Since most gaming news sites have pretty much given up and said, "Fuck it, lets just give it to the game with the biggest marketing budget", I think we should have some different perspectives.

GAME OF THE YEAR: Rogue Legacy - There's a lot to love about Rogue Legacy. The charming art style, the iterative gameplay, the difficulty that rides the line between Too Easy and Too Hard(at least until about NG+4 or so), the way the story, such as it is, ties neatly into the core mechanic of generational succession without rubbing it in your face and going OH LOOK AT THIS AREN'T WE CLEVER?

There's also a lot to hate. It's kind of repetitive, the classes are ridiculously unbalanced, the procedurally generated castle shows its hand a bit too often, and there are all of maybe a dozen palette-swapped enemies. Still, there's a reason I sank so many hours into this game, and it's not just because I was unemployed for four months right after I bought it. It's a lot of fun, a clever twist on the roguelike genre, and it's a game that isn't ashamed to be a game.

RUNNER UP: Cookie Clicker - While some might argue that Cookie Clicker doesn't really qualify as a "game", I would just like to say that if I have to sit through one more goddamn pedantic argument about what a game is and isn't I am going to shove my face into a lawnmower so I can never, ever, use the internet again. Cookie Clicker is a game because the guy who made it says it is. End of story.

Cookie Clicker started out as a relatively simple Candy Box clone, but over the course of the year, and many, many updates, it's morphed into something all its own. While the core gameplay is still quite simple - click things to make more things - the world that's been built around that gameplay has a sort of whimsical horror to it that makes it unique.

Plus, it's free, and the Christmas update lets you murder reindeer and clone a Santa Claus from a test tube with a little hat on it to help you make more cookies.

So let's hear it! What is/are your game(s) of the year, and why? They don't even have to be games that came out in 2013; if you just discovered a weird old Genesis-era JRPG this year, and loved that more than anything else, that's great! I wanna hear about that. Or if you really enjoyed one of the AAA megabudget games that came out this year, that's cool too! I only ask that we try to refrain from arguments in this thread. This is a place to celebrate games, not trash them.

Montell Jordan - This Is How We Do It



A Zachage approaches! Command?

>OPEN

Ted used OPEN!



The contents!



Not one, not two, but THREE handwritten notes! Including one marking this package as 'For Ted Belmont only'. I'm sure Ted won't mind.

Also, yes, Zach! I did send you that Gamecube a few years back!



Close-up of the brontodoodle.



Dice! Some of them with animals on them! Why didn't I place them so the animals were all facing up? GOOD QUESTION!

Eyeball candies! Gumballs? Or jawbreakers? The possibilities are endless!

Some sort of One Piece Reindeer cutout thing! I'm not sure who this is, I've only read the East Blue arc so far. SOMEDAY THIS WILL MAKE SENSE!

And a Littlest Pet Shop kitten! I'll have to keep her in the package; I'm allergic, you know.



A chunk of bound, blank paper! Presumably to be used to make flipbooks.

An album by someone named M83! I've never heard of them, but I'm going to presume they are a band of surly Norwegian children.

A zine! I've always wanted to own one of these.

A Vertigo button! I shall wear it in mourning. :(



Some kind of puffy trucker hat! I'll admit, I don't think I watch enough anime to get this.



You're right, Handsome Man! We do need a new seawall.



Comics! Including 2000AD, Colonial Souls, Evil Eye, The Rocketeer(!), Axe Cop(!!) and SLEDGE HAMMER(!!!)!



Speaking of comics: ninja stars made out of Marvel comics! Probably the best use for Civil War comics I can think of.

Colored bubbles!

And some promo cards for comics! No, sir, I am not here about the ghost; I'm here about the fact that your hands are all freaky and you've got a friggin' shark's head!



A Mom campaign ad! This is going right onto my wall.



Books! Why are they sideways? Oh well. DEAL WITH IT!



A DVD! The Good, The Bad, and the Weird, the little known sequel starring Japanese Burt Reynolds.

And the corebook for Terra Primate! The savagest roleplaying game ever!

With the remains of the defeated Zachage behind him(well, not really), we now turn to: THE DOGSTARAGE



Also pictured: my breakfast.



The insides! Wow, you guys were really thoughtful about how you packed these things. I just sort of threw all of my stuff in there totally at rand- I mean THE CONTENTS MUST HAVE SHIFTED DURING TRANSIT.



Toys! I am leaving that Iron Man just like that forever.



A kitty and a Lemonheads tin! Included in the tin, an empty Lemonheads wrapper. Dogstar must have known I wouldn't have wanted to go to the trouble of unwrapping and eating the Lemonheads myself! So thoughtful!



BBC's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! This one deserves its own photo. SO AWESOME.



"Transformer? Listen, pal, I'm a T-Bot. Says so right there on the cover. Now if you don't get outta my face, I'm gonna Transform my foot right up your ass!"

Also, Dragon activities! Hopefully it includes instructions on how to hoard gold, I've always wanted to do that!



And finally, BOOKS OMG BOOOOOOOOOOOOKS!!! Between this and Zach's package, I should have enough to read for the rest of my life.

Thanks, guys!



Merry Christmas, ever'body!

Yeah, so rather than spamming the Internet Superstore thread with a bunch of kickstarter projects I think are neat, I'm just going to make a new thread!

First up, artist Brian John Mitchell, of Silber Media has been doing some neat things with Kickstarter. Mitchell makes mini-comics and other assorted things; in keeping with that, he's also created some mini-Kickstarters.

First there was the Silber Mini-Comics Collection, where backers could get a number of mini-comics encased in handmade wooden boxes. (that one ended a couple of months ago)

Now, he has two going on: the Silber Bottle Comics project, where he's going to bottle his mini-comics and set them out to sea for people to find, and the Soma Puzzle Boxes project, which is centered around small(noticing a trend here?) versions of the wooden puzzle boxes.

Mitchell's project goals are also tiny. The two mini-comics projects have/had goals of $300; the puzzle box project's goal is just $150. When other Kickstarter projects are raising thousands, even millions of dollars, it's kind of neat to see someone just using it to fund and distribute his weird little art projects.

HEY

You guys shave, right? Have you signed up for the Dollar Shave Club? WHY NOT?

It's surprisingly great, actually! I went with the twin, myself, because I don't see how MORE BLADES = better shave, but if you like ridiculous numbers of blades, they have them in 4-bladed and 6-bladed varieties, with all manner of various strips and whatnots.

The prices are great, even the highest-end option is only $9(including shipping) for 4 cartridges a month; better than paying $25 for 4 goddamn cartridges, and the quality and materials are just as good as brand-name razors. I wanted to wait until I actually got my razor to mention them here, because I didn't want to recommend something without using it, but they're solid!

Plus, if you sign up, and use that link up there, I get a free month.

<Friday> wait i have a better version of this game
<Friday> FINALFIGHT
<Friday> CLOSE YOUR EYES AND DRAW BRENTAI

Kayumi:


Me:

Guild Wars 2 - story cinematic

Guild Wars 2 - Underwater and catacombs combat

Underwater combat 

Costume Quest Trailer - Gamescom '10

So far, it's pretty great. Reminds me of Penny Arcade Adventures, except more family-friendly. The battle and exploration parts are similar, but the costumes bring a lot of variety. The Statue of Liberty costume lets you heal party members with the power of AMERICA.

in that case I want to see your kitchen

in fact I want to see everybody's kitchen

I AM THE BEST WORKER EVER

Mama Kills Animals

Crazy-eyed, bloodstained Mama =