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 On 11/06/2015 at 02:01 AM by KnightDriver See More From This User » |
A good year for games for me, not so much in other areas, but there's a few worth mentioning.
MUSIC
There wasn't much in music I was happy with except for one song on the Wall-E soundtrack. It occured in the credits at the end. I always sit through the credits in movies and many times I get turned on to a new band or song there. In this case, it was a combination of visuals and music. The animation behind the credits tells the story of what happened after the end of the movie in a style suggestive of Egyptian art with Peter Gabriel singing the song Down to Earth, music by Thomas Newman. This is a great song, and one of my all time favorites sung by Peter Gabriel, a guy I followed back in the 70s and 80s, and mostly lost touch with after that. I've since gotten back into PG and heard all his post So albums. At the time, in the 80s, I thought So was too slick and commercial, and lost interest. So I have Wall-E to thank for reintroducing me to him.
GAMES
In January, I had a very new PS3 and got into PixelJunk Monsters, a tower defense game with a little more action than most.
Then there was Culdcept Saga in February. I had played the demo and knew immediately this game was for me. Monopoly meets Magic The Gathering, a match made in heaven. Still, there's not a single game that uses this type of mash-up. Why?
Then there was the FPS Haze on PS3 in May. I got it because it had two player campaign co-op. Mark and I played it to completion. It's characters were over-the-top macho, and the story was heavy handed, but it had solid controls courtesy of the Free Radical Design team, makers of Timesplitters, and that's all I needed.
Then there was the hype leading into Fable II in August with the release of the Fable II: Pub Games. These were original card and gambling games where you could make money to use in the main game. Ahead of its time really. This would've been a iOS game today. Fable II came out in October, and I was there day-one. For some reason, I never finished it. I need to go back and do that.
Finally in November there was Valkyria Chronicles. From the first trailers I saw, I got super excited about this. The pencil and watercolor art style appealed to me and the gameplay was also exciting. It was turn-based tactics but with some elements that made it feel more like real-time action. You have a meter that depletes as you move and perform actions. When it's empty, the next unit in your team starts his/her turn. Durning your turn, you can get shot in real time if you step into a line of fire. I love this system and wonder why no one's used it, except maybe in that game Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. on 3DS.
Overall, a very fun gaming year for me.
BOOKS
Not much to say here other than another Halo book, Tobias Buckell's Halo: Cole Protocol. The Cole Protocol is the UNSC order to not reveal the location of Earth to the Covenant. This entails putting self destruct mechanisms on computer systems in ships and other extreme orders to keep the Covenant from finding Earth. The story puts human Insurrectionists, Kig-yar pirates, Spartan Gray Team, and an Elite zealot all together in a remote part of space to fight over a data chip containing the location of Earth. I mostly remember this for the female Spartan Adriana-111 who isn't your typical fast running sniper most of the super soldier women are relegated to. She's a brute, and I still remember the scene where she smashes through a wall to save Delgado. Yeah baby! Women kicking butt. Love that.
FILM
A lot of the big blockbusters that year weren't all that memorable to me but a few were.
Wall-E, pixar's space film about a nostalgic robot and the trashing of Earth by selfish, overeating, couch potatoes, was really great. As already mentioned, even the credit roll was entertaining.
I was following the Hellboy and B.P.R.D. comics when Hellboy II came out. This is directed by Guillermo del Torro fresh off Pan's Labyrinth. You can even see very similar monster designs taken right from Pan's Labyrinth.
Then there was the Star Wars Clone Wars movie that led into the first season of the TV show. I liked it quite a bit and watched some of the TV show as well. Eventually though, I felt it was way too derivative of previous Star Wars stories, and not original enough to keep my interest. I've always meant to go back to it, if only to hear George Takei voice a villain in one episode.
And that's 2008, in my experience. What did you like best that year?
2008 was the year of MGS4. I bit the bullet and bought the PS3 just for that game.
I did enjoy Wall E and Hellboy 2 at the theater. I'm not a big Pixar fan, but I consider Wall E to be top 3 along with The Incredibles and one of the Toy Story's (either 1 or 2, don't quite remember which one I liked more).
I do tend to read at least a few books every year, but I can't remember what books I read what year. Possibly something by Charles Bukowski or Robert E. Howard.
I probably read more books too, but I only started keeping track in 2011. I know I was reading a lot of comics as well..
I looked through my 'best of 2008' list for games and here are some highlights:
Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)
Sam & Max (Wii)
Apollo Justice (DS)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
Soul Calibur 4 (360)
We Ski (Wii)
Mario Kart Wii
Arkanoid DS
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (360)
Castle Crasher (360)
Wario Land: Shake It (Wii)
Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS)
Chrono Trigger (DS)
Wii Music
Wow! Lots of great games that year! --Cary
Castle Crashers was a good one. I've always meant to get Chrono Trigger on DS. I have to do that soon.
hey that Halo novel doesn't sound half bad!
It was fine. I've liked all the Halo books pretty much. The only one I didn't like a lot was Halo: The Flood, but that one had to tell the story of the first game, so I knew it already when I read it.
I don't remember much of anything you did, which is actually kinda cool. I remember The Dark Knight that year. I'd have to look at alist to remember what else Iw as doing in media that year. Went to tons of metal concerts, including Ozzfest 2008 (Dallas only, headlined by Metallica), Dethklok, Gigantour with Children of Bodom, In Flames, and Megadeth, pretty sure I saw 3 Inches of Blood at some point that year (only band I've ever seen twice), and a few others.
I was pretty preoccupied with graduating high school and entering Freshman year of college. That first semester was awesome. So laid back. Don't think my roommates appreciated how much of a sloth I was though. lol Room was clean, but I spent A LOT of time in my dorm room sleeping when not hanging out with friends I'd met at orientation.
I have two Dethklok albums which are pretty good.
I only own Dethalbum II, which is alright with some key songs I really like, but I need the first one which I think is better.
It's a whole different ball game live though. One of the most memorable experiences I've had at a concert.
I'm trying to imagine what they might have done. Do they come out in the costumes of the Metalocalypse characters?
No, the band comes out as a normal band, with screens playing music videos above them synced to the music, and they do the voices and say the usual stuff in between songs (I remember the singer saying something abt Texas being the only state that can secede and some joke about it when I went). Sounds less exciting than it is; it's awesome.
Sounds cool.
I really enjoyed Wall-E, shame I missed out on buying the Lego set from earlier this year. Hellboy I enjoyed, even though I didn't know anything about the story. I eventually bought the game.
Speaking of games I couldn't remember if I own Haze but apparently I do. I must have bought it awhile back.
I can't remember much about 2008. I think I might have taken up tennis during this time.
I used to play a lot of tennis back in the school days. Haven't touched it in a long while though. I think I used a backboard a bunch of times though in the 90s and played some local college players then too. I guess I could've taught the thing. Something I considered once.
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