Toronto Thumbs

Auld Lang Syne
Goodbye, 2012. Hello, 2013!

It has been a busy 2012 here at Toronto Thumbs – perhaps our busiest year ever. It seems that there were a lot more games and other bits to cover, and we have tried to do our best to deliver honest and balanced coverage.

To all of the game developers publishers, entertainment companies, hardware manufacturers, and PR outlets that worked with us: thank you! And without great readers, it would be all for nothing; so, I would like to especially extend a heartfelt “thank you” and Happy New Year to all of our readers!

So what did I find so interesting about 2012? Read on!

Keeping Pace

There was a bit of a shuffle at the beginning of 2012 – but nothing that we couldn’t handle. When I took over the site in 2010, I would pray for content to publish every two days. Lo and behold, two years later, we have received more opportunities to cover things, bumping us up to multiple articles a day, in many cases*. I dare say that we met the challenge! Thanks to some fantastic writers, I feel like we have published great work practically every day!

Sully working hard? Or Sully hardly working? You decide!

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank the Thumbs Ninjas for their hard work and talent – so thanks, guys!

New Lingo

For the last two years, at the Sony Holiday Preview event, Ricky and I have conducted what seems to be our annual goofy interview of Matt Levitan from Sony Playstation Canada. And each year, Ricky has come up with a new entry for our lexicons to be thrown around in nerdy conversations.

In 2011, the nickname “Poppa Thumbs” was invented by Ricky – practically on the spot. That nickname seems to be sticking as folks still call me that**.

This year’s new word: “Thumbers”. Ricky came up with that moniker for our readers and viewers of our YouTube channel. As always, the man has a knack for coming up with hilarious shtick. Well done, Ricky. Incidentally, we conducted this year’s interview whilst wearing Winnie the Pooh paper party hats (for almost the entire duration).

Click the pic to watch the interview.

Trippin’

Aside from being invited to local events, we were flown out to San Francisco a few times to cover gaming events (check here and here). We were also flown out to Quebec to check out Cartoon Connection 2012 (looky looky)! It’s an honour and a privilege to be entrusted with these sorts of things – things that other people take for granted.

On top of these, we were also invited to the Canadian Videogame Awards to judge and take part in the festivities. In true Thumbs Ninja style, Rituro got himself some red carpet interview action.

What happens in San Francisco goes onto the internet right away.

Incidentally, Rituro received a kickass Christmas present, promising sound quality that match his San Francisco podcast, putting the West Coast office light years ahead of the Central Office in terms of recording technology.

Awesomesauce

From time to time, we enlist the help of every day civilians to help us with our good work. I know a guy named Steve who really enjoys baseball – far more than I do. So when I received the opportunity to interview Jose Bautista, I brought my pal Steve along to help me out. From what I gather, Steve asked Jose some great questions that the heavy-hitter isn’t typically asked – so it made for a great experience.

José Bautista and Steve Glover: the super-man and the super-fan.

There are instances where hijinks take a back seat and some serious opportunities to do some real good make themselves known. Toward the end of the year, we caught wind of two different people who were undergoing serious medical treatment. One of them is a kid! We wanted to do something special for them, so we reached out for help and received some great games to pass along to one of the patients, who was recovering from surgery and treatment. For the second deserving recipient (who is a kid), we received a nice portable gaming system with a memory card and some games to give to the brave lad, to help him during his recovery period.

A lot of people that we deal with in the gaming industry area always willing to lend a hand. It is pretty damned awesome!

Looking Forward

I was going to write about some of my favourite games and hardware from 2012, as well as examples of awesome work from other media sites***, but my favourite games should be obvious (there are a lot, both indie and AAA), and the happenings from other sites are not really for me to report.

2013 is going to be an awesome year, and I am blessed with creative friends and a supportive family that make it all worth it. So follow us, Thumbers! Follow us into the brave new world of 2013!

Posted in Awesome, From The Thumbs |