[The hard-working gents on your Cblog Recaps team put together this fantastic list of their personal favorite blogs of the year. Special thanks to ChillyBilly for the header! Want to see YOUR blog get mentioned on the front page in 2013? Go write something! --Mr Andy Dixon]
There are plenty of videogame blogs here in the blogocube. Part of what makes Destructoid a unique slice of Internet pie is its wonderful community. The community seems to attract a wide range of interesting and talented people. The community blogs (or Cblogs) are a place where this is demonstrated on a daily basis. There are amazing writers, artists, musicians, you name it, that write blogs there. Some of the better ones even end up on the front page!
Continuing our long-standing tradition, we at the Recaps team have decided to highlight our favorite blogs, bloggers, and moments of the year.
So, please join us in our pretentious choosing of the best of the community blogs in 2012!
It's been a weird year for me, but one of the things I really enjoyed about it was Destructoid, and specifically being on the Recaps team. It was my first full year, and it was lovely. There's a bit of work involved, but I love reading all the blogs and I think it's gotten me to interact with more people. I'm constantly blown away by the things I see in the community. The sheer amount of talent, creativity, and general awesomeness is astounding.
Gunpei Yokoi remembered. A well-written, well-researched tribute to one of the most important people to ever be involved with videogames. locketheleisz's wonderful tribute to Gunpei Yokoi. If you don't know who that is, then I suggest you read this blog ASAP. This might be my personal pick for Blog of the Year.
Wondering how you could make this list? Maybe you should read this blog by nekobun. Or some of nekobun's other great blogs from this year, like this one about indie horror games, or this one about the unfortunate attitudes that still exist regarding women in the gaming culture. He's got plenty of great stuff to check out, including blogs about Halo 4, The Walking Dead, DLC, this surprising one about Tokyo Jungle, and a whole lot more, or you could just watch him eat Mountain Dew-soaked Doritos.
There are some writers, that when you click on their name, you know you'll be getting something worth reading. Something that really has a voice. Something that most definitely sets it apart from anything else. With a somewhat unique perspective, a willingness to speak whatever may be on her mind, and some real chops, I think Elsa is one of the best writers at Destructoid. Period. Even her comments can blow up the 'net.
Dark Souls enthusiast, virtual train rider, and PAX HostMaster General, knutaf is the dude with the sandwiches. And blogs. He once stole a pallet of decoder rings; he is Asura's wrath; he is my unknowing soul-sista, he is Occams Electric Toothbrush. A man of discerning tastes; a lover of crying babies; and a most competitive introvert; his name is Corduroy Turtle. If these 3 fine young gentlemen put their minds together, they could do great things, I think. Or at least talk about doing great things for our entertainment.
Dedication is something I see all over the Cblogs. We have many people dedicated in one way or another. The fine folks who do FNF as well as specialized things like TF2sdays, co-run by our beloved mann in hats, Swishiee. When dedication crosses a line, you people like Chris Carter, a.k.a. Magnalon, whose Quests make me wonder how he can still have time to be a regular contributor. In a similar feat, lostleader stuck with his new year's resolution, and finished 60 games in 2012!
Another great example of dedication is Altum Videtur, who was doing an impressive job keeping track of the Cblog stats, and blogging about them. Sir Tobii is all over the place, doing thangs, but many of us know him for his amazing Podtoid posters, which are hilarious. I mean, seriously. Go look at them.
The Biased Picks
Whether writing about writing, late night thoughts, Mass Effect 3, or just plain-old Recappin', StriderHoang is a ninja with words. Well... that might be a crappy analogy. But ya know ninja... Strider... whatever. Read him. Likewise, Wrenchfarm is always on point. His writing is consistently of high quality. I don't know how else to put it, the guy is damn good.
It always floors me how open people are on Destructoid, and how supportive everyone is when we share. I wanted to highlight some community moments that stuck out to me this year, because I think it's part of what makes this place unique.
PK493 thanked us for being a constant while he learned some moderation. Edd Strid found a home in the forums, while he was struggling with depression. vApathyv's time with Max Payne 3 made him realize that he had a possibly dysfunctional relationship with alcohol. Nihil had some family issues, but we still love him. Solar20XX felt like he didn't fit in at Dtoid, but people stepped in to tell him otherwise and give advice. KingSigy felt the same sort of way. PhilKenSebben felt life, and needed a place to vent. And don't forget Chad Concelmo's last post, about how Final Fantasy VI saved his life.
