Lately, it's always Bioware.

I have a large, potentially huge (kudos to anyone who gets that reference) pile of shame. Like, AMAZINGly big.

But, see, I'm also a bit of a collector, though not as much as I used to be. I have an RPG collection the likes of which you can't imagine, though I have managed to migrate as much it as possible to portable (laptop, DS, & PSP) formats.

Anyway, the point is that I've got a million unplayed games, and yet, I keep going back to Bioware games (though, the Witcher, which I haven't yet played through, is in there right now, too.) Lately, I've been ping-ponging between Dragon Age & Mass Effect.

Mass Effect is over two years old now. I played through it a few times on 360, then snagged it on PC when it was on sale on Steam for $10, and am now playing through that a second time in order to have a save w/ the latest DLC and w/ level 60 (which is only possible on a new game +).

Dragon Age, though...I just beat it over Thanksgiving! What the fuck am I doing playing this game again already?! I've got the Witcher to beat, not to mention a million older RPGs.

I just really love that game, I guess. And to be fair, it's been a pretty different game this time. I was a male human noble warrior in my first game, and now, I'm a female city elf rogue, and not only is the origin totally different, but I'm doing things in a slightly different order, and the character interactions are different because I'm playing a female character.

Really, though, I was the same way with Final Fantasy VII, then Resident Evil 2, then KotOR, and a handful of other games. I just get really into certain games, and while I still do play through new games, these games just call me back again & again.

I was kinda chuckling to myself about this last night, as I was making short work of the Fade section of Dragon Age, and doing so much more quickly and confidently than I was in my first playthrough. I realized that I already had some of the complex puzzles in the game memorized, and was surprised by that, but then realized that Dragon Age is now one of those 'go-to' games for me. I'll play it again and again, trying to find ways to get the game to react differently than it has before (and I'm usually successful; I once got Tifa to come to me in the Golden Saucer instead of Aeris.)

Anyway, it always kills me that I spend about half my gaming time replaying games that I've already beaten.

Do you guys think I should worry that a) I've narrowed my game-playing almost exclusively to RPGs & b) I spend half that time playing through adventures I've already finished?

And what about you? Do you have any games like this, that you go back to once a year or so and play through again? I actually played FFVII every year, once a year from 1997-2004. I know, I know, but I'm hoping to hear that you're the same way!

ANYWAY, have a great New Year, get drunk, don't drive, and if you're coming to my house for walking tacos, be there at 7:00 tonight!

See ya in 2010!

-Blaine

GamePro

***CORRECTION 2009/12/31***

I received a tweet from the MAN himself, John Davison, last night, and I wanted to take a moment to clarify something I said in the original post below. Rather than risk being totally unclear again, here's his tweet:

jwhdavison @taranwalker Glad you like the ideas. Reviews are staying (for now) but will be more experience-focused. The rest is all features

So, yeah, reviews will be in there, and I really, really dig the 'experience-focused' angle.


Anyway, apologies to John Davison for not being clearer on that, but there ya go!


-Blaine

***END CORRECTION***

BTW, if ya haven't listened to the latest 4 Guys 1UP, do so. There, you'll hear about what sounds like the most exciting development in print gaming journalism, which is John Davison taking over GamePro. Just give it a listen, and hear about his plans to move the mag away from reviews and previews, and go more toward features about the people who make games and their artistic processes. The site handles the reviews and previews and all that stuff, while the mag is going to be much more feature-driven.

If you read EGM & 1UP during the Davison days, you know about the excellent quality that he brings to whatever he works on. I subscribed to GamePro as soon as I got home while listening to the podcast in my car.

What's interesting is that back in the 90s, when there were a million gaming mags, GamePro was one of my early favorites, but then became utterly irrelevant to me once Davison took over EGM.

What's incredible, to me, is that I'm going to be subscribing to both EGM & GamePro in 2010.

So, what do you guys think about gaming mags? What do you wanna see in them now that the reality of online content has set in?

I wonder if there'll be an option to subscribe on my Nook to either one...hmm...

