By turning the little moments of downtime at work (and also lunch) into reading moments, I got through more books in 2018 than I ever have. I've blogged about books on occasion but with KnightDriver branching out in his blogs, I thought maybe I'd do the same. So first let's hit the novels I read last year.

Welcome to another episode of Nerds Without Pants! We have our first topic episode in ages, thanks to a thought-provoking blog from regular listener transmet2033. Before that, we of course have Consumption Junction.

Voting is a funny thing. It’s hard to argue with addition, but there are plenty of instances where some of the staff thought a title or two got overlooked. Even though our GOTY 2013 article used some inarguable mathematics to come to the PixlBit staff’s consensus opinion, some of us thought there were games that should have gotten a few more votes. To highlight some of the games that each of us took a particular shine to in 2013, we present our staff’s personal picks that didn’t make the cut. 

Zelda fans should already be excited for The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, but I am hoping that everybody gives it a shot. Traditionally, the 2D and handheld Zelda games have never really grabbed me in quite the same way as the now-standard 3D titles. After getting some hands-on time with A Link Between Worlds, I got right into it, and didn’t want to give it up. Running at a smooth 60 FPS, the game is both technologically and visually stunning. The dungeons are varied and provide thought-provoking challenges to overcome. While I wasn’t stumped by anything the game threw at me, I still needed to stop to evaluate the situation a few times in order to make progress.

And here we are at part four of my Future of Video Games blog series, written in 2011. You know the drill by now, because you’ve been reading these all week, right? RIGHT?? Anyway, this is going to tie in to the next Tri-Force hosted edition of PixlTalk, so read up and join in the discussion next episode!

Last month we announced our Game of the Year award winners by genre, platform and overall game of the year, but we weren’t through showcasing the best that 2011 had to offer.  With so many games deserving of the moniker Game of the Year we have decided to expand our awards ceremony into 2012 with the 2011 Supplemental Awards.  These awards seek to recognize games that excelled in a specific area whether it be through technical achievement, sheer enjoyability or utter disappointment.

Ubisoft announced today that I Am Alive, a title first announced during E3 2008, will be released for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this winter.

There's so much disappointment in virtually every aspect of Hyperdimension Neptunia. The concept is creative but doesn't work. The characters were created with seemingly no purpose except to be viewed as borderline risque versions of the companies or consoles they represent. The battle system, while operable, is completely convoluted, offering players too many meaningless, worthless attack options that grow to be too complex for any sort of general consumption. There are so many issues, it's hard to tell where to begin.

This week's PB & Jason is very deep. It has a great atmosphere. You can tell it's not one of those big fancy-shmancy industry podcasts, because those have color.

In this week's issue of PB & Jason, I phone it in. Really. Rather than prepare a thought-provoking, intelligent podcast, I go the easy way, and tell some of the early chronicles of my journey through Pokemon White.

I've learned over my years of playing video games, not to expect much out of a title based on a movie, TV show, or anything in our current pop culture. They are usually cheap, quickly thrown-together pieces of media created without any care for quality, because the character or topic it is based on is usually the only thing necessary to convince parents everywhere to shell out money for it. This is why I was genuinely shocked, as well as delighted, at the quality I found within Toy Story 3. While it is not a perfect movie game, it contains significant depth, great variety, and a gaming experience that is not only fun, challenging, and thought-provoking for its target audience, but enjoyable for adults and parents as well.

Limbo is part of XBLA's Summer promotion, and definitely created a compelling effort on the show floor this year.

As someone who acquired a PS2 during the middle of its lifespan, I was able to experience a wide variety of its offerings. Of the 120-something titles I own for the system, the Ratchet & Clank series has always stuck out in my mind as one of the best series on the system. It combined elements of strategy, satisfying combat, great platforming, and thoughtful puzzle solving into a world full of unique characters chock full of humor. Since the very first title, the two main characters have been on a whirlwind adventure; first together, then alone, only to finally wind up split apart, taking players through two very different and unique storylines.