Wednesday, December 16, 2020

EXP Podcast #602: The 2020 Gamey Awards

Whisk us away to Gamey-land, Flight Simulator.
Neither plague, nor fascism, nor new console scalpers could stop it: The Gameys have arrived.  This week it's time for our annual game awards.  Our yearly counter-programming/trolling of Geoff Keighley let's us blow off some steam while also recognizing the games and categories that truly matter.  We got gear grinders, waifus/husbandus, baffling Nintendo moves and more.  And of course we bestow the title of gamey-est game of the year to one special title.  Thank you for attending and please do not take the gift baskets home; they are for decorative purposes only.

- Here's the show's stand-alone feed
- Listen to the podcast in your browser by clicking here, right-click and select "save as link" to download the show in MP3 format, or click play below.


 

Show Notes:

- Runtime: 1 hr 16 min 2 sec
- Music by Brad Sucks
 
Spoilers for Gamey category nominees and winners below!
 
 
 
 
 
2020 lockdown game of the year
  • Jackbox
  • Hades
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator
  • Spelunky 2
  • Among Us
  • Blaseball

The hopefully first annual "Did that come out or was it just buried under the crushing weight of this hellish year?" award
  • Kentucky Route Zero (final chapter)
  • Dreams
  • Ori and the Will of the Wisps
  • Nioh 2
  • Half-Life: Alyx
  • Star Wars Squadrons

Prettiest game of the year
  • Ghost of Tsushima
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator
  • Final Fantasy 7 Remake
  • The Last of Us Part II
  • The Pathless
  • Ori and the Will of the Wisps
  • Spider Man: Miles Morales

Trending Gaming Character of the Year/character that would be the best social media influencer
  • Beffica from BugSnax
  • The new league character that is literally an influencer (Seraphine)
  • Dionysus from Hades
  • Jesse from Final Fantasy VII Remake
  • Roffy D. Sloth from Spelunky 2
  • Fall Guy (Fall Guys)

The Biggest Gear Grinder of 2020
  • Cyberpunk 2077 (Launch & Community)
  • Animal Crossing as a whole
  • New console launch mess: weird compatibility issues, minimal new games, poor storage capacity
  • New console scalpers
  • Epic vs. Apple slap fight
  • The Inaccessibility of Crusader Kings

Most baffling Nintendo action of the year
  • Releasing Super Mario Bros. 35 and Super Mario Bros. 3D All Stars for a limited time
  • Continuing to antagonize the Smash community (shutting down melee tournaments)
  • Another fucking sword character in smash
  • Cease and desist for Eticon joy con skins for charity

Death Stranding presents 2020's most superfluous game mechanic
  • Petting Cerberus in Hades
  • Petting your eagle in The Pathless
  • Writing Haikus in Ghost of Tsushima
  • Genital Customization (Cyberpunk 2077)

The George Orwell award for outstanding achievement in the pursuit of elegance
  • Spelunky 2
  • Hades
  • The Pathless
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator
  • Blaseball

The most annoying Animal Crossing game mechanic of the year
  • The couch co-op implementation.  Second player has no inventory, can't make any meaningful contributions.
  • The inventory and everything about it.
  • Having to click through multiple dialog boxes and confirmations to do simple transactions (like buy/sell, visit another island, donate museum material, etc.)
  • Crafting
  • One island per switch but only one player can be the mayor

Waifu/husbando of the year
  • Meg from Hades
  • Thanatos from Hades
  • Jesse from The Last of Us Part II
  • Jessie Rasberry from Final Fantasy  VII Remake
  • Isabella from Animal Crossing
  • Miles (Spider Man: Miles Morales)

The "Wow, I did not see that coming" award
  • Halo delay
  • Cyberpunk actually being released
  • Microsoft buys ZeniMax (owners of bethesda, id, arkane, and others)
  • Among Us being inexplicably popular
  • Microsoft shuts down Mixer
  • They somehow pulled off the Sonic the Hedgehog movie

Gamey-est Game of 2020
  • Animal Crossing
  • Genshin Impact
  • Hades
  • Ghost of Tsushima
  • Fall Guys
  • Blaseball
  • Cyberpunk 2077

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