I wanted to start this year off in the right direction and I did just with my new morning and evening routine trek through my neighborhood each day of the week. Well, most days. Unless it is raining. I really don't enjoy getting wet. Much like the level of inflation, the general cost of living stress and the lack of housing that is occurring in my country. It's sad to see fellow individuals and families now made homeless due to these factors. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.
In the world of the video game industry, the start of year cast a shadow on a cool music-based game with an added rush while three quality titles from years gone by received a wonderful resurrection to the modern age. There were the usual layoffs, studio closures and the shutting down of multiple live service games. In the world of Microsoft, the acquisition of Activision Blizzard was finally completed. I'm glad that's over and we can all move on. Much like the released state of
Forza Motorsport,
Redfall and
Starfield. Very disappointing. I'm just moving on.
And that's pretty much how I feel about the current console generation. It feels disappointing, it feels lackluster and I just don't have any level of excitement like I felt nor the thrill I once experienced back during the seventh console generation. To which, I'm still quite happy to continue to play through my ever-growing backlog on previous Xbox consoles.
Anyways, moving on.
I teamed up with some faithful friends;
CobraTodd,
deathjestar,
KEOLIVEatHOME and took down one
Syndicate after another. Afterwards, I decided to venture into the
Borderlands Series universe for a third time and it ended up being one of the most poorly programmed entries in the series. I literally could not believe that after all the patches and so-called "hot fixes" to the game; it was still such broken mess of a game that I had to re-start my initial character playthrough three times.
Three times. It was such a chore. Still, Zane was the best character.
Throughout the year, I discovered a YouTube channel called Eli_handle_b.wav in which created multiple mash-up videos within several games' series such as Cyber, with, fall, mass and so on. May you check out a few.
The Game Awards felt more of an end of year E3 presentation filled with trailers and Hollywood actors announcing games that are years away from release, rather than the actual game developers receiving any proper recognition. It felt rushed with sloppy direction and tiresome to watch. Something needs to change.
As for the ongoing world events, it saddens me. Because war. War never changes.
To everyone, be safe and let's start off the year 2024 with lots of fun and achievements.
Now, here's the awards:
The Haven't I Seen you Before AwardBest RemasterResident Evil 4The Second Coming AwardBest SequelAlan Wake 2The Fireball AwardBest Fighting GameStreet Fighter 6The First Day at School AwardBest Xbox Game Pass AdditionLies of PThe I'm going on an Adventure AwardBest Action/Adventure GameLies of PThe Evil Dead AwardBest Horror GameDead SpaceThe Doom AwardBest First Person ShooterRoboCop: Rogue CityThe Wall of Text AwardBest CreditsHigh On Knife for High On LifeThe Portrait AwardBest GraphicsAlan Wake 2The But, wait There's More AwardBest ExpansionPhantom Liberty for Cyberpunk 2077The It just Works AwardMost poorly programmed GameThe Lord of the Rings: GollumThe I'm Better Now AwardBest Ongoing Support for a GameHalo InfiniteThe Side Scrolling AwardBest 2D GameBlasphemous 2The Checked Flag AwardBest Racing GameF1 23The Chapter One AwardBest StoryAlan Wake 2The Spotify AwardBest MusicHi-Fi RUSHThe Roll for Initiative AwardBest RPGBaldur's Gate 3The I've Fallen and I can't get Up AwardThe Most Disappointing GameCrime Boss: Rockay CityThe Infection AwardThe Worst Game of 2023The Walking Dead: DestiniesThe Best Seller AwardGame of the Year for 2022Alan Wake 2