eoy
Latest
WoW Insider Show Episode 70: The year that was
It was a great time as always this weekend on our podcast -- Dan O'Halloran, Adam Holisky and I all went on the virtual airwaves to talk about WoW's extra half-million players, answer lots of reader emails, and run through the top 10 posts of 2008 (along with a little insight on how they came together and what was really popular on the site this year). It was a lot of fun to make, and hopefully you'll enjoy listening to it as well.Plus, this show was our first with a fanmade intro -- big thanks to Mialoha on Hydraxis for stepping up and being first. We've got a few more in the buffer, but if you'd like to make an intro to the show (and do a shoutout to your guild, toss in a plug for your own website, or just say something funny about Turpster), all you need to do is record an mp3, and email it to our email address: theshow@wow.com. That is, of course, also the place to send any questions, comments, or what have you for us.It was great to put a capper on 2008, but we'll be back next Saturday at 3:30pm Eastern over on Ustream as always (and the T tells me he'll be back) with yet another 52 shows about WoW Insider and World of Warcraft. See you then.Get the podcast:[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.[Ustream] Listen to the unedited recording in Ustream.[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.Listen here on the page:
Year-ending WoW Insider Show live this afternoon
Our podcast will be live once again this afternoon (3:30 pm eastern), and since it's been a relatively slow week with the holiday and all, we're going to spend today's show looking back at the top 10 posts of the last year. Co-lead Dan O'Halloran will be on board with us, as will Adam Holisky, and unless Turpster is still in too much of a haze from his holiday festivities last week, he should be around as well. Should be a great time.If you want to join us, feel free -- we'll be live over on Ustream at 3:30pm Eastern (and I've also embedded the feed right after the break on this very post). As always, you can email us as well, at theshow@wow.com (and that's also the place to send your intros, as we said on last week's show -- we've gotten a few amazing ones already, so you'll hear our first one on the show today). And if you do stop by the show, make sure to save some time to stay afterwards, as we've been doing a quick, exclusive aftershow after we stop the usual recordings.We'll see you this afternoon for the very last WoW Insider Show of 2008, and a look at the most popular posts on the site over the last 12 months.
WRUP: A new year of gaming edition
We've said goodbye to a year with games. We're now heralding in a new year with our own unique gaming resolutions. It's quite the time to be alive, if we may say so. And, as we look forward to a new year of gaming with Nintendo's handheld, we wonder how we'll occupy our first weekend with some quality titles. There really isn't anything new for us this week, so we'll be checking our stack for something to play. How about you, fine reader? Is the wide-eyed optimism we have for the new year a feeling you share? Do you look forward to getting your game on this weekend?
A year of Promotional Consideration
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.The titling of this post is a bit of a misnomer, as we didn't start this column until early July, so it's more of a "half-year of" piece. No, you jerks, the humor in us beginning our Promotional Consideration retrospective on a disappointing note isn't lost on us.Still, with 26 articles now behind us, one every week since this feature's inception, we've written enough of these to develop a few that are actually worth reading. We've picked out our five favorite Promotional Consideration posts of 2007, carefully hiding them after the post break, that magical realm where anything seems possible.
The best and worst (that we've reviewed)
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs.We cranked up our review quotient in 2007 (and hope to do even more in 2008!), but we still can't review everything that comes out, to our chagrin. We wouldn't have time for anything else! However, we did try to hit a wide variety of titles this year, from the biggies like Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and Phantom Hourglass, to some smaller titles, like WordJong and Duck Amuck. We even worked to review some more off-the-wall things, like the Nintendo Fan Network at Safeco Field -- you know, in case you happened to find yourself in the Northwest with a hankering for a day of DS and baseball.
DS Fanswag: 2007 is officially blown out, and we have winners!
Like all good things, our massive End of the Year Blowout must come to an end, but for our four lucky winners, today is a good day. So who gets the goods? Starting at the bottom and moving on up ...Third Prize Alexa Whitehead, who assured us she loves her White Lite, will soon be using it to play Revenant Wings and more! Second Prize Bill Smith, with his original Phat. We hope he wants to learn French, or at least shoot little geometric shapes. First Prize Eddie, who rocks an Onyx Lite along with his wife's Polar White, gets to take home our beloved copy of Contra 4 and more. Get your headband ready, man. ... and, finally, the Grand Prize goes to ... Sonic_13, who will be upgrading his launch Phat to a sweet golden model on us! Congratulations to all of our winners ... and we hope to have as many fantastic contests for you guys next year!
Virtually Overlooked: Virtually Overloaded with year-end stats
For the last Virtually Overlooked column of 2007, we thought that we would take a momentary break from our normal routine of extolling our favorite old games. Instead, we're taking a look back on the year of speculative game-wanting. After the break, you'll find the last year of Virtually Overlooked, including the five special Virtually Overlooked Week features (but not the polls or other ancillary posts) boiled down into a pile of numbers. To be honest, this survey was inspired by personal curiosity. I wondered just how many games we had covered, and how they broke down. Did I really talk about as many Konami games as it felt like I did? Am I really as obsessed with the Turbografx-16 as I seem? Were the VO columns written by others a lot more popular than mine? (Thankfully, no.) Head past the break for ... you know, numbers and stuff!
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout winding down!
