Welcome to the Best of Kotaku, where I round up all of this weekās best content.
Above is proof that if thereās anything to do with Portal and cats, you know Iām going to post it. And I have the creator, JustynaDorsz, to thank for supplying me with one.
Moving on to our Best Of content this week, we kick things off as usual with a comment from the community.
The Best Comment From The Community
Our favorite comment of this week comes to you from naru-joe93 on our Talk Amongst Yourselves forum:
After writing this in an almost fugue state of tiredness, it probably came out incoherent, but fuck it! I put the god damn work in so here it is!
I see a lot of people on gaming forums say āthis was a bad year for gamingā. It was, but only for AAA games. It was rife with disappointment from, previously, great seriesā (Iām looking at you Resident Evil 6, Ass Creed 3, and Mass Effect 3!!!); things got increasingly sleazy as it became common practice to have online passes, and dlc that should have been in the main game (leviathan, beingāaccording to Brad Shoemaker, who didnāt beat the game until a week agoāa revelation for ME3s ending); and the constant stream of uninspired games reached an all new level of staleness. Through all this, I found myself defending AAA games, most likely trying to rationalize plucking down 60 bucks on things that left a bad taste in my mouth.
Knowing my sister was going to get me Far Cry 3 for xmas got me excited, as it was one of the most critically acclaimed games of 2012. But once I popped in the disc, I felt myself yearning to play FTL; a game I spent 5 bucks on, but will spend 100s of hours getting lost in. But wait, I also have They Bleed Pixels, Snapshot, Hotline Miami, Mark of the Ninja, and a pile of other indie games Iām aching to play, and will, because its not the same old bullshit, the bullshit being grand, yet HUGELY unfocused projects from AAA developers. Eventually I will play Far Cry 3, but, sadly, not for quite some time
This is where casual and AAA vs indie and hardcore come in. Before I started writing this, my idea of casual vs. hardcore was a game like wii sports vs a game like call of duty. In reality, call of duty is the most casual gaming series ever conceived. Itās made specifically for the highly sought after 18-35 demo, which mostly consists of bros who buy 2 games a year. Itās sad to see AAA publisher try so hard to appeal to a group of people who could give less of a shit; itās diluting the diversity of games out there. Even ambitious games like Spec Ops get bogged down by the publishers need to include competitive multiplayer in every game with shooting (an example coming out next year is the last of us)
In one sense, the AAA games industry is very similar to the Hollywood system of spewing out explosion after explosion, the important difference is that movies cost 10 bucks, and AAA games cost $60 dollars (you could say movies also have money to make from both theaters and the home market). So while movies movies will profit, games will not because the people the games are being made far arenāt going to buy themā¦..
And its killing the industryā¦ā¦
More studios closed in 2012 than ever before, and looks like that trend will continue. (thatās all I have to say on that subject, because this will become much longer than it already is).
As a life long gamer, someone who considers it a great passion, Iām tired of it all. Iām tired of mindlessly killing wave after wave of mindless clones, not because I think its immoral, or causes violence, but because itās become so fucking boring. Every game is morphing towards the COD ideal, and will never mimic the success. In an industry like games, risk reward is key to making a profit, and AAA publishers feel a large risk will yield a large reward, and it almost never does.
In the end, I just donāt see myself buying a next gen console if the trend of sameness continues. I think steam big picture, a decent computer, and a gamepad will do me just fine, and the same will probably yield true for a lot of other passion gamers
My Gaming Year
https://lastchance.cc/my-gaming-year-5970945%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Stephen Totilo takes a look back at 2012 through the lens of his gaming experiences. MoreĀ Ā»
The Year in Cosplay
https://lastchance.cc/the-year-in-cosplay-5969997%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Brian Ashcraft recalls all of this yearās best cosplay. MoreĀ Ā»
Avatar 2 Could Look Even More Like A Video Game Than The Hobbit Does. But That Might Not Be A Bad Thing.
