Killing It with Jared Rea

Feel Your Heart Melting

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Question: I want to try and learn guitar this year. Is Rocksmith worth the time?

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Hey guys, let’s make a deal. The headline is “MY Favorite Games of 2011.” So please do not tell me that x is missing or that I should really check out y because we’re not here to validate your opinions on things. That is the unbridled joy of no longer being a game journalist and putting together these lists. I don’t have to pretend to care about things I do not care about.

This was also a very busy year for me so there are a lot of “small” experiences on my list. If a certain game didn’t hook me immediately I would cut my losses and go back to playing iOS games on the toilet or something. There was a lot of toilet time this year.

I’d also like to say that, for the record, my 2010 Game of the Generation, Bayonetta, totally slays everything on this list. C’est la vie..

Favorite Songs of 2011

Pop trash, shoegaze, thug rap, joke rap, fish fillets and basic bitches. 2011 was a weird year for my musical tastes and instead of breaking it down on a per album basis, I’m listing the songs that stuck with me throughout the year. Spoilers: There are two Arcade Fire songs on here because I am hopelessly white and can’t help it. Also, these are in no order but if I was forced a favorite it’s a tough choice between “Niggas in Paris” and “The Suburbs.” They both make me tear up for wildly different reasons.

Nerds and Male Privilege - How many times have I attempted to argue this exists? Awesome article.

Sunshine, Lollipops and eSports

On Twitter the other day, Ultradavid said of me, “Jared isn’t even shy about having an agenda and wanting to stir things up.” That’s actually very astute as I’ve said all along throughout the great (?) fighting games as eSports debate that the only thing I’ve wanted was to have this debate out in public, in the open. All I wanted was to have key figureheads say their piece and to have the community engage with them. We’ve heard from just about everyone this year from the top players, major broadcasters and key community figures, along with eSports organizers, casters and journalists. At this point I think we’ve taken it as far as it can go and a lot of folks are starting to feel pretty tuckered out on the whole subject.

The only problem is that me simply wanting a debate is something of a half-truth. In kicking the hornets nest, I began to notice a trend amongst the responses from the fighting game community that didn’t sit too well with me.