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♪ Intro music ♪

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For over five thousands years,

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video games have been at the heart
of our society and way of life.

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Empires rose and fell...
Cultures waxed and waned...

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Flavors of Mountain Dew released...
then retired.

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Video games are literally the most important
thing in the known universe

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but until now there has been no show grand enough...

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No award monumental enough...
to truly honor them.

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Until now...
Ladies and gentlemen,

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it is my esteemed privilege
to present to you:

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The first Arbitrary Video Game Awards.

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♪ Intense orchestral music ♪

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Dear Lord... imagine if anything
took itself that seriously.

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Now, The Arbitrary Video Game Awards
ladies and gentlemen. Simple as that:

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I pick stuff in categories.

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There's no panel of judges,
there are no prizes to be won.

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I would simply like to highlight some
pretty cool stuff that happened this year.

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And occasionally some companies & products
that really REALLY messed up.

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The categories are purely arbitrary!
The nominations are purely arbitrary!

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And of course, the winners
are purely arbitrary.

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BUT I will at least make some effort to explain
the choices and to celebrate the winner.

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That's about as much as I can promise you
here at The Arbitrary Awards.

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There is no physical trophy but we do have
a wonderful trophy of the imagination...

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Which can off course absolutely anything
your heart desires...

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As long as that desire is entirely ineffable
and not in any way costly to me...

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Perhaps you'd like to know what categories
we have here at The Arbitrary Awards.

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We have every category you can imagine

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as long as those categories happen to be
the ones on the list.

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We have:
- Best Soundtrack

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- Best Thing To Come Out Of Crowdfunding

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- Most Interesting Gaming YouTube Channel
That Isn't Mine

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-Stop Pre-Ordering Videogames Award for
Biggest Launch Disaster

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- Most Impressive Aesthetic
- Best Expansion & DLC Content

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- Best Mobile Game

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- The Game I Turned My Consoles On
For The Most This Year

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- The Game That Most Surpassed
My Expectations

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- The Sharpened Pitchfork Award For
Dodgiest Games Company Of The Year

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And of course:

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- The Game That Mosts Needs To See
The Light Of GabeN for the PC port

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Let us begin, shall we, with nominations
for Best Soundtrack.

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♪ Intense orchestral music ♪

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The nominations for Best Soundtrack are:
- Shovel Knight

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This thoroughly 8-bit inspired soundtrack
is brought to you by Jake Kaufman.

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The fellow behind:
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse;

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Double Dragon Neon; Mighty Switch Force! ;
Red Faction: Guerrilla;

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and many many more games besides.

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Despite it's deliberately limited fidelity,

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the Shovel Knight sountrack is both imaginative
and extremely fun to listen to.

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Reminiscent of 2D platforming
classics of old,

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the Shovel Knight soundtrack is packed
with classic tune after classic tune.

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All of them driving you towards
your destination

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demanding that you strike the earth and do battle
for shovelry on this one fateful night.

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Transistor by Darren Korb.

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This is a composer that hasn't worked
on too many games.

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BUT he did create one of my favorite
soundtracks over the last few years.

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That is of course of the game Bastion
also produced by Supergiant,

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the studio behind Transistor.

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While Bastions soundtrack
was absolutely phenomenal.

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The addition of many vocal tracks
by Ashley Barrett

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as well as hauntingly beautiful
humming parts make

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the Transistor soundtrack truly something
unique and very very special in 2014.

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Crypt of the NecroDancer,

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the name Danny Baranowsky
aka Danny B.

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should be very familiar to you
if you happen to like either

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Binding of Isaac or
Super Meat Boy.

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Perhaps the two soundtracks
he is best known for

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although he has collaborated on a number
of different projects besides.

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Crypt of the NecroDancer needed a good
soundtrack to be a decent game.

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It is of course a rhythm based roguelike.
And thankfully Danny B. provides

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the pumping soundtrack to one of
the more unusual titles this year.

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A game which as far as I'm concerned
is partially responsible for

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online embarrassment and
almost breaking my ankles.

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Persona Q,
the soundtrack to this game

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is composed by Atsushi Kitajoh
and Toshiki Konishi.

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A melding of previous Persona titles by
two very experienced composers.

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Both are responsible for work on
various Persona games

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as well as Devil Survivor as well
as the game Catherine.

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Those who have played the
previous Persona titles

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are going to find a lot to like here
as the soundtracks of both Persona 3 & 4

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are well represented with various
interesting fusion and mashups.