Destructoid is about videogames, sure, but the people are the important part. The fact that we can be people to each other and not just shitty Internet jerks is special. These folks were brave enough to open up, and the community responded in kind. <3
What would the Cblogs be without the funnies section?
How my face must have looked. A certain spam post, no? No. Thank you for making me laugh, Dao2-SKP. Ouch; I hurt my tongue trying to pronounce that. A sequel to the most popular choose-your-own-adventure game based on E3, by the comment watcher himself, Sean Daisy. UsurpMyProse had some humorous blogs, too, and more importantly, blogs with dads in them. Handy isn't just a funnyman, he's also a good writer. But he is one funny man. His blogs will have you rolfing and his Fanart Flops will leave you reeling. I'm still not sure exactly what happened here, but I'm glad to have been lured in by the most Orwellian writer of all time.
A few more bloggers for whom I couldn't think of a "category", but still want to highlight:
-crackedbat. His ode to the DS is sad and well-written, and his tale of what happens to promoted bloggers will have you laughing, as well as second-guessing.
-Necron117, is, as he put it, just a stranger, in a strange land. His only blog on Destructoid was a monthly musing on Location. He then returned to The Void...
-His blogs are few and far between, but Revuhlooshun is worth reading.
-NickCull came up with the best idea possible for the next Duke Nukem game.
-TheManchild writes goooood.
-Nick Jones wonders why endings can still suck so bad.
-GlowBear is one of those people who can just infuse her personality into her writing so well. Also, she accpets payment in the form of cupcakes. My kind of writer.
-ManWithNoName was gone for awhile, but when he returned, he wrote like a whirlwind. Good to have him back!
-MisterDonut had some good stuff this year, and it's always fascinating to see someone's first impressions of Metal Gear Solid games. Especially in 2012.
-stubbleman discussed the Final Fantasy XIII series (why is that a SERIES?), had some t-shirt ideas, and did several blogs on games you should play but probably haven't.
-Another writer with a penchant for second looks, The Gameslinger does a good job in explaining just why you should glance again.
There are my overlong pics for the best of the Cblogs this year. Don't worry, you still have the rest of the Recappers for more cohesive thoughts. It's a difficult process, for several reasons, but the hardest part is definitely worrying about the people/blogs you left out. Just know that if you wrote something you think was good, it was probably considered for this post.
It was a great year for the community, and I thank you all for making my time here enjoyable. I can't wait to read all the things you write in 2013! Cheers!
~smurfee mcgee
Happy Holidays everyone! It has been a pleasure to spend another year in your fine collective company. Dtoid is my home on the Internet, and I consider you all my (very strange) family.
This marks my first full year as a recapper and I can't tell you how proud I am to be on the team. I love drinking your brain juice and breathing in the fumes of your creativity. Week after week, I continue to be amazed at the sheer dedication, imagination, and camaraderie that defines our community.
I don't get tired of you guys and gals. At the end of every year I spend here at Dtoid, I just want more. I want to be more involved, I want to know more of you. I went from lurking to commenting. From commenting to blogging. From blogging to recapping. And this year I hope to do even more. I would love to make it out to PAX or a NARP and meet some of you awesome peeps in person. I hope I can find even more time this year to write and podcast and share with you all.
Please keep being the awesome people you are. And if you are looking for inspiration on how to be even more awesome, take a look at some of my favorite blogs of the year, written by some of the coolest people on the interwebs.
Handy – 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, Tears in my Eyes
Handy's piece about 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand was one of my favorite blogs of the year. Handy knows how to be very smart about being very dumb. A lot of people make goofy blogs about terrible games, but rarely with this kind of precision. It doesn't surprise me that Handy can turn on a dime and go from writing goof blogs like his Fanart Flops to serious stuff topics like gender roles in gaming.
