Favourite ... of the year 2011

[Sabretooth]

Exactly a year after the previous thread, we have the obligatory favourite ... of the year 2011 thread!

 

List your favourite:

 

1. Movie

2. Game

3. Album

 

And I guess anything else you want.

 

Here's mines:

 

Movie:

 

Runners-up:

2. Aftershock

3. 127 Hours

4. Submarine

5. That Girl in Yellow Boots

6. Delhi Belly

7. Another Earth

8. Stanley Ka Dabba

9. Attack the Block

10. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

 

Game:

 

Runners-up:

2. Deus Ex: Human Revolution

3. LIMBO

 

Album:

 

Runners-up:

2. Ram Sampath - Delhi Belly OST

3. Yakushimaru Etsuko - Noruniru and Ruru (singles)

4. HALCALI - TOKYO CONNECTION

5. Emmy the Great - Virtue

6. Lady Gaga - Born This Way

7. The Birthday Massacre - Imaginary Monsters

8. The National - Exile Vilify

9. Laura Marling - A Creature I Don't Know

10. Prashant Pillai - Shaitan OST

 

Book:

 

Anime:

 

Runners-up:

2. Mawaru Penguindrum

3. Tiger & Bunny

4. Usagi Drop

5. Chihayafuru

6. Level E

7. Gosick

[Alexrd]

@ Sabretooth: Limbo is from 2010.

 

Movie:

 

 

Game:

 

 

TV Series:

 

[Sabretooth]

@ Sabretooth: Limbo is from 2010.

 

The PC version isn't.

[Pho3nix]

 

 

 

[Jeff]

Movie:

Contagion

 

Game:

DXHR

 

Runners up:

Skyrim

Portal 2

The Witcher 2

 

Album:

Ukulele Songs - Eddie Vedder

 

Anime:

Guilty Crown

Currently airing, but the only new anime I've watched this year, and it's awesome.

 

 

I always feel like I'm forgetting stuff in these types of posts, for both movies and games. And I haven't played everything from this year yet, I expect SWTOR to be in my list after I've played more than I have in beta.

[Pho3nix]

Good album choice there Jeff

[Darth Groovy]

Oh bless you Sabertooth! I just been recently compiling my favorites from this year. It has been tough. Games have been a plenty...movies not so much...albums also in the plenty! I can add other entries though since you said we could.

 

Favorite movie: is hands down: Thor With Chris Hemsworth as the starring role. He is wonderfully supported by such film greats as Anthony Hopkins as "Odin", Tom Hiddleston as "Loki", Natalie Portman as "Jane Foster", and Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig. The movie really blew my mind, because I always thought Thor as one of the weakest and most annoying characters in the Marvel Universe. What director Kenneth Branagh brought to the table was Thor in every aspect of the comic he portrayed. In the beginning you hate Thor, the guy is a complete d-bag. Odin punishes him by sending him to Earth stripped of his powers. Thor, an arrogant prick, must learn to appreciate things such as caring, sharing, and love. Once Thor learns these attributes, he must answer the call to duty to protect those he loves the most, at any cost. I expected the average human being to swallow the concept of Asgard not to easily, but the movie makes complete sense out of it, and sets up the room easily for Thor's return as one of the Avengers due out next year to be directed by Joss Whedon. Can't wait!

 

Favorite Game: Hate to jump on the bandwagon, but damn...Skyrim is so fun! I mean it is just amazing! I finally got into Oblivion. I finally learned how to go through RPGs after spending time on such games such as Mass Effect 2, Dues Ex, Human Revolution, and Lord of the Rings War in the North. Skyrim is the best RPG ever. The dragons are of movie quality such as what you saw in "Reign of Fire", and your ability to level up on the fly makes this game one of the most important games you will ever play in your entire life. Yes I love it..sue me.

