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Toronto Thumbs

Not Actually News


Milestones
Toronto Thumbs: Turns 4!

By Jorge Figueiredo - November 14th, 2011

4-Anniv

Four years ago, Shaun Hatton started this review site. His original goal was to have a site where we reviewed nothing but delicious candy; however, game reviews were much easier on our teeth. While there have been a few changes over the years, Toronto Thumbs has always been interested in providing you our take on what we play. Framed as a conversation starters, our reviews are not so much about numbers as they are about how we feel.

I wanted to thank our current staff and everyone that reads and contributes somehow for everything. Without you all, this site would really just be me talking about Assassin’s Creed and Naruto.


Seezon’s Greets
A Message

By Jorge Figueiredo - December 25th, 2010

xmas-1

The current trend is to not actually give any specific kind of Holiday greeting, opting instead to be as general as possible so as not to upset anyone. Screw that noise.

I celebrate Christmas. When I say “Merry Christmas”, it is almost like I am giving you a hug; a hug from the core of my being. The math is simple:

Merry Christmas = My Best To You

So, Merry Christmas to all of our readers. If you have a specific greeting you want to share, post it in the comments! Share the warmth of the season, y’all!


Knowledge
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn

By Jorge Figueiredo - December 9th, 2010

gsdd-1
Click this pic to open a new window with a bigger version.

For folks playing Golden Sun: Dark Dawn that want to know how the new descendant characters relate to each other: take heart! We at Toronto Thumbs have quested to find this chart that breaks down how everyone is related (even across iterations of the game)!

Feel free to click on the picture above to enlighten yourselves!


Shout Out
Play Till Doomsday

By Jorge Figueiredo - October 1st, 2010

ptd

Fancy yourself a smartypants? Have you heard about Play Till Doomsday? No? Well I guess you’re not as clever as you thought. PTD is the blog portion of a transmedia initiative that looks at digital games as culturally significant entities; it explores games, play and culture by combining the ideas of academia with the practical experience of gamers.

The site is maintained by our very smart friend A. Brady Curlew. I highly recommend you click on the link at the end of this blurb and go learn yourself some stuffs!

Click here to get smarter! ยป


IN10
We Got Game

By Jorge Figueiredo - September 27th, 2010

wegotgame1
The beginning of a very interesting discussion.

At IN10, after lunch, a few of my friends from GameNorth and I attended a talk entitled “We Got Game”: a discussion about various trends (business models, publishing, marketing, etc.) that are changing all of the different gaming worlds, from casual to hardcore. It was an interesting presentation that surprised a few of us. I am going to focus on the first part, which I found the most interesting…

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OMG
Christmas Every Time

By Jorge Figueiredo - July 25th, 2010

OMG64

Growing up with technology gains one a reputation; labeled as ‘nerds’ and ‘geeks’, we trudge on, keeping up with technology with almost mythic levels of dogged determination. We shrug the name-calling aside; orn as is more often the case these days, we accept these labels, opting to wear them as badges of honour.

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How Are We Doing?
Housekeeping

By Jorge Figueiredo - May 5th, 2010

Housekeeping

So it has been a little while now, and I have noticed that the comments have all but disappeared, even though readership seems to be actually increasing. I am interested to know how we are doing as a site; what is working; what we can do better; are there really too few photos of Jackson on here?

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More Layton Deleted Scenes

By Shaun Hatton - August 25th, 2009

More Layton Deleted Scenes

It’s a sad fact that more people check out the Professor Layton Deleted Scenes than any other article on this site. I think I know why – It’s not because reading full articles is hard to do so much that the Deleted Scenes are freaking awesome.

So with that in mind, we’ve got some new ones from Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, and they’re somewhere on the site. If you can find them, you can see how this comic up top ends.


LAZY SUNDAY
The Fine Art of Game Covers

By Jamie Love - March 22nd, 2009

Fine Art

Admittedly, I am a wordy bastard. So it’s never hard for me to write endlessly on nearly any subject regardless of how ignorant about it I may be. I find the real challenge is in deciding what is or isn’t worth writing about. It’s a hard question, and one that was once the challenge of journalism – forced to make a decision about the importance of information because of the limited space available for those old methods of delivery. But today there is no end to news, and every piece of information is seen as relevant one way or another. So maybe I’m stressing over nothing.

Fine Art

EA recently showed off their fancy new cover art for the upcoming Pandemic title, The Saboteur. And I have to admit that it is probably one of the best I’ve seen in awhile. I’m not the first to suggest that game covers are generally terrible and unimaginative eye sores that meld into one hideous retina repulsing lump on the store shelf, and I won’t be the last. Since EA has contributed to this problem with some merriment over the years, it seems reasonable that they were about due for something worth praising. But I don’t really feel that I have anything relevant to add to this conversation, and so I was very unenthusiastic when asked to spin together an article about it. Ultimately there were two factors that changed my mind. The first, and most important, was that no one had signed my cheque yet this week. The second was that I came across another post, which claimed to list the forty best game covers of all time. That’s a pretty significant claim. But giving the list a once over, it seems to have been largely assembled by someone who went as far as the nearest GameStop and glanced around at the walls for twenty minutes.

So with that in mind, I figure I can put about as much effort into this by walking over to my own shelves to see what catches my eye today. Enticed? Read on!

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LAZY SUNDAY
Seven Games We Know Nothing About

By Jamie Love - March 15th, 2009

Lazy Sundays

This year has already seen some long-awaited game releases and yet there are still several unknown variables in predicting just how the rest of this year will unfold. Just how many lofty projects will be pushed farther away from our eager thumbs? Obviously there are numerous reasons why projects are delayed and information regarding this is sometimes scarce. The primary one is that developers enjoy our suffering, and in some cases have found new ways to subsist off of both our tears and agony.

As tribute to this lack of information, we’ve rounded up the titles that are most often discussed at the office in theoretical terms, because we remain completely ignorant as to the real details and are forced to imagine how ridiculously fantastic these games could be.

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