Strider Hoang – A guy can dream: Mass Effect Multiplayer expansions
I got super into ME3's multiplayer for a few months earlier in the year and always enjoyed Strider's blogs about it. He would write both as a fan of the series and lore, and as a ME3 multiplayer nerd, a very specific sub-species of gaming nerd I belonged to as well. I could understand his language of OP geth weapons, infuriating Wave-10 Gold wipes, and kamikaze Vanguards. Good times.
Corduroy Turtle – The Binding of Isaac Instruction Manual
Corduroy Turtle doesn't blog too often, but when he does he always creates something amazing. His Isaac guide is a crowning achievement in the fields of dedication, explanation, and obsession. The Buy-It/Avoid-It Report continues to be the best review:word ratio in the biz.
Knutaf – Weapons in Dark Souls Aren't a Numbers Game
I fucking love Dark Souls and Knutaf might just be Lord Gwyn's lost son. He wrote a few Dark Souls blogs this year and everyone of them was pure gold. My favorite pick would have to be "Weapons In Dark Souls Aren't a Number Game" because of the exhaustive detail and illustrative .GIFs. Also, it guest stars the Mask of the Child.
Anglorum – It's not just that I rouge-LIKE you. I rouge-Love you!
Some wonderful art in Anglorum's blogs. This year seems to have marked a huge resurgence for rougelikes and Anglorum puts his own stamp on them.
Perfidious Sinn – I Suck at Fighting Games
Perfidious Sinn's "I Suck At Fighting Games" series has been a constant source of chuckles and feels this year. I suck at them too man.
MisterDonut - 007 Reasons Hideo Kojima needs to make a 007 game
This is the best idea ever. I don't care how cool The Phantom Pain looks, take that money and do this instead.
And lastly, some of my favorite moment from Dtoid this year came during the flood of "10 Things" blogs. Big ups to everybody who shared, it was great to get to know you better!
~Wrenchfarm
So 2012 has come and gone and left us with all sorts of memories and lessons. Women in the industry were discussed at great length, roguelikes were all the rage this year, and Destructoid got a new face lift along with a new comments system plus the return of YouTube of integration! And all of this is apparent in the cblogs along with other things. I've followed some cbloggers over this year and as I look back on my archives, it occurs to me that there's a definite trend among who my favorite cbloggers and topics were. I'll play a little fast and loose with my choices because some of them go down rather nice and fast.
First of all, I'll be the first to admit I'm a big fan of SephirothX. Or as I've called him across the recaps this past year, Sephy X, Seph T. Roth, Sephens P. Rutherfords X, SephyP, and the list goes on. For some arbitrary reason, SephirothX's name also fires off the parts of my brain associated with the East Coast fighting game scene which creates loads of unnecessary but hilarious jargon and nicknames. The East Coast is responsible for IFC Yipes and his infamous MAHVEL BABEE video featuring Mango Sentinel. And I think a good example of where this association comes from is his stupidly funny list of the top 5 games that could benefit from the inclusion of Robocop. I mean, seriously, comedy gold. I love good 'ol Seffles when he's poking the ribs, but he's quite a few serious, rebuttle style articles too, like defending EA against rash criticism and thinking through women in games.
Speaking of people I'm a fan of, I've generally liked a lot of things Panzadolphin's put out. While he's generally concerned on the horror genre, he provides such fascinating analysis of the genre design I've felt is usually all about jump scares. TheManWithNoName is also quite the active blogger and I've definitely sauced him a few times. A high watermark from me for him is definitely his blog on what makes us the gamers we are. Him being Brazilian creates an interesting image of a gamer, contrasted myself as a lower-middle class 3rd generation Asian living in Southern California. And when it comes to TheManChild, I can define my choice in his OKCupid profile blog with his answer to his question: On a typical Saturday night, I am fat. Plus, I have seen Nathan around, but when it comes to following cbloggers with a style, I loved his abundance of graphs and bars in economic research and Guild Wars 2. Specifically, he has a nice broad cblog on the selling of virtual goods.
