We’re back! 2012 is in full swing, what with our new episode this week and everything. In it, we run down our top 5 favorite games of last year, but we’re also posting our full top ten (or more!) to the site over the next few days. Randy kicked it off today with his top fourteen. Keep an eye on the blog Monday through Wednesday for everyone else’s lists. The only thing we’re missing to really complete this 2012 motif is John Cusack driving a limo away from a wave of destruction.
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Why 14? There were just so many games that I enjoyed in 2011 that the standard 10-item list couldn’t contain them all.
14. Gears of War 3
I like the Gears series in a way that surprises even me sometimes. This installment brings some of the best new elements to Delta Squad’s seemingly never-ending war against the Locust, including refined shooting and cover systems, smarter enemies and a longer, more complex story line. It’s easy to dismiss Gears of War for simply providing more meat for the meatheads (which it definitely does), but I’ve always felt that there’s way more going on here: Gears 3 has a sense of finality and depth that’s hard to find in most games, let alone one about hulking soldiers mowing down hordes of alien foes.
13. L.A. Noire
We certainly did our fair share of complaining about L.A. Noire here at Video Game Hangover but it still stands out as one of my favorite gaming experiences of the year. The investigations and characters at the heart of the game are utterly unique, as is its 1940s Hollywood setting. Try to overlook the frustrating interrogations, strangely empty game world, or oddly-anticlimactic pacing and you’ll find something truly uncommon being attempted here. I can only hope that the inevitable L.A. Noire 2 addresses these foibles and delivers the game that this aspired to be.
It’s our Best of 2011 show! To kick off the new year, we’re recapping our favorites of last year!
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In his Mini Hangover, Randy dives into his backlog for Shadows of the Damned, ventures into the 3DS’ eShop wasteland for Pushmo, and then…counts down his favorite electro-industrial albums of 2011?
Randy doesn’t really understand the meaning of the word “mini”.
Comments closedMatt was supposed to talk about Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, and he does, but since he’s vacationing with family, he also had a chat with his wife and her siblings about the Playstation Move game Carnival Island. He briefly discusses a couple games that helped them pass the time while at the in-laws’ house too, as well as a few portable gems that helped him survive the lengthy road trip it took to get there.
Comments closedDid you know Square Enix actually put out a Christmas album last year? It’s mostly (actually, entirely) the Square side of S-E (no holiday Dragon Quest arrangements in sight), but it’s still worth a listen just to experience some unusual and very jingly versions of a few classic Square tunes. Here are some of the more notable ones in case you’re tired of playing the same old Christmas Eve background music.
Comments closedIn honor of the holidays and as a huge THANK YOU to all of you, we’re going to be giving away a handful of download codes for various games over the next few days. Without our wonderful listeners and readers, giving us feedback and sharing VGH with their friends, we wouldn’t have had such a fantastic first year. We’ve got something from PSN, something from XBLA, something from WiiWare, and something from Steam, so there should be a little something for everyone.
19 CommentsD.J.’s finally made it through the first dungeon in the new Zelda and he’s here to tell you what he thinks of it so far. Or, at least that’s what he’s supposed to do.
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Yep, believe it not there are a few developers out there that thought releasing a game 5 days before Christmas is a good idea! There are some heavy hitters coming out this week. First up is Running With Scissors’ magnum opus Postal 3. I’m glad RWS was able to push this game out the door as I have been dying to continue the saga of The Postal Dude. *Hopefully we’ll be treated with some stunning revelations regarding his past history with the shady organization known as FedSex. I know that when I was finished with Postal 2 I immediately began an online petition/campaign demanding Postal 3 be rushed out as quickly as possible as I just had to see the conclusion of The Postal Dude’s journey. It’s probably for the best that Running With Scissors ignored my email campaign, and instead spent the last 7 or so years polishing the title so we’re almost guaranteed to be treated to something special this time around. I simply cannot wait!
2 CommentsIn this special Mini Hangover Episode, Paul and Matt spend the first half of the show playing PAYDAY: The Heist. We then take a quick break and give you our impressions immediately after finishing our first session with the game!
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The End. …..or is it?!?
