Working Title 01.02.09: Working Reflections

Posted by Jordan Williams on 01.02.2009

Out with the old, in with the new. What did we learn from 2008? What will we learn in 2009? And more importantly...who is the Workaholic's Choice Game of the Year?

Welcome to the #1 Column of the New Year, WORKING FUCKING TITLE. Welcome to 2009 motherfuckers. I know it's a day late, but as I told Ramon and Ashish, a drunken Ogre does not make for a good Working Title. I will however fully endorse being drunk and playing Left 4 Dead. Being a Boomer and drunk is beyond fucking hilarious.

Anyway, it's time for some reflection. 2008 was a pretty big year for gaming, but did we learn anything? Did we really leave 08 with more knowledge than we had in 2007? Wanna know a good way to find out? A very long expositive essay on the year in gaming for 2008. Want to know an easy half-ass way for me to do this as a short column as I sober up and try to get back to sleeping off one fuck of a hangover?

LISTS!!

Also, if you're just here to find out who won GOTY for Working Title, you can just scroll all the way down.

Working Reflections: What did we learn in 08?

You can Teach Old Dogs New Tricks

This year saw the triumphant return of Metal Gear Solid with Old Snake whooping ass in Guns of the Patriots. A lot of people were a bit put off by Snake being able to get Social Security but apparently it really didn't do anything bad to his career. He went on to have the most successful PS3 game to date, one of the most successful games of 2008. Hell, he even won the King Leonidas Award for Manliness. I'm glad to see a game that breaks off from the norm of the young or middle aged action hero; instead we got an old guy who can kick ass.

And kick it good.

Sequels. Love them or FUCKING LOVE THEM

Sure, it may be unoriginal, but once again we see sequels kicking the ever-loving shit out of damn near anything else that came out this year. Where 2007 could debatably be called the Year of the new IPs, 2008 could be called the Year of the Sequels. Super Smash Brothers 3, Gears 2, Fallout 3, Fable 2, MGS 4, Soul Calibur 4, Megaman 9, GTA 4, Mercenaries 2, AND Call of Duty 5. Seriously, you can bitch and moan all day about how played out an unoriginal sequels are, but when you have sequels that actually deliver on gameplay and expectations (oh man, I know some of you are going to contest that) it's hard not to be happy at the fucking bang up year we've had.

There's Always Hope

This year saw Sony have a pretty big damn turn around year, this time last year a lot of people were dropping the ball on Sony big time. Saying that it was on its death kneel and that it just wasn't going to end pretty for the PS3 at all. This year managed to be a turn around year for the PS3. While its numbers are still down and they aren't moving as many units as they hope to be moving, they are no longer the black sheep of the console world. They managed to drop some pretty big multiplatform titles as well as some pretty big exclusives to keep their head above water this year. Sony managed to take what was seen as a horrible start and managed to turn it around...but on the flip side....

There's Always Doubt

Yep. Here I go again, being critical on the Wii. But after this year (especially the final half) do you really blame me? The Wii had all the momentum going into 2008 with a pretty fucking great year in 2007. What did we really get to show for it this year outside of Super Smash Brothers Brawl? We all know the Wii was based on a gimmick, the thing was for a long time the gimmick was working for Nintendo and we still had high hopes of them using that gimmick to its full extent. But then once the year grew on we started seeing that hope fade, and then we arrived at E3.


You can't forget about WiiMusic. You're probably the last person that cares.

Now I'm not saying that everyone was down on Nintendo at E3, but you can't honestly tell me that they blew you away or even got you marginally excited for the rest of the year. If you are you are either the most diehard fanboy ever (that is NOT an insult) or a casual gamer (that also is NOT an insult). A lot of us, me included, were just like "Oh, whatever. Nintendo is secretive and they'll blow us away with something like they did with Super Smash Brothers Brawl in the coming weeks" and that announcement never game. We just ended up with Nintendo's big fall release being Animal Crossing, which fell flat on its face even for the AC fans. The reason why I am always on Nintendo's case so much is that deep down I really am a hardcore Nintendo fanboy, and the most critical critics are always the ones that love the thing they are criticizing the most. If I didn't give a shit about Nintendo or what it did I probably would've devote this much space to them fucking up 2008, but because I do and it's always there like a little Wiimote shaped thorn in my side I always have to mention them because it seems like 2009 might be the year that Nintendo goes back to it's old habit of starting strong and always looking like an afterthought in the end.

