Worst Games of 2011 (And Cowboy Santa Wallpaper)

Today's episode featured my lovely mother and the equally lovely Max Scoville. They kind of have the same haircut. 

Anyway, we talk about the worst games of 2011 this week. Max chose Duke Nukem, because duh, and I went with X-Men Destiny, because Max already chose Duke Nukem. 

This episode featured a background from the supremely talented Ted Martens, who is both a gentleman and a scholar, and I thought I'd make it available to you as a desktop wallpaper. Just click the picture below to grab it. Also check out Ted's excellent 8-bit fireplace simulator, available for download here. It's already replaced the DVD fireplace I use.

Yes, I own Fireplace DVD. It also features an aquarium. I'm a toolbox. Let it go.

(Hey, by the way, if you'd like to see Ted and I dressed up like cardboard robots and beating the crap out of each other while a cardboard dinosaur devours his heart, here's a picture)

You Guys, I Set a Terrible World Record

RecordSetter is an awesome organization dedicated to helping people set and share world records. They've got an excellent new book out and they've been touring the country holding live record setting events to promote it. I've been wanting to set a record with them forever, so I took the chance.

My record is a little... interesting. It's for "Most Times Having A Woman Spit In One's Face At A Romantic Dinner In One Minute." Let's not try to analyze what about me psychologically caused me to come up with the idea for this record. Instead, let's watch the hilarious video of women spitting in my face.

The official page for my official record

Most Underrated Games of 2011

Yesterday I had Ryan O'Donnell in the studio to talk about some of the games we thought didn't get a fair shake this year. 

I was pleasantly surprised by Rayman. It's such a nice return to the classic platforming style and (as you've heard ad nauseum) is just gorgeous. I have yet to jump into the co-op but I'm really looking forward to it. My only complaint: it could've been longer.

Outland was a tough sell for Ryan. The rough edges he draws attention to are absolutely there, and though the game falls a little short of the epic vibe it was going for, it's well worth the five bucks it'll set you back right now.

Stacking is just pure fun. I just love everything about it. I can't think of a single thing that could be done to improve it. It's got all the depth of style and humor you'd expect from Double Fine. I think its unique premise was hard for people to 'get' at first glance and many who would love it wound up giving it a pass.

What I'm Playing: Where is my Heart?

I love this game. It's everything I wanted from the Minis platform that I never got. It's also one of the first games I previewed in the dark ages of the internet. 

Something I didn't articulate in this video is just how adorable the dynamic is between the family of monsters and the sense of mood you really get from such a minimalistic style. Luckily Patrick Klepek did that with the game's designer in this excellent interview. So yay.

What I'm Playing: The Serious Sam Indie Series

I've never been a Serious Sam fan. Not because it's not a great franchise, I'm just not a big shooter guy. I've developed more of a respect for them since starting New Challenger, but I don't ever see it being a go-to genre for me. 

I've always loved the sense of humor associated with Serious Sam, though, and the way Croteam approaches things in general. They have a lot of fun with what they do. So I was really stoked when, a few months back, they started releasing the Serious Sam Indie Series. 

They approached a few indie developers that I really love and said "Make a Serious Sam game. Make it your own. Have fun." The results were pretty awesome, and I run them down in the video below:

Using Multiple iOS Devices to Recreate the Console Experience

Last week Mau and I took a look at games that use multiple iOS devices to change the way you play them. In most cases, this means a sort of console/controller setup where one device is the gamepad and the other is your "TV." Here's the AppJudgment episode with the rundown of the ones we loved/hated: 

Saints Row the Third with Kirk Hamilton

I'm not a big into the whole "tough guy sandbox" genre, so I'd never played through a Saints Row. Having finished Saints Row the Third, I have to say that this was an entirely different animal. Silly and stupid and fun in completely unexpected ways. 

It was great to sit and talk to Kirk about it - he wrote the Kotaku review of the game and is one of my favorite gaming writers out there right now. He had a lot of great things to say and such an encyclopedic knowledge of the industry. Check out the review below.

I Guest Hosted Destructoid Yesterday

I love the Destructoid Show. Max, Tara, and Zac have just created such a relaxed, fun, easy voice for video game news. I've been on it a few times now and it's always great.

In terms of production, it's good to see the process of other people covering the same field, but it's also just great for me because I started in-house at Revision3 right around the same time the Destructoid show did. Every time I host I can see how I've changed and gotten better on camera, how the Dtoid team has grown, and I walk away with a good idea of where I need to change things in the future.

Good times, you guys. Good times.

You can watch the episode below.

Oink and Skyward Sword with Kevin Rose

Last week I had Kevin Rose, creator of Digg, host of Diggnation, and CEO of Milk, in the studio to talk about Skyward Sword and his company's new app, Oink. 

I've been experiencing a bit of 'check-in/like app' fatigue lately, but I'm intrigued by the Oink's focus on things instead of places. You can check out the conversation about Oink and the episode about Skyward Sword below.  

Skyrim Review and Q&A with Bob Suicide

So, last week was all about Skyrim. It was my first Elder Scrolls game. Well, my first full Elder Scrolls game. I tried Morrowind about a million years ago and absolutely hated it. How'd I feel about this latest one? Well, lucky you, I got my thoughts on video. 

My guest was Bob Suicide. Not only was she super knowlegable and hilarious, she also sat for a session answering audience questions.

I have handily embedded both videos below using hypertext markup language! Technology!