So, that’s a wrap on “season one” of Video Game Hangover. If you haven’t listened to it yet, head over and check out our year-end, 100% listener feedback special episode. That’s the last full-length episode for 2011, but we’ve got some special VGH minis coming over the next couple of weeks in the podcast feed just for our subscribers. Time permitting, we’ll be tossing up the occasional blog post here and there as well.
What are the VGH crew playing this weekend?
Comments closedHO HO HO, I’m here to “WRAP UP” our gamer gift lists for this year. Some of these are things I mentioned when we all discussed our lists in Episode 33, but there’s some new stuff as well, so read on!
Games for Non-Gamers
Trying to get someone into gaming? Valve’s Portal 2 might be the key. It introduces a lengthy co-op mode with hours of the series’s trademark puzzles and wry humor. For new gamers, the first-person controls might be a bit of a shock, but reassure your non-gamer recipient that they can ease into them at their own pace, since there won’t be mobs of angry teenage boys shooting at them over Xbox Live.
Comments closedThis is it, our final show of 2011! In this week’s episode, The Whole Crew get together with drinks, and frame the entire show around your incredible feedback! Thank you so much for the support and we’ll see you in Season 2 in 2012!
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When Q-Games announced in 2009 that their new PixelJunk title would be called PixelJunk Shooter, despite it playing more like Solar Jetman than Gradius, the 2D shooter fan in me cringed a little. Fast forward a couple years and Q-Games has spun elements from that game into a new title that plays more like a traditional shooter but, in a small twist of irony, is called PixelJunk SideScroller to set it apart from its less shootery siblings.
(Don’t worry. There will be time for questions at the end.)
2 CommentsHot on the heels of the recent 3DS system software update, Nintendo has given their Club Nintendo website a bit of a makeover. In addition to a little visual sprucing up, they’ve also added a number of actual games to the list of rewards that club members can spend their coins on.
Comments closedEXCLUSIVE! I wasn’t even on VGH33, so MY list of gift ideas for “obsessive gamers and pop-culture geeks” is ALL NEW CONTENT. Now that I’ve pumped you up with an unnecessarily high level of hype, let’s get to the list. Should any of these great gifts pique your interest, just follow the links to find out more.
Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth ($10-$15)
Books are a form of entertainment that are printed on paper. You simply open the cover and begin reading the words that are printed on the page. Pretty radical concept, I know. Don’t worry though, you can ease into books by reading ones that are based on games! Some of my favorite games are the ones that (I think) have a strong narrative, so it makes sense that they’d be prime candidates for novelization. I don’t know much about the Uncharted book or the author, but I love the story in the games, so why not? If Uncharted isn’t quite your cup of tea, I’ve also heard good things about Dead Space: Martyr and Bioshock: Rapture.
Hey hey everyone! It’s time for my list of awesome stuff to get me your special loved ones for Christmas! Instead of attaching images of the products themselves, I decided to let YOU dear reader know exactly how I would react if you bought me each item. Let us commence!
5. Movies/TV: Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Bluray set ($50 USD): I’m a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, so when the release date for the totally expected Extended Blu-rays was announced I circled the date on my Calender. Of course once I saw the MSRP of the set, I proceeded to burn my calendar with some lighter fluid and matches. Thankfully, the price of the set has come down to a reasonable $50 and will even ship for free from Amazon. So who is going to do a back to back to back Lotr marathon this year? I sure am! Fly, you fools (to amazon.com to buy it)!
2 CommentsEditor’s note: If you’re reading this on Friday or during the day on Saturday, you’ve still got time to fulfill our biggest holiday wish: Send us your feedback for our year-end show!
VGH #33 introduced 2011’s Ultimate VGH Holiday Shopping Guide and as promised on the show, we’ll all be posting expanded versions of our wishlists here on the blog. Randy kicked it off today, so be sure to check out his list if you haven’t already. We’ll be posting the rest next week, so keep an eye out!
Comments closedAs promised on VGH33, here is my expanded list of gift ideas for the “obsessive gamers and pop-culture geeks” on your shopping list. Each is…
1 CommentStuff this down your chimney! This week, we’ve assembled the Ultimate VGH Holiday Shopping Guide for the obsessive gamers and pop-culture geeks on your list. We’ve also got Viewer Mail, our weekly Hangovers, and we’ll wrap things up with Last Call.
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