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Gear of the Year 2015: Games and Cellular Networks

Games

2015 was one of the best gaming years on record, and choosing the very best of the bunch was a tough task.

Our readers rose to the challenge, though, voting overwhelmingly for this year’s entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

While Syndicate is certainly a good game (and better than last year’s bug-ridden entry), we were a bit surprised to see new IPs like Dying Light not even featuring in the final tally.

Readers’ Choice

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

Assassins-Creed-Syndicate

After last year’s incredibly buggy chapter in the long-running Assassins’ Creed franchise, Ubisoft had its work cut out to make it up to fans, but going on the overwhelming support we saw for Syndicate from our readers in our poll, they did a fine job of it.

Syndicate’s Victorian-era London setting and the addition of not one, but two protagonists in the way of twins Evie and Jacob Frye were apparently enough to win fans over once again.

Being able to talk to famous historical figures like Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Darwin and others (and do quests for them, naturally) only added to the atmosphere.

Of course, the lovingly-rendered city itself played as much a part in Syndicate’s appeal, as did the newfound ability to zip between buildings on the game’s first-ever zip-line contraption. In all, a great choice for GOTY 2015.

Htxt.africa’s choices

Nick
Batman:Arkham Knight

batman-arkham-knight

The game that blew Nick away the most was the latest Batman, partly because the Batmobile finally made an appearance and partly because the story, setting and visuals were superb. It had everything: frantic action, a suitably broody Batman and one of the most memorable villains in the franchise so far.

Clinton
The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3

Clinton didn’t particularly enjoy the previous two games in the Witcher franchise, but The Witcher 3 blew him away by not only fixing all the problems the older games had, but introducing so much to see and do that he never wanted to stop playing. Its open world is so finely hand-crafted that he can’t help but choose it as his Game of the Year for 2015.

Cellular Networks

South Africans are spoiled for choice when it comes to cellular service providers, as the number expanded greatly in 2015 thanks to the arrival of what are known as “Mobile Virtual Network Operators” (MVNOs).

These companies piggyback on bigger networks, and set themselves apart by offering creative and often enticing packages designed to lure people away from the bigger names, and are branded under the likes of FNB, Mr Price and Virgin. Sadly for them it hasn’t really worked, because two of our big four networks still managed to feature quite prominently in our poll results.

For one of our writers, none of them – not even the big names – proved their worth this year. The poll results didn’t really surprise us, but we would have liked to see more MVNOs featuring. Perhaps next year’s results will be different.

Readers’ Choice

Vodacom

Vodacom

Vodacom is a huge company with a massive presence in South Africa, so it’s no real surprise it is quite popular with the people.

But Vodacom was also helped along this year by the absence of any scandals or massive fines, continued operating profit and some pretty enticing contract and prepaid offers.

Its network continues to grow; LTE coverage extended to 46.8% of the country’s surface area according to its latest earnings report, which means all major centres are covered as well as the majority of outlying areas.

So there are plenty of reasons for our readers to give Vodacom their voting love, and that’s exactly what the majority of you did, giving Vodacom the win by a significant margin.

Htxt.africa’s choices

Charlie
MTN

MTN

Charlie has been with MTN since 1999, and not even their current legal woes are enough to discourage him.

Others have complained about MTN’s coverage, but except for one dip in a road close to his house, Charlie hasn’t had any bad experiences – either with coverage or customer service.

He firmly believes there’s a reason the company has around 233 million subscribers across its operations in 22 countries, and that’s because MTN is the best cellular provider around.

Brendyn
None of them – they all suck

None they all suck

Brendyn chose none of them as his favourite network, because it annoys him that he has to decide between good signal (Vodacom), cheap data (Cell C) and tons of SMSes every time he recharges (Telkom Mobile).

Until one network offers all of the things he wants from his cellular provider, his answer must remain “None of them, they all suck”.

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