Toronto Thumbs

Friendly Fire
Why I Can’t Love Deus Ex 3…Yet

Warning: Lots of Deus Ex references in here. I would keep Wikipedia open for this one. – ed.

By now, most of the gaming world has seen the jaw-dropping cinematic trailer for Eidos Montreal’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Amidst a colour palette of golds and blacks we see a time before the dreary cybperunk distopia of the original Deus Ex – a pre-nano-augmentation time, ostensibly of hope and progress made chillingly real by the chunks of futuristic metal counting as arms grafted to protagonist Adam Jensen’s still-fleshy torso. The familiar names of Daedalus and Icarus –the dueling A.I.s from the first game– return in their original form as the classic Greek myth in Adam’s dream, wings bursting into flame as he flies not just close to, but into the sun. The towering sight of a glistening, dual-tiered city tells us that is definitely the future; just not a future so far gone that its fate and the fate of billions of plague-ravaged people lies in the nano-enriched hands of one conspiracy-shrouded enigma known only as JC Denton.

And yet I am afraid – so very, very afraid – to buy into the premise of a third Deus Ex game. Even with the release of a gameplay trailer, I can’t bring myself to feel anything other than fear that the brainchild of Warren Spector will be tarnished yet again.

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Friendly Fire
Bridging the Gaming Gap

The Heavy does not approve of children or girly-men playing his game.

The pleading voice came through loud and tinny through Steam’s voice chat: “But Rituro, I’m mature!”

I sighed. Once again, my little brother was making a desperate pitch to convince me that he should be allowed to play Team Fortress 2 so we could play together. His latest argument -much like his previous ones- focuses on the definition of the “M” rating that accompanied Valve’s seminal online shooter: if one felt mature, surely they were mature enough to play an “M”-rated game, right? Wrong.

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Holidaze
Our Thoughts On 2010

The end of the year is nigh and we have all played many games; both good and bad. We at Toronto Thumbs decided to share some of our thoughts about what we have enjoyed (and not enjoyed) over the course of 2010. For the most part, there are a number of categories. Even though some of us could not find games that fit each section, we still gave our all in those that we could.

Since I am lazy, I am going to update this post and keep it current. Be sure to stay tuned!

• Introduction
• Dana Russo’s Thoughts
• Jayson Young’s Thoughts
• Kat Armstrong’s Thoughts
• Mike Croft’s Thoughts
• Rituro’s Thoughts
• Jorge Figueiredo’s Thoughts

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Young At the Heart
Christmas In Tokyo

Dear Toronto Thumbs readers, I fear I have failed you. During my stay here in Japan at least two massive game launches—Pokemon Black (Burakku)/White (Howaito) and Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, specifically—have come and gone, and I wasn’t in attendance to cover either. That’s just irresponsible journalism, and for that I apologize.

My efforts to rectify these errors are twofold: for one, I have recently begun playing Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, in an attempt to understand just why it appeals so strongly to so many millions of Japanese dudes and ladies. For the other, I braved the human zoo of Akihabara today, prepared to traverse any terrain necessary to procure my copy of Square Enix’s latest would-be masterpiece: The 3rd Birthday.

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Young At the Heart
Halo Pokemon

This is an article written by Jayson when he first made it to Japan. I apologize for its tardiness, as it seems to have slipped through the cracks. It is still a relevant read. – ed.

We all saw the headlines in late September; participated in the discussion they generated. Halo Reach sells like gangbusters in North America, but barely dents the Japanese market! Meanwhile Pokémon Black and White sells billions! Nintendo to respond by attempting to shut down enthusiast websites!

Having just arrived in Japan, I took it upon myself to engage in a little cultural investigation. That week, I purchased a copy of Pokémon White, and, crazily, defied my new host country’s deep-seeded recommendations and heartfelt sentiments, and purchased an Xbox 360 (my first ever). Along with it I grabbed Reach because, hey, I’ve heard that that’s the kind of thing that Xbox 360 owners usually do.

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Open Mike
Gaming With the Kid

I have a four-and-a-half-year-old son who is quite the budding gamer. I suspect that one day he will surpass me in skill; some might tell you that he is pretty close to doing this already. I figured I’d briefly talk about some of the games we have tried recently that have been a big hit with both of us.

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Young At The Heart
Turning Japanese?

Jayson Young is effectively Toronto Thumbs’ foreign correspondent; living and working in some remote, mountainous area of Japan, he must wait for the Toad Gods to give him permission to use the internet to communicate with the rest of the world. He spends this limited time sending us his experiences in the land of the rising sun. Enjoy! – ed.

For many gamers of a certain age —specifically, those of us who remember a time when that apocryphal term “Nintendo tapes” was synonymous with “videogames”— Japan holds some kind of magical allure. Beginning in the late ‘80s and abating only recently, Japanese ubiquity was the order of the day in the home console market. Now, as the once-mighty trendsetting nation quietly becomes increasingly relegated to the handheld and “casual” (that is, purchased and then forgotten about, *ahem*) markets, one man sets out on a personal quest. That man is me; a Toronto gamer for most of my life, now sufficiently leveled-up and with enough muscle memory to tackle that shiny, far-off final dungeon. But I’m beginning to fear that my princess may be in another castle.

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