The Jimquisition

Atari isn't exactly the most respected name in the industry these days, but apparently it needs to infect everything it touches with its sour reputation. The Great Atari Ransack is underway, as the hollow shell of a publisher goes through its back catalog and ruins everything. Desperate, undignified, and thoroughly damaging, Atari's recent release trend deserves to be torn asunder.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has given us one of the most grotesque pre-order schemes in "AAA" history. Its "Augment Your Pre-order" plan is a blight on the industry, and the worst part is that it's just another development in a long and sad story.

I've got my umbrella primed for a torrent of boiled piss, as I'm about to suggest Hideo Kojima is less than perfect. How could you argue otherwise, though, when you see Quiet and unveil the "secret reason" for her total ballbag visual design? So join me as we explain why the whole Quiet thing in Metal Gear Solid V is total bollock-chunder! Afterwards, I plan to drink. Drink to forget.

Okay, who DIDN'T expect another Konami episode with the crap it's pulled this past week? Today, we discuss the company's sleazy PES shenanigans, the ridiculous DLC coming to Metal Gear Solid V, and explain why Konami sodding off out of "AAA" development forever wouldn't be a bad thing. My your blood quench the throat of the thirsting POG GOD.

Voice actors are doing what they do best and speaking up, uniting under the #PerformanceMatters group to demand better treatment in the game industry. Ideally, the game industry should treat EVERYONE way better than it does, but in this case, it should come as no surprise that I most definitely stand with the voice actors and support them. Performance does matter, even as the industry sickeningly pretends it doesn't.

As news of Assassin's Creed: Syndicate's microtransactions spreads, some folk roll their eyes at the usual pundits beating a dead horse and reiterating the same old outrage. This, friends, is how The Silence spreads. The Silence is what publishers want. They keep their mouths shut and wait for their audience to get bored of the latest scandal. It's an effective tactic, one that creates aggressive and infectious apathy. That apathy is then used to lash out at others who won't "get over it" and continue to talk about scandalous antics. So let's talk about that, and the power noise has when it transcends that silence. Also, Jim has never heard of Jimsaw.

It's been almost a year since Digital Homicide attempted to lock horns with Jim F'n Sterling Son, failing at every turn to produce a "gotcha" or demonstrate they were anything more than hacks. Following their latest series of stunts - stunts that involve erecting sockpuppet companies, spamming Steam, and leveling threats against yours truly over the phone, it's time to lay it out there once and for all. Digital Homicide, enjoy this, my anniversary gift to you.

Overkill has embodied its name when it comes to downloadable content for Payday 2, but its latest shenanigan is possibly the worst. After adding a microtransaction system to the game in an event that promised FREE updates, Payday 2 has become not just a source of community rage, but an exercise in corporate hypocrisy. This is a game I personally championed. I take its recent heel turn personally as well.

I used to love Kickstarter. Then I used to resent it. Then I started loving it again. I make liberal use of Kickstarter to back certain projects, and have been doing it for games a lot more lately. Some consider this tasteless, a potential conflict of interest. Some believe games media folk have no place contributing to crowdfunded games. So, here's why I do it.

Having played far too many of the cynical horror games that have cropped up over the past few years, your ol' pal Jim has noticed some awful trends. Those trends now get their comeuppance, as we look at the Golden Sins of horror games, the things that no spooky experience should ever do again. Also, Jimsaw plays his final card.

Fallout 4 does something very S.P.E.C.I.A.L with its relationships. It's not every day a "AAA" videogame gets something right, much less something that so personally resonates with your ol' pal Jim Sterling. So, let's talk about the companion system of Fallout 4, and the thing it allows that makes it one of the more surprisingly progressive things a big-budget mainstream game's ever done.

It is Jimdependence Day, the one-year anniversary of The Jimquisition going solo and becoming an indie endeavor. To celebrate, here's a whole extra episode! This is a special subject for me. When I last did a Jimquisition about Dynasty Warriors, it was scheduled to be the final video I did for The Escapist - except I'd become inexplicably popular after a terrible debut, and therefore it signified the beginning of a whole new chapter. Anyway, this is an episode defending one of the most critically maligned series of all time, Dynasty Warriors. Suck it down!

In recent years, communities like Reddit and NeoGAF have largely come to enjoy - or at least tolerate - the work of yours truly. This has been wonderful to see, that change in perception. I'm proud of it. Wasn't always that way, however. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 remains the most controversial review I've ever written, igniting a hellfire of outrage among those two communities, as well as other places - including Destructoid, where it was published. The way in which this outrage perpetuated was not through an understanding of the review, however, but through memes and a disingenuous carving away of nuance in order to present a simplified - and ultimately untrue - perspective of things. Today's episode has been a long time coming. I've planned it for years. I'm finally pulling the thorn out. Let's talk about Modern Warfare 3.

It's a rather special edition of The Jimquisition today, as I get to be part of the unveiling of YouTube's Copyright Protection Program. It's a new plan that will see YouTube stepping up its game and financially backing content creators who find their videos unfairly targeted by spurious copyright takedowns. As a long-term target of said takedowns, it's particularly pleasing to be part of the rollout, and to reveal how one underhanded developer, Moo Tech, tried and failed to censor me. It just got a little harder to be a cowardly, censoring timewaster.

The hot topic of the past week has been blacklisting, and it should come as no shock that your ol' pal Jim Sterling has more than a few words to say on the matter. Can companies be justified when they refuse to talk to a press outlet? Are press outlets justified to go public with these refusals? What gives blacklists power, and how to do we limit that power? Let's find some quasi-adequate answers to these questions!

Making money from the easily outraged may appear cynical and exploitative, but it actually isn't. With a convenient boogeyman, the right rhetoric, and a little bit of good ol' fashioned demagoguery, you'll be stacking cheddar courtesy of those who'll take any validation tossed their way. And the best part is how it isn't cynical. Not at all!

This generation has seen a number of big-budget games go multiplayer-only. This isn't a problem in theory, but the practice has left more than a little to be desired. With Titanfall, Evolve, Star Wars Battlefront and Rainbow Six Siege all dumping campaigns, The Jimquisition looks at why this is a problem, and why it shouldn't be. Also, you better goddamn believe we've got some #FucKonami news this week!

With Final Fantasy VII Remake abandoning the Active-Time Battle system for a more action-oriented approach, the time has come to discuss whether or not traditional JRPG battles really are "dated." Are they dated, or is it just something the industry decided one day? What exactly is wrong with Active-Time and turn-based combat systems? I, for one, can't say I see what makes them so distasteful.

The Jimquisition Awards are here again! This year, we've got not five, but SIX top-of-the-class games who all get a Game of the Year Award. The JQ Awards are given to games across the board, without regards for budget or status. All games are equal, all games deserve a shot... but only six of them can get what is literally the biggest honor in videogames!

So it's that time of the year again. The time to condense a year of bubbling shitclusters into a digestible list of ten thoroughbred shithorses. This year was a struggle, but not impossible. After much thought, deliberation, and howling desperately into the night, The Jimquisition brings to you... The Top Ten Shittiest Games of 2015!