More 2005 Gaming Than You Really Want

It's Christmas Eve, and you need something to read while you're avoiding your relatives. We understand. Howabout several looks at the year in Gaming? The big sites have actual awards, with Gamespot and IGN both offering up decisions that are sure to spark dinner table discussion. Next Generation doesn't hand out awards, but it does have an exhaustive set of lists covering all aspects of the year. We've previously discussed their Top 30 Games of the Year, but today they have over half a dozen articles dedicated to the year in gaming. The Guardian Gamesblog has staff pics for best of the year. World of Warcraft certainly is on a lot of 2005 lists for a game released in 2004. Finally, 1up.com staffer Jared Rea probably has the most interesting take on the year. His traditional list headlines Guitar Hero, but he also has a special list, with ermm...special awards. That might make you angry. From that list: "The Sin and Punishment Award - Named after the hideous and boring N64 shooter from Treasure, the Sin and Punishment award is reserved for the the title which claimed the hearts of 'hardcore' fanboys around the world, despite the game in fact, being garbage or quite frankly, nothing special. Previous winners of this award include Ikaruga and Katamari Damacy." That award goes to Shadow of the Colossus. Which, sorry Jared, did actually rock.

Comments

Gotta love editorial impartiality

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

That award goes to Shadow of the Colossus. Which, sorry Jared, did actually rock.

No Zonk, *you* think it rocks.

Resident Evil 4

[maynard]

Best damn game of the year. And an amazing port to the PS2 - who'd of thunk that old PS2 could perform so well? --M

Re:Resident Evil 4

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with you that Resident Evil 4 was the best game released in the year 2005, but that really isn't saying much. Beyond what was released on the Nintendo DS, no system produced anything that was all that interesting of fun. Resident Evil 4 wins not because it was a good game (although it was) but because there was no real competition.

Re:Ah...

[1000StonedMonkeys]

So, oh high and mighty one, why does your sig advertise online poker?

Re:We Don't Care!

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

This isn't a rant against Zonk (whom I feel gets too much grief sometimes) but a rant against the entertainment industry in general.

Oh please... your faux-blase act is so commonplace these days it's not even funny.

If you don't like best of the year reviews, then don't bloody read them. If you don't like awards, don't watch the ceremonies. I hate the whole Christmas and end-of-year bullshit as much as the next guy, but that doesn't mean I should feel compelled to go on Slashdot pretending to be assaulted by the entertainment industry against my will and complain about it.

Bah, who is this "Jared Rea?"

[MilenCent]

So, "Beyond Good and Evil" rocked but "Katamari Damacy" didn't? BGaE WAS pretty good, but it certainly wasn't Katamari-level cool. REJECT!

Of course, it's become common practice in some circles to try to buffer rejection of a controversial statement, or even try to shame people into accepting it, by preemptively calling those who will obviously disagree with it fanboys, which at best is figuring out to what decimal place one's geekness resolves, and at worst is an act arguably more nerdly than the actual liking of the supposedly mediocre game.

And why did people want a sequel to KD so badly? MAYBE IT WAS BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL GAME WAS ABOUT THREE HOURS LONG! Fool! It's okay to make a sequel to a game that was, by all reports, much much too short to begin with!

Just because he doesn't like the game (which, to me, means he's either trying to play too-kool-4-U overhipster or is simply deficient in basic humanity) and by random whim of publishing industry happens to have a megaphone handy with which to shout his merest idea*, doesn't mean that he shouldn't attempt to see why other people like it. Empathy is a surprisingly useful trait for a reviewer, of any type, to have.

Further, later on he says "Microsoft introduces the Tard Pack." Oh yeah, that does wonders for his creditibility, oy.

*Yep, that's a blatant TMBG reference. Also geeky, I know.

The 360 Is Giving 2005 A Bad Rap

[Anonymous Coward]

2005 is the last big year for the current gen consoles. There have been and are currently HUGE AAA games out right now. RE4, Shadow of the Colossus, God of War just to name a few.

It sucks that the 360 mess is really detracting from such a fantastic time to be a gamer.

Hopefully we won't have to hear about overheating 360s, or disc scratching, or system crashes, or jaggy graphics and all that other crap about the 360 that has been taking away from all the good news in the console world this year.

Oh yeah, and everyone needs to grab a DS+MarioKart bundle for some killer, and FREE(hear that Microsoft!), worldwide racing. It's obvious why the DS is flying off the shelves recently.

Re:Mod down Jared Rea!

[Aquariette]

Oh, please. If you can't spell "shmup" correctly, you think Ikaruga was the hardest shmup ever (maybe for score, but certainly not for completion), and you dislike vertical shmups... well, you're really not much of a fan.