My No. 1 pick was Demon's Souls. God I love that game, I'm still playing NG+++ on my second character and have yet to even try Borderlands and have only played about 1h of Dragon Age. I'd also like to put more time into Uncharted 2, L4D2 and Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer but Demon's Souls keeps sucking me back in.
I’ll tell you what happens in Demon’s Souls when you die. You come back as a ghost with your health capped at half. And when you keep on dying, the alignment of the world turns black and the enemies get harder. That’s right, when you fail in this game, it gets harder. Why? Because fuck you is why.
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MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
Actually, that is something pretty great about WoW; you never have to interact with other people if you don't want to.
When I was playing on a friend's PC a couple years back, I got up to level 20-something doing nothing but random sidequests, never so much as interacted with another player. It's cool that the game lets me do that and doesn't force me into playing "their" way
Oh god. I don't want to live in a world where WoW is considered the best game of the past ten years.
Have you played it? A lot of people despise it on principle, but it is extremely well designed. You could call it the best game solely on how well it manipulates the player and provides constant incentive and reinforcement to play.
Which isn't a design strategy that works for everyone.
I, for instance, have become so sick of that design ethos that I no longer pay attention to anything Blizzard do.
I didn't say you should call it the best because that style appeals to you, you call it the best because it is best at capturing an audience's attention, even if that audience is not you.
As was said above, perhaps it's better to call it defining.
i would argue that the kind of audience-capture is exactly what makes WoW not the best game of the decade; in fact, it would make it the worst game of the decade.
not the worst in terms of quality, design, gameplay, etc, but the worst in terms of ethics.
although i have to say i am far more personally offended by, say, Big Rigs or whatever that game was, which presumes by its very existence that we are all suckers enough to enjoy it, and doesn't even give us the credit of manipulating our base reward/gratification urges.
Evil Multifarious on
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Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
Oh god. I don't want to live in a world where WoW is considered the best game of the past ten years.
Have you played it? A lot of people despise it on principle, but it is extremely well designed. You could call it the best game solely on how well it manipulates the player and provides constant incentive and reinforcement to play.
Which isn't a design strategy that works for everyone.
I, for instance, have become so sick of that design ethos that I no longer pay attention to anything Blizzard do.
I didn't say you should call it the best because that style appeals to you, you call it the best because it is best at capturing an audience's attention, even if that audience is not you.
As was said above, perhaps it's better to call it defining.
i would argue that the kind of audience-capture is exactly what makes WoW not the best game of the decade; in fact, it would make it the worst game of the decade.
not the worst in terms of quality, design, gameplay, etc, but the worst in terms of ethics.
Oh god. I don't want to live in a world where WoW is considered the best game of the past ten years.
Have you played it? A lot of people despise it on principle, but it is extremely well designed. You could call it the best game solely on how well it manipulates the player and provides constant incentive and reinforcement to play.
Slot machines and video poker do that too.
Also while I will whole-heartedly admit to despising MMOs on principle, I did play a free trial of WoW a few years ago and hated it just as much as I was expecting to.
MongerI got the ham stink.Dallas, TXRegistered Userregular
edited January 2010
Keep in mind that every arcade game ever made is based on the same principal. And that that design philosophy didn't become non-standard even in home console games until nearly the SNES era.
If you want to be outraged by it, be outraged by it 20 years ago.
No. But Uncle Sporky specifically said "You could call it the best game solely on how well it manipulates the player and provides constant incentive and reinforcement to play," which is nonsense.
i would argue that the kind of audience-capture is exactly what makes WoW not the best game of the decade; in fact, it would make it the worst game of the decade.
not the worst in terms of quality, design, gameplay, etc, but the worst in terms of ethics.
although i have to say i am far more personally offended by, say, Big Rigs or whatever that game was, which presumes by its very existence that we are all suckers enough to enjoy it, and doesn't even give us the credit of manipulating our base reward/gratification urges.
Every game attempts to manipulate our base reward/gratification urges.
The fact that some are better than others at doing so doesn't make them unethical.