-Blaine

End of 2009

Here's the podcast.

Let us know what you think, and feel free to let us know where we went wrong.

-Blaine

Tonight! Tonight!

Okay. It's here! The first of the 'end of the decade' podcasts! Tonight, we'll be talking quite a bit our favorite games of this year, and #10-6 of our 'best of the decade,' as well as some games that didn't quite make the cut.

We need your help, though! What was your favorite game of 2009 and your favorite new release from between 2000-2009? Drop it in the comments, along with some quick thoughts on the games, and we'll read the best ones on the air!

Thanks!

-Blaine

Also, be sure to read our posts about games that didn't quite make the cut, but still get some love.

Forza (series)
Shadow of Destiny
Trackmania
The Witcher
Burnout Paradise
Plus, our extra special Christmas post

Gaming & Acquisition Day

Acquisition Day is nearly upon us, so it's time to prep your gaming library for maximum fulfillment. You must be mentally nimble over the next few days to make sure that your gaming acquisitions are maximized for as little as possible.

Here's a fun fact: I never get games for Christmas. I don't want games for Christmas. If I get a game for Christmas, I know it's something I don't want, because if I did, I'd already have it. I realize that not everyone is as efficient in terms of acquisitions as I am, so here's some tips from the pro.

#1 - Scour your local gaming shops for trade-in deals. Sometimes, if you trade in toward a pre-order, they'll give you a bonus of some kind, or if you trade in a certain amount, whatever. Even if the preorder game is one you don't care about, trade in anything you don't love toward it, maximize that dollar, then sit on it.

#2 - If you get a game for Christmas that you didn't ask for, tell the giver a) that you've already received the game from someone else and will require the receipt to correct their thoughtlessness, or b) it's such a wonderful gift that you can't believe that it's real so you'll need the receipt to verify that is does, in fact, truly exist. If the game isn't from your game shop, see if you can return this game or games to your local shop w/ no receipt and add them to your store credit fund. Either way, move the value of that game into your already existing store credit fund.

#3 - Be careful how you open the games you do decide to keep. Leave any and all stickers attached, or in a state in which they're easily reattached. Make only minor slits in the cellophane or shrinkwrap. If it's something you can play through quickly, make sure to get the receipt from the giver, so that you can return it as new after resealing it and add more to your ongoing store credit fund. Bear in mind, though, that you're voting with your dollar. If you do this, you're essentially telling the developer and publisher to fuck off and never make a game like this again. If it was a bad game, though...they overcharge for most of these games anyway. A lower prince point would make you less apt to do this.

#4 - Now what to do with your lump of store credit? First of all, switch all your credit to something other than the game you preordered that you don't give a shit about. Next, evaluate what you want versus what you need. I know that most of you are the kind of gamers that buy any old piece of shit game (I've seen your XBox live gamerscore & PlayStation Trophies, and what games with which you've tarnished it/them, fucker.) Most of you are the kind of gamer that contribute to the greater problem by buying just about anything with flashy box art or a good review from Game Informer, IGN, or GameSpot. Allow me to stop you for a moment. You know how you wonder what sex would be like, or what it would be like to touch a bare (female) breast without having to worry about being prosecuted? I maintain a very high-quality gaming library while maximizing usage of my man parts with a consenting living human woman every single day. What's my secret? I dump all that store credit into game preorders, so that when those releases come around, I'm in and out the store so fast that it's as if I was never there, and the bank account doesn't take a hit, so again, it's as if I was never there. I look smart, efficient, powerful, and thoughtful, all in one fell swoop, and you can too, all by not buying shitty games.

It's the key to life, really, when you think about it. What repels women more than anything else? A man who repeatedly makes bad purchases and bad financial decisions. You know how you can easily tell how smart a man is with his money? Find out how hot his woman is. If you're pissed about how ugly your girlfriend or wife is, or if you have failed to acquire one, it's time to review your game purchases over the last few years.

