The Decade

A lot of people are doing this "decade retrospective" stuff and I thought it would be fun to try it myself. Now, I know some of you might say "it's not the new decade yet" to them I say relax, who cares and it's not a big deal, and when it hit 1970 people said 70s I'm sure, I don't think people were still saying it was the 60s. Then again I wasn't there. So yeah, here's some of my picks for stuff of the decade. Let's see in gaming we had new contenders! With Sega's last hurrah being the Dreamcast the new big three were no longer Sony, Nintendo, Sega. No, when the PS2 came out in 2000 and the Dreamcast fading away in 2001 and then completely dead in 2002 there was a void and that void was filled in by Microsoft. A computer manufacturer getting into games? Would they do well? Well, they did more than well they made a highly successful system dubbed the X-box and now they're X-box 360 is a machine synonymous with "games". Don't get me wrong I still don't like Microsoft. Also in gaming that was huge in this decade (again the X-box had a lot to do with this getting popular, even though the other 2 systems had this feature) was online gaming. In the 90s it DID exist, with the Dreamcast having it and with the "X band" (look it up) but with X-box live online gaming really started to take off. Another feature with gaming systems that again both the X-box and the PS2 both did but I'll attribute to the PS2 for doing it earlier (since it came out earlier) and for doing it without needing to buy a separate device, and that is using your gaming console as a multimedia device. (Well, ok the PS1 had this feature too with music but I'm counting the PS2 since it did more) The PS2 not only played your games but it could play your music (like the PS1) AND watch your movies! Many say that's why the Dreamcast failed, if it had a built in DVD player it would have lasted longer. I also want to lastly mention in gaming the new (current) generation! These machines the PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii have taken what the previous machines did and done it better. These machines all have internet, all have demos, and 2 out of three can watch DVDs and download movies to watch.

Other things of note in the decade, the rise of two uber popular shonen anime. Those anime being Bleach and Naruto. Fan or not you can not deny the effect this had on the youth of the USA and certainly other countries. In this decade anime had truly start to get into the forefront of the western conscience. Only a mere decade later was it considered "niche" (Granted some people would still say it's niche) but it had definitely become something everyone is aware of now. Oh yeah another thing that I want to mention Y2K! Ha, what a way to start off a millennium and a decade no? There's also those delightful recaps of previous decades on VH1 the "I love the..." Ah, yes the early days of G4 that was another wonderful piece of the decade. Remember when G4 first started? It was great, like a beautiful dream Filter, Blister, Cheat with Cory Rouse (is that how you spelled his name?) and G4TV.com. Which reminds me of something funny for the decade the N-Gage! Ha, that little taco thing sure was (kinda) cool. Which brings me to the handhelds, the Game Boy Advance was a marvelous device and it seemed to be the best thing ever. But then Nintendo releases the DS, and BOOM this thing is like the most popular thing ever. Then Sony released the PSP the only handheld to not get destroyed by Nintendo. Personally I love my PSP more than my DS and I know I'm not the only who feels that way. (I love my DS though don't get me wrong I just love the PSP even more). With that little abridged look at my points in the decade I end this post. I KNOW I'm going to remember a lot more stuff to add when I'm done but oh well, that's the fun of posting without pre-writing it.

Dang... you know I feel like doing a top ten favorite trance songs of the decade list, and a top ten anime of the decade list now. I WAS going to do the anime one but it's hard for me to order them.