Saturday, December 31, 2016

News:: Peter Glagowski's personal picks for Game of the Year 2016

2016 wasn’t the best year for gaming, at least in my opinion. We definitely saw some solid titles come out (along with the end of a decade-long wait for two games!), but a lot of the major releases this year were retreads of tired themes and genres that haven’t seen a mix-up since the last console generation. While I typically don’t play a lot of games released in a particular year until the following year, I can’t even make a top 10 list for 2016 as I just didn’t play enough quality titles.

Still, I want to honor the games that really did wow me with something, so I’ve opted for a top five games of 2016. To me, these represent some of the best games from this tumultuous year that I played, even if others are “objectively” better.

Honorable Mention – Super Rad Raygun

I don’t have much more to say about this title over what my review did, but I want to throw this into the list as it barely missed making the top five. The game is a love letter to the classic Game Boy along with containing a really well-thought-out plotline. The character of Rad is super adorable and his evolution into a wiser machine echoes a lot of what I’ve gone through in my own life.

There is also the fact that Capcom has failed to make a Mega Man game for six years now and Super Rad Raygun nearly fits the bill. It may not have the copy ability that Mega Man does, but the open-ended world map and basic gameplay design strongly mirror the seminal Capcom series. Super Rad Raygun is a must-play for old-school fans and a pretty solid title in its own right.

Peter Glagowski's personal picks for Game of the Year 2016 screenshot

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News:: Diablo turns 20

Diablo released on December 31, 1996, meaning that today is the 20th anniversary of the game that wore out a million left mouse buttons. There will be events commemorating the release in all of Blizzard's games, and the developer also released a video today where some of the folks who've worked on the franchise share their memories.

The developers discuss how Diablo came to be and reveal some interesting tidbits about its development. For example, Diablo was originally conceived as a turn-based RPG with claymation characters. There's also talk about some of the rumors that swirled around the game and its sequel, including the Chat Gem and the infamous Cow Level.

Diablo changed a lot of people's perceptions about what a computer game could be, and although the original doesn't hold up all that well anymore, it was easily one of the most iconic games of the late 90's. Happy birthday, Diablo. And Happy New Year.

Diablo 20th Anniversary Retrospective [YouTube]

Diablo turns 20 screenshot



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News:: Weekend deals: Metro Redux, Mordor GOTY in the $5 bargain bin

You've thought about participating in the PC games winter sales this year, but your wallet's still hurting from Christmas. Happily options are aplenty and the competition in these sales makes it all the better. At around the $5 - $10 mark there are some incredible deals to be had.

Everything Batman: Arkham Aslyum up to Batman: Arkham Origins is only $8.99 in Bundle Stars' Winter Sale. The collection is worth checking out considering it's $108 worth of games and DLC at list price. Beyond Batman, we've listed a dozen titles below that you should also check out. Some notables include Wolfenstein: The New Order for $5.35, ABZU for $5.05, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor GOTY for $4.49, and the Metro Redux bundle for $4.92 -- all hitting new lows.

On the console side, the aggressive Xbox One S sale price continues into the New Year with $230 Battlefield 1 bundle or $223 Minecraft bundle. Newegg is also clearing out its stock of Xbox One S wireless controllers for $40 a pop (only the white color option remains as of writing).

Top Weekend Deals

PC Games Under $10 Winter Sales

(For GMG deals, use code DEALZON15)

Console Picks

Recent Releases

Upcoming Releases

PC Game Deals

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Game deals from Dealzon. Sales help support Destructoid.

Weekend deals: Metro Redux, Mordor GOTY in the $5 bargain bin screenshot



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News:: Jed Whitaker's top lit and or turnt games of 2016 fam

How do you do fellow kids? I'm sure you are all on the edges of your seats in anticipation of the most objectively correct list of the best games of 2016. Welp, here it is. 

Lick my chest hair and call me daddychu.

Jed Whitaker's top lit and or turnt games of 2016 fam screenshot

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News:: Here are Destructoid's gaming resolutions for 2017

Here we are, on the verge of a new year (unless you live somewhere in the world where the calendar has already turned over, in which case Happy New Year!!!) As is the custom, the beginning of a new year beckons us to make resolutions so as to improve our lives in the coming 365 days. Last year my big resolution was to lose weight and get a new job and I technically did one of those, even if the job doesn't officially start until next year. More easily completed was my gaming resolution, which was to buy a Vita, which I did and I love.

