Bara_Chat's Non-Games of the Year "Awards" 2014

For various reasons (crappy/unstable job situation and the birth of my daughter) 2014 was the worst year for me, gaming-wise, since perhaps 2005 or 2006. I had neither the money or free time to enjoy most of the titles released in the past 12 months. I was fortunate enough to try these games though :

Games actually released in 2014

• Hearthstone - Mac
• Destiny - PS4
• Diablo III : Reaper of Souls - PS4/Mac
• Plants vs Zombies : Garden Warfare - PS4
• Transistor - PS4
• Trials Fusion - PS4
• NHL 15 - PS4 (tried it at a friend's for an hour or so)
• Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel - PS3
• South Park : The Stick of Truth - PS3
• TxK - Vita*
• Velocity 2X - PS4/Vita*
• Pix the Cat - PS4*
• Strider - PS4*
• Luftrausers - PS3/Vita*

Ports of games released before 2014

• Rayman Legends - PS4
• Guacamelee : Super Turbo Championship Edition - PS4
• Fez - PS4/Vita*
• Towerfall : Ascension - PS4*
• Stick It to The Man - PS4*
• Dead Nation : Apocalypse Edition - PS4*
• Road not Taken - PS4*
• Don't Starve - PS4*
• The Binding of Isaac : Rebirth - PS4/Vita*

* - Denotes a free PS+ title

Looking at this list is pretty sad. Even sadder than I anticipated. But hey, I'm not complaining! I have many consoles, many gaming options open to me. And PS+ is cheap enough that I get to get to try many games I wouldn't have money to purchase otherwise.

Also it has to be said that I bought other games this year, but they were titles released in previous years, so they don't matter here.

Anyway, let's get to the point of the post. Since I haven't played enough of the important titles of 2014, it seems rather pointless to hand out awards or nods to a game or games without much competition. Not only that, but I don't think I have even finished most of the games! Gun to my head, I think my favourite game of 2014 is South Park : The Stick of Truth even if I'm likely only halfway through the game. It's very dumb, but it's extremely funny and has true, solid RPG-elements infused with South Park silliness. For anyone with even a fleeting interest in the TV show, it's a must-buy.

Otherwise, I really liked both Destiny and Transistor, which complete - for the time being - my yearly top 3. So far I might put Transistor before Destiny, if only for the simple fact that I've finished it (I might go for a second playthrough though, it's very fun). One of them is a gigantic AAA blockbuster with a budget that would make even the biggest Hollywood studios jealous, the other an indie game developed by less than 30 people on staff (if I remember correctly). And honestly, you kinda feel it when you play those games. Transistor feels like an intimate experience with a strong personality, whereas Destiny, while sporting excellent gameplay and great customization, feels "cold".

EDIT : I completely forgot about the Diablo III expansion!! Which I have both on Mac and PS4. I don't know whether or not it should be nominated here since DIII is a 2012 game, but I figured I should at least mention it once in this whole thing.

2014's Non-Game "Awards"

Here I'll rank - and say a few words about - those elusive 2014 titles I wasn't able to buy or even try this past year. How can I rank those games, you ask? Well, I've read reviews, watched gameplay videos and listened to podcasts covering those games all year long. That does not make me an expert on any of them, sure, but I can still point out those I'm the most anxious to try and sad I couldn't play. I counted at least 35 games I feel like I missed. And 35 is quite a big number, so I have to politely disagree with those who claim that 2014 was a weak year. It clearly doesn't feel like from where I'm sitting.

35. Halo Master Chief Collection - XBox One

I loved the first Halo on the original XBox - even as I only played it at my friends' - and I liked the hour I spent with another friend on Halo Reach. I really didn't like what I played of Halo 3 though, but it has to be said I only played the campaign for about 3 hours. Those feelings don't really fit with each other, and I think this has to do with the fact that all my experiences with the franchise have been scattered over basically 14 years. Having the opportunity to play through the whole thing in one 2 or 3 weeks run would likely give me a more solid and valid opinion on Halo as a whole.