Mike Rougeau explains how a higher frame rate could actually work well in a film like Avatar 2. MoreĀ Ā»
The Best Surprises Of 2012
https://lastchance.cc/the-best-surprises-of-2012-5971882%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Kirk rounds up the best surprises from the past year. MoreĀ Ā»
Little Inferno Is A Delightfully Grim Tale. But Its Best Story Is A Hidden One.
https://lastchance.cc/little-inferno-is-a-delightfully-grim-tale-but-its-bes-5970834%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Mike tells us about the hidden, apocalyptic story in Little Inferno. MoreĀ Ā»
The Sports Video Games of the Year
https://lastchance.cc/the-sports-video-games-of-the-year-5970909%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Owen Good decides that, spoilers, thereās no sports game of the year. MoreĀ Ā»
What The Hell Is Up With The New Black Isle? [Update]
https://lastchance.cc/what-the-hell-is-up-with-the-new-black-isle-update-5970832%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Mike wonders whatās going on with the ressurected Black Isle studio. MoreĀ Ā»
Hereās What The Developers Of Dark Souls II Can Do To Make It Better
Mike has a few ideas for the sequel to Dark Souls. MoreĀ Ā»
Lying, Stealing And Masturbation: Gamers Confess Secrets Before āThe End Of The Worldā
https://lastchance.cc/lying-stealing-and-masturbation-gamers-confess-secret-5970807%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Patricia Hernandez rounds up a bunch of alarmingly odd end-of-the-world confessions. MoreĀ Ā»
After Sandy Hook, This Guy Says He Got 50,000 People To Stop Playing Violent Video Games. But One Gamer Refused.
https://lastchance.cc/after-sandy-hook-this-guy-says-he-got-50-000-people-to-5970778%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Mike tells us about the online shooter ceasefire, and the one gamer who is completely against it. MoreĀ Ā»
The 5 Best Board Games of 2012
https://lastchance.cc/the-5-best-board-games-of-2012-5971084%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Quintin Smith shares fives awesome board games people are playing in 2012. MoreĀ Ā»
One Assassinās Creed III Debate To Rule Them All
https://lastchance.cc/one-assassins-creed-iii-debate-to-rule-them-all-5971086%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Stephen Totilo, Luke Plunkett and Kirk Hamilton get into the most epic of debates on Assassinās Creed III. MoreĀ Ā»
As An Artist, I Hope Video Games Really Do Affect People
https://lastchance.cc/as-an-artist-i-hope-video-games-really-do-affect-peopl-5971018%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Sarah Elmaleh wants people to be affected by games, and the art in them. MoreĀ Ā»
There Are Reasons I Donāt Talk About Video Game Violence Much
Patricia shares deeply personal stories of her memories with violence, both real and virtual. MoreĀ Ā»
2012: The Year The PC Showed Everyone Whoās Boss
https://lastchance.cc/2012-the-year-the-pc-showed-everyone-whos-boss-5971153%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Kirk rounds up a bunch of our articles that show how strong a year 2012 was for PC gaming. MoreĀ Ā»
The Year in Controversy
https://lastchance.cc/the-year-in-controversy-5971369%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Owen rounds up the yearās most heated controveries. MoreĀ Ā»
https://lastchance.cc/the-status-of-microsoft-and-sony-s-next-consoles-plus-5971338%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
The Status Of Microsoft and Sonyās Next Consoles. Plus: A Whole Bunch Of This Yearās Gaming Secrets.
Superannuation covers this yearās meaty rumors of Durango and Orbis, as well as some other newly uncovered information. MoreĀ Ā»
The Year In Zombies
https://lastchance.cc/the-year-in-zombies-5971372%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Tina Amini rounds up this yearās games, comics, shows and movies with zombies in them. MoreĀ Ā»
The Year in Sports Video Games
https://lastchance.cc/the-year-in-sports-video-games-5971631%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Owen rounds up the year in sports video games. MoreĀ Ā»
Learning To Love Easy Mode
https://lastchance.cc/learning-to-love-easy-mode-5971594%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Patricia learns to value the easy difficulty mode in video games. MoreĀ Ā»
The Year In Kotaku
https://lastchance.cc/the-year-in-kotaku-5971630%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Tina rounds up all of Kotakuās best stories in 2012. MoreĀ Ā»
The Game Savers: How A Tiny Company Gives Neglected Japanese Games New Life In America
https://lastchance.cc/the-game-savers-how-a-tiny-company-gives-neglected-jap-5971695%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Jason visits the Xseed office to share with us how the company brings Japanese games over to the U.S. MoreĀ Ā»
The Perfect Game Follows These Eight Rules
https://lastchance.cc/the-perfect-game-follows-these-eight-rules-5971867%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Sam Sattin tries to find the rules for the perfect video game, and it ends up being a lot like finding love. MoreĀ Ā»
Ten Crazy JRPG Predictions For 2013
https://lastchance.cc/ten-crazy-jrpg-predictions-for-2013-5971771%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Jason has some ridiculous, some not so ridiculous predictions for JRPGs next year. MoreĀ Ā»
