Good evening, Destructoid.



With the Thanksgiving holiday this Thursday, I'll have been a part of the recap team for a full year. I always respected what Ceark and the other volunteers did for the site, but it took me a while to nut up and volunteer myself. It's been a lot of work, but I don't regret a minute of it. When I began, I had two objectives: perform a service to the community, and try to get my name (or avatar, at least) out there a little, so I wouldn't feel like such a face in the crowd. While the success or failure of the first objective is not something I can objectively judge, the latter has been very successful, and I thank you all for that. My service here gave me the confidence to introduce myself at PAX this year to many of you, and to send friend requests on services like Steam and PSN to many others. If you've read my 10 things post, you know that opening up to people is a struggle for me, but the feedback and support the recap blogs get are a fine motivator. I rarely have time to post my own blogs... you've probably noticed that my personal blog hasn't been updated since August. The -isms section here has provided the outlet that my own blog once provided.

I thought you might like a little behind the scenes insight into the recaps. Recap team business is handled on Google groups. We report to Conrad Zimmerman, who was doing the recaps for like three days of the week before he got greyscaled and kicked upstairs. Although we have a template for use on the Google group page, I keep a .txt document on my desktop that I can copy and paste a blank recap into the browser. I use IE and Firefox simultaneously to do recaps... I read the blogs in IE and do all the copy-pasting in Firefox, because it autosaves changes made. Recaps are, just like any other blog, posted in BBcode. As a result I've gotten a LOT better at BBcode since I began. Each recap takes me between 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours, depending on how many blogs there were that day and their length. I do read every blog from beginning to end to try to find the best category match, but sometimes there's just something that doesn't fit and the ?- category is pressed into service.

I do my best to include each blogger's name with their blog's tagline, so it's easier for them to find in the recap. The exceptions to this are the Fail and Could Be Better categories-- I try to spare people's feelings, if only in a small way. I never post a name with either of these two categories.

In closing, here are a few of my favorite moments from the last year. It always seemed as though I was the one on duty whenever a meme hit the blogs...

My first recap, from Thanksgiving 2008.
10 things. This is still my favorite meme.
Why I love Destructoid, the daily post...
And the special edition.



*-Dexter's Musing shines the harsh light of reality on procrastination.
*- Kauza.
*-Megastryke.
*-New meme inbound: #Stackyourgadgets.
*-Pixelated Lilac wrote a great Musing about one of my favorite games from the last generation-- Eternal Darkness.


A-TheMizarkShow wrote about his disappointment with Nintendo. I agree with most of it, but I don't think NSMB Wii would necessarily be improved with online Co-op. That game's chaotic enough without adding lag to the mix.
A-GDHamell wrote about the struggle against censorship, and how it's sort of a rite of passage for each type of new media.
A-Novakaine has some helpful suggestions to Capcom for the inevitable Resident Evil 6.
S-Most of the major releases are now available, so why not let NihonTiger90 know What'd You Get?
P-Podcasto del borracho con Knivy está ahora disponible.
P-Your princess is in another podcast recorded episode 2 earlier. And here it is.


Nope.


Nuh uh.


N-Crunshii brings us some news about the Cell processor, the heart of the PS3.
N-Zippyduda wants to alert our friends in Great Britain about the Digital Economy bill. It's bad. Real bad.
R-Balth wiped the blood from his eyes to review Dragon Age: Origins on the PC.
R-Perhaps inspired by the awesome Crysis mod on the front page, Rider Chop did a retro review of Back to the Future on the MSX.
R-Yakulto27 reviewed Modern Warfare 2 for all three platforms.
T-UberSunTzu thinks Assassin's Creed 2 might be a little better if it were a little worse.
T- BillytheK1dd thinks you should try AC2 even if you were put off by the repetition in the original.
T-Locke thinks Infinity Ward might have pulled something shady.
T-HBL has been playing one of the overlooked titles of the holiday hype season: Tropico 3.
T-Grimhound thinks Gearbox and 2K are making the PC version of Borderlands a lower priority than the console versions.


A-SuitcoatAvenger brings arty goodness to the cblogs once again.
M-Everyday Legend takes command of the red and green turntables of dTunes for the week.
F-Analoge's Mindf*ck Monday movie this week is The Fall.


V-OGmaster's list of the 10 saddest gaming moments, in video form.
V-Mudkip5000 and friends made a L4D2 themed video.
C-Promoting your other blogs with a new blog post just seems a little unnecessary. Maybe it's me.
C-This isn't Yahoo Answers. It's OK to ask questions, but this type of thing would make more sense as a forum post.


