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Young At the Heart
Jayson’s End-of-Year List of Awesomesauce

Our correspondent in Japan (no matter how many times I type that it makes me feel like we are awesome) has come up with a list of his gaming faves for 2011.

Batman: Arkham City

In 2009, I named Uncharted 2 as my game of the year. But with the shiny pink goggles of retrospect now at my disposal, I look back and see that, in fact, the game I loved most from that year -and indeed, more than any game released since- was Batman: Arkham Asylum. Debating whether Asylum or City is better is beside the point – that’s like arguing about Licensed to Ill or Paul’s Boutique is the better Beastie Boys record. In both cases, we’re talking about consecutive classics, where the followup dramatically expands in scope and range while maintaining most of the key elements that made the original so beloved. Also: I got to punch a goddamn shark in the face!

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Young At The Heart
Checking In

Jayson has been absent for a while; lots has been going on. However, earthquakes and tsunamis cannot stop our intrepid Thumbs correspondent from Japan. – Ed.

Well, here in Japan, the rainy season has officially begun in earnest. From now until roughly the end of June, that means consistent grey skies and (sometimes torrential, for real) downpour. For the locals, it’s no big deal—friends and coworkers here are often surprised to learn that Canada only has four seasons—they’re used to this. But for me, rainy days have always meant a guilt-free excuse to laze about and play videogames.

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Young At The Heart
Games Of All Sorts!

As the gigantic fustercluck that is GDC descends upon San Francisco, at least one particularly fascinating debate has arisen. Chris Kohler, over at Wired, wrote this fascinating piece about the keynote showdown between Nintendo and Apple, and in so doing, has encapsulated the whole of today’s gaming landscape.

We’ve all seen the signs and heard the rumblings, and now it appears that this debate is finally going public. Does the future of gaming lie in cheap, quick-fix 99-cent apps, or retail-priced, Reggie Fils-Aime-approved ‘’experiences’’?

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Young At the Heart
Early Impressions of The Last Story

A couple of years ago, after Hironobu Sakaguchi released Lost Odyssey (2007), I read somewhere (it might have been here, actually) that his next game would be heavily influenced by Gears of War (2006). This -perhaps rightfully so- caused me unexpected amounts of concern and distress. I have loved JRPGs for as long as I’ve been gaming; to hear that even the godFFather himself wasn’t immune to the so-called ‘’charms’’ of surly space marines, I worried that, maybe, we had finally reached the end of these fantasies (sorry). After all, JRPGs, with all of their androgyny and melodrama and use of colour were the last bastion in the fight against ‘’gritty realism’’ and Angry Bald Dudes with Guns. Why, Sakaguchi, why?

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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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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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Young At The Heart
Heavy Reign?

Thumbs newcomer Jayson Young writes about how a game like Heavy Rain might be more than just a simple ripple in a puddle. – ed.

For evangelists of the games-as-art movement, it’s no doubt been heartening to see the blockbuster sales figures and overwhelmingly positive critical response surrounding Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain. Its development was a huge risk for Sony: they invested millions of dollars in a completely unproven, counterintuitive style of game. A marketplace that demands endless Gears of War clones and Modern Warfare knockoffs might foreseeably have ignored a piece of “interactive fiction” with a relentlessly depressing narrative. But Heavy Rain is a bona fide hit; arguably the most unlikely “Triple-A” title in recent memory.

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