Posts Tagged ‘2013’

21 Dec

Best of 2013: Top 10 Disappointments

Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2013, Lists. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

Bestof13_light

Let’s kick off a new year of way-too-convenient summary lists by getting the bad stuff out of the way. I like to think of myself as an optimistic person, content to look on the bright side of things most of the time, and this is more true in the case of popular media than anything else. Some say I am easily impressed and I will admit that it takes a lot for me to be genuinely disappointed by something. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. Across movies, music and videogames, what follows are the ten 2013 situations that gave me most cause to be disappointed. They cover deflating news stories, poor quality of products relative to expectations and relevant situations in general. While I doubt I’m alone with some of these, the list is still, naturally, quite personal.

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VR BEST OF 2013 DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome.
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10. Rayman Legends was delayed to be spread out

Rayman Legends ended up being one of my absolute favourite games of the year, and quite possibly my favourite 2D platformer ever, when it was released this September on PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii U and PS Vita. However, it was originally slated to be released in February as a very exciting Wii U exclusive. Set to be a strong argument for picking up a Wii U early in the console’s life, it was unceremoniously delayed by seven months so that versions could be developed for other platforms. While I’m all for seeing more people have access to the truly stunning game, the game was for all intents and purposes ready to ship in February on Wii U so the delay showed the cold and ugly side of modern videogame business. And as a Nintendo fan, I was crushed.

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20 Dec

Best of 2013 Intro

Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2013. Tagged: , , , , , .

Bestof13_light

Things have certainly worked out well timing-wise, because this is my 100th blog post for 2013 alone on Vagrant Rant. Hitting that number was one of my new year’s resolutions and to actually keep one of those is huge for me personally. It was only possible thanks to an amazing week of guest posts back in April, an entire month of Zelda countdowns in September and the beginning of a games-and-movies podcast called the Mega Ultra Blast Cast with two of my closest friends, something I had been wanting to do for a very long time. So I have a lot of people to thank, not least of which is you, dear reader, for coming back to this blog and reading my posts! Now let’s do some top tens.

2013 was a truly amazing year for all types of videogames and a wonderful year for film. It was also the first full year I was listening to Korean popular music. The ten (mostly) Top 10 lists that follow reflect my personal experience with these three entertainment mediums. The make-up of the ten lists has changed somewhat, as this year I’ve swapped out three of my 2012 lists (Top 10 Songs, Top 5 Albums and Top 10 Annoying Videogame Experiences) for some different material. Otherwise things will be pretty similar. The first list will appear here in around 24 hours and let’s just say I’m getting the negative stuff out of the way first.

I hope to see you back here then! In the meantime, why not revisit the best of 2012 to remind yourself just how far you’ve come in 12 months?

31 Jul

Welcome To LCOM

Posted by vagrantesque in Games, Lists. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

Also known as Local Co-op Month, or The Best Acronym I Could Think Of For August.

The last month of our Australian winter, which starts tomorrow, is rarely the domain of many exciting videogame launches. It’s traditionally the last moment of quiet before the likes of FIFA begin to ring in the year’s most gigantic holiday releases. However, if you happen to be a fan of getting a bunch of mates round for some good old fashioned couch co-operative sessions on your favourite gaming system, you have plenty of reasons to be excited for this August. There are more local friendship-destroyers launching in 2013’s eighth month than you can shake a pair of controllers at, which comes as quite a lovely lump sum following the relative drought of such titles throughout the first half of the year. I’ve listed the promising eight I know of in this very article.

This probably isn’t even all of them; I wouldn’t be surprised if I missed a Steam game or two. Continue reading →

11 Jun

Conference Call 2013

Posted by vagrantesque in Games, Lists. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Another year, another round-up, another desperate relationship with sleep.

What an exciting Electronic Entertainment Expo. If you ask me the 2013 major publishing conferences were the most interesting, surprising and, in at least one case, outright brutal I have seen for a long, long time. Wow.

Just as I did last year, I’ve broken down and ranked each conference from least to most impressive in my own opinion. Of course each company just showed so very many games that I cannot possibly hope to remember them all, so please keep that in mind. I will say that even though last year I placed Ubisoft on top of the list, this year’s EA conference (which is ranked lowest here) would have given that purple French showcase a real run for its money. 2013 was just that good for E3 conferences.

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4 Jun

SLE3P IS FOR THE WEAK

Posted by vagrantesque in Games. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Another year has passed and we are once again on the doorstep of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. One week left!

For those Sydneysiders and Melbournians (etc) who are keen to watch the conferences but can’t be bothered looking up and cross-referencing time zones to work out when they have to get up, I’ve written them up right here. Look no further!