34. Madden NFL 15 - PS4
33. FIFA 15 - PS4
32. NBA 2k15 - PS4

I rarely buy the current-year version of sports games, because the prices drop so quickly and the gameplay changes so little from year to year that I usually can live with the last-year version of the game for quite a while. But I have to say all three of these are really tempting right now...

31. The Wolf Among Us - PS4
30. The Walking Dead : Season 2 - PS4

The only Telltale game I've ever played was the first season of The Walking Dead, which won my personal 2012 Game of the Year award. I loved it. I absolutely loved it. And still, a part of me doesn't want to play the second season. Two major reasons : I mostly dislike graphic depictions of violence (especially if there's even the slightest measure gore involved, which is why I still refuse to play the third God of War, because the beheading thing is beyond what I can stomach, and I thought GoW2 was too graphic...) and I kinda steer clear of very tense and stressful situations in games. 'But, ' you might wonder 'you loved the first season!'. You're right. When I was into it, there was no turning back. While playing it, I had a great time. If I had known beforehand some of the stuff that would be happening in that game, I might not have played it. I know that if I ever get into either of those games, I'll enjoy, but my "fears", for lack of a better world, keep me from doing it and keep those games from getting a lot higher on this list. I know that's irrational, but I'll play them eventually, along with Tales from the Borderlands, which I'm waiting on to finish before pulling the trigger.

29. The Banner Saga - PC

I'll be 100% honest. I don't even know what that game is or what it's about. All I know is that I've heard so many people sing its praises that I am convinced it is great. The only reason why it's not higher is because I REALLY don't know what it is...

28. Divinity : Original Sin - PC

This pick is solely based on a few Giant Bomb podcasts where one of the website's editor kept saying how amazing this game is and on 10 minutes of a Quick Look video they made about it. I know nothing of it otherwise...

27. Dark Souls II - PS3 (Soon on PS4)

Most hardcore gamers would likely tell me this game should be a lot closer to #1, but there's a reason why I still hesitated to buy this game even when the price dropped dramatically during the fall. When I played the first Dark Souls, I was extremely wary because I had heard and read 890403 times how hard this game was. And after only an hour, I stopped and never tried again. Part of me want to fight through it and really see what makes this game so great, and the other part thinks that when something is too hard and might eat up too much time, it's not worth it. Same thing with Dark Souls II, and that's why I'm still on the fence.

26. Metro Redux - PS4

I tried Metro 2033 on the 360 but never got more than an hour in before selling the system. I really enjoyed Metro : Last Light on the PS3 and I feel like it was a mistake to sell it afterwards, seeing as I wanted to replay it not long efter. This mistake has been taken care of by this remastered edition of both games. I'm quite glad I'll get to experience this thing with even better graphics once I get my hands on it.

25. Titanfall - XBox One

That game's hype was as humongous as the speed at which the gaming community seemingly forgot about it. From what I saw in various gameplay videos on Youtube, it looks very entertaining and would probably be my third must-buy game if I ever decide to get my hands on an XBox One (the two others come later).

24. LittleBigPlanet 3 - PS4

I had that game pre-ordered a month prior to its release. I had it for 50$ instead of the 69.99$ now asked for major releases in Canada. I cancelled it because I felt like 50$ was too much for ANY game at that time considering my financial situation. Seeing as it's now regularly seen at around 35$ on deals websites, I like the choice I made. I'll get it one day eventually, LBP and LBP2 were amazing party games.

23. Assassin's Creed Unity - PS4

If I hadn't watched or read any review of Unity, it would definitely be in the top 6 games of 2014 I want to play. It looked very promising ; I loved the idea of setting it during the French Revolution, I loved the idea of running around 18th-century Paris, I loved the fact they were going back to Europe after two installments in the New World (ACIII was mediocre, but ACIV is very good so far). The reviews came and declared that the game was pretty much broken and unfinished. Furthermore, I read that it would be disappointing even if not for those technical problems. I was pretty bummed out. I guess the majors bugs will be fixed by the time the game price drops enough for me to buy it.