A lot of my other favorites were also lighthearted in nature. A lot of people want to write quality stuff that will get them noticed. It's an eternal conundrum as to how serious you want to write your prose so that it gets promoted easily, since the actual promotion process doesn't appeal to our lazy community managers and the less work they have to do in editing, the better. At the same time, we all want to write like we talk so that our personality shines through better to make the writing more enjoyable and the reading more fluid. For example, Capm Trevmo pulls no punches in describing a satirical game of the millennium as Hello Kitty. With a wand with a badass heart on it, chill'in, maxx'in and relax'in before shit gets real, all real words he uses to describe a game that has no business being discussed on the same website that holds Ocarina of Time and Mega Man 2 in such high regard. Language like this doesn't fit so well in traditional journalism style guidelines but it's a blast to read when time is a precious commodity you don't want to waste on tough, thinking reading materials. Speaking of reviews, Renegade Panda doesn't come on often enough, but his own snarky comedy reviews of bad games like Hyper Fighters is exactly why I love satirical reviews so much.
Straight, no frills thinking and debating couldn't have brought us Kyle MacGregor's PONYTA 2012. Or maybe another hilarious review about Revelations 2012 from shadow2398. And probably the lowest brow cblog I've ever loved on topsauce, Steve Hansen's tips on Halloween. While it was certainly a funny list in it's own right, I've already admitted to loving it simply because he posted a picture from the Scooby-Doo Halloween special where Shaggy turns into a werewolf. ZOINKS! In a more effort oriented point, Nekobun, often called the hardest working cblogger on Dtoid, also had a poignant blog on Ash Ketchum for Ash Wednesday. Something like that is funny and appreciated, especially as it's likely not for the hits but for the love.
Of course, there are the blogs of 2012 that just hit all the right notes and were not only beloved by the cblog community but got promoted to prove their mettle. Corduroy Turtle's big fat cblog about leaderboards, the solitary multiplayer, just had it all. Snappy wit, competitive advice, analytical questions, all wrapped around one of this year's favorite games. Ramwar's cblog was also a wake up that cblogs don't need all the work done for the community managers to get a promotion. His blog about the weight of a gun didn't even have a header and community manager Andy Dixon, America's laziest sweetheart, went and got one for him because it was that good. It deserved the effort.
Of course, there are the blogs that don't quite fit our beloved video game theme. Those blogs are few and far in between that most people forget about them after a while and recall only the game related ones. But I remember one worth remembering: Pangloss' introduction the tabletop game Legend. Not to spend much more time on it, it's a game with a flexible character creation system. A system that allows anything to be created with a meaningful purpose. For example, he confirmed with me that my at first satirical idea of a velociraptor who's also a demoman is totally doable.
So you see, 2012 is about the optimism of writing what you want. Certainly, to get around in life professionally, you'll have to clean up. But there's always time for a curse word and a witty embellishment of how badass the stupidest thing is. Hopefully, 2013 is the year you can free yourself up a bit and talk about how gay Link is or something.
Happy holidays, from this future ninja, to you!
~ StriderHoang
So here we are. I’ve barely been a recapper for a week, and yet here I am writing an end-of-year
Cblog Recap for all the wonderful people of Dtoid. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it is truly
an honor, and I hope to do you guys and gals proud in 2013.
2012 was…well… 2012 was a tough year for me to be honest. However, even in difficult times of my life and even despite the fact that I didn’t play a lot of games during those times, Destructoid was always my constant. I love this site to bits as well as each and every one of you. This truly is my home away from home, and I want you all to know that you have been a major support throughout my year, even if you weren’t aware of it.
Because Destructoid is a special place.
Warning, the following is going to be sappy as fuck. Shut up, it’s my first time so I’m allowed dammit!
Dtoid is special because this is one of the few places on the webz where the people are so
obviously genuinely passionate about what they do: in our case playing videogames. Sure, the guys at IGN like videogames, as do the people at whatever other site you want to name, but here at Destructoid, we luuuuuurve mudki videogames like nobody else can, and you proved it once again during 2012.
Take Chad Concelmo’s farewell article on Final Fantasy VI, for example, a game which he claims has saved his life. It was not a Cblog, true, but it deserves a mention nonetheless.
The same goes for vApathyv and Max Payne 3, which helped him overcome his drinking problems.
VicYoungblood learned a lesson about commitment from Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, a game I myself also still really want to play at some point, not least due to his blog.
