With the wake of this years Academy Awards lapping at my feet, I’ve been treated to another reminder that for a self-considered movie buff, there are a lot of good movies that I have not had a chance to watch yet. One of these unviewed films that has haunted me for years is The Iron Giant. For an animated feature, it has pretty much combined three of my favorite things, Giant Robots, Vin Diesel and Nuclear Paranoia. It’s really hard to top that sort of triple threat in my book.

So finally, I managed to find the time to sit down and watch a movie that had a potential to usurp the best animated film spot that Wall-E currently holds in my own personal life-long Oscars. As soon as I pressed play I was not disappointed… at least for the first 81 minutes. I’ll try my best not to mention any specific spoilers, but the ending of The Iron Giant lacks…. consequence. For those who have seen the film, I’m talking about a certain something in Iceland.

             While I can understand this being a choice to help parent deal with their tearful children, it was made at a huge detriment to the overall movie. It is the equivalent to Nemo finding not only his dad, but his miraculously alive mother, or of Bambi’s not-dead mom making an appearance at the end. There is a reason writer’s usually avoid a deus ex machine ending.

            It is especially a shame for a movie that presents important themes like self-control and the damage of paranoia to go out like this. When the audience is treated to the cinematic equivalent of a “just kidding” message, your thematic messaging gets thrown to the wind.

            Sadly, the ending of the Iron Giant reminded me specifically of the abomination that was X-Men 3. At that end of that movie, the conclusion basically was that the mutant vaccine that the plot was totally centered on didn’t actually work, and that Professor X was still alive. So, with the exception of the two most annoying characters being killed off, nothing really happened over the entire course of the disastrous film.

            Please don’t take me for someone who demands that all stories end with gut-wrenching tragedy which always succeeds in making kids cry. Parent’s have enough work as it is. I adored Wall-E even with its memory-restoring “kiss”.

I guess my real problem lies with how blatant and explicit the ending is. There is no mystery left when the credits roll, the proverbial kimono is opened up for all to see. Which isn’t good considering that self-exposure isn’t an ideal feature for a movie marketed to children. Where other films give room for the audience’s imagination, The Iron Giant forces it’s specific and somewhat awkward ending upon the viewer. Instead of leaving a memorable ending for us, we were left with a justification for a sequel that is unlikely to see the light of day.

For the gaming industry, I really shouldn’t be so surprised by how much can change in a year. 12 months ago, gamers were still recovering from the onslaught that was the 2007 holiday season, where from October through to December brought forth iterations from gaming’s biggest franchises. And in the cold months of February there was still the din of anticipation for two colossal games whose titles end with a 4. Where 2007 was the year of bankable franchises, 2008 looked like a bold future with companies investing in new IPs and unorthodox markets(DLC). The only real debate amongst industry media was whether 2007 or 2008 would take the nebulous title of “Best Year Evah!”

Now after a quick fast-forward to the present, it seems that the industry has been forced to a harsh reality. Now the major gaming blogs are filling their front pages with stories of studios shuttering and locked office doors. This genuinely seemed surprising as the last Depression was a giant boon for the entertainment industry, with movies acting as a distraction for the worried masses. With the burgeoning main-stream appeal of games, it seemed like this was the time for the industry to shine. The news of industry-wide downsizing looked like a reminder that the gaming industry was not immune to our Neo-Depression after all.

This disturbing trend of bankruptcies and layoffs struck many powerhouses of past years. Midway, Free Radical, Factor 5, Eidos and Pandemic were once craftsmen of AAA games like Rogue Squadron, Mortal Kombat, Goldeneye and Battlefront. There is the obvious tragedy for the developers who have found themselves joining the legions of the recently unemployed. While my sympathy does lie with the countless employees who have been let loose, I can’t help but feel that this force is a natural culling for the industry.

All of these companies share more in common than a mutual demise. They all have shown similarly poor performance within the market over the past few years. These studios closing their doors should not signal the impending doom of a weak 2009 because these companies have already had too many weak years thanks to their own handiwork.

Each of these developers’ names almost immediately calls to mind a critical mess of game. Factor 5 has Lair, Free Radical has Haze, Pandemic has both LOTR: Conquest and an unfinished Dark Knight game on their tarnished records. The fact is that the next-generation of games has made full retail games an even bigger gamble for studios than before. And with these studios putting their chips down on arguably awful project, or in the case of Midway and Eidos games with poor promoting or release timing these layoff stories should not come as a surprise, nor should they be blamed upon these hard economic times.

What has been created by this recession is what biologists call “selection pressure”. More factors have made survival harder and harder, producing a much more stringent natural selection for the industry. In other words, what we are witnessing is a culling. The wheat of the industry is separated from the chaff, and then the chaff is forced to declare bankruptcy protection.

However, don’t go on believing that this will force studios to get their act together and only produce top-notch AAA quality games. In fact, you should expect to see a lot less full retail productions in 2009 from big publishers like EA. Sadly, the business model of the new industry is a lot closer to that of Activision Blizzard. Despite this fiscal crisis, their plans for expanding the Guitar Hero franchise remain unwavering. What 2009 will be is the year of bankable titles. Only the most successful and stable franchises are likely to see a successful 2009. Games like Resident Evil 5, Wii Sports Resort and Guitar Hero: Metallica are only the beginning. This year creativity will take a step aside to allow profitability to take the limelight.

One only has to take a quick glance at the numbers to understand the reasons for this. In 2008, EA became a critical darling with more original titles like Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge. Now, the company is facing a layoff of 10% of it’s workforce. On the other side is Activision Blizzard, which despite it’s lowered critical reputation due to thoughtless and low-quality iterations saw great financial success in 2008, announcing that a single title hada  revenue exceeding $1 billion. The lesson learned here is that garnering critical praise and making good games won’t get you on the cover of Forbes magazine.

At the beginning of the 2009 I made my New Years resolution to not buy a new game for the entire year. Looking at the sad reality that the industry is facing for 2009, this might be one of those resolutions that I can actually keep.