The best stuff on Destructoid this week [1/18]

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Things you should be reading!

Selamat pagi, homies!

We post a lot of articles here at Destructoid. The endless, ouroboros news cycle has us burning the snake at both ends, which will ultimately push big news, thoughtful original pieces, and all sorts of other great content off of the front page.

Every Saturday, I’m going to bring you a sort of “best of the week.” The stories you might have missed. The stories you should be reading.

This was last week’s. Let’s begin anew.

ORIGINAL CONTENT

Collector’s Corner: Show us your collection – Bill Platt

In this week’s Collector’s Corner, Bill Platt talks about displaying collections and put out a call for you, dear reader, to send in pictures of your plastic. He wants to live vicariously through you, slurp up your overflowing vital fluids. We all do.

I am a collector without a true home, without a shelf, and without….well, my collection. As much as I would love to show all of you how amazing my displays are, how meticulous I have set everything up, and how perfect my alphabetizing is, I cannot, unless you want to see pictures of a 20×20 storage unit packed wall to wall and up to the ceiling.

How casual speedrunning can help you enjoy games more – Chris Carter

Chris Carter is Good at Games. The devil actually went down to Georgia in shame after Chris embarrassed him at Street Fighter II. With speed running sweeping a small subsection of the internet that likes videogames and streaming, Chris reflects on how speed running can be fun. No wonder he’s able to play so many damn games.

You’re not going to become an honorary member of Awesome Games Done Quick overnight! Choose one game that you’re particularly skilled at, and can finish rather quickly, that way you won’t get bored of playing it over and over. You’ll have more fun if you’re playing with others, whether that’s locally or by way of streaming, because of the moments of tension speedruns bring out nearly every time.

Wii U development drama: Nintendo’s box is a Nintendo-box – Steven Hansen

Boy, the Wii U is a hot button issue. A lot of people were arguing about it recently for no good reason. I tried to temper the sensationalist discussion by explaining that it’s not all that interesting, while playing couch Freud and deeming the flurry a crisis of identity as people fail to rectify Nintendo’s current place in the console market.

The Wii U is, first and foremost, a box that lets you play Nintendo games. It’s been the case for a while. Everything else is gravy. Nintendo would love Wii-caliber sales, but it seems to be doing okay with its current position, playing its own long game. … STFUAJPG, I guess. Even on the Wii U, there are some good ones. And if you’ve played them all, buy a Vita and play those while you wait for Bayonetta 2 and Smash Bros.

The Memory Card .102: The Murder of Master Miller – Chris Carter

Chris is not only Good at Games, but he’s played a hell of a lot of them. That could be seen as time wasted. Time not spent loving, writing poetry, or bathing in the resplendent nature of life. But then how could he reminisce about Metal Gear Solid? Answer that, tough guy.

We all have different reactions to any given event. Some of you may have brushed this off and said “I knew it the whole time!” But for me, on that winter’s day in 1998, I had a life-changing moment. And I’ll always have Kojima to thank for it.

Look at Lightning’s many outfits in our music video – Dale North

Dale put up a Lightning Returns preview based on his 30 hours with the game. This original song, with his soothing, dulcet words sexing your ear canals, shows off a bunch of Lightning’s different outfits. I might keep her dressed as Locke forever. And start dressing as Locke myself. I might get beat up.

Sucking down the secrets of Soda Drinker Pro – Jonathan Holmes

A week and a half ago on Sup Holmes (now on iTunes) we were lucky to have Will Brierly (Soda Drinker Pro, My Girl, The Golden Girls) on the program. It was an episode filled with surprises, including death scares. Real-life death scares, guys. There were a few moments there when I was sure he was a goner, though I couldn’t forgo the possibility that it was all an elaborate goof. If Will Brierly had a middle name, it would probably be “elaborate goof.”

