Destroyed Controller's Best of 2011 Awards

Here we are, yet again. The 3rd Annual Destroyed Controller "Best of" Awards. 

Cut the bullshit, let's get to the rules, which remain mainly unchanged:

1. GOTY for a specific platform must be a system exclusive title
2. With the aforementioned, multiplatorm titles have their own category to keep bitching to a minimum
3. With the addition of remakes/revivals and their own section, these games cannot be awarded, nor are eligible, for a GOTY award for a platform or genre
4. If a system was not played, a GOTY award will not be awarded (derp)
5. 2011's Eligible platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, (3)DS
6. Runners-up will be listed in the order of how well they permormed; the higher up the list, the more of a fight they put up.

Most of the categories introduced remain as well:

• Biggest Surprise - Something that completely floored me that it has to be mentioned...and given it's own award
• Don't Bother Releasing It - This is for those demos that were so damned bad, the game itself fell off of my radar.
• Worst Game of the Year - This ain't just for the best game of the year, but I'm awarding a Razzie to the worst game of the year.
• Most Anticipated for 2012 - Self explanatory.
• Best and Worst Idea - Essentially, things that came from people's thought-processing pool of thoughts that either were awesomely epic, or epically horrendous.
• Action/Adventure, First and Third Person Shooters, Role Playing Games and Platformers are all under the whole "Genre" moniker.
• Best HD Compilation - With an abundance of these little fuckers making a larger appearance, I've decided to give them some attention this year.
• Most Underrated Game - Working retail, you try your goddamned hardest to get people to listen to your recommendations, but all they want is the same fucking thing over and over. People are afraid of change, so this is where I give recognition to those games that were overlooked, and shouldn't have been.

Without further adieu, here are your DestructiCon GOTY 2011 winners:

Just Discovered MGS HD Collection's Limited Edition, Realizes US Got Shafted

[UPDATE] So I bought it. GameStop was selling it for $60 brand new, and holy fucking ass crackers, that art book is delicious.

Here's my problem: I love Metal Gear Solid. Like, a lot. Enough to get pissed at the fact that there was a collector's edition of the HD Collection that came out and didn't learn about it until the UK version's limited edition was announced today.

Before I show you what the Brits are getting, let me remind you what the US got:

• "Limited" packaging with special packaging featuring a profile shot of Snake drawn by Yoji Shinkawa (it could be Ashley Wood, but who knows).
• 250 page artbook
• $80 price tag
• That's it

The image fluffs out what comes with it. It's pretty paltry - but I would LOVE to get my hands on that artbook - but let's take a look at the Japanese edition before we see what the Brits got:

• Yoji Shinkawa illustration
• Soundtrack
• Art-book

For the "extra" special edition:

• All the above, plus...
• MGS2/3 "mug cups"
• Headphones
• Bag
• The above Peace Walker is essentially the same, but a Peace Walker themed mug, and a Kazuhira Miller Play Arts Kai figure

You think that's fancy? Oh, it's fucking swanky. Here's the recently-announced UK version:

• Steelbook packaging that's all nice and colorful
• The same artbook that's across all three regions
• That awesome shirt

The Steelbook alone is worth admission, and the shirt is just the icing on top. Sadly, Zavvi wants £70, which is the equivalent of $110 (mai gawd). 

Thanks for the love, Konami. And before you jerks say "at least you got it first", hey, at least you're getting the damned thing. It'd be different if the Collection was US only, but hey, you're still getting the game.

Microsoft Shits on Xbox Indie Devs...Again

With the aftermath of the Fall 2011 Xbox "Metro" Update clearing (what with server downtimes, the 10am software push not hitting until several hours later and all that jazz), Microsoft has, yet again, gut-punched their Xbox Indie devs with terrible sorting options and incorporating the Indie games elsewhere asides from a 2200-title-long list of all Indie games.

When the NXE first hit the Xbox some 3 years ago, Microsoft shunned Indie devs by corralling them into a deep, dark, dank corner of the 360's GUI. When Indie's first heard of it, a shit-storm brewed. Microsoft apologized and issued a server-side update that pushed Indie's to a more prominent position on the Game Marketplace.

Now, with the Metro update, Microsoft is at it again, pushing the Indie devs further into aforementioned secluded corner of the Game Marketplace, alongside Xbox Originals and other games Microsoft feels aren't doing too hot.

The above video, uploaded by YouTube guy GameMarx, splices in lines of "truth" when Major Nelson utters a few lines about the Metro update, then for a good 5 minutes, shows how bad Indie devs have been beaten into a corner.

I, myself, have only downloaded one Indie game, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1, is fairly fun. However, I haven't kept tabs on what Indie games are good and which ones aren't so hot. Besides that point, and as I've made clear throughout the history of this blog, I'm in early pre-development of my own game, Project Mercury, and I would hate to have my game, along with my brethren, treated in such a manner.

How do you go about making sure Microsoft knows that they took a huge shit on Indie devs? Link to this post, any post, about what Microsoft has done, and share the above YouTube video with others. Cause a stink, rile up some friends, hell, email Microsoft's Xbox division and tell them what they've done. Hopefully they simply forgot, what with all the ad-space they now have with the Metro update...

Chair's Customer Service Line Kinda Sucks

With Infinity Blade II's release out and about for a week now, people are complaining left and right about issues they've had with IB2. I've found myself in that crowd. 

And what do you do when your game doesn't work properly? Why, take to the internet, of course!

I found myself on Chair's help page for all things Infinity Blade, and I found an email to send Chair any complaints about the game. Here's what I sent them:

Subject: Infinity Blade 2 Game Save Crash/Swipes Not Registering 

Since I've installed IB2, my game save does not want to, well, save. My swipes during battles for sword slashes aren't fully registering, as well as dodging doesn't fully work for me. 

My game saves seem to just disappear after each time I close out the app just by hitting the Home button, but it also happens when I remove the app from the multitasking drawer (double-tap Home button). I have GameCenter and iCloud set up fully with no problems on any other end on either service. My IB1 save is intact, as well.

During battles, only a handful of swipes are actually going thru. I'll keep swiping like crazy across the screen to see that only a small percentage actually causes my character to slash his sword. Dodging doesn't fully work for me, either, and in the rare occurrence, I'll hit the dodge button, my character doesn't move, but when the enemy attacks, the attack goes right thru without dealing damage (my character doesn't even react to the attack). I'm also experiencing bad recognition in IB1 with attacks, but dodging works just fine.

I'm running iOS 5.0 on the iPhone 4. Seeing as I've had no other problems with any other game in the same instance that I've had with IB1/2, updating to 5.0.1 doesn't seem to be a viable solution (I highly doubt the OS is at fault). I've deleted and reinstalled IB2 after experiencing bad game saves, and still I'm experiencing the same problem. I've checked to see if multiple characters have been created, but only one slot is active. I've also gone thru the FAQ available on the Infinity Blade's site, and what is available for troubleshooting either doesn't work or isn't applicable.

Any word on any known issues plaguing the IB2 servers hat could be causing these issues?

Thanks in advance, 

Tim

 Now what did I get in response to my lengthy email about how broken the game is for me? Take a gander:

Hello and Thank You for contacting Epic Games, Inc.,

Thanks for purchasing Infinity Blade II!  We hope you like the game, and we're very sorry to hear that you are having some trouble. 

Thanks for helping make us aware of this issue - we'll investigate it to fix in a future update. 

Best regards,

Steve

Really, Steve? That's the best you've got?  I don't think I can enjoy the game when my save files are being deleted and I can't attack an enemy worth shit.