Post by Lair of the Shadow MaDaBa on Dec 28, 2009 12:28:55 GMT -5
The period between 12:00:00 AM on January 1, 2000, and 11:59:59 on December 31, 2009 (I'm just gonna take it for granted that nothing of massive importance will occur in the next three-and-a-half days) has been nothing short of eventful. Technologies were refined, humans got fatter and stupider, rich blonde chicks with no actual talents got famous and celebrated for no discernible reason...the last ten years have changed our very culture.
...Another meaningful paragraph here.
So, here they are: my various picks for things of the decade that should be noted. Please remember that these are all purely my opinions based on my tastes. Also remember that, during the course of this decade, I really wasn't paying too much attention.
Best Overall Video Game of the Year
Metroid Prime (Nintendo GameCube; 2002)
Back when the N64 came out and people realized that no Metroid game would be released, fans of the series were disgusted. Back when Nintendo announced that the upcoming Metroid game for the GameCube was going to be in a first-person point-of-view, fans of the series were outraged. When the game was actually released and we discovered that this game was awesome with a side of awesome drowning in awesome sauce and a tall glass of awesome soda to wash it down with, fans of the series collectively sighed and had an orgasm. At the same time.
Even today, almost nine years after the game's release, this game is perfect. The visuals are perfect, the music is perfect, the story is perfect, the execution is perfect, the gameplay is perfect, the boss fights are perfect...2002 wasn't the best of years, but this was a shining diamond in a dark mine. Metroid Prime is a work of art, and when video game museums get made, this -game should and will be prominently featured.
Most Destructive Video Game of the Year
World of Warcraft (PC; 2004)
I admit that I've never played WoW in any capacity and, in fact, I don't know Thing #1 about it. But you cannot ignore the stranglehold that it put on gamers the world over. This game impacted very real lives in usually horrible capacities. This game has caused divorces. This game has caused people to go bankrupt. This game has caused deaths. For God's sake, at least a dozen people in Asia alone died because they got so obsessed with this game that they stopped sleeping for weeks on end until their bodies and minds just gave up.
Is it good? Well, since so many people still play it, I can only assume that it is. Just remember not to spend too much time or actual money on it--no game is worth the cost of your sanity.
Worst Video Game of the Year in Terms of Pure Quality
Sonic the Hedgehog (Microsoft XBox 360, Sony PlayStation 3; 2006)
This game eats. Now, I know that you're thinking that so, SO many bad games came out in the past ten years that this can't possibly be the worst. Morgan Webb would state that Barbie Horse Adventures deserves the dubious prize. However, you can at least state that Barbie Horse Adventures has a REASON to suck--it was geared toward little girls, and little girls who love Barbie to the point that they'd buy a Barbie video game won't care about bad gameplay or bad graphics or bad sound...they just care that it's Barbie.
This is unlike Sonic Next-Gen, however, in the sense that I have NO IDEA who this game is supposed to be geared toward--kids, adults, ANYONE. And even then, it doesn't MATTER who it's geared toward because THE GAME STILL BLOWS MONKEYS. The in-game graphics are purely passable at best, the characters aren't likeable in the least, the camera is abominable, and the story? The story with an implied relationship between an anthropomorphic hedgehog and Lacey Chabert? No, thank you. This is a game that was being pushed as to hitting the 'RESET' button on the franchise. Well, it worked--this game made the universally-hated Sonic Heroes look like a work of brilliance by comparison. Congrats, geniuses.
Now, I will be the first to say that there are some good things about this game. The music is great ("His World" is on my MP3 player), and I absolutely love the main villain, Mephiles. He's so manipulative and so evil...he's great. Problem is, he's wasted in this s***muffin of a video game.
I think the funniest part of this whole mess is that Microsoft has the balls to sell it for $19.99 on its Games on Demand feature in the XBox Live Marketplace--you can find it for eight bucks used at GameStop and you'll still feel dirty, like you paid to have sex with a monkey.
A dude monkey.
Movie of the Decade
The Dark Knight (2008)
No movie captured the imaginations or the balls of society as a whole as The Dark Knight did. Never mind the whole Heath Ledger thing--have you ever watched this movie with the mindset that he's alive? It's still awesome. The Joker is everything a human shouldn't be, Batman is everything a human being wants to be, Harvey Dent is everything a human being tries not to be, and Maggie Gyllenhaal is cute. You can tell that this wasn't a movie made for the sake of making a movie--the write had a story to tell and he was given extraordinary means with which to tell it.
Worst Movie of the Decade
Alone in the Dark (2003)
Uwe Boll is a dick. Moving on.