Hardline 006: Where’s the love for Wii U and PS Vita? – Jordan/Dale/Steven/Hamza

On this week’s episode of Hardline, the regular crew is back in full force as Dale joins us after marathoning Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. We had a lengthy discussion about the Wii U and PS Vita perpetually needing “just one more game” to make them worth purchasing, or so some commenters say, and what it takes to be able to keep up with games professionally. (Basically: Not getting sucked into any one title, especially not MMOs, for too long.)

I committed the perfect crime in Rust – Conrad Zimmerman

Right now, the explosive charge item is just about the most evil element of a PVE server, allowing players to break in and raid shelters for valuables. It’s taken me nearly the whole week to find the components, research them and start crafting my own. Here we see me entering a home, robbing it of materials, and then replacing the wall I destroyed to remove the evidence.

PREVIEWS

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII after 30 hours – Dale North

Dale’s been playing Lightning Returns because he gets all the cool JRPGs ahead of time. Lucky duck. I’m drinking a flippin’ Tecate and yearning death’s sweet embrace. Or pizza. Whichever comes first.

Every time I talk about Lightning Returns I feel like I’m trying to sell long-time franchise fans on it. Maybe I am. I guess that’s because I really like it. The story is scattered everywhere, and there’s so much silliness that I sometimes struggle with it, but at the end of the day I still find myself coming back. With the crazy costumes, off-the-wall quests, new battle system, and new worlds to explore, I’m having a lot of fun.

Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD is a fine upgrade – Chris Carter

Despite myself — namely, my dislike of the Assassin’s Creed series — I got a little excited for Liberation when I previewed it a lifetime ago. I doubt anyone played it, though, because no one owns a Vita besides me. Because you’re dummies. You dummies.

Barring an odd filter in the opening sequence of the game (that really had me worried), Liberation HDlooks considerably better than it did on the Vita. It’s brighter, bolder, the draw distance is farther, and most importantly — the frame rate is a lot smoother. The same goes for the game’s remastered sound quality, which is great when coupled with a good home audio setup. Basically, I saw and heard more than I ever did before, which is ultimately the goal of an HD port.

PC Port Report: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – Patrick Hancock

Considering that the PC version also comes with all three pieces of DLC and Raiden costumes, it’s hard to argue against this port. Sure, it isn’t perfect, with a glaring omission or two and it lacks a handful of niceties, but it has something that many PC ports don’t have — a team that fixes stuff, opening up the door to more potential fixes in the future. It plays very well on a keyboard and mouse or an Xbox gamepad, so take up your weapon of choice and get slicin’.

PC Port Report: KickBeat – Darren Nakamura

All in all, KickBeat is only improved for its Steam release. It is still quite difficult and the native soundtrack is largely unchanged (more likely to fans’ chagrin than to their delight), but given the fixes to the progression of unlockable content and even more convenient custom song imports, KickBeat Steam Edition may very well be the definitive version to own.

Virtual Console Verdict: Mega Man X2 – Chris Carter

Many Mega Manfans would argue (myself included), that X2isn’t as well designed as Mega Man X, which is considered to be the pinnacle of platformers. But even still,X2is completely worth your time if you’re a retro fan, as it’s not only one of the best Mega Mangames ever made, but one of the best in the entire genre.

BIGGEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

Rain World looks AMAZING, stars a slugcat – Steven Hansen

SimCity will finally be playable offline – Alasdair Duncan

It apparently took Maxis six months to get it working, but the infamous Sim City is no longer an always-online game. Strangely, this news came after Maxis tried to push modding with a Draconian rule set because the game was online and, thus, they didn’t want to negatively affect other peoples’ play.

PlayStation 14 for ’14 sale has something you want – Steven Hansen

Sony did a huge sale on PS3 and Vita games. It’s still going on, which means you can still score some crazy deals, like Enslaved for five bucks and Puppeteer for seven. Why go outside this weekend when you can buy good games for cheap?

A handy tip to clear up HDD space if you use Steam a lot – Hamza Aziz

Maybe you didn’t know about this. I didn’t know about this. You know what they say, “a cluttered hard drive is one of the warning signs for mouth cancer.” Or something.

Steam Dev Day round up bonanza extraordinaire

Ciao, amiche.