22. Captain Toad : Treasure Tracker - Wii U

Important revelation time : I still haven't opened Super Mario 3D World for my Wii U. You might say I'm a crazy person, since that game is, according to basically every human who played it, absolutely fantastic, and you'd be right. Apparently Treasure Tracker is inspired by the Toad levels in 3D World which were considered very fun by gamers. Might have to play 3D World before though...

21. DriveClub - PS4

Yes, the launch was a mess. Yes, I couldn't try the PS+ version since it never actually existed. Yes, the reviews were less than stellar (around 7/10). But as a (admitedly less than before because of reasons) car nut, I'm still intrigued by this game. I want to play it when it will be working full capacity, so I'll wait a bit and get it cheaper.

20. The Swapper - PS4

This game was announced as the free title for PS+ in January 2015, so I'll get it then!

19. Valiant Hearts : The Great War - PS4

Inspired by World War I letter and made with the UbiArt engine. That's about all I needed to be interested.

18. Wolfenstein : The New Order - PS4

The reviews were surprisingly positive for such an old and well-trodden franchise. I'm seriously intrigued.

17. Sunset Overdrive - XBox One

Sunset Overdrive looks both bat-shit insane and extremely fun to play. It looks like inFamous (for the free-flowing open-city gameplay) with a hint of Ratchet and Clank (for the crazy weapons). The reviews looked pretty solid (pretty much on par with inFamous : Second Son, which comes a bit later in this ranking) and the gameplay vids very fun and colorful. It looks like it is, along with next game on this list, the best reason to buy an XBox One as far as I'm concerned.

16. Forza Horizon 2 - XBox One

I really liked the first Forza Horizon when I had my 360. It was perhaps the game I played the most during the short time I owned that system.

15. Kirby : Triple Deluxe - 3DS

I just love Kirby games. I adored Kirby Epic Yarn on Wii and really enjoyed Return to Dream Land on the same console. I can't think of a reason why I wouldn't love this one.

14. Far Cry 4 - PS4

Even if the story had major issues, I loved Far Cry 3. Easily one of the most enjoyable games to walk /run/drive/fly around and do random stuff in. From everything I could gather, Far Cry 4 is basically Far Cry 3, only with different clothes and much more stuff to do. A "Far Cry 3.5", if you will. That's good enough for me.

13. Grand Theft Auto V - PS4

I have some sort of mental block with the GTA franchise. On one hand I know the games are always extremely well received by critics and fans alike and that they sell better than basically everything. On the other hand, I know that these games require you to do illegal and morally ambiguous stuff, and that's not me. But man, this one got SO MUCH praise I feel like I have to give it a go. Shit, this thing scored higher than every single game released in 2014! That must mean something!

12. Child of Light - PS4

Like Valiant Hearts, this game is made with the UbiArt engine, so it looks very beautiful and unique. I haven't seen or heard much else about it, to be honest. I know the story is dished out in rhymes, I know it has RPG elements to it and I know it was inspired by Studio Ghibli. And the music is made by one of the very few Quebec (where I live) artists whose works I don't vehemently dislike. All good points in its favor!

11. Geometry Wars 3 : Dimensions - PS4

Even if I owned a 360 for a while, I never played Geometry Wars nor Geometry Wars 2. That might be a tragedy, seeing as this franchise is revered by many gamers, but I hope to try the third one and put an end to this sad sequence.

10. The Last of Us : Remastered - PS4

You'd think that a remastered version of what I consider to be the best game of the Seventh-Generation would rank higher on this list. Maybe it should, as its metacritic score is actually better than everything ahead of it and every game released in 2014 except for the remastered version of GTAV. But since both those games were released for the first time in 2013, it seemed to me a bit weird to give them higher 2014 spots.

9. Call of Duty : Advanced Warfare - PS4

I haven't been this excited for a CoD game since forever. I loved Modern Warfare (CoD4), disliked Modern Warfare 2, didn't enjoy Black Ops except for the Nazi Zombies mode and thought MW3 was exciting at times but ultimately just OK. I skipped Black Ops 2 and Ghosts altogether.

