Here's some feedback from me, I hope this gets through via comment or blog. I already posted this in a comment on the awards page by the way.

More so than just honoring the right games (in their mind), a team like Destructoid should be consistent in the games they honor. What I mean by this is not looking like you guys changed your minds midway through the GOTY process. It's fine if you guys award a game over the others in a category even if it didn't get the highest "score" from a few months back in the review. People's minds change in retrospect, that's OK.

But take a look at this: Mass Effect 3 is in the GOTY nominations list. This is, unless I'm missing something, the TOP 5 games of the year. Now when I go to the RPG awards, the game isn't even nominated. Even if you count ME3 as a shooter, the game ain't on that nominee list either. I find it hard to say that "Mass Effect 3 is not one of the top 5 best RPGs in 2012, but it's one the 5 best games of the year."

This isn't the only case. Is CoD the best shooter of the year? Or is it Borderlands? Because Borderlands 2 is standing a lot closer to the Walking Dead on that GOTY podium than CoD is. Dishonored isn't the best Action/Adventure game? Fair enough, but it's still 1 of the top 5 games of the year and Sleeping Dogs isn't. Journey wins Best Platformer (already a debatable classification) over Spelunky, but then Spelunky wins best console-exclusive OVER Journey! But wait, Journey is on the GOTY nominee list and Spelunky isn't.

It's normal for games to win independently in certain "attribute" categories like graphics, music, co-op, etc. Halo 4 winning best multiplayer over CoD implies that CoD's single-player and other aspects were good enough to justify being the overall best Shooter. I mean, it's fine if you guys think Journey is the better game than Spelunky. But does Spelunky somehow do a BETTER job at being console exclusive or something? Does the game shout "hey, i'm the best at the wondrous skill that is console-exclusivity, so I deserve this award"?

I understand that being 100% consistent would lead to your GOTY nominee page being a big spoiler for all the rest of your awards results. In 2010, Up was the only animated film nominated for Best Picture when they released the nominees for the academy awards. This was a dead giveaway that Up would win best Animated feature film when awards time came, killing any "suspense" for the audience if there was any. But at least it was consistent.

In order to avoid this "spoiling your own winners" problem, I would suggest releasing the nominees page and then the winners 1 category at a time. Or something. Especially before moving on to broader categories like overall GOTY. Of course, this all hinges on you guys choosing to be consistent. Otherwise, I feel there's absolutely no point in seeing a list of nominees, and the awards are cheapened from your site (which then affects how seriously one takes your opinions). The inconsistencies I mentioned are obviously going to be overshadowed by Walking Dead winning GOTY, a title which didn't break any consistencies in your awards as far as I know. But what if you had a Best Adventure game category and Walking Dead lost to something like Zero Escape, while still winning GOTY? It'd be much more noticeable on the site, but no less inconsistent than what's already here regarding other games.

I know you guys are one of the more fun-loving game sites out there, never too serious...and that's great! But being fun is different from being wishy-washy. Maybe you feel that the year was so damn great, that you can't decide on definitive better games from each other. If that's truly the case then say so, simple! So yeah...just some feedback, something you guys were asking for anyway. I feel consistency is something far more important to work on than expanding technical aspects like video awards or category expansions, etc. This is just coming from a college film and digital media major, so I hope I'm not sounding too snobbish. Otherwise, keep up the great work fellas. I hope the 2013 awards will be better than ever!

1up's recent Prime vs. Fusion article got me reminiscing. I'll never understand why some people dislike Echoes relative to other titles, or think its "good but not in the same league" as the other two Prime games. Nobody ever seems to give any major reason other than "the difficulty". I never thought it was frustrating or tedious any more than other Metroid games can get, which I guess all depends on the player's ability to lightbulb and solve stuff. Is increased difficulty and a daring sense of vulnerability (a la Majora's Mask) a bad thing in this regard? For me, I remember mostly the amazing art, environmental creativity, the intense-as-ever fights, harder yet rewarding puzzles, and sick music. I'm not trying to change anyone's opinions or forcefully persuade (it's been 8 years after all), but I'm still curious. I'd like to hear more opinions about this title, or memories good/bad.