Jack Thompson: Newsworthy

This year we learned that no matter what, Jack Thompson always makes for good news. Whether he is crusading against GTAIV on Mothers Day or getting disbarred. He always seems to give us that wonderful little kick in the ass that helps us put out a good report on a slow news day. Even though the fact that he is now buying up Take Two Stock is just a bit funny. What if by some epic crash he ends up getting a majority share and he ends up being the leader of the very thing he crusaded against for so long. Grand Theft Auto: Law City Rated E for Everyone.

Ask and ye shall receive. Receive and ye shall bitch.

This year also saw the announcement (and release) of two major threequels that fans have been asking for FOREVER. Blizzard finally announced that Diablo III was on its way, and of course Fallout III was finally launched on the world. Seeing as people have been asking for these games forever, you think they would be met with some sort of enthusiasm, but man were we wrong. For every person that was actually happy about what was going on with those games, there were more that bitched and moaned. Diablo III's use of actual colors ticked off a lot of people as well as Fallout III being 'Oblivion with Guns'. I am pretty indifferent to Diablo III's use of colors seeing as a color palate has never kept me from enjoying a game, and I haven't even gotten a chance to play Fallout III. But it just seems that we are doomed to never please anyone. Someone could probably make the most perfect game imaginable and people will still find a way to bitch about it...

Actually, the most perfect game imaginable is already on its way...


Duke Nukem Forever. And yes, I am serious. I fully believe this game is going to come out soon and it'll be fucking awesome.

The Following is Still a Great Way to Create Filler for when I Don't Have Anything to Say



...


FUCK! RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN!


And now, for what most of you have been waiting for. It's been two weeks; the votes have been counted and recounted. There have been emails and comments and livejournal and myspace requests. So it's time to let you all know who it is. Once again I'll say this. Even though most of the Workies had input from me, the Workaholic's Choice Game of the Year had NO input by me. This one is completely on your votes alone. So if you have a problem with the winner I suggest you all fight to the death for my amusement...

The Workies: Working Title Workaholic's Choice Game of the Year

Like I said last year (lawl) there's really not much else I can say about these games that's already been said. So I'll just get right down to the ballot.

LittleBigPlanet
While it might not have sold as well as people wanted it to. There is no denying that this was one of the original games of the last decade, and quite possibly Game of the Year.

Fallout 3
While many people bemoaned the new direction the game went in, it didn't stop it from being one of the most successful multi-console games of the year. Nearly infinite replay value and customization have always been appealing.

Metal Gear Solid 4
It's almost like clockwork, any year a MGS game gets released it's going to be up for Game of the Year. This game breathed a much needed breath of fresh air into the PS3 as well as rocking the socks off of EVERYONE who is a fan of the game.

Dead Space
While this year might not have been as friendly to IPs as the previous years. A few of them still managed to make an impact. Dead Space is definitely the underdog of this category, but it's been a long time since a game has come around like this.

Grand Theft Auto 4
It traded in it's over the top action for some hardcore crime drama and while some might not like it, a lot more loved it. It already took home Halftime Game of the Year, as well as GOTY in many other publications and shows. It might just do it again here.

Sackboy vs. Old Snake vs. Uh...You vs. Isaac vs. Niko. That sounds like one fuck of a matchup. By the way, the Gears 2 and SSBB fanboys failed because those games got the least amount of votes by a long shot. Sorry.

So now it's time...


In 2007 it was BioShock

Halftime 2008 it was Grand Theft Auto 4

And for 2008...the Workaholic's Game of the Year is.....



...

Wow. Even though I haven't played this year, this game definitely ran away with the votes. Not only in the comments section, but almost everywhere else I posted it. For a game that's just "Oblivion with Guns" it seems like it blew the ever-loving shit out of everyone else. There you have it. Your 2008 Game of the Year as voted on by you, the Workaholics is Fallout 3.



Working Question

Fallout 3 is GOTY for 2008. If you had to guess RIGHT NOW based on the current expected game line up this year. What do you think is going to be GOTY for 2009?


Until next time, my name is Jordan Williams and HAPPY FUCKING NEW YEAR FROM WORKING TITLE!