Toomanywires

The Best & Worst of   2022   /  2021  /  2020  /  2019  /   2018  /  2017  /  2016  /  2015  /  2014  /  2013  /  2012  /  2011  /  2010 2023 was a pretty good year for games. Well, perhaps I should rephrase that. 2023 was a pretty good year for playing games. We were spoilt rotten by big releases across varied genres, a plentiful supply of hardware, and even a pair of EDGE tens. Business was booming in 2023, yet commercial and critical triumphs didn't translate into success for the teams behind many of these games. 2023 saw record layoffs and studio closures, as the industry continued to fail miserably at providing security for the creatives who fuel it. A piss-poor state of things. It's important to celebrate the games that we enjoy, and that's what I'll be doing for the next six thousand words (!), but we should also recognise that this was a horrendous year for many of the people who make them. In time, the talent-churn will affect the quality of the games that

For Christmas 2000, I bought my brother a copy of Metal Gear Solid on the PS1. As far as I'm aware, it's still in the shrink wrap, probably boxed-up somewhere in the attic or at the back of a cupboard. An unwanted classic; an unloved vintage. Although my brother certainly played games back then, he had zero interest in MGS. Despite my continued attempts, I just couldn't get him to play it. I took that personally, as I thought MGS was an unmatched masterpiece. A wasted gift, and one that we still jest about to this day. A shorthand for misjudged and unwanted gifts. "You played Metal Gear Solid yet?" Christmas is for spending time with loved ones and indulging in excess. But it's also an opportunity to foist your interests on others, usually with deeply disappointing results. To be honest, I've always preferred to play on my lonesome. But Christmas day in my youth presented a unique opportunity to share my interests with a captive, if not captivated, audienc

I've got a pile of games sat in the corner of the spare room, which I've been adding to since the summer. All 7th Gen or older, so lets agree to call them retro. Nothing expensive - a mix of Mercari pick-ups, in-store bargains and even some CEX purchases from our trip to the UK in August. Their mere presence has been a source of great pleasure. I'll shoot the stack an occasional glance while I'm working at my computer and be happier for it, or pick out a game while I'm dusting, or doing some other chore, and flick through the manual. Next month, I'm hoping to get some pleasure from actually playing a few of these, as opposed to just looking at them. I'm told that's what we're supposed to do with games, play them, though I'm far from convinced.  Once 2023 is all wrapped up -  just the final third of Jusant and all of Alan Wake 2 to go - I'm planning to spend a month catching up with older games. Thirty days, give or take, before Like a Dragon

The doors are locked and they'll never open for me. On the street opposite the park, on the ground floor of a nondescript building in a covered shopping street, there's a clothes store where time stands still. One customer, an elderly gentleman, peruses sweaters. I stare through the shop window, but he's oblivious to my presence. In the other corner, a school boy waits patiently, perhaps for his mother to emerge from the changing rooms. He is static; bored rigid? And behind the counter there's a store clerk who will stand there all day and never interact with a paying customer. The easiest and loneliest job in the world. I can look but I'll never set foot inside. No matter how many hours I spend in this town, and no matter how hard Joryu (formerly Kazuma Kiryu) learns to punch, we will never gain access. Off limits forever. This is one of many forbidden spaces you'll come across when wandering the streets of Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, or

I already wanted to play Jusant.  It looks pleasant and it's on Game Pass. Two desirable qualities, and almost enough to guarantee that I'd play it. But it wasn't until I learnt that it's only five hours long that it became an absolute must-play. Actually, I shouldn't say "only" five hours long. It gives the impression that it is somehow lacking, that it's limited in length and therefore, as some people would have you believe, value. And that would be very silly. There's only one thing that I love more than a five-hour game, and that's a four-hour game. I can clear a five-hourer in a week. A full and fulfilling experience, all wrapped up before I start fantasizing about the next game that I'm keen to get to. Perfect. Once I've finished Assassin's Creed Mirage - a fifteen-hour game, which is the same length as three five-hour games - I'll fit in Jusant. It'll be something short and sweet to squeeze in before Alan Wake 2, whic