There might not be much in the way of big releases this week but that doesn’t mean that we have a shortage of trailers for you to look at this week. Between triple-As, indies, mobile, MMOs and MOBAs, this week’s roundup has ten trailers for you to watch. And who said that this was a quiet time of year for games. Okay, news and actual games, yes. Trailers? Definitely looks like a busy time.
Video Games
My Most Anticipated Games of 2015
Since we did our look back at 2014 last week, it only makes sense to use a video games post exactly one week later to look forward. It’s only logical to follow-up on our list of our favourite games of 2014 with a look at the games that we’re most excited about in 2015 with the Most Anticipated Games of 2015.
My Fourteen Favourite Games of 2014
It’s that time of year again. A little later than I intended to completed it, it’s time to look back on the year of gaming that was in 2014 with the annual list of my favourite games of the past twelve months. They may not be the best games of 2014 but they are the ones that I loved the most.
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Review: The Real Next-Gen?
If there’s one thing that will get gamers excited, it’s the words “Hideo Kojima.” The man has generated so much goodwill among gamers for the epic Metal Gear series that he might as well walk on water. Just the announcement of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was enough to launch the hype train to near unprecedented levels.
Then Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes happened. The game was released in March 2014 on console for $30 but it didn’t live up to the hype or the price. What was a very solid experience was overshadowed by backlash over fan criticisms of a lack of value.
And now Ground Zeroes has made its way to PC. It made a big splash with a smaller price tag than the console release and getting a 33% discount on release day thanks to a front page appearance during the Steam Holiday Sale. Can the PC port of Ground Zeroes salvage some of Metal Gear Solid and Kojima’s reputation?
The Best of the Angry Joe Show
Let’s bookend the week with another YouTube themed entry into our Best of the Interweb series. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but both Jackie and I are gamers. Granted, only one of us is gaming on a now current-gen console but… at least I have a PC?
Now, we’ve looked at the best of Yahtzee Croshaw’s Zero Punctuation in the past. If I was to name the best game reviewer on YouTube, that would have to be Angry Joe and his titular Angry Joe Show. Joe has over one million subscribers and his Angry Reviews routinely get over one million views. So for today’s best of the interweb, we have Angry Joe’s ten most popular Angry Reviews.
How Much Does Aerith’s House Cost? (Infographic)
Digging through The Lowdown Blog inbox introduces all sorts of great things sent to us that we didn’t have time to include on the blog during the year. One such interesting post idea came to us from our friends at Movoto.
As they are wont to do, they did one of their trademark real estate valuations on a video game property. One of the valuations that I thought was the most interesting is for one of the greatest games of all-time. The team at Movoto asked how much would Aerith’s house cost you could buy that cute little house in the dirty slums of Midgar. Their handy infographic tells us the answer.
Game of Thrones – Episode One Review: Valar Morghulis
If ever there was a marriage of licensed property and game developer that made sense, it’s Telltale Games and Game of Thrones. With The Walking Dead series, Telltale showed that it could do series with dark themes, tough decisions and no-win scenarios. After some previous lacklustre GoT games, George R. R. Martin gave the okay for Telltale to have a go and assigned his personal assistant as a story consultant so you know this isn’t going to be a quick cash-in on the license.
Game of Thrones is the fourth series we’ve seen from Telltale this year and concerns about the possibility of the team being spread thin are unfounded. Episode One of GoT could be the best debut episode that Telltale has ever done and fits in perfectly with the rest of the world of Westeros.
Tales from the Borderlands – Episode One Review: There Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
I’ve never really been a big first-person shooter fan. Maybe it’s coming from a console background in my youth rather than PC but I was never really into FPSs. So I’ve never been into the Borderlands franchise. Sure, I’ve got some ten hours into the first game and my sister knows the franchise inside and out (she’s the FPS player in the family) but I’ve never been compelled to keep going with those games.
That being said, I’m a big fan of the last couple of years of content from Telltale Games. While I haven’t had time to get to The Wolf Among Us (though I hear it’s fantastic), The Walking Dead seasons have been absolutely fantastic so of course I’m going to pick up the next game from Telltale. So can a merger of genres and developers that may not necessarily work at first glance come together to make another Telltale and Gearbox classic?
Game Trailers Roundup: December 9, 2014
Apparently Friday’s The Game Awards was actually not terrible. After how many years of laughable VGAs and last year’s VGX (which was only redeemable by Joel McHale undermining the whole thing), it took Keighley putting his own money on the line to get something closer to a proper awards show.
Of course, this can’t be a Keighley produced award show with a whole pile of trailers and gameplay exclusive videos. While I might run the gameplay exclusives later, I do have a whole pile of trailers today. By my count, there are 13 trailers for just released, announced or upcoming games for you to watch. Chances are you will find something to watch in here.
Basketball Pro Management 2015 Review: Brick
While I did a lot of sports gaming in my teenage years (who didn’t?), one sports I’ve never really been into is basketball games. That’s not to say that I haven’t watched basketball. I did see the Malice at the Palace on local TV. I know enough to have called a few basketball games (including a provincial championship) for radio in university. Most importantly, basketball was by a Canadian so it’s really in my blood. So it’s not like I don’t understand basketball.
That preamble doesn’t mean that I understand this basketball video game. Unlike the NBA Lives and NBA 2Ks that I’ve played in the past, Basketball Pro Management 2015 doesn’t put you on the court. Similar to the Football Manager series, Basketball Pro Management takes you off the court and onto the sideline and in the front office of a basketball franchise. I’ve played games close to BPM15 and enjoyed them but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
The Lowdown 