But this one. This Advanced Warfare game looks pretty good. Looks to be the best thing that happened to that franchise since Modern Warfare all the way back in 2007. That's saying something!

8. Infamous : Second Son - PS4

I loved the first inFamous. I liked the gruffiness of the protagonist and the comics-styled cutscenes. I liked the powers you could hold. I liked going around in the city doing various shit. The second inFamous was objectively better in all aspects, but I didn't enjoy it as much, for some reason. Still a pretty good game, it has to be said. Second Son goes in another direction completely with a new city, a new protagonist and new powers. This is a game I watched many videos of. It's very gorgeous and looks amazingly fun to play.

7. Shovel Knight - Wii U/3DS (soon on PS4)

For some reason, I hesitated (and still do) to go digital on Nintendo platforms. Part of me doesn't want to, as if it was a drag to have accounts to administrate on both Nintendo and Sony consoles. I'm lazy like that sometimes...

Anyway, this gem of a retro-styled platforming game is coming soon to the PS4, so I'll get it then. I've heard so much praise about it from every expert around that I was sold even before I saw what it looked like. Now that I did, I must say it looks absolutely fantastic. Is there a nostalgia factor in all of this? Maybe. But it's part of what we are as aging gamers, we love to see stuff reminding us of our childhood.

6. Rogue Legacy - PS4

I'm not the biggest fan of roguelike games. But I like Spelunky the more I play it and found Don't Starve to be quite interesting for the two hours I put in it. I don't love the idea of starting everything over each time you die, but Rogue Legacy takes some roguelike elements and adapts them to

5. Mario Kart 8 - Wii U

The name Mario Kart is enough here. Wait. It's in HD? Mario Kart in HD? Can't go wrong here.

4. Dragon Age : Inquisition - PS4

I was never able to really get into the first Dragon Age (never felt right with a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard) and I semi-rage-quit Dragon Age II because of an absolutely impossible fight with an army of... things... I don't know what they were. I remember there was a chief/king/lord of some sort of race of anthropomorphic animals within the main city and his whole entourage. I had to kill them for some reason (It's very far in my memory, sorry!) and I couldn't. I tried dozens of time, even had to lower the difficulty to easy, and still couldn't...

Anyway, this one looks great and I'll approach it without thinking much about the first two.

3. Super Smash Bros for Wii U - Wii U

I don't know how to feel about this franchise anymore. I love the idea of SSB. A brawler with Nintendo characters!? Sign me up! I loved the ones on N64 and GCN, when I had friends to play with. Now none of my friends are gamers, so as much as I love to play SSB, I can't REALLY enjoy it as much alone as I would with a group of friends. So I know I will love it, but I don't know if I will appreciate it as much as it deserves to be since I won't be able to play it with other people as often as I wish.

2. Middle-Earth : Shadow of Mordor - PS4

Ask anyone around me and they'll tell you I'm a big Tolkien fan. It all started with the first The Lord of the Rings movie, then I had to read all his other works in this fantastic, exceptional and engrossing universe he created. The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, Unfinished Tales, The Children of Hurin, etc. I even bought an Atlas of Middle-Earth (which should be named Atlas of Arda - the name of Earth in his works) and an Encyclopedia of his works.

So when I heard there was a game coming out inspired by this universe, I was both extremely pumped and very, very nervous. Pumped because of the infinite potential of this universe, nervous because we've all seen beloved licenses getting terrible, horrible games. I felt SO relieved when I saw the very positive reviews coming through and now I can't wait to get my hands on it.

1. Bayonetta 2 - Wii U

This is it. The game that I think will end up being the best thing I'll play that came out in 2014. I loved the first Bayonetta. Sure, it was completely insane and I had reserves concerning the whole "slaying angels" thing, but shit the gameplay is perfect so you can't help but love it. From what I gathered this is even better. And crazier. I don't know what else you could ask for.