 

Favorite album should go to Skinny Puppy for Handover, however, it does not. I also have a soft spot for Lady Gaga. I found her album Born This Way to be quite infectious. Even though I grew up on industrial music, the genre is kind of stale at this point. Skinny Puppy's new album is good, but too god damn short. Most of the songs end when they are just getting really good. I don't know what to make of the Gaga, but I like her songs, and her videos and live performances are controversial, but I would KILL to see a live performance, as she is a world class performance artist. At her age, it is refreshing to see her echo in the shadows of Bowie, and Elton John. Everyone thinks she is crazy, but she is just reading from the glam power book, and laughing her way to the bank. In the maelstrom she has created, a lot of really great catchy songs have come along the way. She would make Madonna proud. The world needs an artist like this, and I am down with all of Lady Gaga's bull****. Seriously! I love all of it!

 

 

Hell I answered all the core questions but I will put in all of the TV shows as well. Here are my favorite in order of importance

 

1. The Walking Dead

2. Blue Bloods

3. The Big Bang Theory

4. Leverage

5. CSI: New York

6. Psych

7. CSI: Miami

8. Hawaii Five O

9. The Closer

10. Falling Skies

[Darth Avlectus]

Favorites this year:

 

Since I didn't see (for a lack of looking) any new romhacks this year that I liked, I'll just choose (in my opinion) the most epic 8 bit dual music theme for this year:

intro

Show spoiler

(hidden content - requires Javascript to show)

(This BBCode requires its accompanying plugin to work properly.)

title

Show spoiler

(hidden content - requires Javascript to show)

(This BBCode requires its accompanying plugin to work properly.)

 

......at least I liked it anyways. Not that I think most people care.

 

Favorite new lightsaber I plan to order: Dark War Glaive

Show spoiler

(hidden content - requires Javascript to show)

This is a copyrighted image, so all credit goes to UltraSabers LLC., 2011

Chrome finished emitter "claws", full options with quick disconnect change LED, sound, chose red as the blade color, mid grade blade with pointed tip, with sunrider's destiny (seafoam green/cyan) for the 'flash on clash' color to give the most dramatic effect, Li-Ion battery option. Unfortunately anti-vandal lighted pushbutton switches aren't available.

 

Favorite "unjustifiable expense" novelty item: a USB 16GB sith holocron

http://genesiscustomsabers.com/?p=472

Hell no I ain't paying $300 to buy it, but I have to say the craftsmanship is certainly admirable. (Look at their Darth Bane novel style saber, you'll $*** yourself at the price).

 

Didn't see any new movies this year unfortunately.

 

Favorite discovered music track this year: Kalmah Heroes to us.

Show spoiler

(hidden content - requires Javascript to show)

(This BBCode requires its accompanying plugin to work properly.)

 

Favorite thing I did this year: visit a waterpark with my girlfriend. Unfortunately our relationship is a bit rocky right now and we are separated but not broken up yet.

 

Favorite TV show: The return of Beavis and Butt-Head with all new episodes. Makes TV worth watching again, for now. Well that and the science channel and history channel.

 

Favorite YouTube sensation of the year: Tourettes guy...yeah I know I'm a little behind the times.

[Totenkopf]

Favorite movie: pretty much a tie between Capt. America and Thor. Otherwise, 2011 wasn't really remarkable for anything in my book.

[TiE23]

1. Battlefield 3

Yet another Battlefield to call my favorite of the year. While I haven't even bothered to finish the single player the multiplayer has its own brand of crazy action and on-the-fly tactical thinking. BF3 has been more punishing to me than BC2, I think it's a better game because it brings in the tiny but potent little details from games like ARMA 2 but puts it into a totally accessible game. The gameplay is like a simulation without all the buttons and gauges.

 

2. Total War: Shogun 2

I bought this game on a whim, telling myself at the same time that it would be a waste of money -- that I'd play it for a few hours and never touch it again. But luckily for me, this was the first Total War game I bought where I actually started a campaign. And dammit, would you know, that stuff is awesome. Amazing graphics, slick presentation, fantastic setting, and a 100% logical rock-paper-scissors unit mechanic that makes warfare make sense. The campaign map mode is like a whole other game as well, who needs Civilization V when you can play Shogun 2's campaign?

