Kevin, I can't quite figure out why you chose to review this particular game, but I am sure glad you did. I saw a 3 score game and immediately brightened as I am a huge fan of bad game reviews. Then I clicked on it and saw your face at the top and _knew_ this was going to be a treat. There is some formula that combines the skill of the writer with the inverse of the awfulness of the product they are reviewing in an exponential explosion of entertainment. Thus this review ends up infinitely more enjoyable than the game you had to play to write it. Thanks for taking the time.

This was, IMO, one of the most amusing pieces you've made yet, Jess. Its a perfect use of your delicious sarcasm and the withering look that goes along with it. I watched this twice because I was chortling too much the first time through to catch it all.

I definitely liked the new Lara. Never really played Tomb Raider previously but this one caught my attention and delivers.

I wholeheartedly back the Jennifer Hale-voiced FemShep. A fantastic character. One of my favorite "badass" protagonists of any gender in any genre. I've played as Male Shepard and... its OK.

The other three I didn't play, so I can't comment. I played Dreamfall though, so I'm sure April is a good choice just based on the depth of character there. Nice list.

Just casting my vote for "A lot of companies are doing the pay-for-coverage" thing. If one big megacorp has figured it out there is no way that the other megacorps haven't figured it out. They all pass executives around like my preschoolers pass germs, and they love to copy each other's practices at every possible occasion.

Oh, and The Witcher 3 looks awesome. :)

Another solid editorial by Danny. Microsoft released Windows ME and it was a total piece of shit. And even they knew it. So they just moved on, took their losses and then built XP. Nintendo isn't quite Microsoft, but their long term heavyweight status in this industry (and their strong financial position) suggests they'll take exactly the same course. If GameCube had been followed up directly by Wii-U then they'd be in a decidedly different place. But the runaway success of the Wii gives them both optimism and cash to spend on it.

And I definitely agree that they need to take a breather on radical console design and try to find some way to get better 3rd party support. Maybe take a page from the indie development scene and figure out how to make it way easy to create new games for their systems at a much lower development cost. That would be polar opposite to their stance of late, but maybe makes sense for their less technically powerful console designs and their target demographic. They aren't trying to take the COD market, so go to where your audience is.

I definitely agree with the "time poor players should steer clear of WOW" sentiment. I work at a University and its endearing to watch upperclass Engineering students come to the realization that they can no longer spend 60+ hours a week on MMOs and still expect to graduate. Its almost like a coming of age thing now.

Wow, Jess + terrible game reviews. Two of my favorite things on the internet, all rolled into one! Its a Christmas miracle.

Danny, I really like your pieces and this one is no exception. The gender debate is stupid and exhausting? You bet! Some gamers need to stop acting like assholes and giving the lot of us a bad rap? Amen! We need to support truly unique indie games that take our industry beyond the standards of shooting and racing? Right on!

Thanks for bringing attention to this game, both in its original form and on Steam Greenlight. I had no idea it was out on greenlight, but I did just go and back it thanks to this video. Thanks sir, and keep on doing what you do.

@Setho10 @jimrhurst I usually do see the GDC awards or read coverage of them, now that you mention it. I somehow didn't notice that DICE does the same. Thanks for the tip.

I'm not quite sure what's saddest about this. I have no idea what this is actually about since I didn't see the broadcast. I've never watched the awards and don't really take them seriously. I wish we did have a quality awards system for game developers, but this program clearly isn't it. I'm almost tempted to go look this up to see what the fuss is about, but why give the suits any more satisfaction?

We probably just need to ignore the mainstream and make a tasteful awards show on the internet. Then eventually the mainstream will come to us. Or not. Either way, at least we might get away from this poorly conceived commercial drivel