Back on the old DTM Blog, I used to do a quick lookback on a year, primarily some of the highpoints and lowpoints that were worth my attention during the past year. Now we’re slowly approaching 2011 and thus it’s time to look back on some winners and losers of 2010.
2010 has been a relatively crummy year for me personally; I spent the better part of it looking for work after getting laid off from my old job. And for the most part, spent months doing nothing at home until a couple months ago where I got another job… which is actually less than stellar, but I guess I should be glad to have any work at all. In any case, not the best year for me.
But while things may have been on the low end of things personally-speaking, I can take solace in the fact that I’ve got family, I’ve got health, and I’m not as far as I could have been. So I suppose I can’t complain too much.
But that would defeat the purpose of this listing. So let’s begin, shall we?
THE WINNERS OF 2010
Not a particularly huge list of winners, but perhaps that’s for the best.
OLD WORKPLACE
More of a personal addition than anything else. Although I won’t mention the company’s name here, I believe they know who they are. While we may have parted ways, the 3+ years spent there were the best I’ve ever had, with wonderful people and a great learning experience. Best of luck to you guys.
BRET HART
Returned to WWE for the first time in years to blast Vinnie-Mac with a chair and win another U.S. championship… in Canada, no less… after his nephews did all the work on the Miz who would then win the WWE Championship in November. Why did I put Bret here again?
DANIEL BRYAN DANIELSON
Only reason he’s on this list is because he choked an announcer and got fired for it. Also, he did this.
HAIM SABAN
Once upon a time, this man conceived Power Rangers. Then one day, he sold Power Rangers. Then one day again, he bought back Power Rangers and is funding a new season to air in 2011. We salute you, Mr. Saban. We salute you… actually, to be quite honest with you, I don’t honestly know why you’re added to this list since all you did this year was buy the franchise back and released a cheap-ass DVD to Comicon that featured one whole episode on a disc… but hey, getting something off the hands of the Mickey Mouse Club is more than enough for me, so kudos. Website’s cool, too. I guess.
TATSUNOKO VS. CAPCOM
What was initially a pipe dream to get localized in 2008 eventually became a reality in 2010, as Capcom characters take on the Tatsunoko characters in this Cross Generation of Ultimate All-Stars. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is a top-notch, downright awesome fighting game on the Wii that more than makes up for the lack of Street Fighter IV on that console… although to be honest, I prefer TvC over SF4. TvC offers something new, while SF4 is just SF2… but in TWO POINT FIVE DEE. The fact that the upcoming Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is sharing the same command scheme ought to tell you something about the effectiveness of the gameplay here. In any case, if you have a Wii, like fighters, and haven’t played this yet, what’s wrong with you?
IRON MAN 2
Solid movie and a solid sequel. Not much more to add to it than that.
MEGA MAN 10
A slightly tougher game, more strategic weapons, immediately-playable Proto Man, downloadable Bass, kick-ass soundtrack, and a presumed link to the Mega Man X origins in the form of the Roboenza virus. Is it wrong to say I prefer this game over Mega Man 9? Probably not. That, and the inclusion of downloadable stages based on the Game Boy titles makes it a sweeter package.
BUSY STREET
I’ve been a regular visitor to this site since its inception early on and I really enjoy some of their stuff. While the opinions and articles might not be popular ones among certain fanbases (and some would say their operations would be “trolling” in nature), they can be quite entertaining if you possess an open mind. Their review/commentary on Kickassia is a particularly funny piece.
(2011 Update: The site/blog has since been set to private… don’t know why.)
THE LOSERS OF 2010
The stinking piles of dog manure. Unfortunately, I found it easier to find more losers than winners.
ANGRY JOE
Now here’s a guy whose “popularity” is a complete and utter mystery to me, because he doesn’t look like anybody interesting – just some doofus with a greenscreen. To be fair, I checked out a couple of his vids and got nothing out of it. He sounds annoying, he’s not remotely funny, and for a guy who calls himself “Angry” Joe, he doesn’t seem all that angry. But the real reason he’s on the losers list (and pretty much the ONLY reason I even bother to bring up his name) is because of his embarrassing, horrifically-painful-to-watch interview with Geoff Keighley on the carpet of the 2010 Spike Video Games Awards show. Look, if I have to make a whole video log rambling about this stupidity, then yeah, that makes the top of the loser list.
(2011 Update: Did Joe ever make it to this year’s VGA show? I haven’t anything from his camp regarding this… if not, it was probably for the best that he didn’t go.)
Speaking of which…
THAT GUY WITH THE GLASSES
The entire crew is responsible for the two-hour borefest known as Kickassia, which did everything it could NOT to kick ass. Now I already did both a text review (on my blog) and a video review (just recently listed on the YT channel after having been exclusive to the Blog). And if that wasn’t enough to expose the world to their “acting”, there’s also a Christmas special where Nostalgia Critic looks at the lives of his fellow TGWTG cohorts if he had never existed. Just terrible all-around, although the special is only SLIGHTLY better because they didn’t put that on DVD… yet.
(2011 Update: Looking back, I’d say the Christmas special is marginally tolerable at best. Yeah, it’s still pretty stupid, but honestly, it’s the kind of thing that they SHOULD be doing, instead of attempting “epics” that they neither have the ability or the resources to fully realize… Suburban Knights, the 3rd Anniversary project, was somewhat better, but not by much.)
SPOONY’S WRESTLE WRESTLE
You know, when I go to a wrestling site, I expect to read or watch stuff relating to wrestling. I don’t care for your buddies’ football podcast or the MMA posts unless it involves Brock Lesnar or another former rassler in the sport. Not to mention the damned site doesn’t get any updates anymore. Did Spoony ever say why he needed a second website if he was barely going to touch it? No? Okay, just checking.
(2011 Update: The site only has a couple updates at most during the better part of 2011… sometimes, it amazes me that the site is still around.)
SPOONY’S FINAL FANTASY X FINALE
Late addition, but it was posted on New Years’ Eve and after having watched it, I can only come up with three words…
FUCK THIS SHIT!
Yeah, that sums it up right.
(2011 Update: Wow… three LOSER votes for TGWTG? Must have been something in my coffee that day.)
TIGER WOODS
Yeah, I think we all know why he’s here. Not a good year for the Wood.
TNA WRESTLING
Signed Hulk Hogan to run the company and subsequently made a ton of stupid decisions such as a pre-mature attempt to re-kindle a new Monday Night War, feuds over WWE Hall of Fame rings rather than TNA World Titles, allowing Lacey Von Erich to wrestle on a regular basis, and giving Jeff Hardy a World Title that resembles the Divas World title. I could keep going all night, but I have to go to bed soon.
NEXUS
What started off as a hot storyline quickly suffered a pain downfall to the point where it became a joke. Perhaps that’s the sad thing about Nexus; it started off with a lot of potential, kicking off with an awesome beatdown of the ring area, resulting in one guy getting fired for tie choking. Let’s face it; once John Cena overcame the odds (TM) at Summerslam, there was no fire in Nexus to burn bright, but rather a bloated bag of air that’s running on auto-pilot despite having crashed and burned ten times over. Will CM Punk’s involvement in Nexus improve the group? Probably not. I think it’s time we killed the pet project and be done with it.
STREET FIGHTER 2010: THE FINAL FIGHT
Everything about that game is a lie. Forget its relatively questionable links to the Street Fighter series that has come after this game’s inception; do we have cyboplasm, interstellar travel, and aliens visiting our worlds? No… we don’t. What a bunch of bullshit. Don’t trust science fiction to determine our future – they’re a bunch of liars!
That’s all I got this year. Happy 2011, everybody.
dtm666 