The Community Spotlight - 02/08/2013
By ZombiePie 26 Comments
Notable Birthdays this week: Patrick Klepek, and BoG.
Game Nights and Community Activities
- Giant Bomb Community Tournament #1 StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm - Date Set for March 23rd - Get the Details Over Here!
Wonderful Wikis
This week we have a handful of big and notable game releases this week...and by that I mean two or three depending on how your gaming tastes swing. Regardless Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 is clearly the front runner as the most important game this week with Fire Emblem Awakening, Dead Space 3, and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time already being dead before they were released.Best of Blogs
The blog of the week this week comes from EpicSteve who has written an incredibly powerful and personal blog about how video games have helped him deal with PTSD and coming back home from a tour in Afghanistan. It's definitely worth a read if you haven't check it out so far. Another big notable this week comes from Rappelsiini who has hosted a community round-table project where users share their opinions about major questions and issues facing the video game industry and community. With the first wave of big games of the year community is a buzz about the recent releases this week. Phatmac explains why he enjoyed Ni no Kuni, but found that a lot of the game didn't really work for him, whereas Mikey2D has set out to play all of DmC and formulate his own opinion of the game free of the controversy surrounding the game. ArbitraryWater, our old game expert, decided to give Dead Space 3 a go and discusses why it went in the wrong direction in terms of its direction, and unfortunately dankempster talks about his fears about the new direction of Dead Space 3 pending its release. Menace to society Video_Game_King provides a weekly blog about his wacky and odd adventures in Dear Esther as well as MC Kids, while GrantHeaslip continues to give an update on his progress with his Final Fantasy XIII play-through. DevourerOfTime completes his blog series annotating the games he's most excited about with his top five most anticipated games of 2013, and blogging machine Mento has two major blogs this week one with a fun webcomic and the other detailing the weird world of Japanese video games. Dark_Lord_Spam has spent a good deal of time with Guild Wars 2 and explains why the lack of tutorials hurts the game for newcomers, and simultaneously thebigred explains why the art styles of most isometric RPGs aren't what he finds to be appropriate for the genre. Terra was Chubbaluphigouss first real MMO and he discusses how he feels about the game now that it's going Free 2 Play. mtmckinley is still playing Skyrim, but is making it a refreshing experience by adding a good deal of role-playing to his play-through. MetalGearSunny got a PlayStation Vita as a birthday gift and provides his impressions of the platform, D_W explains how his progress in making his own video games is going, and finally MisterBanaFoam gives you an update on his Donkey Kong 64 "endurance run."- Using Games to Escape Depression, Isolation, and PTSD (By: EpicSteve)
- Dialogue Options Vol. 2: Buying the Same Game (By: Rappelsiini)
- Phatmac Talks About: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (By: Phatmac)
- Making Up My Own Mind: DMC Part 1 (By: Mikey2D)
- I Play Modern Games (Dead Space 3) (By: ArbitraryWater)
- Dear Esther, I Have Yet to Find Ronald McDonald's Magic Bag (By: Video_Game_King)
- My Top 25 Most Anticipated Games of 2013 - Part 5 (5-1) (By: DevourerOfTime)
- A Minor Primer: Japanese Adventure Games & The Comic Commish - February '13 (By: Mento)
- Final Fantasy XIII Part 9: Taejin's Tower, Oerba, and Isolation (By: GrantHeaslip)
- Guild Wars 2's Biggest Flaw (By: Dark_Lord_Spam)
- The Direction That I'd Like to See Isometric RPGs Go... (By: thabigred)
- Duder's First MMO is Going Free 2 Play (By: Chubbaluphigous)
- An Orc Scoundrel - Part 2 (By: mtmckinley)
- When There's No One To Hear You Scream... (By: dankempster)
- Blog: Playstation Vita First Impressions (By: MetalGearSunny)
- Dave Make Game - Month 3 - There is No Month 2 (By: D_W)
- MBF's Retraux-Spective: Donkey Kong 64 - Part 6 (By: MisterBananaFoam)
Fantastic Forums
big_jon has reached the highest rank in Halo 4's and provides the most comprehensive and detailed review of the game you will ever read. Yummylee has created a forum post about the oddness of the Dead Space 3 Co-op mode. As already mentioned wish Patrick well in his surgery related to his broken collarbone. Finally check out the latest batch of Giant Bomb Bingo sheets that kre8havoc has created.- I Have Reached the Max Rank in Halo 4, Here is My "Review" (By: big_jon)
- So, the Coop (for Dead Space 3) (By: Yummylee)
- Get Well Soon Patrick! (By: Sackmanjones)
- Giant Bomb Bingo (By: kre8havoc)
Lovable Lists
The master of lists, Mento, graces us with a fun list of every game which have depicted video game characters in chains. Next we have Archlord with a list of his favorite games as well as why they have a close place in his heart.Useful User Reviews
- EXCellR8's user review of Dead Space 3
- feetoffthesky's user review of Antichamber
- punkcrisps's user review of Antichamber
- Deathpooky's user review of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
- _Mattallica's user review of Far Cry 3
- Gamer_152's user review of The Binding of Isaac
- UnhappyCanadian's user review of Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward