Toomanywires

The Best and Worst of: 2010 , 2011 , 2012 , 2013 2014 was a mixed bag. Our first full year of Wii U/Xbox One/PlayStation 4 saw better-than-expected hardware sales in the West, but quite the opposite in Japan. Twitter eggs and bored children moaned about "ethics in video games" and a hashtag became synonymous with abusive behaviour. Gamer was transformed into a dirty(er) word, but most of us ignored the drama and concentrated on playing video games. We played good, bad and broken ones, and all had a laugh at Tyrion in space. This was a year of ups and downs, one to celebrate and one to forget. Personally, I had a great one, as I became a Dad in July. My 3DS and Vita proved indispensable during the difficult, early weeks of parenthood, something I could play in short bursts, often with a new-born asleep on my shoulder. As my daughter got a bit older, and a little easier to handle, I was able to return to console gaming, hunting moon wizards and wallet rhinos with

My head is full of E3. I'm at full capacity and barely able to function. Work is impossible and I just tried to eat a kettle. Just one more live stream or weaponised elephant could prove fatal, or at the very least give me a splitting headache. So, in an attempt to free up some brain space and avoid disaster, I thought I'd empty some of my E3 thoughts into a blog post. This is that post. I have enjoyed this year's E3 more than any other in recent memory. There hasn't been anything ground-breaking, but the last few days have been consistently entertaining and my interest increased as the week progressed. All three of the big press conferences delivered to varying degrees, and embarrassments were kept to an acceptable minimum. Nintendo's digital offering was short, punchy and fun; Sony's dragged in places but still delivered, and I came away impressed with Microsoft's all-games, no nonsense approach. As much as I enjoy the reveals, it's

It's been a while, so let's catch up. 1. When is a Snake not a Snake? We all had a bit of a moan about Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes. Some called it a glorified demo, yet Konami had the gall to charge £25 for entry. There wasn't a Platinum trophy for us to hunt and, to top it all off, it featured an ill-conceived audio account of sexual violence between a woman and child. Kojima deserved to be taken to task for the inclusion of such sensitive subject matter in a series so gloriously and self-consciously far-fetched. However, I don't feel the need to drag him over the coals about length and value. In thirteen hours, ten of which I'd call hugely enjoyable, and across multiple replays, I absolutely got my money's worth and I’m now greatly anticipating Phantom Pain. Job well done, Koji Pro. However, one thing that did bother me, even more than I thought it would, was Kiefer Sutherland's turn as Big Boss/Snake. While he may have the acting chops