2012 Game of the Year Nominees

The time has come.  As 2012 comes to a close, Violent Gamer is taking a look back at this year, and all the gaming that has happened.  2012 was an odd year in many ways.  Many people thought it would be the last year of the current console generation, and so were expecting this year to be a kind of “swan song”.  However, it seems that everything has been shifted to 2013 in terms of both the last of the current generation and the beginning of the next.  Despite this shift, some truly incredible games came out this year, and we feel it is important to celebrate and recognize the best.  We are very proud of the following list of games: they challenged us emotionally, mentally, and psychologically.  They brought tears to our eyes, laughter to our mouths, and smiles to our hearts.  We at Violent Gamer stand behind each and every one of these games and offer a bow of thanks and gratitude. 

Check back on December 20^th to find out which game will be our 2012 Game of the Year, as well as our detailed opinions about each nominee.  In the meantime, please let us know what you think should be Game of the Year in the comments below.  Read on for our nominees, and go out and play them!

Happy Holidays, and thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Violent Gamer (Adam Borchert and Cooper Sivara)

Journey Review

I heard about Journey a few months ago, and while the game certainly peaked my interest then, it was never really a game I gave too much thought to.  First of all, it’s a downloadable game off the PSN, and I hadn’t had too much experience with those until recently.  And it was $15, which seemed pretty steep for a downloadable game.  I had also heard it was only around 2 hours long, which seemed much to short to pay that much money for as well.  Boy, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Ready Player One Book Review

I know it may seem a bit weird: a video game review website reviewing a book?  But hear me out: if you have a love for video games, amazing storytelling, and the history of video games, you will love Ready Player One.  It is immediately clear that the author, Ernest Cline, is a sincere gamer, and an even more sincere nerd.  There is literally so much nerd packed into this book it is truly incredible.  Cline has a particular fondness for eighties nerd culture references, but he includes everything right up to present day.  The bottom line is this: if you’re a video game nerd like me, this is the book you’ve been waiting for.

The Last Story Review

The Last Story has quite a story behind it’s development.  Directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of the Final Fantasy series) and developed by Mistwalker, the game’s soundtrack also claims the legendary Nobuo Uematsu as it’s composer.  Obviously, the game has quite a pedigree with a tremendous amount of talent, and the experience and skill of the development team shines throughout.  And while Sakaguchi and Mistwalker get a lot right in this game, there are some technical shortcomings that prevent the game from being a true masterpiece.  These hitches aside, however, The Last Story is a wonderful RPG that will not disappoint fans of the genre, and may even give them new hope for the future.

Project Eternity Officially Funded

Since launching on Kickstarter on Friday with a target of $1.1 million, Obsidian Entertainment's new isometric RPG, Project Eternity, has hit its target today and is now funded just below $1.5 million.  With an updated post on their kickstarter site, Obsidian Entertainment has announced new content that will be released if their new stretch goals were met.  This includes bonus characters, new storylines, a Mac/Linux version, player housing and more.

The first stretch goal has already been met.  With $1.4 million raised, the game will feature a new playable race, class and companion.  As the funding grows, more will be added to the game.  Here is a list taken from the kickstarter page of all the stretch goals announced, though there isn't anything announced yet for the $2.4 million mark, Obsidian is working furthering its stretch goals.

1.6 million, a Mac Version of Project Eternity and The Story Grows!
We've listened and we’ll make a Mac version of the game at this tier. We're also going to add a new major storyline along with new quests, locations, NPCs, and unique loot (special histories everyone?).

1.8 million, New Playable Race, Class, and Companion!
The options grow for your main character and the roster of your motley crew expands with the addition of a new companion from the selected class.

2.0 million, Player House!
Get your own house in the game that you can customize, store equipment in, and where your companions hang out, or, as the elves say, "chillax".

2.2 million, a new Region, a new Faction and another new Companion! And, dare we say it... ? LINUX!
Great news, everyone! For the Tarball Knights of Gzippia out there, we'll be adding Linux support!
Also, the world of Project Eternity grows in a major way with the inclusion of a whole new faction and the territory it holds. This adds new NPCs, quests, magic items, and hours of gameplay. And yes, you got it, another companion.

2.4 million and beyond! Coming Soon!
Though these goals may seem to be very ambitious, the gaming community has embraced many projects with high price tags on Kickstarter.  I have no doubt that this game can easily hit over $2.4 million in the next 29 days.  

Stretch goal information provided by Project Eternity Kickstarter page. 

Written by Adam Borchert

End of Nations Beta Impressions

Trion and Petroglyph's massive real-time-strategy game went into beta this weekend.  For those of you not familiar with End of Nations, it is an online free to play RTS that combines gameplay styles from other popular real-time-strategy games. There are two factions available to play, the Liberation Front and the Shadow Revolution. Within those two factions are sub-classes that further tailor to your style of gameplay. You can either play cooperatively against a computer, or in large scale pvp matches with up to 28v28 battles.