 

3. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I went through a month of abstinence from Elder Scrolls so that this game wouldn't destroy my ability to do concentrate during the last four weeks of school. While I haven't dove totally deep into Skyrim, I think I may be relegating this game into a slow burn mode. I sort of missed out on the initial frenzy from 11/11/11 onward -- but I may have destroyed my future career chances if I hadn't waited.

 

4. Portal 2

When this game went on sale on Steam for $15 for the first time I said to my visiting brother, "Hey, dude, no thinking, just buy Portal 2. Just do it, take $15 and use it. You won't be sorry."Well, he ignored me... but jokes on my because he ended up getting it for $7.49 or so and marathons through it. The game is great, just great great great great. No matter who you are or what you play --- whether you're a pony tail wearing ****-head who plays nothing but imported Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games; a racial or sexual epithet spewing CoD bro; a kid who can't stop playing that god damn Angry Birds game; or a person who starts flame wars on forums if any Mario/Kirby/Zelda game released isn't given a 10/10 - you'll like this game. Simple as that.

 

5. DiRT 3

DiRT 3 manages to tread the "bro-dude" route a little more well. It's better than DiRT 2's trailer menu aesthetic in terms of ENERGY DRINK EXTREEEEEME-ness as it takes a more professional approach to the whole thing. Watching Ken Block's Gymkhana films on Youtube was a great prep activity for all the stunt driving the game made available. Make no mistake -- straight up rally and trailblazer events are my bread and butter but dammit if I didn't spend an unhealthy amount of time blasting through empty shipping containers and around concrete barriers with a 600hp squealing gymkhana rally car having stupid f*cking fun the entire time.

 

6. Dark Souls

I've sorta been beaten down by the game, sadly. I put it down for a few weeks and lost all my finesse with the gameplay. And like hell this game is going to let me through the rest of Blight Town with a half-baked level of skill. It did scratch my strange Monster Hunter itch of weird, "you're ****ed or your good" fighting where safety is found in paper-thin margins and death comes swiftly. I may come back to it, maybe not. It was a lot of fun while it lasted, though.

 

7. Saints Row: The Third

I haven't gotten very far into the game yet but I can't wait to dive further into the chaos.

 

8. Crysis 2

I can't wait until developers start to getting back into the PC-first mentality for the next two years (until the next Xbox comes out). While Crysis 2 contained a lot of disappointments: It didn't feel like a sequel, it felt like it was written by different people, felt like it was MADE by different people, and while it is vastly more open ended than a game like Call of Duty or Battlefield, it felt constrained compared to the original Crysis. The game did end up shining through in the end, though

 

9. The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Pretty great game... maybe I should finish it some day.

 

10. Frozen Synapse

"Turn based Rainbow Six RTS" is what I'd call this game. Very interesting game about watching your corners and setting up killzones. Very entertaining.

 

 

 

I've played only a few more games that were even released in 2011 -- and own plenty more that I have but haven't touched at all: Dead Space 2, Assassin's Creed Revelations, LA Noir, Bulletstorm, Bastion. Games are just too good and I'm getting too old. I don't have the time like I used to.

 

I can't tell if I'll ever get to some of the best games of 2011. Uncharted 3, Gears of War 3, Batman Arkham City, Modern Warfare 3, LittleBigPlanet 2, Zelda Skyward Sword. I think this year was the beginning of the end for me.

[Darth Avlectus]

^^^That's cool on 2, 4, 7, & 8. Wish I had those.

 

To add to my favorites, ah this last day of 2011, I have played and almost completed all the finale bonus material of Dragon Quest IV: chapters of the chosen for DS. Only 2 things left are killing of a Platinum King Jewel and Aamon in his secret of evolution form.