It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of another two weeks. So let’s drink to the last fortnight and have another for the next. Here’s what’s On Tap!
I have no news, previews, or other soundbytes for Tap today, since I’m not at That Noisy Convention. I am returning instead with a short contemplation about my weekend at Origins in Columbus. My first day at the convention turned out to be slightly unsavory (in retrospect). So here, I’ll concentrate only on the last day.
Remember the time Armand K got really wasted and wrote that weird paranoid manifesto about how I’d tried to lock him out of the Bordello because he owed me $7.42? Well, I don’t know if Armand’s fully kicked the habit, but I’m pleased to have him back (and apparently lucid) with another guest entry. He’s been enjoying our Games of 2011 series and thought he’d just go ahead and do one himself. Game on, my …
For gaming, 2011 was a year like many that preceded it: from January to October not a lot happened, and in November a bunch of publishers thought it was a good idea to have their games compete with Modern Blopfare and Field of Battles. At least Epic and Microsoft had the sense to get Gears of Beefcake 3 shipped in September so people would care about it for two months.
Ah, but that’s not the whole story, is it…
I’m the last person on the list so far to write one of these, so that means I’m going to tread some ground our other authors have already walked. That’s all right with me, though it does mean there may not be too many surprises on my list.
These are in no particular order, really. As with the other lists, I’m not saying “objectively, these are the best games made in 2011.” These are the games I primarily played in 2011, which define the year for me personally, and which I found most obsessworthy or worthy of conversation. I also decided, so as not to go on forever, to narrow this list down to games actually released in 2011, but I’ll mention other titles below.
Shockingly, I actually bought a game on launch day for a change, because the timing was right. This is another game where you pretty much know already if you really wanted it, in which case you’re probably a lot further in than me, who spent my first five hours with Skyrim yesterday after getting home. But if you’re one of those that’s on the fence, I’ll walk you through what my first impressions are with …
Our own Davo posted on the forums with this little bit of news: it seems Bethesda has, at long last, revealed the next Elder Scrolls game. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim involves… well, I’m betting it involves old scrolls and the province of Skyrim, at least. And judging from the Max von Sydow-narrated trailer, it might involve dragons too. See below!