Colin’s Quarantine Diary: Week 8

Each week in these intros, I try to find something remarkable about the past week. Though this week, not much is coming to mind. Well, other than all the bad stuff that’s going on. I suppose yesterday was mother’s day, though I don’t think many people managed to have typical mother’s days, and if they did they probably shouldn’t feel great about it. But I can’t point too much blame on people who are trying to have some semblance of actual human contact with the people they love. It’s hard. It’s all hard, and if we get to see our friends or family soon, that will be swell. But for now, there’s still the comfort of music and movies and whatnot. Continue reading →

Colin’s Quarantine Diary: Week 2

So this is just life now?

I’m sure this is the thought many of us had this week, as I know I found myself getting used to the routine of working from home, doing indoor activities at night, and going for the occasional walk as long as I keep my distance from strangers. It’s a strange thing for the world to be so quiet when it’s simultaneously falling apart. I guess this period gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “dying on the inside”. But enough moroseness. Yes, things are tough, but there is still enjoyment to get out of life’s little pleasures, and I’ve found that the most enjoyable time has been when I’m not looking at the news. Which of course brings me to the various distractions that have been keeping me sane. Continue reading →

Sean’s Top 10 Video Games of the 2010s

What can I say except that it feels really good to finally be at the end of eight weeks of list-making fun. Every decade in the history of video gaming has seen massive technological and business practices, and the 2010s were no different. In the past 10 years, Nintendo had a rise and fall and rebirth between the 3DS, Wii U, and Switch. Microsoft and Sony switched places as the dominant home gaming system manufacturer, setting the stage for another epic console war to begin this fall. New innovations in the mobile, augmented reality, and virtual reality spaces created whole new ways to play (the first Kinect came out in 2010). Ten years ago, companies like EA tried to kill of used game sales with annoying online passes, nowadays they might have succeeded thanks to the creation of subscription services like Origin Access and Xbox Game Pass. Plus, now that every game is a “live service,” who can afford to sell their games anymore?

On the flip side, identifying as a “gamer” has never felt worse. For my whole life, I liked feeling part of a community, and I always championed the positive aspects of gaming. The Gamergate controversy really changed that, and personally, I never really recovered an interest in participating in online communities. Which is a shame, because I know there are a ton of great people out there. Most folks I meet a PAX Prime seem nice, there are plenty of writers and YouTubers I adore. But there’s this horrible, misogynistic, racist stink on gaming now that I’ll never be able to totally ignore. It feels like once the nerds realized they had the numbers and the power, they became even worse than the bullies. But enough about this sad thought, let’s talk about some of my all-time favorite games!

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Sean’s Top 10 Video Games of 2019

Well, unlike some other media, it would be hard to make a case that 2019 was the year of the decade for video games. With aging hardware and new consoles looming on the horizon, this last year was all about keeping on keeping on. Games as a service continues to be a thing, with the added wrinkle that game subscription services really hit their stride with the massive success of Xbox Game Pass. I guess it sort of became a year about catching up with stuff for best of the decade and wrapping up this console generation. It didn’t help that some of the year’s most exciting titles either disappointed (Anthem) or slipped into 2020 (DOOM Eternal). Oh well, plenty to look forward in the months to come!

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Sean’s Top 10 Video Games of 2018

With the massive success of Fortnite, it has become impossible to deny that we are in the era of games as a service. Frankly, I’m happy to see the industry moving away from traditional DLC and season passes and embracing the idea that if people want to keep playing a game, that should be encouraged without fracturing the community by demanding a premium. On the other hand, single player games have continued going in the direction of the likes of The Witcher 3 and Breath of the Wild, delivering increasingly complex, mechanically deep, gargantuan experiences. Basically what I’m saying is that it’s getting harder and harder to try to cover the entire medium by myself each year, especially since I also try to keep up with movies, TV, and music. So, yeah, this top 10 is essentially the 10 games I liked enough to beat. Anyway, this is the end of our 2018 lists, so let’s get to it.

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Sean’s Top 10 Video Games of 2017

I wonder if 2018 will be the year I get back into video games? The past few years, being a gamer has become something of a secret shame, since you could argue that the alt right came out of the Gamergate controversy. Plus, video games are the most time-demanding media to make a hobby out of; it takes way more time to play a game than it does to check out a show or a watch movie or listen to an album… I guess reading books maybe take longer. Anyway, after watching the Last Jedi backlash, I’ve been reminded that all fans are terrible and just because other, bad people like a thing doesn’t mean I can’t like it too (I hope).

So I wish I had played more games last year. I regret not getting to play Divinity: Original Sin II the most, it looks so good and I never even bought it. I had a policy last year, it was my New Year’s resolution, to only buy a game if I was going to play it that night. Even with that, I still ended up with copies of Splatoon 2 and Persona 5 that I never got around to because I’m a sucker for that Prime 20% discount thing. I hope to do better this year.

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Sean’s Top 10 Video Games of 2016

As I spend my days now looking forward to the Nintendo Switch, I can’t help but remember this same feeling a year ago, when I was dreaming of finally getting my Oculus Rift. Little did I know that a few months later, a preorder communication/shipping fiasco would result in me switching over to the HTC Vive. Yeah, there was a lot of unexpected chaos in 2016, you might’ve heard.

Typically, late December and January is when I would do the most gaming, catching up on titles I missed out on now that they’re on sale, but that never happened. For a while there I got really sick and decided I only had enough energy to watch Terrace House. So anyway, even though I’m now frantically trying to get through Final Fantasy XV, The Last Guardian, Stardew Valley, Thumper, and a few others, I’m just going to have to write something about them independently when/if I finish them. Like my other lists, these are the games of 2016 that I liked in 2016.
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