That's why you should be more like me, and only make good purchases, but make it difficult to ascertain the exact number of these good purchases. Nothing gets my woman's motor purring like her finding out that I made another gaming acquisition using only non-liquid assets.

Additionally, a solid game library becomes an asset, based on the market value of each of your games. If you only have good games, then it's not that you're 'buying games,' it's that you're 'investing.' Consider Panzer Dragoon Saga, Final Fantasy VII (black label), or Burning Rangers, all of which have only increased in value. If you are shrewd about your game purchases, and vote with your dollar, and only for games with real quality, then not only will your gaming life improve, but you'll position yourself well for an attractive mate. When she sees you step out of your personal helicopter in the parking lot for the hot new wine & sushi bar, she'll know that you were incredibly smart about how you handled your acquisitions on Acquisition Day, how you knew which gaming assets had real long-term growth potential, and which gaming assets were best liquified in favor of financial gaming diversification.

Anyway, since this is a gaming blog, I wanted to share some pro-tips right before Acquisition Day. May your acquisitions be vast and your wealth increase!

Lemme know what you get, and don't hesitate to ask if it's a keeper or dumper!

Also, the End of 2009 podcast is going out this weekend, so keep your ear to the ground! We'll post it here when it's time! Don't forget to tell us what your favorite game of 2009 was, as well as what games might be in your 'best of the decade!'

Merry Acquisition Day!

-Blaine

Paradise Lost

Since I probably won't be posting tomorrow, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Second item of business this morning is to address the absence of a game from our top 10 list that two people have already voiced their concern over, Burnout Paradise. In fact, just about the entire Burnout series has been pretty damn good starting with the second game.

Crashing is fun. That is pretty much the takeaway from this series (I didn't include the first game as it didn't really establish what we think of as Burnout until the second entry) and they have done well evolving the idea so that each entry feels fresh to an extent. The latest entry, Burnout Paradise, made the most drastic departure, going for open-world exploration. I would consider this the top entry, but it does suffer from the overall single player setup, requiring you to drive to stoplights to start races.

The single player is also just a series of a few types of races, Road Rage being by far the best. After you 'level up' you then have to go and grind the same races as they are reset (except for the car specific ones). Repeat for each license class and it gets quite repetitive by the end.

The multiplayer has challenges specific to each number of players, 2-8. The problem with this is that it often changes on the fly, with people joining or leaving the game, making progress a bit of a crapshoot. In fact, it was so unfocused that I actually sold the game after getting it and making little progress. I later re-bought the game (the addition of a race restart was quite welcome) and played it a bit more with friends, which really brought out the fun. If you don't have others online to play with, or the correct amount of friends after you have finished the 2 or 3 player challenges, it isn't all that much fun however.

The catch with this is that I picked up the PS3 version due to that being the better version (and the one you can share DLC on). On a game this focused on online, it is troubling playing with anyone but your friends due to the voice chat. I think only 10% of the people I met playing the game, if that, had a mic. When you are trying to coordinate a large challenge this can be a complete pain in the ass.

DLC support is another aspect of the game that started as a large positive and then switched to almost a negative. The game was supported quite a bit for free with regular updates for about a year after launch. Maybe this created unrealistic expectations, but suddenly the DLC not only had a price tag but a steep one. Want a couple new cars? They were anywhere from $3-6 EACH. I would have preferred they maybe priced the original bikes pack at $5-7 and used that money to offset the cost of anything after that. The party pack that was released was also complete crap. I've heard Big Surf Island is some good DLC, but by the time it came out I just didn't want to drop the $$$ on it.

Overall I had a lot of fun with the game, but it is tough for any multiplayer-centric game to work on PS3. On the flip side, the 360 version was slightly inferior but much easier to find people with mics. I actually knew multiple people that bought both versions due to this. Looking back on Burnout Paradise I am glad I gave it a second chance, but it has too many shortcomings for me to include it on an all-decade list.