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The Persona series is well known
for it's music.

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So much so in fact that a dancing game
based on Persona 4 is in development.

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Persona Q does not disappoint
in the music department.

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Wolfenstein: The New Order,
this is a nominee for two reasons.

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One, due to the excellent work of
Mick Gordon,

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the composer behind games such as
the new Killer Instinct, Shootmania

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and Need For Speed: The Run.

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The in-game soundtrack for this
particular title is absolutely fantastic

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and punctuates the high action.

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However what's perhaps even more
interesting is the inclusion of

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various alternate history versions
of classic songs.

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Collaborations of various artists
were able to put together records

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by the fictional Neumond Recording
Company which you can find

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as collectables throughout the game.

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Perhaps the most well known was used
in a advertising campaign for the title:

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a German version of
House Of The Rising Sun.

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This is the part where I'm supposed to
arbitrarily say "And the winner is" isn't it...

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I'm not really going to do that because
I'd like to talk a little bit more

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about my choices before I decide
to pick the winner.

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It's a really hard category to choose
between because each one of these

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soundtracks has their own
individual merit.

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Some of them are just plain fun
like Crypt of the NecroDancer.

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Others are very haunting
such as Transistor.

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There is a great amount of variety there.

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And that's just in the five soundtracks
that I've shortlisted.

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There have been plenty of games
that came out this year

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with phenomenal music and I'm glad
to see that composers are getting

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greater recognition these days with
improved sales of official soundtracks

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available via various digital distribution
platforms as well as plenty of

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good intention sharing by gamers through
Twitch streams as well as YouTube videos.

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I certainly hope that we continue in 2015
to move towards a place where

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game music is truly considered to be
worthwhile in it's own right

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and standalone as something
worthy of purchase.

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I think that we have certainly reached
that point and I want it to continue to grow.

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That said, we are going to
have to pick a winner.

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And the winner of Best Soundtrack of 2014 is
...................

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Darren Korb's Transistor

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I remember the haunting outro-song
from Bastion and then I remember

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that Transistor contains several tracks
of that level of quality,

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things that are absolutely beautiful
yet flawn and sad.

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But there's a great variety within
Darren Korb's soundtrack.

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From perhaps the well known track
'The Spine' which frankly

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could have been a top 40 hit
in it's own right

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to the much needed light hearted
break of 'Coasting'.

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This soundtrack really does have it all.
It's ementily listenable;

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Masterfully put together; and with
the additions of the vocals

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of Ashley Barrett
an absolutely beautiful experience.

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The Transistor soundtrack is, at least
in my view, the best soundtrack of 2014.

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♪ Intense orchestral music ♪

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Best Thing To Come Out Of Crowdfunding

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The nominations for the Best Thing
To Come Out Of Crowdfunding are as follows:

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Xenonauts by Goldhawk Interactive

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which raised $ 154,715 of
it's original $50,000 goal.

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The creation of Xenonauts began
years ago when it appeared

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that there was no chance of a modern
revival of the 'XCOM: Enemy Unknown'-series.

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In the development time that it took
to bring Xenonauts to life.

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We in fact had the release of not only
XCOM: Enemy Unkown by Firaxis,

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a reimagining of the original title with
a modern twist but also an expansion:

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XCOM: Enemy Within.

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Undaunted however Goldhawk Interactive
continued to work on Xenonauts

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thanks to a large influx of crowdfunding
and eventually completed the title

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which is a very faithful reproduction
of the original.

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Those looking for a more strategic
and in-depth experience

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as opposed to the more modernised
'XCOM: Enemy Unkown'

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will certainly find it here.

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Shovel Knight by Yacht Club.

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It raised $311,502
with an original $70,000 goal.

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Shovel Knight makes yet another
well-deserved entry

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into the nominees list
for a very good reason.

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Yes, it has a great soundtrack but it also
has absolutely exceptional gameplay.

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It's a platformer on the level of the very best,
both 8 and 16-bit platformers of yesteryear.

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This is an example of a game that perhaps
would have had difficulty being developed

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were it not for Kickstarter. 
And yet, 8-bit platformers are two a penny

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on that particular service;
what made Shovel Knights so special?

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Well, it's excellent presentation and
fantastic characterisation

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probably helped it a great deal.

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It had it's own personality coming
right out of the gate.

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And it made a promise, to be faithful
to it's 8-bit ancestors.

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And it succeeded in doing just that
and created a compelling experience.

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It proved that some design philosophy
are indeed timeless.