F-Parody or no, this is unacceptable.
F-Error, for sho'.
F-Dammit, three in a row. I need a drink.
F-I don't usually fail people's first efforts. Unless there isn't any effort.
F-Take it to Twitter. This post only has 70 characters, so you could fit it in there twice.


-(Qalamari)

FPoTD

So I spent all day Saturday at a Modern Warfare 2 LAN party. It was pretty disappointing considering Infinity Ward has disabled the ability to gain experience during LAN play. Absolutely nothing you do counts toward advancing your character. It's extremely annoying and it completely ruined the game for all of us. We attempted to go online, but getting all 9 people online from one location was not the easiest thing in the world. Suffice to say, MW2's LAN capability is complete crap and will probably make it a game that is never played at LAN parties.

Honestly, Modern Warfare 2 is about the only thing I've played the last week. I finally beat the single player, and that was some completely over-the-top shit. Did anyone else get completely confused as to what was going on plat wise those last 3-4 missions. I was having no problems following the story up to that point, and then the game just lost me. I personally think the ending to Modern Warfare 1 was much much better.

I'm just really looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday this coming weekend. I'm gonna use the time to catch up on some other gaming, which includes DJ Hero, Brutal Legend, Batman: AA, and probably New Super Mario Bros Wii. Trust me when I say that Wednesday night can't get here soon enough.

Well that's enough about me. Let's get on with the weekend cblog recaps shall we.






*-Wry GUy writes the definitive blog on how to properly use Goozex!

*-Elsa thinks you should give Online gaming a try if you haven't yet, no matter how many annoying assholes there are out there. You should listen to Elsa, she is wise beyond her many considerable years!

*-Slique created a giant Mega Man mural on his wall. Freaking awesome!

*-This might not be the best blog, but everyone needs to watch this video!



A-Animated Toupee explains why he loves Steam so much.

A-Monodi doesn't think that companies make sequels anymore, just expansion packs.

A-AfroWalrus explains why games are not movies or books.

A-Armless-Phelan lists some of the most insane bosses ever.

A-G-off thinks that parents should do a better of researching videogames and the messages they are teaching children.

S-Goodwill Hunting Episode 1: SNES and the Blank Cartridge. Would you buy a game with no label on it?



E-Trev is giving away a God of War 3 demo code.

E-Electro Lemon is giving away a Scribblenauts hat for this Jim Sterling image caption contest



E-ShiMuNi Night: New Moon Edition.

E-A new Destructoid Steam group has been created. Join now!

S-WalkYourPath has become a Staff Writer at Gamer Limit!

S-Congratz Manasteel88!

S-Animated Toupee threw a Windows 7 house party ... and decided to share pictures form the experience. Lots of alcohol was involved just FYI!

S-Ygro wok updates us on his gaming week (11-22-09)

I-Dragracedude introduces himself to the community



N-It appears that Bandai Namco is putting out a new Digimon RPG.

N-Is Valve going to bring the original survivors into L4D2?

V-Here's an interesting video of a map you can use to get better at TF2. It's pretty awesome actually.

T-I can't believe there is a person that exists who played Portal and didn't like it

T-Ozz236 talks about some iPhone games he enjoys playing.

T-Anastu shares his thoughts on the whole MW2 PC fiasco

T-TheDRMaster thinks campers have ruined the MW2 multiplayer experience

T-Jonathan Holmes is excited about Bit.Trip VOID and you should be too!

T-Bauhouse would rather be playing retro PC games than retro console games.

T-Brandon Holmes thinks Modern Warfare 2 is a great game, with a lot of flaws.

T-RoboLeader wonders why no one else liked Crysis.

T-Neo Gio wonders if video game characters are getting fat.

T-TeepotheGreat wonders if 2-D fighter are back, or if they are just hanging by a thread.



A-Whoah, it's a video game themed X-mas parade float with Mario and Halo.

M-Hear some song samples from Blip Fest '09.



R-Bauhouse thinks Nintendo is going to be handing out a lot of Pink Slips soon.

L-There are simply no words. This you just have to see for yourself!



F-Oh this is going to be fun ... buckle your seat belts everyone, it's going to get ugly ...

F-... some one had to actually give birth to this person and somehow attempt to raise them ...

F-... Unfortunately that poorly raised individual has made their way to Dtoid to punish us all ...

F-... but at least the header image is fun to look at ...

F-... actually, the longer I look at the header image, the more I feel my soul getting sucked away into oblivion ...

F-... and then it finally comes to an end .... WTF was that all about?

F-Ha-Puken, you should know better.

F-W .... T .... F .....

F-Blatant advertising of your off-site blog is not acceptable.

F-Why has there been so much FAIL this weekend. Where have all the good writers gone?