American Football Game of the Decade
Super Bowl XLII: New York Giants VS. New England Patriots (World Championship, 2008)
This game represents everything that every American dreams about. The New England Patriots, bullies of the NFL, defeat everything in their path en route to winning every regular season game. The New York Giants are the afterthought, the team that nobody expected anything from when the season began but scratched and clawed their way to the playoffs and, eventually, the World Championship game. The Patriots were 13-to-14-point favorites to win which, in the Super Bowl, is usually an emphatic victory. New York, however, would not be denied.
The game's most memorable play was toward the end--the Giants got the ball back on their own 17-yard line with 2:39 remaining, and they were trailing 14-10. On 3rd and 5, Eli Manning, younger brother of the previous year's Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning, got set to throw the ball but was quickly surrounded by the Patriots' defense. Manning, however, stood his ground and, despite nearly being dragged to the ground, stayed on his feet and scurried away from them. He was able to chuck the ball into the air downfield; David Tyree leapt for the ball at the Patriots' 22-yard line and barely was able to hold onto it, using his helmet to maintain control of the ball. This would set up the ensuing touchdown pass by Plaxico Burress, and the Giants defense would personally smack Tom Brady in the face, capping off one of the most improbably Super Bowl victories in history. Eli Manning would be the MVP of that game, effectively stepping out of his older brother's shadow.
Well, for a year, at least.
[NOTE: Honorable Mention goes to Super Bowl XXXIV on January 30, 2000, between the St. Louis Rams and the Tennessee Titans. While it was a damn good game with a damn dramatic finish, the Patriots/Giants game had a better overall story to it, in my opinion.]
Worst American Football Game of the Decade
Monday Night Football: Miami Dolphins VS. Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 12, 2007)
Pennsylvania is known for its hit-or-miss weather in the cold seasons. On this night at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, the heavy elongated rains would make for a miserable night regardless of what you were doing that day. The Steelers, coming off a loss against the Jets, faced off against a Dolphins team that was basically useless, having yet to score a single win all season and wouldn't until the next-to-last week of the game year.
The rain turned the field's turf into a swampland, making running difficult and rushing nearly impossible. The game quickly degenerated into an ugly brown mess. The quarterbacks struggled to keep their hands warm and dry, the receivers tried (and failed) not to slip and fall in the mud. For everyone--from the players to the staff to the officials to the viewers--it was a frustrating affair.
In this 60-minute game, the only score came after 59 minutes, 43 seconds, when Jeff Reed was somehow able to score a field goal, making the score 3-0 Pittsburgh with 0:17 remaining. It was the longest period in an NFL game without a score in 64 years, and it was the lowest final score in 14 years. The Steelers went to 8-3 with this win while the Dolphins went to 0-12. In the veritable pantheon of incredible games that both teams have had in their storied franchises, this is a game best forgotten.
American Sports Moment of the Decade
The Boston Red Sox win the 2004 World Series
A lot of memorable sports moments occurred in America this year. The aforementioned Giants/Patriots game, the NHL going on strike, Pat Tillman leaving football and dying in the line of duty overseas, the Plaxico Burress debacle...nothing, however, represented the drama of the Boston Red Sox breaking their infamous drought, and doing it in dramatic fashion.
After the Red Sox won the 1918 World Series, new owner Harry Frazee decided that Babe Ruth, while one of the best in the sport, had a price tag on his head. He traded Ruth to the New York Yankees for a pretty penny so that he could finance his Broadway play, No, No, Nanette. From this point, the Red Sox would enjoy almost eight-and-a-half decades of futility, sometimes coming close to the World title, sometimes they just plain sucked. The Yankees would remain their biggest rivals, sometimes beating them, sometimes losing to them.
This rivalry came to a big head in the 2004 ALCS. The Yankees had already won the 2000 World Series, the third of three consecutive, and were looking to add to their collection. With each game in the series, the Yankees seemed to humiliate the Sox more and more--they won Game 1 10-7, then Game 2 3-1, then utterly clobbered them in Game 3 by a score of 19-8. The Red Sox, however, felt something after that game unusual. It was sadness, it wasn't embarrassment...it was anger. The Sox were pissed, and they were set to take it out on their enemies. They wouldn't lose another game.
Game 4 went to extra innings, with the Sox getting two runs in the bottom of the 12th to take the series to Game 5 (score was 6-4). That went even longer, with Boston winning 5-4 in the bottom of the 14th. The Yankees by this point were probably thinking "No...no, no, no, this isn't gonna happen." Game 6 horrified them as Boston beat them by two points again, this time 4-2; this game was made iconic by pitcher Curt Schilling when a tendon in his ankle tore, bloodying his sock ("Red Sock"). By that point, no team had come back from a three-game deficit to win a Championship Series; the odds of Boston winning were astronomical.
Boston won Game 7 by walloping New York, 10-3. They would then sweep the hapless St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to end an 84-year-old nightmare. The "Curse of the Bambino", as it had come to be known as, was dead and buried.