Lawndart on
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Olivawgood name, isn't it?the foot of mt fujiRegistered Userregular
edited January 2010
World of WarCraft may not be some people's cup of tea
It certainly wasn't mine
But saying that it is not an impossibly well-designed product polished to a mirror shine is just being contrary
It's the MMO distilled down into it's purest form. If that doesn't appeal to you, then you either need more window dressing or don't like MMOs that much
i would argue that the kind of audience-capture is exactly what makes WoW not the best game of the decade; in fact, it would make it the worst game of the decade.
not the worst in terms of quality, design, gameplay, etc, but the worst in terms of ethics.
although i have to say i am far more personally offended by, say, Big Rigs or whatever that game was, which presumes by its very existence that we are all suckers enough to enjoy it, and doesn't even give us the credit of manipulating our base reward/gratification urges.
Every game attempts to manipulate our base reward/gratification urges.
The fact that some are better than others at doing so doesn't make them unethical.
When you get down to it, all entertainment is about allowing yourself to be manipulated in one way or another.
PSN: mxmarks - WiiU: mxmarks - twitter: @ MikesPS4 - twitch.tv/mxmarks - "Yes, mxmarks is the King of Queens" - Unbreakable Vow
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Alfred J. Kwakis it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
Oh wow, people voted Half Life as the best game ever in 2004, even above the Zeldas. By default, Half Life 2 would be the best game ever now and we wouldn't have to vote anymore, no?
Eh, I liked the whole Black Mesa setting much better
Also in 1998 it felt pretty fresh and new
Half-Life 2 felt absolutely dated outside of the physics
UnbreakableVow on
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Alfred J. Kwakis it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
How would we want do a game of the decade voting anyway? As far as I can see, we only have the correct data for 2004-2009, everything else is just pre 2004. Unless they can sorted by release year, it seems like too much struggle to find all games from 2000-2003.
How would we want do a game of the decade voting anyway? As far as I can see, we only have the correct data for 2004-2009, everything else is just pre 2004. Unless they can sorted by release year, it seems like too much struggle to find all games from 2000-2003.
You don't need all games, just the ones that people would vote for. There already is the best game ever poll, I don't think it'd be too hard to find all the games in that released 2000-2003.
If there was to be another poll, why not just do a 2nd "best game ever"? It would be pretty much the same amount of work for mcc either way, it's been long enough since the last one that things have probably shifted around enough to make it interesting, and it would be easy to infer a "game of the decade" from the results anyway (just ignore any game in the results not from the last 10 years).
Oh god. I don't want to live in a world where WoW is considered the best game of the past ten years.
Have you played it? A lot of people despise it on principle, but it is extremely well designed. You could call it the best game solely on how well it manipulates the player and provides constant incentive and reinforcement to play.
As a game, I didn't care for it.
LotRO is more fun.
Behemoth on
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EvilBadmanDO NOT TRUST THIS MANRegistered Userregular
How would we want do a game of the decade voting anyway? As far as I can see, we only have the correct data for 2004-2009, everything else is just pre 2004. Unless they can sorted by release year, it seems like too much struggle to find all games from 2000-2003.
As it came up in the nominations thread, I have already done most of the legwork and made a list of the Top 30 from the years MCC has run a poll and used Game Rankings for 2000-2004. This means anomalies such as Ace Combat 4, but it's a decent list. I have it up on google docs, but have not posted it because 2009's games need to be added and I didn't want to detract from the voting for 2009 GOTY.
Side note: Yearly Sports Games installments were not included, and for the sake of sanity, all games with expansions count as one. For example Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne.
How would we want do a game of the decade voting anyway? As far as I can see, we only have the correct data for 2004-2009, everything else is just pre 2004. Unless they can sorted by release year, it seems like too much struggle to find all games from 2000-2003.
As it came up in the nominations thread, I have already done most of the legwork and made a list of the Top 30 from the years MCC has run a poll and used Game Rankings for 2000-2004. This means anomalies such as Ace Combat 4, but it's a decent list. I have it up on google docs, but have not posted it because 2009's games need to be added and I didn't want to detract from the voting for 2009 GOTY.