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And thanks to crowdfunding this
wonderful game which feels out of place,

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out of time and yet completely relevant
in 2014 is now available for purchase.

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Tex Murphy the Tesla Effect
by Big Finish Games,

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this raised just over it's $450,000 goal
with $598,104.

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This game was not the biggest
Kickstarter success,

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it wasn't even the biggest critical success.
It is overshadowed by many other titles.

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But it's on this list for one reason.
This game had absolutely no chance

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of being made without Kickstarter
and crowdfunding

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because it's effectively a dead genre.

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This is an FMB game, those kinds of titles
are simply not made anymore.

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Back in the day when CD-ROMs were
first becoming relevant to gaming.

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They were generally packed full of
full motion video.

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That's what was filling the disc.
This allowed for significant advances

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in cutscenes, but it also created entirely new
genres that were reliant on full motion video.

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This more often than not created a
somewhat B-movie experience

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and Tex Murphy embraced that.
It always had a very quirky sense

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of humor and the Tesla Effect
brings that sense of humor back

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with slightly more modern technology.
Only slightly.

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And it stands as a unique testament
to a dead genre in 2014.

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And yet, I think it is exactly what 
fans of that genre were looking for.

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The thing about Kickstarter is, 
you don't have to sell

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hundreds of thousands or millions 
of copies to be successful.

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You're making a unique product for a
niche audience that is willing to pay

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for it and that's exactly what Tex Murphy
The Tesla Effect succeeds in being.

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The Banner Saga by Stoic.

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This raised a massive $723,886
with an initial goal of just $100,000.

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This is a great success story because 
it created a beautiful title using

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roto-scope style animation. Again,
something we generally don't see anymore.

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A technique of a bygone age.

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The Banner Saga's development is
the story of former AAA's, coming together

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to make a small personal project
that they really cared about.

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Kickstarter enabled them to do just that.
In it's own right,

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it's a fantastic tactical RPG with some
Oregan Trail and a little bit of Telltale games

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thrown in there for good measure.

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It was rightfully criticised for it's somewhat
abrupt ending, but the journey was so enjoyable

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that the destination became
something of an afterthought.

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The success of The Banner Saga has allowed them
to continue it with The Banner Saga 2,

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having been recently announced
at Geoff Keighley's Game Awards.

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Wasteland 2 by inXile.

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Raising a staggering 2.93 million dollars
with an initial lofty goal of $ 900,000.

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Of all projects that I've listed,
this was no doubt the most ambitious.

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A full-length classic CRPG,

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by folks that have brought you many in the past
but perhaps with much larger studios

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and in a somewhat different time
where things just cost less money.

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Regardless, the sequel to the 80s game
Wasteland, which many people don't remember

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but was, in fact, the inspiration to Fallout.
It was lofty project, to say the least.

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With something that large and complex,
it could have easily gone wrong

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in a myriad of different ways.
However, the game was delivered

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to the satisfaction of many.

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And it is one of the many titles in 2014 that really
brings back the classic style of CRPG.

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Before we talk about the winner of this category,
I'd like to talk about the category itself once again.

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Kickstarter seems to be going
in an unfortunate direction.

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It's becoming harder and harder for games
to get the funding.

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We're seeing more and more high-profile failures
which, unfortunately, seem to be spurred on

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by some of the failures from the last few years.
Games that were funded and yet,

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never actually came out or came out in a
much much poorer state

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than what was promised in the first place.

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It does really seem like
the crowdfunding bubble has burst.

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It's unlikely that we'll ever see a success
as large as something like Tides of Numenera

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or of course the titanic Star Citizen ever again.

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And that's something of a shame.
Because amongst those high-profile failures

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and disapointments, we DO have titles 
that, were it not for Kickstarter,

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probably would've never seen the light of day.
Especially the winner of this category,

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The largest game in it:
Wasteland 2.

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Every game in this category 
and many more besides

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deserve recognition and accolade 
simply for being able to

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come out of the turbulent world of 
crowdfunding where even some of the most

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experienced developpers have managed 
to squander said funding,

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and in doing so have shaken the trust of
their backers and the market in general

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But Wasteland 2 developped a game of the
scale that they promised.

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It was certainly delayed, there's no
doubt about that, but it delivered

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exactly what I, as a fairly major backer
of this game wanted.

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Full disclosure: I did put a thousand
dollars into this.

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In fact, I backed several games on this
list but Wasteland 2 deliverded for me.