The Witcher

The Witcher is a game that I wish I had played from the outset. I remember listening to the single greatest podcast ever, CGW/GFW Radio, and Jeff Green talked a bit about playing the game, and his impressions instantly made my gamer antennae start to go spastic. A PC RPG that treated the gamer like an...gasp...adult? NO WAY!

Want to know why I shied away from the the Witcher for so long? It's the dumbest fucking reason. It's the same reason that I have such a hard time playing Neverwinter Nights.

You play as a single character. That's it. That's the secret reason I wouldn't play it. I tend to have a MUCH harder time getting into RPGs that feature only a main character. Matter of fact, one of the reasons I'm still a little put off by Jade Empire is that you can only have two characters in the party at a time. For some reason, I gotta have at least three.

Until now. The Witcher has changed much of my perception of what an RPG needs to be. Not only is it a one-character RPG, it's fucking brilliant. It took quite a bit of tweaking to get the control to something manageable, plus I ended up setting it to its native Polish language w/ English subtitles after a while (most of the performances NOW are pretty good, but some of the minor NPCs are terrible in their English-language performance.)

Anyway, it's a fairly different beast from both Bioware RPGs and JRPGs. There is much more choice in the dialogue than in JRPGs, but not nearly as extreme an amount as a standard Bioware RPG. Also, the actual live inputs during combat are sort of like Fable II, but the strategy is much more like Dragon Age (pause, think, tweak, play), and the different stances and weapons and such are more like...hmm...ya know, I'm not sure. This is a really unique experience.

The decision-making in the game is much, much more subtle than in anything else I've played. The decision-making is more akin to real life, in that much of it is reliant on 'going here or going there,' or a simple 'yes or no' in conversation. There are situations where I've accidentally insulted the hell out of characters and they have literally told me to 'fuck off.' The paths you choose in the game seem quite a bit more organic, if fewer, than in other branching RPGs.

Also, this game's main character is pretty well-defined, and a lot of the time you are more steering him than totally controlling him. He'll say shit without any input from you that might surprise you, which can be off-putting, if you are only able to play western RPGs. If you are not a worthless, close-minded fanboy jackass, then you'll come to really enjoy this, as I have. I found it refreshing to have an RPG in which I am tweaking the story, rather than dominating every part of it. I forgot how much I like variety in my RPGs.

This wouldn't be possible if the story weren't really, really interesting, and the world deep as hell. The characters are very fleshed out, with their own personalities and agendas, and act like it, even the main character.

The main dude, Geralt, is very cool. While his story and personality are pretty much set, who he is as a playable character is deeply customizable. How he develops when he levels is entirely up to you. You can allocate XP to different types of combat proficiency, different aspects of combat, magic, alchemy, etc. My dude is very much a fighting alchemist, which is pretty rad. I've made decisions in his leveling that have drastically altered the way that my Geralt interacts with the world around him. If you are smart enough to play this, you'll see.

Interestingly, I keep wanting to refer to Geralt as 'Kaim.' I couldn't figure out why that was, but today, it dawned on me that the two are very, very similar characters. If your taste is not absurdly bad, and you've at least played and loved Lost Odyssey, you'll see what I'm saying when you play the Witcher.

So, why am I going on and on like this?

Well, I've only recently discovered the Witcher, thanks to Tony, and our 'best of' list for the decade is going to be inaccurate because this isn't going to be on it, since neither of us have played through it. I've only played a few hours, but this game, because of its distinct nature, and super-compelling nature, should be on that list.

Granted, there's a lot of shit that should be on that list that's not going to be, like Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright, Indigo Prophecy, Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams, Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and many others, but we can only have 10 games, and while Tony's taste in games is mostly correct, he is misguided in several beliefs.

Thank you for your attention. Now please respond with something intelligent. You have until this weekend, when we decide, live on the podcast, what the best games of the decade for all of (American) humanity, to either correct us, or continue your silent torment, playing the wrong damn games.

Word.