Side note: Yearly Sports Games installments were not included, and for the sake of sanity, all games with expansions count as one. For example Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne.
Fuck it, Here's the GOTD nom list that I've compiled.
*Madden, 2k4 sport games were ignored. DISAGREEMENTS? PM me. Do not shit up the current thread.
I forgot to copy/paste my list this morning, but I'm pretty sure it went something like:
1. Shadow Complex
2. New SMB Wii
3. Flower
4. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
5. Dragon Quest V
6. Space Invaders: Infinity Gene
7. Retro Game Challenge
8. Splosion Man
9. Dead Space Extraction
10. Spider: Secret of Bryce Manor
11. Professor Layton & the Diabolical Box
12. Wii Sports Resort
13. The Dishwasher
14. RE5
15. BoxLife (and Aquia and PictoBits together)
I always hate ranking specifically by numbers, but those games are pretty much my faves from '09, though I really didn't buy very much after August or so and I'm still catching up on some of the really big hitters (Arkham Asylum, Beatles & Lego RB).
The results surprised me in how my tastes have changed; I spend almost all of my time with DS games and digital distro titles on XBLA and iPhone, but I've found I don't really need anything else. Flower alone was worth the $10 and the trouble of driving an hour each way to borrow my brother's PS3 for a month or two, and I got so obsessed with Shadow Complex that I finished it about four times in a row. Paying $10 to $20 for each of these experiences feels almost criminal.
1. Batman Arkham Asylum
2. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
3. Modern Warfare 2
4. Resident Evil 5
5. Plants vs Zombies
6. Assassin's Creed 2
7. Zelda: Spirit Tracks
8. GTA: Episodes From Liberty City
9. Empire Total War
10. Little King's Story
11. Red Faction: Guerilla
12. New Super Mario Bros Wii
13. Mad World
14. GTA: Chinatown Wars
15. Punchout
Finally a game that rewards me for being a massive Batman geek! Also this year I had the revelation that I'm starting to prefer Mario's RPG outings to his platformers
The top 3 were really easy for me, the rest weren't. Plus I missed a lot of the last couple of month games.
And yes, I do like Clash of Heroes THAT MUCH
1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum (360,PC,PS3)
3. Dragon Age: Origins (360,PC,PS3)
4. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS)
5. Borderlands (360,PC,PS3)
6. Shadow Complex (360*)
7. Resident Evil 5 (360,PC,PS3)
8. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
9. Red Faction: Guerrilla (360,PC,PS3)
10. Scribblenauts (DS)
11. Infamous (PS3)
12. Torchlight (PC)
13. Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers (360*)
14. Prototype (360,PC,PS3)
My buddies said "serene" but I could have gotten the same thing in other games from turning the volume down and putting on a Stars of the Lid album.
Yeah, it surprised me too—I was expecting something calm but kind of artsy-fartsy, but something about the music and the motion and the whole thing just washed over me. It reminds me a lot of Rez, which is still one of my favorite games of all time. I didn't spend a whole lot of time playing it, but it was definitely moving, especially those last two levels and the way everything broke down and then grew back up. I also loved Braid, though, so take my opinion for what you will. I don't have a problem with those "one and done" kind of games, especially if they hit you hard enough the first time through.
The irony is that the game I originally borrowed the system for—Uncharted 1—left a sour taste in my mouth. Loved the platforming, hated the combat. And Valkyria wasn't this year, right? Even then, I loved the game but only played about 6 hours of it.
Game of the Decade voting: Based on personal opinion regarding game quality, longevity, and influence within the industry.
1. Metroid Prime
2. Deus Ex
3. World of Warcraft
4. Super Smash Bros. Melee
5. Diablo II
6. ICO
7. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
8. Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
9. Perfect Dark 64
10. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
11. Shadow of the Colossus
12. Soulcalibur II
13. Skies of Arcadia
14. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
15. Final Fantasy X
16. Uncharted 2
17. Guitar Hero
18. CounterStrike
19. Animal Crossing
20. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Alfred J. Kwakis it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered Userregular
edited January 2010
Why would the vote for your game of the decade be dependent by it's influence on the industry? Metroid Prime is maybe not be my absolute favorite, it's a strong contender though, I'll admit that.