Of course, you don’t have to have a profound story of self-improvement to have a passion for
gaming. One particular Silent Protagonist decided this year to be not-so-silent, and instead
filled our ears with lots and lots of win by sharing some awesome video game music, as did crackedbat earlier this year, as well as several others. Soundtracks are a part of videogames that I personally believe are often under-appreciated, but come to Destructoid and you’ll find several people who pay tribute to them as they so rightfully deserve.
Moreover, both Nathsies and bbain wrote great blogs on Journey this year, on its unique take on relationships and on its anonymous multiplayer, respectively. These too, show that Destructoid’s love for video games is more than skin deep. Rather than just respecting Journey as a good game, we have members who look beyond that and go into what really makes such a game special.
This is what makes Destructoid, and the Cblog section in particular, what it is. The people who come here don’t “just play videogames”, they have a passion for them that I’ve never seen anywhere else on the Internet. It is crystal clear that on Destructoid videogames are important to us on a personal level. And everyone who shares this passion is more than welcome with us. We were reminded this year that we also have a strong community of gamers by the flood of “10 things” blogs in which people went: “Hi. I love videogames, and this is me.” I can’t link all of them here but each of them is an example of what makes our site great. GlowBear too gave some love to the community by listing her personal underrated Cbloggers. I’m just going to go ahead and say that she herself deserves to be on such a list as well.
Now, I only listed a few people here. The regulars, you know who they are, also all deserve
recognition, and I have no doubt that the senior ‘cappers will cover me where I forgot someone, but there are many more awesome people on this site who exemplify our unrivaled passion for videogames on all sorts of levels, so don’t feel left out if you weren’t mentioned by name. If I look beyond the dick jokes, the firmware reviews, the indisputable fact that Fable: The Journey is on rails and everything else, this site makes me feel like I’m part of a group of people who love video games just as much as I do. That, to me, is what makes Destructoid truly special.
A passion for videogames. Silly? Many would probably say so. “After all”, they claim, “they’re just videogames, you should just get over those once you pass 20 or so, at the latest.”
But as it did in all the years before, in 2012 the Destructoid community looked down and whispered:
“No.”
~ShadeOfLight
Oh man. 2012 was a wonderful year for me. I feel like I've grown much closer to the Destructoid
community this year, for a number of reasons. For starters, I got to know so many things about many of you in all of your 10 Things blogs; thank you to everyone who contributed something! Then I was on my very first podcast! Shout-outs to the Secret Moon Base gang for having me on their show twice, it was a lot of fun! Finally, I went to my very first gaming convention at PAX Prime, and that was definitely the most fun I've had in a very long time! Shout-outs to everyone I met at PAX, and especially to knutaf for being an awesome dude and letting me stay at his place! It was a wonderful year to be a Dtoider, and I hope next year is just as great.
My favorite moment of 2012 :D
And of course, I probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for the Community Blogs. You guys wrote so many amazing things this year! Coming across such amazing blogs on occasion makes being a recapper totally worth it! It's difficult to choose only a handful to commemorate, but here were a few of my favorites.
My personal Blog of the Year award goes to SephirothX for his contribution to the Beginnings
musing topic: Nobody dies on the first Goomba. It's a wonderful personal blog that almost any
gamer can relate to, as it concerns a game which the majority of us have played. To me, it was the
perfect response to the musing topic, and expertly delivered. Well done, Sephy!
This year saw an influx of artists sharing their work with us, thanks in part to Andy Dixon for starting up the Artists Wanted topics! Two of my favorite community artists this year were BeatBeat and Roberto Plankton, both of whom participated in a few Artists Wanted topics, posted some extra artwork unrelated to the topics, and even took inspiration from the community by depicting some of our members! You two are awesome, and I hope to see more from you in the future!
Another trend that I appreciated was the numerous blogs filled with helpful, detailed information
about some of the games that community members seemed to be obsessed with this year. In particular, Dark Souls influenced several incredible blogs from members trying to help others to enjoy the game better, including knutaf's advice on being a jolly good fellow in co-op and Wrenchfarm's blog about the Drake Sword and choosing the right weapon for your preferred playstyle. Corduroy Turtle also wrote up an impressive instruction manual to help others better understand and enjoy his obsession of the year, The Binding of Isaac!