-Blaine

Steam and Trackmania

As I started yesterday, I want to focus on another racing game that I loved from the past decade, but just could not justify putting on my 'top 10.' Before I get to that though, I thought I would point out that the Steam holiday sale is on NOW. I can highly recommend The Witcher for only $13.50, as well as Torchlight for $10. Also, if you missed it when it was on sale before, be sure to grab Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, which is $5. I personally own those already, so I picked up Braid, Trine, Defense Grid: The Awakening, World of Goo, and Audiosurf for $20 total. Not bad if I do say so myself, and it gives me stuff to play on PC while my girlfriend plays my 360 (damn Dragon Age and its addictive qualities). Anyway, on to what I guess has become my mini list of racing games of the decade.

Trackmania United (on sale right now for $20 on Steam, btw)
For those racing fans who have not heard of this PC gem, look it up right now. Think hot wheels, with loops and jumps all over the place. Add in a complete track creator and thousands of user created tracks you can play online, and you have the makings for a fun racing game. For better or worse, you can play this game entirely with the arrow keys as well.

The community is what makes this game, and a little searching online will net you tons of new car models to use in the game in addition to tons of tracks. The game also has its own currency (NOT real $$$, but tokens that are awarded for doing things in game) that can be used to 'buy' tracks or cars that people have made, or to 'donate' to servers that you enjoy.

The online racing rewards ranks based on time/points, and it is easy to see how you rank in your own state/country/world. The only downside is that it is purely time based, offering no collisions or actual 'racing.' In fact, the most popular mode has you on a track for 5 minutes or so, in which time you must set your top 'lap' time. You can (and will) restart instantly as many times as you need to ensure you get that one perfect run. The plus side to this is the number of people that can be on the server is only limited to the server itself, often leading to competitions with 20+ people.

When playing online though you are often subject to some questionable tracks, leading to decisions to either stick through it or try and find a new server. This can be frustrating, as I have come across a large number of tracks online I could never even hope to finish a single run on. Also, you must be on a server for one race before you start to earn ladder points, so server hopping will not lead you to rank up, if that is what you are aiming for.

This game is just flat-out fun, but there is no great way to automatically add any of the great tracks you find online to your local copy, which is a big letdown (you may be able to find them to buy for the in game currency, but finding that individual track is quite the challenge). Also, the single player modes are fairly uninspired. A fun time waster and well worth the money for sure, but it doesn't really fit into a top 10 decade discussion.

In Defense of Shadow of Destiny

Those early days of the PS2 were a bit like the early days of a new girlfriend. She's hot, she's cool, you like spending time with her, but you haven't yet figured out how best to, ahem, maximize your alone time with her.

Interestingly, in both cases, alcohol helped quite a bit.

Many of us wanted to buy the machine at launch, the few of us that actually worked at game stores back then actually did, and we consoled ourselves with the pretty-good (if disappointingly offline) Timesplitters or the truly excellent SSX or yet another retread of the overrated Tekken franchise or even told ourselves that Smuggler's Run was really, uh, fun. Even the jaggy DOA2 port was kind of a letdown.

Really, though, it was a shitty launch. Console shortages and a lack of killer apps quietly tempered our enthusiasm for the machine. Honestly, mine played almost nothing but Final Fantasy IX, a PS1 game, and DVDs for the first several months. Remind me to tell you about the time Tony and I nearly got busted for watching porn on our store demo unit by the district manager once...

Anyway, it really wasn't until a game called Shadow of Destiny came out early the following year that I really went nuts for my PS2.



Shadow of Destiny is a third person adventure game in which you control the main character through several time periods in the same town, and can very open-endedly avert your own death. There are multiple endings, and the more of them you complete, the fuller the story becomes. Little nudges in history here and there change things later, and it's through the manipulation of time and people that our hero, Eike Kusch, is able to continue living past a certain point.

Several things really make it stand apart for me.

First of all, the color scheme for each time period is very distinct. The oldest, if I recall, is a kind of sepia tone, and others each have a cool look, as well. I believe that the modern day scenes are full-color, and one of the middle time periods is a more white & blue color set. It's really been a while. This helps make each iteration of the town feel fresh and separate from other incarnations, and serves to convey a feeling for what's going on in each time period.