Why would the vote for your game of the decade be dependent by it's influence on the industry? Metroid Prime is maybe not be my absolute favorite, it's a strong contender though, I'll admit that.
Because "Game of the Decade" to me implies a game that was important not just when it was released, but affected the entire generation of games that came after. So a game like Metroid Prime which reinvented a much-beloved but long lost franchise, changed the way First Person Shooters are viewed, so handily overcame negative expectations, came out of nowhere, and (it could be argued) prevented the Gamecube's outright demise, should be cemented at the top.
Also because it's my opinion and I can do what I want.
Why would the vote for your game of the decade be dependent by it's influence on the industry? Metroid Prime is maybe not be my absolute favorite, it's a strong contender though, I'll admit that.
Maybe because you personally believe that industry influence is an important qualifier?
We have so many "top ten" and "of the year" lists that everyone has a different definition of what should constitute that, and they're all valid unless it's expressly spelled out.
Posts
Let me tell you about Demon's Souls....
I need an image macro for expressing reverence towards you and all of your opinions, which are, across the board, wonderful.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
When I was playing on a friend's PC a couple years back, I got up to level 20-something doing nothing but random sidequests, never so much as interacted with another player. It's cool that the game lets me do that and doesn't force me into playing "their" way
i would argue that the kind of audience-capture is exactly what makes WoW not the best game of the decade; in fact, it would make it the worst game of the decade.
not the worst in terms of quality, design, gameplay, etc, but the worst in terms of ethics.
although i have to say i am far more personally offended by, say, Big Rigs or whatever that game was, which presumes by its very existence that we are all suckers enough to enjoy it, and doesn't even give us the credit of manipulating our base reward/gratification urges.
But then you would be stupid
And you're not stupid, are you
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Slot machines and video poker do that too.
Also while I will whole-heartedly admit to despising MMOs on principle, I did play a free trial of WoW a few years ago and hated it just as much as I was expecting to.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
If you want to be outraged by it, be outraged by it 20 years ago.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Is that the argument here?
http://www.audioentropy.com/
Every game attempts to manipulate our base reward/gratification urges.
The fact that some are better than others at doing so doesn't make them unethical.
It certainly wasn't mine
But saying that it is not an impossibly well-designed product polished to a mirror shine is just being contrary
It's the MMO distilled down into it's purest form. If that doesn't appeal to you, then you either need more window dressing or don't like MMOs that much
And that's okay!
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
If we're just going with our favorite game then I'd vote Pac-Man: CE.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
that is all.
This is an untruth
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
Also in 1998 it felt pretty fresh and new
Half-Life 2 felt absolutely dated outside of the physics
Hell, Wikipedia probably has articles that are lists of games released in the missing years. You could use that as a starting point.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
You don't need all games, just the ones that people would vote for. There already is the best game ever poll, I don't think it'd be too hard to find all the games in that released 2000-2003.
As a game, I didn't care for it.
LotRO is more fun.
As it came up in the nominations thread, I have already done most of the legwork and made a list of the Top 30 from the years MCC has run a poll and used Game Rankings for 2000-2004. This means anomalies such as Ace Combat 4, but it's a decent list. I have it up on google docs, but have not posted it because 2009's games need to be added and I didn't want to detract from the voting for 2009 GOTY.
Side note: Yearly Sports Games installments were not included, and for the sake of sanity, all games with expansions count as one. For example Warcraft 3 + Frozen Throne.
The animation was mindblowing.
All right, people. It is not a gerbil. It is not a hamster. It is not a guinea pig. It is a death rabbit. Death. Rabbit. Say it with me, now.
Fuck it, Here's the GOTD nom list that I've compiled.
*Madden, 2k4 sport games were ignored.
DISAGREEMENTS? PM me. Do not shit up the current thread.
The Division, Warframe (XB1)
GT: Tanith 6227
Hurray!
