Toomanywires

The Best & Worst of:  2024 /  2023   /  2022   /  2021  /  2020  /  2019  /   2018  /  2017  /  2016  /  2015  /  2014  /  2013  /  2012  /  2011  /  2010 Are we sure it's been a year? It feels like I was writing my 2024 wrap-up just a few months ago. Gushing about Infinite Wealth, six months ago tops. Maybe eight? I may have lost the ability to accurately gauge the passage of time, but I know we certainly got twelve-month's worth of games this year. Good games, too. We even got a new console. Definitely twelve months, even if it felt a bit like eight. Maybe nine? 2024-me couldn't have predicted the games we'd end up discussing most this year. Surprise indies, rebounding AAA franchises, high profile re-releases, and even RPGs! The game of the year darling was widely compared to Lost Odyssey and Final Fantasy XIII, and it wasn't meant as an insu...

The Best & Worst of: 2023 /  2022   /  2021  /  2020  /  2019  /   2018  /  2017  /  2016  /  2015  /  2014  /  2013  /  2012  /  2011  /  2010 I bought a GameCube this year. It's orange. I also bought and played things that aren't twenty years old. New things.  Whether I was pumping dozens of hours into the latest blockbuster, discovering a charming indie, revisiting an old favourite, or ticking something off my endless retro-must-play list, I had plenty of fun with games in 2024. And I bet you did too. I spent the vast majority of my game time on PS5 and Series X, and continued to strongly favour digital purchases over physical. I don't need new boxes cluttering up my shelves, as I've got plenty of old ones already doing that. I mostly opted for PS5 for blockbusters, whereas Series X was for whatever was on Game Pass.  The first half of the year w...

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 yea...