F-Why God .... WHY!!!!!!!


-(SilverDragon1979)

FPoTD

Friday's recaps didn't arrive because Mouse was feeling the sting of DRAMA. Someone needs to swoop in and save the day. We need... RESCUE HEROES!!!




*- Here's an eye-opener: There are no American civilians roaming in Modern Warfare 2. Hmmm...

*- I LOVE BRAWL IN THE FAMILY.

*- VVVGamer played Forza 3 then raced for real! Awesome!

*- Dead blogs. I feel ya, Wry Guy. I feel ya, brother.

*- Holmes's two-day Bit.Trip Void countdown kicks off with some Ikaruga comparisons.

*- JOURNALISM: The Road Warrior!

*- We are blessed by BulletMagnet. He works so hard for us.


A- I think it's about video game criticism, but the big words hurt my wittle bwain.
S- Prince Wendell returns to Tomb Raider.
S- dTunes, Shin Oni's Magnum Opus, Day 5: Tunes from Shinobi and fighting games.
M- You let Meryl die, you demon.
P- Drunkcast 16 is on the way.


E- Zoel brings the noise to Fatal Destructoid.


F- Friday night zombies for the Euro folk.
F- The PS3 warriors lead the charge.
F- Don't leave the PC crew 4 dead!
S- Klipsched plays games, pimps his site.
C- Help Sentry a bunch by watching his video.
I- VendettaXXI is here! Yay!
I- ThrashingLimbsEd greets us with LIST WARS!
B- Zen Albatross is Jack Bauer.


N- False alarm. The new Sony Online revenue system is not a big scam.
N- MW2 is responsible for most of the crazy 'round these parts, lately.
N- Firefox on PS3?
N- OMG JOURNALISM! Spike VGA is biased!
V- Atlus has a trailer for 3D Dot Zelda.
R- Oh hay, unangbangkay wrote about a Macross game.
T- The piracy must stop.
T- Could WH40k: Space Marine be the next L4D.
T- I fail to see how a two-year-old NMH port is a sign of Nintendo getting shafted, but whatever.
T- Does MW2 PC still have online issues? Yes. Yes, it does.
T- LIST WAR! Coonskin's top 10 NES games.
T- MORE LIST WARS! These are what Wintersocks will be playing this winter.
T- callmeAlex considers the pros and cons of the HD NMH port.
T- LIST WARS REDUX! DinosaurPizza's seven games that defined him.
$- Here come Gemsi's UK bargains.


A- Consider myself spoiled by this Layton comic. Dammit!





F- You, too!


[ m e g a S t r y k e ]

FPoTD

Dead blogs.

Where did everybody go? Past few weeks, folks just vanished. Is this just a Thursday thing? Bums me out, man.

Here, have some tasty jam. JAM Project, that is.




*- Celebrate commercialism by buying some stocking stuffers from the Dtoid Artisans!

*- Alexander Shen's comic and musing may have just sold me on Fossil Fighters.


A- Don't read this. Hold out for the re-release with added bonus content.
S- dTunes, the Shin Oni Paradigm, Day 4: Anime openings.
M- It's easy to do the wrong thing when your neighbors are total dicks.





S- Qwikstreet's 360 just got "Bayonetted."
S- Once again, stewie gets paid to do shit that the rest of us do for free.


N- It's Mario time in this week's Euro releases.
N- Aussies in Queensland clamoring for the R18+ rating make a real petition, not a bullshit Internet one.
N- This is your Dragon Age: Origins DLC.
N- Get your Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta keys right over here!
N- A candidate for this year's Darwin Awards.
N- Europeans with PS3s finally get video downloads.
V- X-Play has got some Super Street Fighter IV trinkets.
T- A brief look back at how the whole "killergames" deal in Germany began.
T- The current gen can't do survival horror right.
T- Modern Warfare 2 spoilers, piping hot from the oven.
T- Gamers come in all shapes and sizes.
$- Wal-Mart is gonna have a BLACK Friday, indeed.


A- Niz whipped up some nifty Canabalt art.





S- We landed on the moon!
F- You can dress up a monkey in the fanciest garments, but it's still a poo-flinging monkey.
F- A good 'ol Nintendo lynching! Haven't had one o' them in a spell!
F- I'm happy for you and all, but this post is both shameless plugging and content-lacking.


[ m e g a S t r y k e ]

FPoTD

Let it not be said that I never write anything in this space, I probably gab on for far longer than anyone else in fact. Never mind that today though, I have Assassin's Creed 2 arriving tomorrow. Yes I know I'm a day or so behind everyone else but screw that, I hate everyone who's been playing it since Tuesday.

