It was a month in the making, but here’s the video revealing your choices for Game of the Year. I’m hoping to do this again next year, but done better so yes, any problems you see or have seen, I’ll most likely address them next year. Fifteen people voted, over sixty games were slimmed down to just ten! Who won? Jump in to find out! ((Spoilers: It wasn’t Duke Nukem Forever))

MERRY OBLIGATORY ICE LEVEL DAY!! YAY! I hope you all are having fun! Today’s level comes with a TON of extras! It’s Robotnik Winter Zone, from Sonic Triple Trouble!

DYYYIIINNNGGG ugh how long am I going to feel sick? :< Anyway, it’s Obligatory Ice Level Eve! I hope you all are doing well and having fun! Today’s level is incredibly stupid, which is exactly why I included it. It’s Fort Frosty, from ClayFighter!

The PlayStation era was arguably when Square Enix were at their creative peak. After the release of Final Fantasy VII, Squaresoft received a large amount of profit from the game and decided to use the money to finance a series of innovative projects unlike any other video game released at the time. This involved the company dabbling in genres that they had never been a part of before, and in most cases, redefining the genre. To list a few example; Bushido Blade is one of the rare fighting games to change the Tekken/Virtua Fighter engine through limb targeted attacks that adds a layer of strategy that is not present in any other fighting game (other than it’s sequel, Bushido Blade 2), Einhander took the R-Type model and transformed it into one of only two SHmups that incorporate a well told story into in gameplay to give an added incentive to see how the plot unfolds (the other being Radiant Silvergun). Despite other experiments such as Brave Fencer Musashi, Tobal 1&2, Front Mission and so on, Squaresoft were still contributing to the RPG genre through continuations to their ongoing series like Final Fantasy VIII and IX, Legend of Mana and Chrono Cross, Square will also willing to release new IP’s that later went on to become cult classics (Xenogears anyone?). It is also during this period that Squaresoft provided the Final Fantasy Tactics director Yasumi Matsuno enough money to create his dream project: Vagrant Story: One of the greatest RPGs ever made.

HI MY STOMACH IS STILL REBELLING AGAINST ME but do I care? PSSHH NOPE! I care about ice levels! And that’s what I’m going to post about! Today’s level comes from one of the most beautiful 2-D games ever! It’s Winterhorn Ridge, from Odin Sphere!

Blue Shell launch imminent! The latest of the Mario Kart and 3DS bigshots is here, and bursting through our screen. Gear up as we take a look at the simply named Mario Kart 7 and see if it’s any good!

The Dragon Ball series has spawned tons of mangas, animes and video games, but this is no normal Dragon Ball Z game. The Legacy of Goku dives the series into the RPG genre, but does it come out alive?

MAN WHAT A MARATHON, HUH?! Raised nearly $20,000 for a great cause, saw some awesome runs, sang horrible music, gave out some wonderful prizes, gifted some fantastic indie games, decorated a ginormous paper tree, told funny stories, and I got to shove cold pizza down the back of Britt’s shirt! All in all, it was a great show. Sorry for not putting in more of an appearance, but this stomach virus is still dissolving my insides D: I SHALL PULL THROUGH, THOUGH! Thanks to everyone who donated, promoted, and watched! I hope you all come back for our next marathon!

Anyway, here’s the next ice level for Obligatory Ice Level Day. It’s cute! It’s fun! It’s The Ice World, from Croc: Legend of the Gobbos!

To start this retrospective off, I pose a question: What video game companies are notable for creating some of the best games on the Super Nintendo? Nintendo, Konami, Capcom and Square/Enix will probably be the most common answers as a large portion of these companies 16-bit work are considered timeless classics by the gaming masses. While other companies are also known for creating great SNES games, these are usually one-off endeavors. Examples of this include Human Entertainment’s S.O.S: The Human Escape, Athena’s BioMetal, Beam Software’s Shadow, along many others. This makes Quintet’s achievements even more incredible as not only did they create a slew of great SNES games of consistently great quality, they created ActRaiser: A bastion of game design that merges a well told story with a fun dual gameplay system (just like Bastion!). In short: Quintet could be considered the Monolith Soft of the SNES era. Most of their games weren’t released in the United States, they were constantly finding new ways to innovate the medium even if no-one else cared and out of all the games Quintet ever made, ActRaiser would be their Xenoblade.

One of the most hated Final Fantasy games in quite a long time also happens to be my favorite one. Recently I was thinking about Final Fantasy games and which one I would say that I liked the most, and I kept coming back to Final Fantasy XIII for some reason. Keep in mind I have only ever played  the original, II and VII through XIII, but still, in my experience, Final Fantasy XIII is my favorite.  I wanted to take this chance to really dig into the aspects that make me enjoy the game so much.