At this point, Double Fine could just launch a Kickstarter, call it "Double Fine Mystery?", with no description at all, and it would earn millions. They have the trust and respect of the people, and they have the talent and creativity to give those people the games they dream of playing. Hell, the 2Player Production behind-the-scene videos alone are worth the price. Golden gods, the lot of them.

I like the ideas behind Massive Chalice. Particularly interested in the generations system, and the choice to either continue fighting to the death, or retiring a warrior to raise a little warrior of their own, and the inheriting of the family relic... very cool. Plus, it's a new creative endeavor! Can't wait!

Aww... I think it's hilarious! Part of what make them Double Fine is their brand of humor. Like big kids in a toy shop :)

While I do like good cheese every once in a while, you're right that it is nice just to get to the meat of things ;)

Gouda is good. My favorites lately have been Beecher's Flagship and Bergenost. Flagship is really good with Jerk turkey and cranberry chipotle sauce....aaaaaamyygod.

This past year has produced an amazing crop of games. Thinking back on it and looking over lists of what has come out, reminds me of some that I either haven't taken the time to play, or almost forgot about entirely, due to the sheer volume of goodness there was.

Journey

I'll never forget this experience. When I finished my first playthrough, I felt as if it were the first time I had ever played a video game. It hit all the senses in a singularly profound way. It was that deep for me. When I think about what to compare it to, I find myself thinking of real life experiences, rather than other games: Viewing stars and planets from the darkest part of Rabbit Creek Rd on a cloudless winter night. Driving through Portland with Jeremiah in his Volkswagen Golf, on our way to his house from Nampa, Idaho. My first kiss from a girl. My first rejection from a girl... Journey ranks on those levels.

Planetside 2

Not quite the life-changer that Journey was, but epic nonetheless. The players that play this game offer some of the best multiplayer experiences I've had in a shooter. Communication is key, and moving as a massive force across these gorgeously generated landscapes (or defending from such a force) is a thrill I'm glad to only participate in on a digital level. Although, if I actually got the opportunity to pilot a Scythe on some distant planet, I would not turn it down.

The Swapper

Uhh... So, this game just released today, and honestly there are many other games I could put here in it's place, but I like to keep it in the moment. Keep it fresh. I'm only a couple hours in, but I'm hooked, in a "now, this is what I'm talking about" kind of way. All graphic elements are hand-crafted from clay, beautifully haunting music, finely crafted storytelling, set in that Metroidvania-like 2D sprawling dungeon, with maneuvering mechanics (swapping) that remind of the first time you opened your first portal. I'm really liking this game :)

First off, you're welcome @jdodson for that Terraria recommendation. ;) I look forward to our next CheerfulGhost server when the new update hits!

Also, I watched the video for Swapper and... wow... those graphics. That is a beautiful looking game.

Minecraft sucked me in last year (to be technical) around Thanksgiving. I was home alone as the rest of the family went to Kentucky and I stayed home to look after the pets. I was amazed with Minecraft and amazed also at how it made time completely irrelevant. I remember I had spent a 20+ hours awake playing Minecraft, something that hasn't happened in a while. That said, I played Minecraft for a month or two.

I remember years ago when I was playing Skyrim, I spent over 300 hours on it, just with my first character. It was awesome!

Recently, Terraria has sucked me in and I've spent 159 hours on it. I still love it, but I feel like I've reached a near-end-game point where it's time to move on to something else.

I don't remember how much time I spent playing any of the Fallout series, but I really did enjoy Fallout 3 and New Vegas on the PS3.

At about 22:36, Anita proposes her alternative perspective on the true motivator of men in these offending games as "weakness and or guilt in the failure to perform his socially prescribed patriarchal duty, to protect his women and children."

I want an option in Max Payne 4, where you can bypass objectives by pushing a button, and your character just runs off shouting "NOT MY JOB!!"

(I'll write something more constructive later.... maybe)

@Travis - "Scrypt, to your point, I have played games where a woman is guilty for not having saved someone. Was she also socially prescribed a patriarchal duty? Is it only a problem if men have these feelings?"

The way I understand the deeper feminist points on such things: it's a male driven society that has assigned the duty of the protector to the male, and as such implies that women are helpless and need their protection. A game that assigns such a role to a woman could be deemed as just using role reversal, and thus the same judgement would apply. Placing a sexist, male attributed role onto a female is still a role that operates within the parameters of a male dominated perspective. It isn't an example of how a woman would really act in that situation, rather how a man thinks a woman should act. Did I get that right?

This specific point is interesting to me, only in as far as the feeling of guilt by the character is concerned. I work in insurance, and have recently helped two different people in two unique, yet similar, situations. One was a father who has a son that wanted to go to a friends cabin for the weekend. The dad didn't think it was a good idea, even though supervision would have been present, because the state wrestling tournament was coming up, of which the son was a highly ranked participant. The son complained, said it would be okay, and after a couple days of deliberation, the dad agreed to letting the son go. Over that weekend at the cabin, tragedy struck, and the son was seriously injured due to an accident on an ATV, and thus could not compete in the tournament. Similar situation with the other person, a mother, who allowed her son to go to a friends house against her better judgement. The kids were messing around late at night and somehow (alcohol, I don't know...) the son was struck as a pedestrian by one of the other kids in a vehicle, breaking his right leg. This son was just accepted to college on a sports scholarship and was due to leave in a month for training camp. The common theme, aside from the tragedies, were the overwhelming sense of guilt that came from each parent. Had they just been there, or stuck to their guns and said "No", the accidents would have never happened. It's a real and valid feeling, one, I'm convinced, independent of societal structures.

Also, on the Ben Kuchera article, and the closing of the comments section: I get it. I think it's silly, but I get it. I certainly don't agree with his "shut up, and listen" perspective, but it's his article and can do as he wishes. There are good conversations going on out there, that unfortunately get pushed aside with the rantings of the angry mobs. I think it would serve a better purpose to have these types of things heavily moderated, rather than shunned altogether. We need to listen to both sides, have a conversation. I think it's sad that most people think that there is only one side to consider, and that any opposition is driven by hate or anger or confusion or anything other than a valid perspective. That, I don't get.

@Travis - "I'm just not sure Sarkeesian has her sights set in the right place. "

This is what I've been trying to say from the beginning ;). I think her topic is valid, but her approach is weak and unproductive. I also think it's funny when people defending these video game tropes videos act like they are new projects for her, and we need to give her a chance to say her piece. She's been saying the exact same thing for years! The only variation, is that now instead of movies or TV, she's focusing on games. For my ears, it's become little more than empty rhetoric.