Second, there is literally no combat. None. This is, frankly, a bit jarring at first, but at the time, it was quite a revelation for me. The game just never needs any combat, as every choice is related to exploration, reasoning, and emotion. The player survives by their understanding of the game mechanics, the area and people around them, and their sheer ability to reason things out. Those who many regard as 'retarded' will roll their eyes at this, probably call it 'gay,' and never move beyond button mashing in their games and drooling on themselves as they watch reality television programs and '24.'

Third, the story and plot were, at the time, something new for 3D adventure gaming. Investigating one's own murder and having that lead to a much larger story that spans hundreds of years was something that hadn't really been seen too much outside of the old text adventures and point & click fare of the early 90s. It really made your brain work to grasp temporal implications as you maneuvered, sometimes through trial & error, to stave off you murder by using plans-within-plans hundreds of years before.

I'll be honest, though. I'm not sure that this is a game that stands the test of time. A lot has happened in regards to storytelling in 3D games, as developers like Bioware, Valve, Bethesda, Mistwalker, Feelplus, & Squenix have moved the medium forward tremendously over the last ten years, and I'm curious to go back and replay this game to see how I feel about it now. Since I'm not willing to pay $110 for the PS2 version, I'm going to preorder the forthcoming PSP port, due out 1/26, alongside Mass Effect 2. That costs only $30, and I believe it'll be available in both UMD & digital format (not sure which way I'll get it, though.)

Actually, I wonder if downloadable PSP games can be downloaded and played on PS3. Hmm...

Anyway, this was a great game at the time, and if you haven't played it, I urge you to give it a spin.

As Tony has indicated, we'll be talking on here a lot about the games that nearly made our "top 10 of the decade" list for the rest of this year, then we'll be shifting to 2010 games once the calendar rolls over.

Actually, that's a dirty fucking lie. While we will be talking about new and upcoming games, I also want this blog to be a place that talks about old games, too, just for the hell of it. Tony and I straddle the age of 30 (he's just shy of it, and I'm just past it), which means we're kinda old, at least according to target demographics. So, yeah, as I said at the beginning, this blog is about games, be they new or old, good games or crap like Tekken & Halo, RPGs or action RPGs (or the occasional racing game, apparently). This is your repository for all things gaming, so long as it fits into our narrow spectrum of awesome.

Whatever.

So, back to the topic at hand!

Did you cats play Shadow of Destiny? What did you think? If not, what was the first game to really rock your mind on PS2? Any special memories of the PS2 launch?

NOW COMMENT!

-Blaine

Racing is great, but...

I've always thought that one of the most interesting parts of any 'top' list is what was left off, especially if you know the person who made it. I thought I would count down to the upcoming podcast this weekend by putting out some games that I didn't even put into consideration for making our 'top 10 of the decade' list. As a couple people pointed out to me on twitter, there are no racing games at all in contention.

I love racing games, always have. As far back as RC Pro-Am or even Top Gear 2 (the SNES game, not the awesome BBC TV show) all the way up to my current favorites. The past 10 years has seen the rise of some amazing simulations and some great 'arcade' style attempts, yet I just couldn't find a way to justify putting any of them on my all-decade list. Here is a quick run down of my top racing games/series of the past decade, why they were great, and why they just didn't make the cut. In no particular order, today begins with the Forza series:

Forza 2/3
I love these games. In fact, when I am done writing this I will probably get in a race or two in Forza 3. They took what Gran Turismo had established and took it to the next level, making a game that is both realistic and well structured. Opponents actually race instead of following a set line, and car damage prevents bumper cars around the corners. The problem is that both games have some glaring flaws that hold them back.