That's all I have for now. I've already written, like, 10,000 words on this subject.
Your turn. You don't have to write as much; just give your own winners/losers of whatever subjects you see fit.
...Another meaningful paragraph here.
So, here they are: my various picks for things of the decade that should be noted. Please remember that these are all purely my opinions based on my tastes. Also remember that, during the course of this decade, I really wasn't paying too much attention.
Best Overall Video Game of the Year
Metroid Prime (Nintendo GameCube; 2002)
Back when the N64 came out and people realized that no Metroid game would be released, fans of the series were disgusted. Back when Nintendo announced that the upcoming Metroid game for the GameCube was going to be in a first-person point-of-view, fans of the series were outraged. When the game was actually released and we discovered that this game was awesome with a side of awesome drowning in awesome sauce and a tall glass of awesome soda to wash it down with, fans of the series collectively sighed and had an orgasm. At the same time.
Even today, almost nine years after the game's release, this game is perfect. The visuals are perfect, the music is perfect, the story is perfect, the execution is perfect, the gameplay is perfect, the boss fights are perfect...2002 wasn't the best of years, but this was a shining diamond in a dark mine. Metroid Prime is a work of art, and when video game museums get made, this -game should and will be prominently featured.
Most Destructive Video Game of the Year
World of Warcraft (PC; 2004)
I admit that I've never played WoW in any capacity and, in fact, I don't know Thing #1 about it. But you cannot ignore the stranglehold that it put on gamers the world over. This game impacted very real lives in usually horrible capacities. This game has caused divorces. This game has caused people to go bankrupt. This game has caused deaths. For God's sake, at least a dozen people in Asia alone died because they got so obsessed with this game that they stopped sleeping for weeks on end until their bodies and minds just gave up.
Is it good? Well, since so many people still play it, I can only assume that it is. Just remember not to spend too much time or actual money on it--no game is worth the cost of your sanity.
Worst Video Game of the Year in Terms of Pure Quality
Sonic the Hedgehog (Microsoft XBox 360, Sony PlayStation 3; 2006)
This game eats. Now, I know that you're thinking that so, SO many bad games came out in the past ten years that this can't possibly be the worst. Morgan Webb would state that Barbie Horse Adventures deserves the dubious prize. However, you can at least state that Barbie Horse Adventures has a REASON to suck--it was geared toward little girls, and little girls who love Barbie to the point that they'd buy a Barbie video game won't care about bad gameplay or bad graphics or bad sound...they just care that it's Barbie.
This is unlike Sonic Next-Gen, however, in the sense that I have NO IDEA who this game is supposed to be geared toward--kids, adults, ANYONE. And even then, it doesn't MATTER who it's geared toward because THE GAME STILL BLOWS MONKEYS. The in-game graphics are purely passable at best, the characters aren't likeable in the least, the camera is abominable, and the story? The story with an implied relationship between an anthropomorphic hedgehog and Lacey Chabert? No, thank you. This is a game that was being pushed as to hitting the 'RESET' button on the franchise. Well, it worked--this game made the universally-hated Sonic Heroes look like a work of brilliance by comparison. Congrats, geniuses.
Now, I will be the first to say that there are some good things about this game. The music is great ("His World" is on my MP3 player), and I absolutely love the main villain, Mephiles. He's so manipulative and so evil...he's great. Problem is, he's wasted in this s***muffin of a video game.
I think the funniest part of this whole mess is that Microsoft has the balls to sell it for $19.99 on its Games on Demand feature in the XBox Live Marketplace--you can find it for eight bucks used at GameStop and you'll still feel dirty, like you paid to have sex with a monkey.
A dude monkey.
Movie of the Decade
The Dark Knight (2008)
No movie captured the imaginations or the balls of society as a whole as The Dark Knight did. Never mind the whole Heath Ledger thing--have you ever watched this movie with the mindset that he's alive? It's still awesome. The Joker is everything a human shouldn't be, Batman is everything a human being wants to be, Harvey Dent is everything a human being tries not to be, and Maggie Gyllenhaal is cute. You can tell that this wasn't a movie made for the sake of making a movie--the write had a story to tell and he was given extraordinary means with which to tell it.
Worst Movie of the Decade
Alone in the Dark (2003)
Uwe Boll is a dick. Moving on.
American Football Game of the Decade
Super Bowl XLII: New York Giants VS. New England Patriots (World Championship, 2008)
This game represents everything that every American dreams about. The New England Patriots, bullies of the NFL, defeat everything in their path en route to winning every regular season game. The New York Giants are the afterthought, the team that nobody expected anything from when the season began but scratched and clawed their way to the playoffs and, eventually, the World Championship game. The Patriots were 13-to-14-point favorites to win which, in the Super Bowl, is usually an emphatic victory. New York, however, would not be denied.
