Game of the Year awards are almost never consensus picks. Different gamers like different types of games. Here at Snackbar Games, we have a diverse staff of writers and editors, and between now and the end of the year, they’ll each be telling you, however they choose, about their top ten of ’08. Today, we feature writer Matthew Gallant. He’s Canadian, and just this once, we’ll leave in those funny spellings.
Here are my top 10 picks for 2008:
1. No More Heroes
No More Heroes is a punk pastiche, a loving tongue-in-cheek tribute to the history of video games. It surprised, confounded and delighted me at every turn. Every time I thought I had the game figured out, I discovered a new ridiculous minigame, over-the-top character or creative Wiimote implementation. Suda 51, shine on you crazy diamond.
2. Sins of a Solar Empire
More than any other title this year, Sins of a Solar Empire had me staying up ’til the wee hours of the morning without noticing. The scope of the game is astounding: you command an empire across several solar systems, but can zoom right in to watch a single ship. Ironclad managed to flawlessly marry the pacing of a 4X strategy game with real time gameplay.
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Fourteenth-century epic poetry is coming to videogames.
EA confirmed that its Redwood Shores studio is creating a game adaptation of The Divine Comedy by Dante Aligheri by showing a teaser trailer at the 2008 Spike Video Game Awards, now available at the game’s official site. No release date or platform information has been given.
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Turbine, the folks behind MMOs such as Asheron’s Call, Lord of the Rings Online, and Dungeons and Dragons Online are apparently feeling the hurt of this economy too as they are reported to have laid off most of the Customer Support and QA teams. There are also rumors of additional layoffs in the works.
The impact that this has on gamers is that players of the any Turbine run MMO are going to have to do without any type of support from the company for the time being.
No official word has come out of Turbine, but stories from ex-employees are sure to hit message boards over the coming hours.
We have been unable to reach Turbine for comments.
UPDATE: Adam from Turbine’s Communications Team has contacted us and confirmed that there was a small percentage of layoffs from the company today. He also was clear in stating that they didn’t eliminate either of the QA or Support teams in their entirety. As a private company they aren’t disclosing exact figures, but we were assured that there would be no impact to current customers playing any of the 3 games that Turbine is responsible for. The layoffs were organization wide and didn’t impact any one team or department more than another.
Adam did stress that some of the factors for these layoffs were the preemptive measures related to the economy as well as strategic moves as they refocus the business after wrapping up the Mines of Moria expansion for Lord of the Rings Online.
Gamers currently playing any of the Turbine titles shouldn’t worry, but we feel for the departing members of the Turbine family as the economy is definitely leaving lots of casualties in its wake.
Game of the Year awards are almost never consensus picks. Different gamers like different types of games. Here at Snackbar Games, we have a diverse staff of writers and editors, and between now and the end of the year, they’ll each be telling you, however they choose, about their top ten of ’08. Today, Chris Ingersoll (Vyolynce) talks about the games that got him hooked, as well as the ones that got away.
Before I list my top games of 2008, I feel the need to add an important disclaimer: I did not play a lot of (new) games this year. I never do, really, since I don’t subscribe to GameFly or any other rental service, so most of what I play is purchased outright (this has changed recently as we started receiving review copies here at Snackbar, but not much). That leads to delays as I wait for the price to drop or have to prioritize things like being able to pay my bills — and this past summer especially, fill up my gas tank; every time it cost me $50 to fill up, a part of my brain said “well, there goes another Wii game…”.
So here is a quick list of games that I did not play this year and would have liked to had circumstances been different:
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin — I’ve played all three other entries in this series and enjoyed them
Castlevania: Judgement — the concept intrigued me
deBlob — I’m sure I’ll pick this one up soon, but it was a victim of our economic situation
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates — loved the original FF:CC, but I would have had to buy this one twice, so my wife and I could play together; that simply wasn’t happening
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NPD has released its November numbers and, for the first time in quite some time, they’re actually surprising and interesting. Historically, October is when the holiday shopping season begins to pick up steam, but the sales numbers traditionally skyrocket in November; a great November is crucial for a strong finish for the year. This year’s had definite winners, losers, and systems that simply held their ground, so let’s take a look and see what we can turn up. READ MORE
