The Brog's Best Flash Game Of 2010: Closure

"Because ya gotta have it, in order to move on." - Zadi Diaz

This past year I made a handful of friends in the indie [whatever that means] gaming scene so I thought it would only be fair to do a "Best of" for flash and html-based games. Though I had to pick a winner, please pay special attention to the Honorable Mentions. Though these games may be written off by some to be time-eaters or small games, the impact they made on me changed how I look at games. Most notably, Elude, a game centered around depression -- where the goal of the game isn't to win, but to empathize. 

2010's big winner is Closure, a game in the vein of Echochrome and recent Wii release -- Lost In Shadow. Closure relies on the gamer's smarts and ability to play with the path illuminating mechanics. If you can see it, then you should go there. However, if your path is dimmed, then prepare for a grave mistake. Places not illuminated, do not exist. Apropos to life, no? 

Honorable Mention: Immortal, Miami Shark, Elude, Envirobear, Robot Unicorn Attack

For more free games and the culture that supports it go here: Scott Sharkey's 101 Free Games, Newgrounds, Kongregate, Adult Swim Games

Vanquish Review -- If Metal Gear And Gears Of War Had A Baby

Much like Sam Gideon's ARG suit, Vanquish is cool to look at, ridiculous to make sense of, and very few people will get it
Vanquish is a game that is just as challenging as it is beautiful. Platinum Games has managed to squeeze out two eccentric gems within one year that not only challenge several constructs of what makes a game fun, but also keeps the non-JRPG aspect of Japanese games on American gamers’ radar. This being said, there are core principals of Vanquish’s design that are unflinchingly Japanese. Recommending a game like this is like recommending someone hold a beautiful rose with the sharpest thorns. You will die several times. You will laugh at what constitutes a cogent narrative. You will blow stuff up for points and realize how something so simple as this, has been abandoned by most modern games. All these things and you get to casually smoke cigarettes.

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The Brog's Best Board Game Of 2010: Memoir '44

2010 will be known as the year The Brog went analog.

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Video: Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition Video Surfaces

Much props to iPlaywinner & Esaka's Diary. This video is of course, straight from Japan, but if you use Google Chrome's translator [or Mozilla's Translator plug-in] that should give you some perspective as to some of the damage being doled out by each combo [in regards to Esaka's page]. Sorry, I had to post this, very rare I get a 20 minute video of ANY fighting game showing moderate-to-high level play with this many different characters.

Could SSFIV be the most balance fighter ever made?

The Last Year Of The PSP

My last article saw a lot of activity due to disregard of its first sentence, so I’ll put the most important message in the second. I am deeply envious of PSP owners. Furthermore, I hope they continue supporting such a quality platform. With that said, the impending announcements of both the Playstation Phone and the PSP 2 in 2011 should solidify Sony’s fate in the handheld arena.

By now you’ve seen the NPD sales for November and have heard the always trustworthy predictions of market analyst, Michael Pachter. At this point in this current gaming generation, Sony’s brand is at a point of no return (no fiscal pun intended). The writing is on the wall for the companies that control the direction of both consoles and handhelds. As a byproduct, this coming year will be the last year Sony’s PSP platform(s) stand a chance of making a grand impression on consumers outside of Japan.

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Naughty Bear Review -- F**king Terrible

By the time you read this, Naughty Bear will have been released and several games that are more enjoyable should have followed. Created by a company called A2M [hold your sophomoric quips, its short for Artificial Mind and Movement] and published by 505 Studios -- Naughty Bear adds further fuel to the argument of how games are valued. A game with this few environments and [im]mature tone would have easily fared better as a downloadible title. Naughty Bear is trapped between being a childish murder-simulator and tepid action-adventure game. Though this romp won’t be on many game of the year lists [not in my imagination at least], it sure in the running for my personal “worst of...” by year’s end.

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Is Capitalism Devolving Games?

In an age where the games industry is one of the biggest cash cows, it seems only fitting that consumers should question the quality of products sold. What happens when companies do just enough to appease the general gamer?
Before you dart down to the comment section of this article and begin feverishly typing prior to reading, it should be said that I’m an avid supporter of most [not all] forms of capitalism. However, as this term applies to the games industry, I think its a pretty rotten time for consumers. Though there are small glimmers of the games industry doing right by the developers and gamer, this era marks an odd turn. Bethesda, Lionhead and now Polyphony Digital studios were the first group of studios to spark my interest in this new development. Capitalism typically thrives off of the quality of a product. Traditionally, if the consumer has qualms with the product there is an outlet in which they can be heard. Unfortunately, we live in an age where we can only vote with our dollar.

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BlazBlue: Continuum Shift -- Fighting For A Chance

It's not that Calamity Trigger wasn't an aweomely weird game, but that Continuum Shift is so much more awesome and weird.

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Video: Kinect's Joy Ride Fail

By now this video clip has circulated your favorite popular blogging sites and has garnered almost a half a million views as of me posting this entry. I want you to think about a couple things going on in this video. Kinect has been picked [in an odd sort of manner] for being this holiday season's high-tech Furby or Tickle Me Elmo toy. Much like political campaign strategies, advertising dollars control the masses. There were talks of having this Microsoft branded device in your living room being able to give you some form of a Minority Report experience. I'm guessing the video below will suffice as a lofty pipe dream being made into a kind of reality.

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Commercial Break: Possibly The Best Trailer For The Best Video Game Ever!

Finally, a trailer that has surpassed the immutable Executive Vice President Cat trailer. I'm glad to live in a world that you can play a game in Japan that has a table throwing peripheral. Hokkaido feel my wrath! Think about it, you too can be living the dream of throwing a table at a cafe, fancy restaurant, farmer's market, executive office, a doctor's office, Steven Siegal's house, and many more. Live the dream baby...live the damn dream.