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I've been slowly playing through it for
the last few month,

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just dipping in every now and again, and
it's delivered great writing,

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excellent depth; fun, meaningful,
contextual questing

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in the style of old CRPGs.
It's story-driven and yet

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a lot of it is really done through the 
gameplay's narrative as opposed to

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just throwing a bunch of words at you.

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It has some systems which, frankly, have
no place in modern games

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and yet somehow works, such as the ability
to type in random words into the interface

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and occasionaly unlock new dialogue
options as a direct result of that.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It mends elements of old-school 
interactive fiction

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with a modern title that has a distinct
CRPG spin on it.

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This really does feel like Fallout 4 if
Fallout were to go back to its roots.

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It really did deliver exactly what I 
wanted from the project.

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As far as I'm concerned, I'm very very
happy that I backed it

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and equally happy that I promoted it back
in the day even if, looking back at it,

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that might not have been the best idea.

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Thankfully, for my sake and for the sake
of my credibility, it was a success.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It was a critical hit and as far as I'm
concerned, it's the best thing that

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came out of crowfunding in 2014.

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♪ Intense orchestral music ♪

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The nominations for the Most Interesting
Gaming Youtube Channel That Isn't Mine

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are as follows:

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Xbox Ahoy.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
What started off as little more 
than a Call of Duty weapons guide

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
has transformed into something really
interesting.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
The channel runs a series called
"Iconic Arms"

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which is a documentary-style presentation
about the representation in history

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of various firearms in video games.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
They also produced a very detailed
five parts history of computer graphics

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as well as some absolutely intriguing 
niche retrospective videos

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
such as Doomed: The Embers of Amiga FPS.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Captained by the sultry tones of a
British narrator,

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Xbox Ahoy is one of those channels where
you should simply ignore the name

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and look at the content.

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Jim Sterling.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
If there was an award for most handsome
man in video games,

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Jim Sterling would surely be issuing.

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However, due to my own personal 
self-esteem problems,

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that category is not present this year.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Jim Sterling has made a fairly remarkable
transition from traditional games media

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
to "the new media", whatever that means,
creating Youtube content based on

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
some bloody terrible video games and
recently tried transferring his successful

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
series "Jimquisition" from The Escapist
to a Patreon funded, ad-free model

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
over on his Youtube channel.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
A good friend of mine and peer for quite
some time,

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Jim Sterling has a somewhat inimitable
sense of humor.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Never before has the term "jizzy bears"
been uttered from the mouth of

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
a games reviewer, and I doubt we will ever
see its like again.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Super Bunnyhop.

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Again, one of those fairly unfortunate
names, I suppose,

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
that doesn't necessarily represent the
content of the channel.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
But Super Bunnyhop is, for the most part,
a games reviewer

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with occasional editorial content that is
often fairly interesting.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
His investigation into gaming beyond 60fps

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
was certainly good to show those that
don't really understand the difference.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
He's got plenty of interesting interviews
on his channel

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and I really enjoy his reviewing style:

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it eloquently straddles the line between
the consumer bias style of review

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and academic critique.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It doesn't go too far off either end.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I think it really helps that George
actually has the intelligence

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and the academic background to create
journalistic content.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Plenty of people try it and most people 
don't really succeed.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Thankfully, George does and as a result, 
his channel remains relevant

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and informative.

300
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
VaatiVidya.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I don't play Dark Souls, at least not on
a regular basis,

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
so if someone could explain to me exactly
why it is that I watch everything

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Vaati puts out, I would be very 
interested in hearing it.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
No, I think I can identify it quite well:

305
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it's a very unique channel.

306
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It's something that combines creative
writing

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
with the lore of a very vague universe,

308
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
something that is not particularly well
explained

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and is really very open to interpretation.

310
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Thankfully, Vaati is very good
at interpretation.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
I have no doubt that some of his stuff is
merely a flight of fancy

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and isn't actually accurate, but that's
actually the point of Souls, isn't it ?

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
It doesn't necessarily have to be, a lot
of this stuff isn't canon,

314
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
it's a very confusing universe.

315
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Vaati does an incredible good job of
explaining exactly what's going on

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
and crafting what's often a very sad 
and forlorn story.

317
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Regardless of whether or not I actually
play the game,

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
the universe of the Souls series is very
interesting to me.

319
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Vaati does a peerless job of exemplifying
exactly why that is.

320
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
Matthew Matosis.

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
If you want a channel that does incredibly
in-depth critique,

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99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
often of fairly old titles