As we depart our pre-Trump era and enter the post-Obama world, I thought it would be fun for the writers here at Destructoid to share their gaming resolutions for 2017. See what we'll be playing next year, and tell us what you're going to do in the comments below.

Here are Destructoid's gaming resolutions for 2017 screenshot

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News:: PREPARE TO FRIENDSHIP: Dtoid's Master Gaming Contact List

[Are you on The List? All the cool kids are. 242 of them, over the past five months. It's not too late to make Friendship your New Year's resolution! Touch butts with all these fabulous people. -Panda]

Good New Years, my friends/robots/Gardevoir

It has been made aware to me that, just perhaps, you all enjoy video games. It might even be said that you... like to game with others? Now now, don't be that way, I don't mean to lump you into some sort of box. You're all just such lovely folks, it pains me to watch you, struggling in vain to connect with each other, striving to engage in...

PREPARE TO FRIENDSHIP: Dtoid's Master Gaming Contact List screenshot

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News:: 2016 recap: The ten most popular posts on Destructoid this year

I've spent four years writing for Destructoid, so you'd think I'd have figured this shit out by now. I haven't. It's in our best interest for every article to do a lot of traffic, but I rarely know when that's going to happen. It's a lot of throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.

That's why I look forward to this particular post every year. It's a final tally of what stuck. Sure, we know what performed well throughout the year, but this is when we put it in a list, compare raw numbers, and say "Oh yeah, people really like Pokemon."

(I also look forward to this post because it's the only time I make good on my resolution to use more Mean Girls headers.)

So take a gander at what, statistically-speaking, the most people already took ganders at this year. Click on some links if you want. Read that shit. The rich get richer.

Because it seems prudent, we've separated the reviews into a category they can call their own. It's probably for the best. A lot of our reviews do a whole lot of traffic and co-mingling them with everything else would just muck up the joint. And, as a bonus, there's some other stuff we liked (but not all the stuff we liked).

Without further ado, I present to you The Teenage Guide to Popularity:

2016 recap: The ten most popular posts on Destructoid this year screenshot

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News:: Nick Valdez's personal picks for Game of the Year 2016

I took so many Ls in 2016, folks. I lost a couple of jobs, I moved back in with my parents after living on my own (across the country) for two years, we lost so many icons, and there's a good chance I'll be half of Master Blaster when the world goes to hell. But I also had victories! I got a couple of jobs (including this one!), I made a bunch of friends, and I accomplished something I've wanted to since I was a kid. 

There were lots of good video games released in 2016, but I really only played two of them. I'm still having fun with 2015's releases like Smash Bros., Broforce, and Mortal Kombat X. And at the of the day, I'm not sure any of them will have the same effect on me Pokémon Go did. Sure the game has its problems, and it's a "game" in the loosest sense, but I've basically become a Pokémon Master and my fourth-grade self would be so proud.

Nick Valdez's personal picks for Game of the Year 2016 screenshot

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News:: Xbox One S controller clearance sale at $39.99

Need an extra Xbox One S wireless controller or two to go with your shiny new Xmas present? You're in luck! Newegg is clearing out white/black new controllers for 33% off at $40 each.

These are the new controllers that have been updated for the Xbox One S. Initially the offer was for both black and white models but the black color option is now sold out as of writing.

Shipping is free and sales tax is limited to only these four states: CA, IN, NJ, TN. Interestingly, Newegg is also offloading some Xbox One S bundles, with the Battlefield 1 and Minecraft 500GB models both at $229.99 a piece. The deal is actually running for over two weeks, though we suspect it'll run out of stock at this price point well before the expiration date.

Xbox One S Clearance Sale

Note: While we can link to the $229 Minecraft bundle from Newegg, Antonline has a better deal at $222.99. Given it's $7 cheaper for the same exact bundle, we'll point y'all to the cheaper deal.

Xbox One S controller clearance sale at $39.99 screenshot



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News:: The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Letter from the Editor

Fry (Futurama)

Happy New Year, everybody! Good riddance to 2016.

And it was a particularly painful year for the likes of Samsung. It wasn't all bad, of course, but Chris Velazco explains that when your biggest headlines of 2016 are about flaming phones, you can't wait to flip the calendar to 2017.



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