That’s Awesome!

You know what’s awesome? Artist Campbell Whyte painting 375 NES inspired paintings, that’s what. He was doing a painting a day for a little over a year which is pretty insane. Each painting is inspired by a different NES game. Take a look at his impressive catalogue which acts like a trip down memory lane of gaming. I mean look, it’s Dynowarz!

8 Bit Dreams

I didn’t get to play everything that came out this year. This fall was extremely tough due to the sheer number of games that came out all at once. I missed some big titles that I’m still dying to play but they will have to wait. Even with some omissions, I had a hard time narrowing it down to only 5 games. This isn’t a list of what I deem the best games of the year, this is just a list of my favorite games of the year. Enjoy!

Dark Souls: This game is simply mean, but that’s what I love about it. Dark Souls reminds me of my childhood playing frustratingly hard games on the NES. So then, why is it one of my favorites of the year? Due to the crushing difficulty, when you do succeed at something, you jump up in the air and scream and shout and dance. The game’s difficulty makes it so damn rewarding

Mortal Kombat: This is another game that plays on nostalgia for me and it provided me with so much joyous carnage. It’s the first game in years that I had people over and we played in the same room together. Needless to say, we all reverted to 13-year-olds and cheered when we performed fatalities on one another.

Portal 2: While there have been some funny movies this year, I would probably say that Portal 2 is the funniest thing I’ve experienced this year. On top of that, it’s simply an incredibly well-crafted game. Valve always does an amazing job at telling story through gameplay and Portal 2 is no exception. I’m in space.

Batman: Arkham City: I don’t know if I can express how much I love Rocksteady’s take on Batman. It’s dark, gritty and brutal, yet stylized and other worldly. While the story is great, super exciting and pushes Batman to his limits, the real reason I can’t get enough of this game is because it makes you feel like Batman. The stealth stuff is awesome but I simply love the combat system in this game. There are few things as gratifying as clearing an entire group of thugs out in one massive 50 plus hit combo.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: People have been taking “staycations” just to explore the world of Skyrim. I know I would if I had the vacation time. Just simply wandering around Skyrim is a game in and of itself, and then there’s hundreds of quests to go on too! I’ve been playing this game for a month and haven’t even scratched the surface of it. If I could only pick one game to play for a year, it would be Skyrim hands down, no contest.