The game's most memorable play was toward the end--the Giants got the ball back on their own 17-yard line with 2:39 remaining, and they were trailing 14-10. On 3rd and 5, Eli Manning, younger brother of the previous year's Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning, got set to throw the ball but was quickly surrounded by the Patriots' defense. Manning, however, stood his ground and, despite nearly being dragged to the ground, stayed on his feet and scurried away from them. He was able to chuck the ball into the air downfield; David Tyree leapt for the ball at the Patriots' 22-yard line and barely was able to hold onto it, using his helmet to maintain control of the ball. This would set up the ensuing touchdown pass by Plaxico Burress, and the Giants defense would personally smack Tom Brady in the face, capping off one of the most improbably Super Bowl victories in history. Eli Manning would be the MVP of that game, effectively stepping out of his older brother's shadow.
Well, for a year, at least.
[NOTE: Honorable Mention goes to Super Bowl XXXIV on January 30, 2000, between the St. Louis Rams and the Tennessee Titans. While it was a damn good game with a damn dramatic finish, the Patriots/Giants game had a better overall story to it, in my opinion.]
Worst American Football Game of the Decade
Monday Night Football: Miami Dolphins VS. Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 12, 2007)
Pennsylvania is known for its hit-or-miss weather in the cold seasons. On this night at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, the heavy elongated rains would make for a miserable night regardless of what you were doing that day. The Steelers, coming off a loss against the Jets, faced off against a Dolphins team that was basically useless, having yet to score a single win all season and wouldn't until the next-to-last week of the game year.
The rain turned the field's turf into a swampland, making running difficult and rushing nearly impossible. The game quickly degenerated into an ugly brown mess. The quarterbacks struggled to keep their hands warm and dry, the receivers tried (and failed) not to slip and fall in the mud. For everyone--from the players to the staff to the officials to the viewers--it was a frustrating affair.
In this 60-minute game, the only score came after 59 minutes, 43 seconds, when Jeff Reed was somehow able to score a field goal, making the score 3-0 Pittsburgh with 0:17 remaining. It was the longest period in an NFL game without a score in 64 years, and it was the lowest final score in 14 years. The Steelers went to 8-3 with this win while the Dolphins went to 0-12. In the veritable pantheon of incredible games that both teams have had in their storied franchises, this is a game best forgotten.
American Sports Moment of the Decade
The Boston Red Sox win the 2004 World Series
A lot of memorable sports moments occurred in America this year. The aforementioned Giants/Patriots game, the NHL going on strike, Pat Tillman leaving football and dying in the line of duty overseas, the Plaxico Burress debacle...nothing, however, represented the drama of the Boston Red Sox breaking their infamous drought, and doing it in dramatic fashion.
After the Red Sox won the 1918 World Series, new owner Harry Frazee decided that Babe Ruth, while one of the best in the sport, had a price tag on his head. He traded Ruth to the New York Yankees for a pretty penny so that he could finance his Broadway play, No, No, Nanette. From this point, the Red Sox would enjoy almost eight-and-a-half decades of futility, sometimes coming close to the World title, sometimes they just plain sucked. The Yankees would remain their biggest rivals, sometimes beating them, sometimes losing to them.
This rivalry came to a big head in the 2004 ALCS. The Yankees had already won the 2000 World Series, the third of three consecutive, and were looking to add to their collection. With each game in the series, the Yankees seemed to humiliate the Sox more and more--they won Game 1 10-7, then Game 2 3-1, then utterly clobbered them in Game 3 by a score of 19-8. The Red Sox, however, felt something after that game unusual. It was sadness, it wasn't embarrassment...it was anger. The Sox were pissed, and they were set to take it out on their enemies. They wouldn't lose another game.
Game 4 went to extra innings, with the Sox getting two runs in the bottom of the 12th to take the series to Game 5 (score was 6-4). That went even longer, with Boston winning 5-4 in the bottom of the 14th. The Yankees by this point were probably thinking "No...no, no, no, this isn't gonna happen." Game 6 horrified them as Boston beat them by two points again, this time 4-2; this game was made iconic by pitcher Curt Schilling when a tendon in his ankle tore, bloodying his sock ("Red Sock"). By that point, no team had come back from a three-game deficit to win a Championship Series; the odds of Boston winning were astronomical.
Boston won Game 7 by walloping New York, 10-3. They would then sweep the hapless St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series to end an 84-year-old nightmare. The "Curse of the Bambino", as it had come to be known as, was dead and buried.
That's all I have for now. I've already written, like, 10,000 words on this subject.
Your turn. You don't have to write as much; just give your own winners/losers of whatever subjects you see fit.