This is it! The best 35 games I missed in 2014. Four of them I own by now (Jan. 10th) that I didn't own when I started to write this entry (just before Christmas). Three of them I got with the Boxing Day/Week deals (Infamous : Second Son, Super Smash Bros Wii U and Child of Light), and one is free with PS+ in January (The Swapper). I did try Smash Bros for an hour or so and had a shitload of fun with it. The others will have to wait for me to clear some of my backlog.

2015 looks to be an amazing year with new entries in the Arkham, Witcher, Zelda, Uncharted franchises as well as dozens of other great titles. Now that I'm at least 30+ games late on this new gen already because of a busier 2014, you can assume I will never be bored, gaming-wise, in the near future.

What Am I Playing NOW - Part VII

Considering the flurry of new titles released in the past 2 months, you might expect someone "running" a gaming blog must have played most, if not all, of the noteworthy titles. In most cases, you'd be 100% right. However, in my case, it most certainly wasn't the case. For various reasons (No free time, because I have a 3 months old daughter, and no money, because I have a shitty job that doesn't pay well enough for a man to take care of his wife, baby, rent, car AND gaming hobby. Sometimes you have to pick something to sacrifice. In this case the choice was pretty obvious!), I haven't played a more recent title than Destiny. I actually own an even more recent title in Borderlands : The Pre-Sequel! (pre-ordered with the E3 deal), but I haven't even opened it yet since I'm still not done with all Borderlands 2 DLCs. I also should mention that I played more recent games given away for free with the PS+ subscription.

The Sequel before the Pre-Sequel

Let's begin with Borderlands 2. Since my PS3 died last year and that, for some unknown reason, my saves weren't being uploaded to the PS+ cloud, I had to restart a character in Borderlands 2. I usually play as Zer0 (like I did Mordecai in the first game), but I wanted to try something different. Very different. I went with the Mechromancer, Gaige. I kinda regretted it at firt because I really liked Zer0's skills, but now I'me getting more used to her, it's not that bad. Anyway, I'm nearly done with the main game, after which I'll do the 2 DLCs (Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt and Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep) I didn't have time to play before my PS3 died. I loved the first two DLCs, so I'm glad I'll finally get to try the last two. Eventually. Hopefully before Christmas (I was not kidding when I said that I have no free time).

Destiny, still

It seems, when I listen to gaming podcasts, that everyone was done with this game 2 months ago. Not me! I'm level 15 and I did, if I remember correctly, only one story mission on Mars. It's a very fun game, although the story is very lacking. Uninteresting, to be exact. But the gameplay is so freaking solid. And I haven't unlocked all the abilities of the one class (out of three) I have tried. Looks like many hours of fun are still ahead of me.

South Park

I started South Park : The Stick of Truth about a month ago. Played it a bunch during a weekend when my wife and baby were away. It's a very, very funny game. It really feels like a South Park episode. The combat system is pretty basic and can get a little repetitive. But you don't play South Park for its innovative gameplay, you play it because it's freaking South Park. Because you get to hang out with Princess Kenny, Cartman, Butters and the likes.

No time = small and/or portable games

The subtitles says it all. I don't have much free time, so I often resort to quick little sessions of games you can start quickly and, especially, quit at a moment's notice without losing (too much) progress. Obviously portable games are perfect in that case. I've played a bit of Vita games, especially Dragon's Crown (though even after 4-5 hours, I can't "get" into the game that much) and other smaller titles like Luftrausers and Pix the Cat. But I've played a lot more 3DS during that time, most notably Super Mario 3D Land, The Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time 3D and Mario Tennis Open. To my surprise, the former isn't quite a great as I expected. Don't get me wrong, it IS a good game, but the controls aren't as intuitive and sharp as I would have hoped. Anyone who has ever played a core Mario title knows the controls, essential to the platforming genre, have always been stellar. Here, they're not bad, but they're not stellar. Otherwise, the levels are short and sweet, perfect for short gaming sessions.