I felt it dared to be just different enough from Prime 1, and it didn't feel the need to revive the annoyingly frequent MotherBrain/Ridley blah blah fan-service stuff that Prime 3 and Other M later did for the billionth time. Being the hardest Prime puzzle/combat wise, it was also the most rewarding, it definitely expected you to be 2 years smarter since your last run with the original Prime. That's why Prime 3 didn't blow me away or impress me as much, it was on a much easier level (similar to Twilight Princess for Zelda). Couple that with easier aiming and a return to the "1 beam does all" mechanic, and Corruption felt like going through the motions at times. I'm not going to try to blame the "draw in more wii audience" on this one, but in the future I'd like Metroid games to not shy away from trying to kick Samus' ass in both action and adventure skills. If she's visiting alien planets she's unfamiliar with, there's nothing wrong with a feeling of newfound danger to go along with that loneliness. If anything, it motivated me more to find those hidden powerups, and get a better ending. Maybe it was all those powerups I got that prevented me from having overly frustrating times with the battles? It's possible the rest of the world went through the game with minimal energy tanks and ammo expansions.



This IGN review from an older editor pretty much sums up how I feel about the game. It's the little details that make the Prime series taken for granted these days. From the very quiet, subtle, yet clever return of "Brinstar Red Soil" music (my favorite Metroid theme) to the satisfying Missile/Beam hybrid weapons that you can obtain, Prime 2 was Retro at their most confident. It's right behind Prime 1 in my top 30 favorite videogames.

Happy 10th Birthday to the Prime series of Metroid games (well, 10 years ago since Nov. 17th)

Hey guys. So I didn't see much of anything in the way of Okami HD on Destructoid. The game just got re-released on PSN today 10/30/12......and though I'm not sure if I should re-purchase the game, I definitely like listening to the soundtrack.

My favorite song by far is "Reset ~ Thank You version" which plays partway through the final battle in one of the most touching scenes ever. Here's my (attempted) cover on piano, hope you guys enjoy even though I'm not exactly good at this stuff.



So what is everyone else's favorite song from the soundtrack? Do you think the game in HD glory is worth a re-purchase? Does anyone else play Amaterasu in Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3?

Meaningless "gametime extenders" are but mere sentences. Are these things really selling points to some people? Was GameA's gold trophy really harder and cooler to get than GameB's silver trophy? Do we really wanna show it off to the thousands other faceless people on the PSN?
Do we really need trophies as rewards for progressing through the game as we would've normally? If I was gonna beat the final boss, I'd do so cuz the game was great and gave me narrative or innovative motivation to do it, not because I want MOAR trophies. Same with sidequests. SotC and ICO were last gen games with this type of motivating quality (replay game if you're truly interested in reaching the secret garden), but I feel having trophies slapped on to the re-releases shows where many gamers' focus has been lost.
And if all gamers need for motivation is trophies, then developers will start to develop newer games with that in mind, and we'll see the decrease of games like Majora's Mask where sidequests were compelling because of narrative...and actual "rewards" like masks with powers, which then lead to getting the best reward of them all: fierce deity. We'll lose that and get useless sentences with bronze/silver/gold/plat trophy emblems because apparently that's enough.
I could easily say "just ignore them and enjoy the game as if they weren't there". That would be fine and dandy, except I worry about the content of future games. Remember what used to be unlockable stages and items in gaming? That sweet feeling of what you accomplished paved the way for more content and fun? Yea, that content is now trophies/achievements. Oh wait that content still exists though....in the form of paid DLC! (oh great)
I understand that gamerscores are akin to High Scores like in the arcade, but on a bigger internet scale. The problem is the accomplishments have gotten out of hand to the point where over half of them aren't really meaningful, many are designed stupidly/repetitious without fun in mind, and the whole system is so muddled that having a huge gamerscore just amounts to how much time you're willing to waste doing artificial game-extenders.
I played over 2000 hours of Super Smash Bros Melee over the past decade, and that was because the game was damn fun, gave me and my friends many good times, and also had me unlocking loads of content in the 1st few months. Melee's in-game trophies were the lesser rewards on that disc, and even those were 3D modeled nostalgic Nintendo objects/characters with some healthy descriptions that put a smile on my face.

But achievements/trophies are awards. Not "rewards". So game studios, give me rewards and stop congratulating me for finishing the tutorial levels of my games. And don't think playing 400 online matches makes me cool and skilled.