What I will fill this space with is a little something I'm planning on bringing to the Cblogs sometime next week. If you read Negative Gamer (a site about which I have an embarassing amount of jokes) then you may have seen what are internally called the iGame recaps (or that column I never have done in time). Well I'm bringing that series to the Cblogs, I'll have a more details prep post up later this week but basically I play all the games put up on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel in a week and then pass judgment. It's extremely cathartic and has given me loads of great games over the 7 months I've been doing it. Hopefully it'll remain as important to me after the move.



* - WOO! SilverDragon is OLD!



A - Some ideas from Coon on how to make FaceTweet on the 360 worth a shit
A - Ranting about people whining about SSF4
S - Shin Oni's in charge of dTunes this week
S - AniWednesday is back this week
P - Refused Classification fail at not swearing



I'll remember a funny picture for this bit sometime



C - Where does mobile gaming go from here?
C - RPGist is boycotting Assassin's Creed 2 because he's a Templar.
I - You know, I should fail this but it's Gameboi returning. I just can't do it.



N - The Fatal Frame 4 translation is almost done
N - IWNet compromised, also features the Jamie Hyneman walrus
R - Badly written but coherent Borderlands review, don't post in Chrome dude
R - Killatia's annoying voice reviews BlazBlue



A - Macarratti does some rather nice videogame movie posters
M - Chiptune sir?
M - Also some music from 3D Dot Heroes



R - Pure random, State sex moves (without pics, so pointless)
? - This is about WoW I think, it kinda devolves into some mad homeless guy shouting at Activision



F - Failing this though, take it to the forums
F - Any excuse to fail Ent.
F - This shit doesn't pass
F - This neither, a poster and a link does not a blog make
F - A failblog about a fail story

>NJ

FPotD

Late recaps are late, due mainly to the fact that I had...a sleepover last night. Yeah, a bunch of my pals came over, and we all got into our footie pj's and watched The Last Dragon and Hard Candy. There is no real situation where those movies should be shown together, but then again, I have some really fucking weird friends. If you've never seen The Last Dragon, then you don't know about the glory that is Sho Nuff. Google that shit and enjoy. It's blaxploitation at it's finest. As for Hard Candy, well...it'll make you think twice about talking to young girls online. As if Chris Hanson hadn't ruined that for you as is.

Enough about films, let's get into games. In today's recap, we've got a bevy of incredible Monthly Musings, the passing of The Age of Mascots, and blatant racism, of course.



*-Umm...wow. Who knew that Pong and Tetris were so fucking evil?

*-In this interesting Monthly Musing, nekobun finally blows the lid off this whole Pokemon thing.

*-megaStryke wants you to assess the games that you purchase, and see if you can't break out and get some different games.

*-EdgyDude lives up to his name and gives us a great blog about political correctness in games.

*-goodgamer77 uses his Monthly Musing to look at why we do th evil that we do.

*-GAT DAMN Funktastic! The compulsive collector just bought his 1000th game! Shit.

*-A great Monthly Musing about the most terrible thief ever, Link.

*-SURPRISE! kauza wrote an incredible blog today! This time it's about apologizing for the gaming transgressions of his you.



A-Bugsport takes a look at the business of the industry we've grown to love/loathe.

A-Are we long past the days of happy-go-lucky video game mascots?

S-MellowBunny runs into possibly the dumbest gamer I've ever heard of.

P-Those lazy FAILCAST bastards couldn't even come up with a title for this week.



W-JavTheGreat gave out a Bayonetta demo code this afternoon. Congrats Xzyliac!
 


E-Pics and happenings from the recent Dtoid San Fran NARP.

D-In case you haven't seen it, here's the L4D de-make, and some questions answered by the creator.  

S-Shin Oni takes over his 2nd day of dTunes.



N-A public service for the Aussies out there: How to get an uncensored L4D2.

N-Fantastic news! Looks like we're getting No More Heroes on the 360 and PS3 and Phoenix Wright on WiiWare!

N-YOU GET ALBERT WESKER AS A PLAYABLE CHARACTER IF YOU PRE-ORDER LOST PLANET 2.

N-Oh, damn, one of the new covers for the 200th Game Informer is DROP DEAD SEXY.

N-RAB gives us a bit of news on SSF4, including a video showcasing some of the new fighters.

V-Top reason to buy MW2: Bottle glitches.

T-KingSigy talks about the hot topic of the moment, No Russian.

T-Animated Toupee is a bit perturbed by New Super Mario Bros. Wii

D-doctor insidious is working on a game engine, and my head is hurting from all the programming mumbo-jumbo.



L-Nigga you racist.



F-tl;dr

(Pendelton21)

FPoTD