There's not much to say about Ocarina of Time. It still is the greatest game ever, no matter the format or number of screens. Mario Tennis Open, on the other hand, is disappointing. I absolutely loved the Mario Tennis game for GameCube, it was pretty much perfect. I used to turn off the special/power shots most of the time to get a truer tennis experience. The special shots are fun at times, but in the long run, the mini-cutscenes before each one become tedious. In this one, you CAN'T turn them off. Seriously? That really sucks. It's a stupid choice by Nintendo, as far as I'm concerned. The minigames are still fun and the gameplay, other than the special shots, is still very solid. But man. That's a bummer...

Anyway, let's hope next time I'll have a newer game to write about!

What Am I Playing Now - Part VI

Damn, it's been a while.

As far as gaming is concerned, this summer has been particularly light for me. I moved in early July, been stuck in boxes for basically 6 weeks and - more importantly - my wife gave birth to our first child (it's a girl!) two weeks ago. So I was missing both time and money in the last 3 months to truly enjoy every shiny new game on the market. Thankfully I didn't really miss that much.

I bought a Wii U (the Legend of Zelda limited edition) so I played a bit of Wind Waker, which put a massive smile on my face for the 5 hours or so I've put into it. Even my wife enjoys watching me play it. It truly is a joyful, colorful and still - 11 years later - very beautiful game. You can't help but be happy playing it.

Also on that same Wii U I found the Call of Duty : Black Ops II game for a whopping 4.99$. I'm not known to be a massive CoD fan, but a few days earlier I played a bit of Zombies mode (in the first Black Ops) with my brother at his place and rather enjoyed it. The way I see it, I bought the CoD Zombies mode for five bucks, and that doesn't sound half-bad, even if the Wii U GamePad is quite massive to handle for a twitchy FPS like this. I might do the Single-Player campaign at one point. More on that if it ever happens.

At the hospital for basically a week with the wife and baby, I had time to try a few handheld games. I got to the Forest Temple in Ocarina of Time 3D and through the first two worlds in Super Mario 3D Land on my 3DS XL. Zelda is awesome because it's freaking Zelda, and Mario is great so far but I'm still getting used to the control scheme. It feels a bit unnatural how they did it. Anyway, the level design is - so far - simple but still very enjoyable.

Still at the hospital, I started Dragon's Crown on the PS Vita. Fun game so far, since I'm a sucker for loot-driven games. The story so far is uninteresting and most ladies involved happen to have exceedingly massive breasts (which at this point are a turn-off more than anything else), but the satisfying gameplay makes up for it. I'm not even two hours in though, so we'll see how this goes.

Back home, I played a lot of Fez (Free on PS+) on the PS4, but I still don't feel like I get that game, however fun it is so far. It's kind of funny because before starting it, a guy from a podcast I listen to weekly talked about how that game made him feel not smart with all its secrets and weird stuff going on. I understand how he feels I think. The game says I'm more than 70% in, but I don't feel closer to the end than 6 hours ago.

With the PAX sale going on this past week on the PS Store, I got Transistor and Trials Fusion for 13.49$ each, but I still haven't installed them on the console. They're definitely next on the PS4 list along with Plants vs Zombies : Garden Warfare, which I got for 18$ (!!) brand new yesterday. I can't wait to give all those a try, but it will be hard since Destiny is right around the corner...

And on the PS3 I'm veeeeery slowly going through MGS3 HD, enjoying it somehow even if I'm really terrible at stealth games. I'm almost 7 hours in but I'm pretty sure it took me 15+ realtime hours to get there. After that I'll go through Crysis 3 (free last month on PS+) then it's all Borderlands 2 DLCs and The Pre-Sequel.

Reading all I've just written, I realize this summer wasn't THAT light. But when something as important as the birth of your first child is involved, everything else seems insignificant!

What I took away from E3

The title makes it seem like I actually went to Los Angeles and participated in the festivities. Sadly, nothing of the sort happened and I had to enjoy the experience via various video, livestreams and articles around the web to construct any sort of review/opinion on the matter.

