So now that 2011 has fucked off and died and 2012 has gracefully flown in through our open windows with chocolates and apologies; it seems only fair to look back at the crumpled mess that was 2011 and give a little Eulogy before dowsing it in petrol and burning it.
So you might have gotten the impression that 2011 wasn't the best year for me from my introduction there and you would mostly be correct. I'm not going to wollow in personal greivances here but you can be rest assured that I'm not the only one who's considering 2011 to be a write-off. So the year in general is getting a panning from me, but there have been some redeeming moments and I will do my absolute best to recover these memories and highlights from my New-Years-Eve-damaged brain.
Gaming in 2011
2011 was actually a pretty fantastic year for gaming in my opinion, although this was mostly the case in November which saw the release of Saints Row the Third, Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and Rayman Origins. Of course there have been other good games released this year such as Dark Souls, Deus Ex Human Revolution and Xenoblade Chronicles (which I've yet to play in any appreciable amount).
But with highs come lows and some of gamings lows this year include the extremely slow start for the 3DS, which launched months before a good game was released for it, which turned out to be a remake anyway (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time). This was followed up by another remake of a N64 game, Lylatt Wars, which has been given the American title of Star Fox 64 3D which I refuse to acknowledge for a handful of reasons, only one of which is the extra difficulty in saying it. It wasn't until Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land came along that the 3DS has started looking like it might live up to expectations. But I'd like to make it known that if the 3DS actually takes off in the same way that the DS did before it it will be despite the 3D implementation rather than because of it. This is because 3D at best adds a few seconds here and there of immersion breaking gawking and at worst encourages lazy 3D ports of older games. But I haven't given up on the 3DS yet, especially with the promise of new offerings of Monster Hunter, Paper Mario and another installment in the "Tales of" series.
As it has been such a busy year for gaming recently I don't feel it would be fair to award game of the year seeing as how I haven't played a lot of the most recent releases. But having said that Skyward Sword, Skyrim and Dark Souls are actually looking like very strong contenders for the title. I might give you an update on this in the upcoming months.
Events of 2011
The events of 2011 are largely likely to be overlooked here but I feel a special mention ought to go out to all the dictators and "most wanted" type people who have been biting the dust this year. Even Kim Jong-il managed to pop off right at the end there just when we thought all our dictators were starting to look a little healthier.
Another more personal event of this year was the eventual launch of another online project of mine with my dear friend Joey. That's right after what was probably about 6 months of talking about it Joey and I finally launched our podcast and after an unexpectedly positive response we have managed to post 2 more up with the promise of a fourth one soon. We even have a name, a homepage and a Facebook group now. As a result of the unexpected popularity of the Still Not Happy Podcast my posts here at Inifinite Possiblogities have been at an all time low, with 2011 seeing substantially less posts than any other years. Hopefully 2012 will prove to be the year of the comeback in many aspects of my life, with this blog being a hopeful candidate. This brings me to my next topic.
The Broken Promises of 2011
As a once eager and proud parent who has now grown tired and jaded (yes, even more so) I feel it only fair that I acknowlege some of the promises I've broken to my readers over the year. I've already apologized multiple times for breaking my "I'm gonna post every week" promises but there have been some actual topics and that I've mentioned that I've failed to implement at all. I never got around to attempting any of those joke homework projects, despite a small number of submissions from fans (thanks guys, you know who you are) for which I am a bit regretful. I still like the idea of it and if I had thought of it in 2007 and 2008 I probably would have made some regular segments for it.
I also promised I'd review games such as de Blob 2, animes like Skip Beat and probably a bunch of other crap I don't even remember. I have decided to make amends and actually review, as best I can, both of these previously mentioned entities in my current "gotta make things right" blog-rush I promised in my previous post.
Some Other Disappointments of 2011 That Aren't My Fault
- The Inbetweeners Movie never fucking came to a cinema near me and I've yet to watch it.
- Since last year when I declared how excited I was for it I have not heard a single fucking peep about the new series of The Games which will be set in London. Hopefully it's coming this year rather than disappearing.
- Although a fantastic game, Skyward Sword has some irritating padding in it. The worst offender at present is a Dragon that, despite recognising that you are indeed the chosen one who is in a rush to save the world, feels the need to send you on a stupid fetch quest to round up tadpoles. She also flooded the forrest to rid it of the monsters, which at best just introduced more irritating underwater monsters. Fucking idiot dragon bitch.
- When Bad Meets Evil finally released an album/EP after about 9 years of doing nothing together. Eminem and Royce da 5'9" really bring out the best in each other here and it's a fantastic recording to listen to.
- I discovered that a Haruhi Suzumiya movie existed and I watched it on DVD just a few weeks back. It is almost 3 hours of rock solid heart-warming, emotional anime brilliance and marks the high in what was already one of my absolute favourite anime series.
- Not wanting to get too bogged down in anime but an even more pleasant surprise this year was a short anime movie called 5 Centimeters Per Second. It was a brilliant and touching experience and given that is runs for just under an hour you have no fucking excuse not to watch it.
The Future is Looking Brighter (What I've Got My Eye on in 2012)
At the moment I'm very excited to see if the wasted potential in Final Fantasy XIII finally becomes realized in its sequel Final Fantasy XIII-2 which comes out in February. The Wii U has got me very interested and excited for whenever it comes out this year. The next and final season of Breaking Bad is due to some along mid 2012 and given that the series has never been anything other than excellent I have no reason to be anything other than excited. The previous season didn't even end on a massive fuckoff cliffhanger this time which was quite pleasing. Of course there are many games for 3DS as well as the other current gen consoles that I'm keen to see.
Other than that I'm keen to fix up the mess that my blog has become and keen to expand on the Still Not Happy Podcast with Joey. The rest of the year may just have to be a pleasant mystery. So I'd just like to wrap up by wishing you all a Happy New Year and all the best for 2012.
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