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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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Check This Out!
Jam City Rollergirls

When I was a kid, I remember catching glimpses of roller derby on Saturday afternoons. It came on after WWF wrestling and oddly, my mom thought it was too violent and made us turn it off. I will always remember those tough-looking women skating around an oval track, body-checking and slamming each other into the rails.

It is now 2011; as you may have heard in the past few years, roller derby has come back with a vengeance. Leagues are showing up all over the place -including Toronto- and pop culture is getting on the band wagon as well. Witness the awesome 2009 movie Whip It and Pamela Ribon’s excellent book Going in Circles. It is about time that someone made a video game about the sport.

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Posted in Check This Out!, Reviews, Wii, WiiWare | 1 Comment »

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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Check This Out!
Rebecca’s Quick E-Reader Guide

While the almighty Kindle is pretty cool, there are other options.

Chances are good that over the holidays someone in your family was given an e-reader or some sort of device on which e-books can be read. Chances are also good that, as Chief Technical Wizard in your family, you are being asked how one goes about using said device. Never fear! As someone whose job title includes “The Woman Who Knows Everything About E-Readers” I can walk you through almost everything you will need to know.

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Posted in Check This Out!, Gadgets | 3 Comments »

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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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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Posted in Commentary, Young At the Heart | 4 Comments »

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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