2012 also saw its fair share of gaming controversies, and while many people took a decidedly serious or angry approach, my favorite blogs on the topics were those that were more tongue-in-cheek. There will always be something for people to be angry about, but sometimes you can't help but see the humor behind such situations. That's why Handy's take on Capcom's treatment of Mega Man and mrplow8's take on the Tomb Raider debacle were my favorite contributions to those particular controversies. You guys cracked me up!
A few more random blogs that I thoroughly enjoyed this year: Wrenchfarm took a moment to
consider the greatness and mysteriousness of masks, TheManchild reminisced about his childhood gullibility and got everyone else reminiscing as well, and Corduroy Turtle wrote about leaderboards and how they affect his (admittedly impressive) gaming habits!
Keep up the great work, everyone! Happy holidays!
~bbain
Holy crap, what a year. What an amazing year. Being the new guy on the block was pretty scary for me. Silver Dragon was (and still is) a total boss of recapping and those are huge shoes to fill. As promised I did the worst possible job I could of it too. This year was really.... well shitty for me. Some of the hardest most painful things happened to me, but you all were here for me and lifted me back up (whether you realized it or not), with tons of support and a flood of awesome blogs.
Destructoid felt like it had been become more and more segregated the past couple years, as people left, moved to the forums, Twitter, etc. But this past year (the past 6 months, especially) I feel that we (new and old, alike) have become closer and made this place better than ever. Destructoid has been a constant in my life for the past (almost) 6 years (damn, I'm old) and I am so proud to be a recapper now and to finally be coming out of the shadows and becoming part of this family. I love you all, so much that it's not even funny.
Onto blogs and bloggers that I've enjoyed this year. First up is Zolani13. An amazing writer, with an affinity for shining the light on weird/unusual games, Zolani13 has sadly been MIA since August.
Recapper Manchild had a fantastic anniversary blog for Ecco the Dolphin (who got no love). Manchild just has an attitude, that I absolutely love and I would totally give him a handy.
Next up, would be ReeceH92 and his series of Resident Evil blogs, that shared a personal story, as well as love for the games. I really enjoyed the hell out his series and hope to see more in the future from him.
Another game related series, that I fell in love with, was Bory Borham’s in-depth analysis of the MGS Ground Zeroes trailer and The Phantom Pain trailer. These two were fantastic reads (especially as a long-time MG fan) and were well thought out and detailed.
bbain (aka the bastard who made love indie games) nailed us with this fantastic blog, about the indies at PAX. BBAIN I TOTALLY GOT MONACO NOW! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Going to throw out a couple bloggers now, that I just fucking adore. I'm sure you know them, but it wouldn't be right for me not to mention them: Gameslinger just draws in with his writing, GlowBear has an amazing, fun personality and way with infusing her blogs with all the feels, BeatBeat is an artist with no peers and a brain that probably needs meds (don't give them to him) and Panzadolphin56 always brings it, with very interesting and thought provoking blogs.
These next three, need no introduction at all, but I still love them and everything they do: Elsa, Occams, and last, but not least, Corduroy Turtle
Once again, what an amazing year for blogs. I'm honored to be able to recap all you awesome people and even more honored you let a long time lurker into your family. I'd like to throw a special shout out to Mr. Andy Dixon, who busts his bottom, along with Jon Bloodspray, to keep our Cblog home clean and free of spam and also promote you fine folks to the front page. Great job guys and I appreciate the hell out it. Here's to an even more awesome year, this next one!
~PhilKenSebben
That, ladies and gentleman, is our tribute to the community. All of us Recappers thank you for being completely amazing, and for continuing to make our volunteering worth it. There are blogs that we almost certainly missed, and we would like to encourage you to find them. The past year and beyond can be read at anytime; our archives get updated as regularly as possible. Please, if you feel like catching up, or just randomly delving into past Dtoid, read them.
Our Recaps go up everyday, with Topsauces and all. It's a good way to see what happened if you don't feel like going through the entire roll yourself. We work hard to give everyone a look, but the more the merrier. So comment and fap all you can. Even one comment can help encourage someone to write more. Thanks for a great 2012. and here's to an even better 2013!
