Ninety-nine percent of my gaming this year has taken place when I should been in bed. But that didn't stop me, even when it should have. These five games did the most to keep me from getting enough sleep this year. As always, this is a list of games were are important to me this year, not some kind of authoritative, objective list of the best games of the year. Dark Souls - I've owned Dark Soul...
Once again, it is time reflect on those we lost during 2013. And let us hope that 2014 is less ruthless. Normand Corbeil , 56, composer for Quantic Dream, credits include Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls Robin Sachs , 61, voice actor, credits include Mass Effect and Dragon Age Kenji Eno , 42, game designer and musician, credits include D , Sega Rally 2 , Newtonica , and Kimi to Boku to Rittai S...
The big news of the day is that Turbine his finally caught up with the pack and will be selling levels in Lord of the Rings Online . /yawn Remember when we were all up in arms about horse armor? That only made tenth place in this list of the most egregious microtransaction items. And that was two years ago. It probably wouldn’t make the top ten today. The time has long passed when we should be...
I dedicate this post to the two brave souls who helps me defeat the Bell Gargoyles for the very first time last night. You will never be forgotten, though I’ve already forgotten your Xbox user names. Dark Souls has occupied an inordinate amount of my attention lately. It started last week when Vinny Caravella from Giant Bomb decided to stream his return to the game. (I would embed them, but the...
As an experiment in environmental storytelling, Gone Home is an unqualified success. As a game, depending on your definition, it may pale next to the first person shooters that spawned it. It’s not a game that you are going to ever describe as “ visceral .” But if you ever wondered what it would be like to walk through Rapture or Columbia and take in the world and its stories, The Fullbright Co...
Ultima name used for an actual game - I mean, at least they didn't turn it into a crappy online service like they did with the Origin name. Runs better on the iPhone than on the iPad - That has got to be some kind of achievement, right? You don't have to pay for it before finding out how bad it is - Try before you buy hundreds and hundreds of keys! Um, this is a lot harder than I thought - Ther...
One of the things I miss about MMO blogging are the debates that would rage through the community. Debates like that don't come along very often anymore. So when I discover that someone is wrong on the Internet , I must avail myself of every opportunity to pounce on the gormless perpetrator and rip him or her to shreds. At the beginning of the month, Polygon posted an opinion piece by L. Rhodes...
There is a meme traveling through what is left of the MMO blogging community lamenting the death of blogging. I first picked up on it from Brian Green . But various responses have appeared from Wilhelm Arcturus , Ravious , and the inimitable Syncaine . Even Tobold took a break from this anti-5th edition crusade to weigh in. It is hard to deny that the MMO blogging community is not as vibrant as...
The last 48 hours have left my head spinning with regard to the Double Fine Adventure . With the release of Episode Ten of the documentary came the news that Broken Age would be split into two halves so that they can leverage sales to finish the game. As you might expect, things have been a little strange. It's hard to go anywhere in the gaming sections of the internet with finding strong opini...
Yesterday was a crazy day. The announcement that Microsoft has capitulated on their DRM plans made next generation a two console race again. So when I got home from work last night, I went to my computer, gathered up all of my gift cards, and put down my preorder. For the PlayStation 4. This is an unusual situation for me. I've never been a Sony fanboy. I've never bought a PlayStation as a prim...
Nintendo decided to go their own way this year. Rather than subject themselves to the circus that is the E3 press conference, they've released a new Nintendo Direct video. But that's not going to stop us from rating their announcements. The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - Not even a part of the show, but worthy of mention anyway. How can you not love a classic Zelda game? Oh, and I alr...
I’m running late because of Giant Bomb’s equipment theft , but here are the five announcements that caught my attention at Sony’s press conference Monday. The Order: 1886 - It isn't much, but the trailer caught my attention. I hope there is more to see on the show floor. The Dark Sorcerer - I've never played a Quantic Dream game, but I do know they make some pretty cool tech demos. I know this...
Just because you don't have a console to sell doesn't mean that you can't have a press conference. Here are the top five moments from the rest of the pack. Battlefield 4's 64 Player On-Stage Demo - I don't care how staged that was, I am one hundred percent behind that massive kind of spectacle. Whether or not the game is worth it, I have no idea. Peter Moore Calls Out Kotaku - Just hilarious. W...
The press conference is over, and it turns out that Microsoft wasn't lying about the number of games they would show. Here are the top five announcements that caught my attention. World Of Tanks - I'm sure WoT is a fine game. I haven't played it before, but I see the appeal. What catches my attention is what this reveals means for free-to-play on the console. It sounds like Microsoft really is...
Sometimes there is just too much news to talk about. Sometimes I don't have a full blog post worth of thoughts about the news. Today is one of those days. So here are the most interesting news items I've read today. Zynga reportedly closes Draw Something developer OMGPOP - I didn't catch this when the big layoffs hit yesterday. They actually closed OMGPOP? I really don't want to gloat because a...
Honestly, I'm surprised that I held out this long. Between Giant Bomb and Idle Thumbs , I've been bombarded with Dota 2 almost constantly. I thought watching Brad Shoemaker's Daily Dota would be enough. Then, the Thumbs crew launched a new Dota Today podcast. It was too much. I had finally gone over the edge. Last night, I tweeted this: @bradshoemaker Damn you! To be honest, this isn't the firs...
Okay, I actually played this nearly two months ago, so "Lately" is not the right word. Just bear with me, please, because this is still important. When our family came to the town to celebrate my daughter's second birthday, my brother brought along a copy of the latest Tomb Raider game. The two of us tend to stay up late and catch up on gaming since we rarely see one another. So we decided to p...
I hope those of you who are long time readers got the impression that I really like Borderlands . I mean, I did buy it for both for the PC and the Xbox 360 . I even gave it a spot in my Top Five Video Games list for 2010 . So when Gearbox announced that there would be a sequel, I was primed to play the new game. At least, I thought that I was. I suppose there was no way for it to live up to the...