 saw a little ground lost, so I'm hoping all of these consolidations and re-arrangements lead to more stability and more features in shorter time frames going forward. Hardware refreshes The iPad becomes the iPad Air. The 2 is still around, chugging along, but the mini line now has a Retina screen to differentiate from a slightly less expensive version. These certainly feel like in-between stages. 2014 won't likely bring sweeping changes to the iPad line, although it is increasingly crowded with options. The iPhone notably split into two lines, one a premium S-class experience with a few sensors separating it from the 5c, which is "unapologetically" plastic and colorful. Apple also went 64-bit on the top-end iPhone 5s (not to mention the iPad Air and Retina iPad mini), which already delivers a performance boost; I expect the 64-bit processors will become a bigger deal as time goes on. Apple continues to lean in to manufacturing, from its own chips to state-of-the-art Mac manufacturing facilities in the US. The insides of the Mac line are the big deal, however, and those chips come from Intel. The Haswell chips in particular mean the MacBook lines sing and dance with much lower power draw than before. As noted, Mavericks works well with these, eking out a significant battery boost. Apple hasn't lost its touch when it comes to melding software and hardware, and the current Mac lineup yet again beats previous years' models. What's next? The Apple TV needs a refresh, clearly. What's totally unclear is how this will happen. Not to mention that Apple's selling a top-of-the-line Mac that advertises how well it works with 4K displays, but doesn't have a 4K display of its own -- that's bound to change. Software will continue to become less buggy, and Apple has already put out a tentative six-month timeline for adding back some of the features that dropped out of iWork in the transition to the new versions. A watch? Yeah, maybe, but it's always important to remember Apple will not release a product unless it feels the product is ready. I think we'll see wearables continue to heat up this year, but Apple is already getting into the sensor-laden future with iBeacons -- which aren't wearables but certainly add to the context of a user's environment. iBeacons, coupled with sensors like the M7, are already going to provide iDevices with a ton of info. A watch, to be compelling, will have to offer features that make sense, and do so in an elegant and user-friendly fashion. And if we're talking watches, that word fashion is a big deal, too. Apple will have to do better than the Pebble, which I think is one of the best smartwatches out there. Ultimately we feel sure Apple will continue to refine and develop its existing line. We're hopeful this year Tim Cook and the team will introduce a new product category -- but what that will be is, at this point, anyone's guess.
The best of WoW Insider: December 2013
And now we come to a close with the final entry in our Best of WoW Insider series. This was a slower month for editorial work in comparison to October and November, but a busier one for features and the arts scene. Thanks for hanging with us while we wrapped up the year, and we hope you'll stick around for whatever 2014 decides to bring. Happy New Year, everyone! Stay safe out there tonight and we'll see you back in Azeroth.
The year in reviews: 2013's best and worst gadgets scored and scrutinized
Fun fact: Engadget reviewed 176 products in 2013, and that's not even counting the umpteen times we got hands-on with stuff at tradeshows and press events. In general, we try to review just the top-tier gadgets, but even then, some of it ends up being forgettable. (Can you name-check everything we tested from memory? We can't.) So, as the year draws to a close, we're taking a look back at the last 12 months of reviews, and this time, we're including only the products you'd have no trouble remembering. Across every category, we've noted the flagships everyone coveted -- along with the duds that could've been so much better. Oh, and you might notice that we included some numbered scores throughout. That's right; Engadget is bringing back numerical ratings, and they'll follow the same format as the critic score gdgt has already been using for years. Which is to say, each rating takes into account various criteria for a given product category -- things like battery life and portability. Wanna see how your favorite gadgets did? Meet us after the break for a walk down memory lane.
The best of WoW Insider: November 2013
November was packed. BlizzCon is always an event big enough to blow up the site, and recapping all of it for a year-in-review piece is just an exercise in futility. Let me just direct your attention to our BlizzCon 2013 tag and I'll pick out the most high-profile stuff behind the cut. Oh, and while this has nothing to do with WoW, I wanted to throw a shout-out to CarBot for the trailer to Heroes of the Storm at BlizzCon. If 1:22 doesn't make you burst out laughing, you have no soul.
Captain's Log: Star Trek Online's year in review
We've reached the end of 2013 and once again it's time to take a look back at the past year in Star Trek Online to see what has been successful and what missed the mark. I have to say that this year has been the most active that the game has seen since its launch almost four years ago. There's a lot to cover, so I'll just get right to it. A new mission, a new ship, and a familiar voice The game's third anniversary saw a new featured episode accompany the usual Q-instigated frivolity. The mission called Temporal Ambassador included the familiar voice of actress Denise Crosby, whose character, Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation, was brought back along with the long-awaited Ambassador Class ship. The ship became the mission reward, continuing Star Trek Online's tradition of providing players with a new vessel during the game's anniversary event. While many of us had hoped that Crosby might be heard again as her other character, the Romulan Tal Shiar Operative Sela, I don't think many of us were truly expecting what was to come.
The biggest stories of 2013: Console wars, Bitcoin's boom and the NSA's very bad year
2013 was a bust! Or so we've been told. Whether you follow that line of thinking or reflect on the last 363 days in a more optimistic light, it's clear the year wasn't all big breakthroughs and great triumphs. This was the year of government surveillance revelations, fallen giants and lackluster product releases. But it was also the year Netflix took on the studios, patent reform became a real priority in DC and two new game consoles hit the scene. No, we won't be riding our hoverboards into the sunset at the close of 2013, but the stories that rocked the industry had a profound impact not only on technology, but also on society as a whole. So let's raise those half-empty glasses and make a toast as we recap the year that was: Here's to the glassholes!