Forza 2 had a dirty little secret. Even though there were 300+ cars, if you ever kept more than 100 or so in your garage and tried to scroll through it, the game would lock up. If you didn't scroll but joined an open class online race, same thing. Forza 3 so far seems to have fixed this, but they decided to not allow hosting a public lobby, essentially ruining online racing unless you always have 7 others to invite. Why is this important? Searching for a race leaves you locked into their default settings, including allowing lame assists (AUTO BRAKING??? SERIOUSLY???) and having no damage. If I were to combine the two games with the first and have a series entry, it would probably crack the top 10, but as individual efforts both fall short.

Second! Pffft...

Let me give you a proper introduction and spare you from Tony's slander of a fine, fine game.

This is the Untitled Gaming blog. Those of you who have been following our podcast for a while know what to expect, roughly. Imagine this as sort of a non-stop literary form of our podcast in which Tony and I will just post whatever the fuck we feel like (relating to gaming) whenever we feel like it.

We honestly have no idea what to expect from this, but it struck me as a good idea over the weekend, and I informed Tony that we were doing this last night, since it wouldn't be right to take on this venture without him.

I think that this will be a daily thing, if not multiple times a day. Some posts will be three sentences, while others will be overly bloated reviews, others will be commentaries on gaming news stories, and still others will be nearly pornographic in how extremely they satisfy your brain.

At first, this will serve as our running discussion on the top 10 games of the 00s.

Before I assert that I am above even pretending that Tony's hatred of a landmark game based on its unforgiving save system is worth validating via a response, I'm going to reveal some of the games that have been in our discussion, so that you all can make cases for and against, if you'd be so kind.

Here's the short list, in no particular order:

Bioshock
Final Fantasy XII
Grand Theft Auto III 
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Mass Effect
Guild Wars
Diablo II

Fable II
Fallout 3
Orange Box (this isn't even a game, but I didn't pick it, so whatever)
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
MVP Baseball 2005
Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
Final Fantasy IX
Gears of War
Gears of War 2
Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Lost Odyssey
Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Dragon Age: Origins
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (PC)
Indigo Prophecy
Shadow of Destiny


So, that's the short list, and that's even missing a few that both of us wanted to put on there.


Hell, I just realized that Tony didn't put any racing games in there. That's surprising. I thought for sure that we'd see a Codemasters game from him somewhere in there.

One thing that will be interesting to see is how Tony and I come to a consensus on criteria for the decade's top ten games. It's clear to me, at the moment, that we have slightly different criteria. For example, multiplayer matters little to me. I do enjoy multiplayer, but I haven't quite figured out how important to me it is. It's important enough to keep Modern Warfare 2 and Forza MotorSport 3 out of the discussion, since both have extremely severe problems with their respective multiplayer experiences (though Forza 3 has a far better single player experience than the laughable MW2 single player.) I do enjoy both games but both are cases of diminishing returns on a franchise.

So, what do you guys think? What's your criteria? What would you champion for our list, and what did we leave off? Don't forget to tune in this weekend when we post our first podcast of this series!

-Blaine

FIRST!!!

I think that's the proper way to get anything started. If you haven't heard, there will be a brand-spanking-new Untitled Podcast coming up, and in preparation Blaine and I have been going back and forth talking about the decade overall as it relates to gaming. Even though it isn't very original, top 10 lists can be damn fun, and you see some really odd things pop out of them. The first thing I noticed was one of the games Blaine nominated to be on the list that made me do a damn double take.

Shadow of Destiny. Shadow of Fucking Destiny. This fucking thing pissed me off when I tried to play through it. I thought there was a mistake, so I googled the title (side note - how long until 'googled' is recognized by spell check as a real word? can't be too much longer) and sure enough it was the same damn game I thought it was. It makes sense Blaine would pick it, but I sure don't remember him playing through it. The game was a pure adventure game, with a time traveling twist - needing to stop your own death.

Sounds cool enough, but I still remember one shitty mission over 7 years after playing it. All I know is that save points were not plentiful, and in one chapter I had to have my picture taken with a family and then return to a crack in time of some sort. There was a time limit involved in all of this, and somehow a cutscene made me go over it, losing all the work I had put into the chapter. This experience was horrific enough to me that there is no way it would go on any 'top' list of my creation.