I’ve been looking over a hand-full of forums and reading their GOTY threads, is it me or are these lists getting longer and longer and shallower.
Best Sound, Best Graphics… what about most fun, best story?
How do you guys feel about GOTY lists and what questions would you put on one?
My philosophy has always been, just have "GAME OF THE YEAR" otherwise you're diluting the concept completely.
Game of the year nominations are idiotic high-fiving exercises more focused on communal bonding than anything to do with games. They also run counter to the inherent diversity of games by lumping them all together in one socially ratified list. Not a fan of GOTY nonsense.
Largely they're a waste of time, because people can only really comment on the games they've played. This isn't so bad when picking a game overall, but to give out awards for graphics and sound is a little silly, especially when hardware and setup have a part to play in this.
That said, they can be a bit of a laugh if you don't take it too seriously.
How about this one for starters
"Best Mario game"
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"For the next year most of the 360s will end up in the hands of the hardcore gamers because they are the most eager ones. So the first wave of software will reflect that." - Gerhard Florin, Head of EA Europe
Do you feel that a GOTY questionnaire done right could be very informative?
I mean questions about “Unique Ideas” & “Atmosphere” could bring up games that some people haven’t yet herd of (unlikely) or that readers may not have looked into which would make it far more interesting.
Stepping away from the usual conformities.
Yeah, that would be the way to do it.
'Most surprising use of Twin Sticks'
things like that. You'd get some really interesting answers too.
... but you'd run the serious risk of coming across like a pretentious twunt though, asking questions like that...
Hmm.
Umm, isn't "Best game you played this year" quite a nice, pleasant way of spending an afternoon in reminiscence? Ok, so trying to argue why a singular title is the 'best' is reductive bollocks, but stating what you enjoyed playing the most in 2005 is a nice exercise, surely...?
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"Obviously some sort of anti-menstrual reference in the world of gay utopian fantasy"
The skew is unscientific obviously. Usually the Games of the Year are those released this year, which as diserning games player we know, this year probably hasn't has a game of any note compared to any other year leading up to it.
So it'd be more, what is the best game in the history of games so far... what floats your boat? What do you play every day? For instance I've just got into Majora's Mask, you on;y play those games once and its done, but you play FZeroGX and Virtua Fighter every freaking day...you feel me?
Not really!
I see where you're coming from, but I disagree. Noting a year when something you love came out doesn't fetishise release dates, tie gaming down into some sort of strict plan or coda, or diminish older games' impact on our lives. It's just credit where credit's due and a fun bit of reminiscence. That's my thinks on it, anyway ^_~
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"Obviously some sort of anti-menstrual reference in the world of gay utopian fantasy"
Fun? FUN?!?
He's right y'know. It's just not boringly scientifically MORI enough for my tastes.
The skew is unscientific obviously. Usually the Games of the Year are those released this year, which as diserning games player we know, this year probably hasn't has a game of any note compared to any other year leading up to it.
Erm, RE4 on PAL Cube and on PS2 says that's just wrong.
cough, yeah.... well that's a different debate. But boringly the point... RE4 is just an FPS with a guy infront of the camera... play it once, and yer done.
cough, yeah.... well that's a different debate. But boringly the point... RE4 is just an FPS with a guy infront of the camera... play it once, and yer done.
No.
Just...
No.
Assignment Ada, Pro Mode, Separate Ways, collecting all the bottle tops...
And Mercenaries, one of the best unlockables in any game, ever.
Heh heh, argument time! Let's whip 'em out and start comparing sizes, fellas!
RE4 = over-rated.
SotC = Emperor's new clothes in videogame form
What else is there to trash...?
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"Obviously some sort of anti-menstrual reference in the world of gay utopian fantasy"
I agree about SOTC.
Not about RE4. But each to their own, i suppose.
Wait a second... this has stealthly turned into a real GotY thread.
All I'm saying is that I kinda "got" RE4 pretty early on, and what was most dissapointing for me, and related to my (exciting) other thread is that they managed to create such a tangiable world, then they pull you out of it with hackneyed level design principles... i.e. cockeney shop... barrels with items in... that kinda thing. I know its a B-Movie'esque event, it'd just've been nice to have something new in the design department. Asking too much I know.
As for the "missions" I guess you either like them or you don't, I personally had my fill of RE4 halfway through, my housemate goaded me to completion, and it was a fine, fluffy, well put together adventure, but like SotC a bit "lite" for my tastes. That's my angle. It's the wireframe argument all over again.
Well, for me, GOTY was Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. It's fantastic (if flawed) in single player, but a maverick, incomparable online experience the lack of which has never been attempted before. Brilliant.
Other than that, though, it's been a piss-poor year. The only thing I could thing of other than that which I've played and truly enjoyed would be Taiko no Tatsujin Portable. The rest I've loved has been retro - mainly this excellent guff I bought:
Because I think...
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"Obviously some sort of anti-menstrual reference in the world of gay utopian fantasy"
Its been a fantastic year as far as I'm concerned, there must have been about 20 truly great DS games over the last 12 months.
Handheld games don't count in GotY threads, you know that. Afterall handheld games aren't real games are they? If they were, we'd all be playing them??
I've really enjoyed Taiko no Tatsujin Portable, a real stand out title on the PSP. I've also really enjoyed a lot of the DS output, Project Rub was played to death
Arcades it has to be Outrun2 SP - fantastic game. Party wise I've played loads of Singstar, which is still great fun.
Other than that the only real highlight for me (other than retro) has been The 'Mobile Suit Gundam: One Year War' game on PS2. It's rare for a game to keep me playing all the way through, but it pulled it off with style. I even started to replay it on Hard!
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"For the next year most of the 360s will end up in the hands of the hardcore gamers because they are the most eager ones. So the first wave of software will reflect that." - Gerhard Florin, Head of EA Europe
There is little point in GOTY, FOTY, AOTY etc because the winner will always be the game played by the most people, which isn't necessarily the best game. RE4 will top most polls, there is nothing wrong with that but what is the point in the thread when everyone has played the game anyway. The most you get out of it is you either nod agreeingly or shake your head in disbelief that said game won. A far more constructive way of doing it is when people just give their top 3-5 games (and reasons why). Why do we need to prioritize a best game of the year anyway? One mans game of the year is another man's disappointment.
Precisely: "Game I enjoyed most this year" = teh win!
"GOTY" = teh suck!
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"Obviously some sort of anti-menstrual reference in the world of gay utopian fantasy"
Precisely: "Game I enjoyed most this year" = teh win!
"GOTY" = teh suck!
Welcome to my first post in this thread