There are only one day left in our massive End of the Year Blowout giveaway, which means you've got one more chance to enter. Get your name in now for a chance at a special edition DS Lite or a big stack of games. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day fourteen)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter. Today? Instead of discussing anything specific in the contest -- though there are many games available in each of the prize packs -- but instead, we'll just remind you that each of the packs includes something that would probably offer a great opportunity to share some gaming time with someone else. Maybe it will give you a second copy of something for a little multiplayer fun, or maybe you can get someone else interested in the DS. Today, think about what you might pick up to share with someone else. Go on. Go enter the contest! Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day thirteen)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter. Today? The last amazing GBA title: The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night. Celebrate the GBA's passing out of the spotlight with this final wonder -- and we'll help you do it. Want a shot? Go enter the contest! Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
Readers' Choice: The best of 2007
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs.We asked, and as always, you guys delivered. While the top-voted game of the year will probably come as no surprise to anyone, especially since it ran away with all the votes, the other five games that topped out in our readers' choice polls demonstrate not only the wide variety of content on the DS, but the depth of taste among DS Fanboy readers, as well. While the top games were above and beyond, every title feature snagged its fair share of votes. This can only mean one thing: it was one hell of a good year to be a DS owner.So which six games were most deserving of attention this year, according to you guys? Mosey on past the break to see the winners.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day twelve)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter. Today? We're going to talk about a game that is great for gamers of all ages, so long as they feel like doing a little drawing: Drawn to Life. Draw your own hero and shape your world. Want a shot? Go enter the contest! Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.And while you're blowing out the end of the year and all, don't forget to head over to our two polls and vote for your picks for best games of the year.
Critics' top 10: 2007 vs. kittens
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs. When determining the best games of the year, it's a good idea to go at it from different angles: by referencing our own history of reviews, obviously, but we must also look to the wider journalism community. Our reviews, while insightful and entertaining, were not comprehensive. We just didn't play everything. In addition, one reviewer's opinion is simply not sufficient data to make definitive conclusions, even if that one reviewer is me. So we turned to everyone else in aggregate to see what they thought of this year's releases. We've gathered the top 10 DS games of 2007 according to their Metacritic ranking. Keep in mind that many of these games tied in Metascore, meaning that if we were to rank the games, there would be fewer than ten positions. It's still sequential, but with a lot of tie scores. We then carefully applied science to these games in order to convert the Metacritic numbers into a rubric we feel more accurately conveys the quality of these games. Head past the post break for Metacritic's top ten DS games of 2007, graded on a scale from adorable kitten video to unbelievably adorable kitten video.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day eleven)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter. Today? We're gonna talk about how not everything can be awesome. Unfortunately, every DS game is not GOTY quality, like Hannah Montana: Music Jam. We had such high hopes, too. But, being that we're pals and all, we're gonna give you the chance to experience a neat music sim packaged with mini-games (that are less neat) for yourself ... if, that is, you win first prize. Want a shot? Go enter the contest! Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.And while you're blowing out the end of the year and all, don't forget to head over to our two polls and vote for your picks for best games of the year.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day eight)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter -- and there's not much we have to say about today's featured titles. Why? Because they're Pokémon. That's right, folks: the Grand Prize winner picks up Pokémon Diamond, and it's Pearl for the First Prize, with a matching stylus for each. Want 'em? Go enter the contest! Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day seven)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter -- but it's not fair that the Grand Prize should get all the love. Instead, let's look at a different piece of the puzzle ... or, in this case, a whole other world. Er. Galaxy. Make that galaxies, plural, in fact: Geometry Wars: Galaxies. We've got copies for both the first and second prize winners, and it's one hell of a game. Want it? Go enter the contest! Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day six)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter -- but it's not fair that the Grand Prize should get all the love. Today, we're looking at another part of the second prize: WordJong. We found the PC port to be quite palatable, and it can be yours with minimal effort. Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
2007: A year in OMGWTF
2007 is almost over, and the end of the year brings joyous tidings of List Season. It's the time for taking stock of the last 12 months of gaming, and trying to make sense of it by putting things in numerical order. Join DS Fanboy for our best-ofs, worst-ofs, and other categories-ofs.Our favorite system has two screens, is controlled with a stick, and features extremely popular games about petting dogs and doing math. What we're saying is that it's not that surprising when something weird related to the DS comes along, because everything about the DS is weird. But the things on this list are above and beyond the baseline DS weirdness. Nothing has made us go "hmm" this much since the Phil LaMarr-ious C&C Music Factory: Make My Video. Turns out, it was a banner year for crazy junk happening. Join us after the break as we look at some of the most bizarre DS stories of 2007.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day five)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter -- but it's not fair that the Grand Prize should get all the love. Today, we're looking at one of the crown jewels offered as part of the second prize: My French Coach. We dedicated an entire week to finding out just how awesome Ubisoft's French trainer was (so awesome), and now we're offering you a shot at it. Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
Reminder: End of the Year Blowout (day four)
Each day, between now and the 26th, we're going to look at a different piece of the DS Fanswag End of the Year giveaway as a reminder of exactly why you need to hightail it over there and enter -- and today, it's another piece of the Grand Prize pack. Specifically, Dementium: The Ward. Did you waffle on buying Renegade Kid's debut? No worries -- go throw your name in the hat and you might just score one for free, along with a matching skin. Remember, you can enter once per day. And if you're having any trouble with the comments, check here for a handy walkthrough.