First off, let's talk about the "new" hardware we've seen, the PS4. Let's just skip over the looks of the actual console, because while it does look good, a fine piece of design I'd say (I also liked the fact that they brought the mind behind the design on-stage. Nice touch), it hardly matters when you'll be putting a disc in and playing it. Anyway, the announcements that garnered the most applause from the audience were the "No Restriction on Used Games or on lending games whatsoever", the "No online verification needed to play", the "PS+ on all three PS3, PS4 and PSVita" and - the best part - the 399$ price tag. In that regard, Sony clearly knocked Microsoft out. Although rumors are circulating around the Internet about the fact that Sony's policy towards used games might not be as open as the conference led us to believe. But nothing has been confirmed yet, we'll see! Anyway, I was also excited at the number of indie developers Sony were getting along with, including Supergiant Games, of Bastion fame. The first-party exclusives (The Order : 1886 looks like an awesome steampunk game) in development also had me pretty pumped for the first year of this new console. Some multiplats were also showcased and looked quite appealing to me. Destiny looks and feels like a gigantic project undertaken by Bungie (read a good piece on it in EDGE lately) with amazing potential, while Ubi's Watch Dogs showed some spectacular depth in gameplay, a wildly interesting story setting (so far) and jaw-dropping graphics.

Overall, I was so happy during the conference I immediately pre-ordered the PS4 from two different places when it became available later that night.

I won't lie, I have a slight bias towards Sony's consoles. But to my defense, I went out of my way to try and defend Microsoft's position when talking to people. I'm not a big Microsoft fan, I work on a MacBook, my 360 is barely ever used at home and various stuff like that would make you think I hate Bill Gates' company. Which is not true. I try and be as objective as possible when arguing about consoles. I try not to fall in stupid, pointless arguments about the "better" choice and I will try to distantiate myself as much as possible from my subjective feelings when talking consoles.

Anyway, I haven't watched Microsoft's conference. I heard many negative things about it, except for the games which looked pretty impressive when I watched a few trailers. And when it's all said and done, for a gamer like me, Games should be and usually are the central focus of every discussion. If you have good games, your console will fare better. So that's why I went on and watched a few trailers, to get soaked in and better evaluate the console for the games it offers and not for some controversial marketing choices. Ryse : Son of Rome looks like promising take on a somewhat forgotten historical era (a least in video games) with visceral combat and tactical warfare, although I'm not sure how I feel about all the button prompts/QTEs... Games like The Witcher 3 and MGS V are no-brainer AAA titles. The only other one I saw was Titanfall, and I really liked what I saw there as well. It looks like a somewhat futuristic Battlefield with mechs and other neat concepts. So while everyone is shitting on the XBone for various reasons, they still had some very decent software to show for. And you can't go wrong with good games.

I haven't watched Nintendo's either, but I still took in a few trailers to see whether or not this console was worth it before the next Zelda game gets released. The trailer for Super Mario 3D World looked absolutely epic, everything you'd expect from a Mario game, like they've been doing at Nintendo for over two decades... just pure gold. Pretty much the same goes for Mario Kart 8, although I wish they had come up with a better name for it... I'm one of those who feels like "numbered" series are shooting themselves in the foot. Why? Not only you are saying to the audience you have no imagination, but you also make it seem like there was A LOT of games before it, which makes it seem like nothing more than a rehash of old ideas. Which is why, even if I'm far from being a Call of Duty fan, I appreciate their idea of not calling their games by the number since the first one. I know you'll find numbers like in MW3 or BOII, but at least we're not simply at CoD9 or something, which would make it even worse.

Anyway, back to Mario Kart 8, it seems to me like Nintendo could make 89 Mario Kart games and somehow still come up with new tracks, new concepts, new ideas. They're just THAT good. I'm not buying a Wii U for that game only, but holy crap it looks fun... The last thing I saw from Nintendo this week was The Legend of Zelda : Wind Waker HD. If I remember correctly, Wind Waker is in the top 10 of my favorite games of All-Time, amongst the legends of GoldenEye, Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil 4, Super Metroid and Bioshock. It tells you how much I loved this game. I think it's a great opportunity for the many who shunned the GameCube version for idiotic reasons like "It looks childish".

So I haven't been able to get through ALL the games yet, but I've seen enough to be excited about the next generation in gaming. Bring on the PS4!