All times are in AEST.
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JUNE 7TH 3am –
KONAMI (pre-E3)
THEY WILL TALK ABOUT: Metal Gear Solid V, Pro Evolution Soccer 2014.
I HOPE THEY TALK ABOUT: The fact that David Hayter will actually be voicing Snake again and that Pro Evo no longer has exclusive rights to the J-League. Fat chance.
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JUNE 11TH 2am – 4am
MICROSOFT
THEY WILL TALK ABOUT: Plenty of games for Xbox One, some current-gen stuff and some casual stuff no-one cares about.
I HOPE THEY TALK ABOUT: Price, release date and launch game confirmations for Xbox One, clarifying information on preowned games and always-online functionality.

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JUNE 11TH 6am – 7am
EA
THEY WILL TALK ABOUT: Battlefield 4, plenty of EA Sports titles and their lucrative new Star Wars game license.
I HOPE THEY TALK ABOUT: A new Star Wars: Battlefront game. Oh please please please let this happen.

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JUNE 11TH 8am – 9am
UBISOFT
THEY WILL TALK ABOUT: Watch_Dogs, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Splinter Cell: Blacklist.
I HOPE THEY TALK ABOUT: When we’ll finally get to play South Park: The Stick of Truth. This year.

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JUNE 11TH 11am – 1pm
SONY
THEY WILL TALK ABOUT: What the PS4 console actually looks like, Killzone Shadowfall, Infamous Second Son and the gang.
I HOPE THEY TALK ABOUT: The unveiling of Final Fantasy XV and a new Gravity Rush sequel on Vita.

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JUNE 12TH 12 midnight –
NINTENDO (via Nintendo Direct Broadcast)
THEY WILL TALK ABOUT: Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101, Zelda Wind Waker HD, a new 3D Mario platformer, new Mario Kart, new Smash Bros
I HOPE THEY TALK ABOUT: The new Wii U Zelda title, a new Advance Wars for 3DS, Lloyd Irving playable in Smash Bros. All unlikely.

19 Mar

Ahead: 2013

Posted by vagrantesque in Games, Lists, Movies. Tagged: , , .

Here are two more lists for you to disagree with at your leisure.

So just over a year ago year I got all excited about the pile of new movies and games that were coming out in 2012 and posted a pair of top ten lists to order my anticipation. As it turned out, I didn’t even end up watching some of the movies on the list and an embarrassing amount of the games I wrote about didn’t even come out in 2012. Here’s hoping I’ll be a little more accurate with this year’s equivalent.

For the sake of neatness, I’ll only count movies/games that are coming out after the month of March has run its course.

MOVIES

10. jOBS (Teaser)
I’m curious, OK? I don’t actually think Ashton Kutcher is the worst guy in the world and, even if his turn as the late great Steve Jobs sucks, this movie is still going to be talked about quite a bit and I want in on that conversation.

9. World War Z (Trailer)
Zombie movies can be great, they can be decent, or they can be so bad they’re good. In my lifetime I have never come across one that is just bad, and so I will happily watch the eerie World War Z when it hits.

8. The Great Gatsby (Trailer)
Baz Luhramann’s latest pulls out so many Moulin Rouge stops in its trailers that it kinda demands to be watched on style factor alone. Which I suppose is Luhrmann’s deal in the first place. Leo DiCaprio and Michelle Williams sweeten the deal.

7. Pacific Rim (Trailer)
On face value I can’t really believe that this movie is actually happening. It looks like Battleship meets Real Steel, and while the latter movie was surprisingly decent, the former, well, it kinda sucked. Everything changes, of course, when you realise that Guillermo del Toro is directing. Colour me hyped.

6. Despicable Me 2 (Teaser)
If there was ever a non-Disney, non-Dreamworks animated feature that surprised me enough for me to rate it among my favourite animated movies of all time, it’s the hilarious and heartfelt Despicable Me from Illumination Entertainment. Now a sequel is well on the way and while it will struggle to top the first one, you can bet I’ll be at the cinemas in week one to make that call for myself.

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25 Feb

Oscars 2013 Reactions – Almost Live!

Posted by vagrantesque in Movies. Tagged: , , , , .

So I missed the live broadcast of the Oscars this morning on account of work, but I’ve been pretty successful in keeping a media blackout going, so I shall now watch the recorded version and write my thoughts on the big awards here as I see them, then post them tonight. How exciting!

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz

This one was arguably pretty open but I was still surprised that the favourite, Tommy Lee Jones, didn’t win. Very pleasantly surprised, that is, because Christoph Waltz was AWESOME in Diango Unchained and I had pretty much assumed that the Academy would ignore his turn because he had already won quite recently. Two wins from two nominations!

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