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
1. Shadow Complex
2. New SMB Wii
3. Flower
4. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes
5. Dragon Quest V
6. Space Invaders: Infinity Gene
7. Retro Game Challenge
8. Splosion Man
9. Dead Space Extraction
10. Spider: Secret of Bryce Manor
11. Professor Layton & the Diabolical Box
12. Wii Sports Resort
13. The Dishwasher
14. RE5
15. BoxLife (and Aquia and PictoBits together)
I always hate ranking specifically by numbers, but those games are pretty much my faves from '09, though I really didn't buy very much after August or so and I'm still catching up on some of the really big hitters (Arkham Asylum, Beatles & Lego RB).
The results surprised me in how my tastes have changed; I spend almost all of my time with DS games and digital distro titles on XBLA and iPhone, but I've found I don't really need anything else. Flower alone was worth the $10 and the trouble of driving an hour each way to borrow my brother's PS3 for a month or two, and I got so obsessed with Shadow Complex that I finished it about four times in a row. Paying $10 to $20 for each of these experiences feels almost criminal.
1. Batman Arkham Asylum
2. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
3. Modern Warfare 2
4. Resident Evil 5
5. Plants vs Zombies
6. Assassin's Creed 2
7. Zelda: Spirit Tracks
8. GTA: Episodes From Liberty City
9. Empire Total War
10. Little King's Story
11. Red Faction: Guerilla
12. New Super Mario Bros Wii
13. Mad World
14. GTA: Chinatown Wars
15. Punchout
Finally a game that rewards me for being a massive Batman geek! Also this year I had the revelation that I'm starting to prefer Mario's RPG outings to his platformers
XBL, Steam & Tribes: elmartino333
Really Lunker?
What I played was really really really one note.
My buddies said "serene" but I could have gotten the same thing in other games from turning the volume down and putting on a Stars of the Lid album.
And yes, I do like Clash of Heroes THAT MUCH
1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3)
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum (360,PC,PS3)
3. Dragon Age: Origins (360,PC,PS3)
4. Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS)
5. Borderlands (360,PC,PS3)
6. Shadow Complex (360*)
7. Resident Evil 5 (360,PC,PS3)
8. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii)
9. Red Faction: Guerrilla (360,PC,PS3)
10. Scribblenauts (DS)
11. Infamous (PS3)
12. Torchlight (PC)
13. Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers (360*)
14. Prototype (360,PC,PS3)
PSN/XBL: dragoniemx
Yeah, it surprised me too—I was expecting something calm but kind of artsy-fartsy, but something about the music and the motion and the whole thing just washed over me. It reminds me a lot of Rez, which is still one of my favorite games of all time. I didn't spend a whole lot of time playing it, but it was definitely moving, especially those last two levels and the way everything broke down and then grew back up. I also loved Braid, though, so take my opinion for what you will. I don't have a problem with those "one and done" kind of games, especially if they hit you hard enough the first time through.
The irony is that the game I originally borrowed the system for—Uncharted 1—left a sour taste in my mouth. Loved the platforming, hated the combat. And Valkyria wasn't this year, right? Even then, I loved the game but only played about 6 hours of it.
It's probably gonna be a while before I turn off AC2 to play it.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
1. Metroid Prime
2. Deus Ex
3. World of Warcraft
4. Super Smash Bros. Melee
5. Diablo II
6. ICO
7. Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
8. Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes
9. Perfect Dark 64
10. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
11. Shadow of the Colossus
12. Soulcalibur II
13. Skies of Arcadia
14. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
15. Final Fantasy X
16. Uncharted 2
17. Guitar Hero
18. CounterStrike
19. Animal Crossing
20. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
Now, let's everyone tell me how wrong I am.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Because "Game of the Decade" to me implies a game that was important not just when it was released, but affected the entire generation of games that came after. So a game like Metroid Prime which reinvented a much-beloved but long lost franchise, changed the way First Person Shooters are viewed, so handily overcame negative expectations, came out of nowhere, and (it could be argued) prevented the Gamecube's outright demise, should be cemented at the top.
Also because it's my opinion and I can do what I want.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
We have so many "top ten" and "of the year" lists that everyone has a different definition of what should constitute that, and they're all valid unless it's expressly spelled out.