The GNamer Forum Awards 2023 - And We're Off!

You guys are up there with Morecambe & Wise, Laurel & Hardy and Fish & Cushion.

Honourable Mentions - Games (5 contributors)

We split them apart this year.  Did you have many games to mention honourably?  (Spoiler: yes.)

This year's underdogs:

Games of yore:

My thoughts:

GNew Year's Resolutions (5 contributors)

A healthy number of y'all got behind this slightly maligned category, so thank you!  Not many lines of text so I'm just going to stick 'em out here:


"Stream. This is something I tell myself I'm gonna do every few weeks and always stop myself for one reason or another but ultimately when I have done it in the past I've always enjoyed it, even though barely anyone watches, I also find it a good way to try a wider variety of games."

"I said I'd up my japanese study yesterday but then I met Mercy and mostly studied Spanish instead. So this year I'm gonna get serious with the ol' Nihongo."

"Relax more. I spent 2023 doing a lot of worrying and stressing, so I think a more laissez-faire lifestyle will do wonders for my mental health in 2024."

“To stop italicising media names on here.  It’s a holdover from NGamer and its forebears, but 90% of the time doesn’t actually add anything.”

"After the last few years I've given up planning anything."


Some really creditable goals in the new year!  I can relate to the Japanese one, I've taken up the ol' Duolingo Duolingo myself and have definitely begun learning languages in the past for a girl. And a big hug for our last commenter.  Whether he likes it or not.

Those post why Cappa the Funniest one of us, with help from Buska.

Some on the honourable from me there I did end up voting for, though doubtful many others voted for my 13th favourite game of the year, that may as well be here.

I know Jay is Death Stranding. We've not really talked-about it, know ya got the platinum (nice) where I've only got 69% (nice) of the trophies but I love the story and the even more bonkers second one I'm downfor over the gameplay which I still really like, why like my 4th favourite game ever.

Feeling lot of the resolutions (4K for Switch 2 am I right?) as I do want to stream more as well and like off this week but nope haven't, and certainly need to stop stressing myself after 2023 (though 2024 not started great with darn teeth).

Those teeth may get another mention at some point.  Not here though.


The Philips CD-i Award for Best Nontendo Game (5 voters, 21 votes)

By most accounts this was a stonking year for games, on and off Switch.  Here we go, then, with resolutely off Switch... for the most part.

Fifth Place:

Fourth Place:

Third Place:

Second Place:

And your Nontendo Game of 2023 is...:

The best of the rest and my thoughts:

Balla wrote:

So I made a decision to put it back into bloke one's votes in its original position, and put it up top for bloke two. I look forward to talk about this derailing the thread for days now.

So, basically you're fixing the votes?

Balla wrote:

The two games I'm surprised to see coming so low are BG3 (a game I love the existence of without ever wanting to play it) and Resi 4 Remake. But in a year with this many bangers, there just isn't room for everything. Great selection!

I don't know about anyone else but RE4 remake got bumped down on my list simply because it was a remake & not entirely new. It's still a belter of a game though and the Ada Wong dlc rounded off some of the story stuff very well.

I'm happy for Cocoon to be here, if it means a Nintendo exclusive makes it now in the Nintendo one.

And now know why Starfield moved to honourables, though my here's the big Xbox game finally, seems a tad see with all the news about Xbox at the moment.

The_Jaster wrote:

Balla wrote:

So I made a decision to put it back into bloke one's votes in its original position, and put it up top for bloke two.  I look forward to talk about this derailing the thread for days now.

So, basically you're fixing the votes?

Considering I'd played a fair few hours on my PlayStation this year I only had 4 games that were eligible as Nontendo (3 I voted for because one was meh). Big hitter like Baldur's Gate, Resident Evil 4 and Jedi Survivor are all there waiting for me to play and I'll no doubt love each one of them, I just didn't get around to them.

Honourable Mentions - Other (5 contributors)

I don't think it's much of a secret that I prefer these to the games ones.  What bits of gaming esoterica did y'all single out for acclaim?

Forum and forum-adjacent:

Gaming Aspects:

The Bigger Picture:

And - incredibly - a winner of sorts!:

My thoughts:

Dishonourable Mentions (6 contributors)

No Cappa perhaps, but all but one of you/us voters lined up to give some 2023 aspects a good old shoeing.

Games and game-specific bits:

The Bigger Picture:

And - even more incredibly - a grand loser!:

My thoughts:

I won't give you a recommendation Balla, just listen to them all, it's not really about the quiz anyway and to my recollection there's not many episodes that are nontendo centric.

Hope 2024 turns out better for you Mas, I've heard bits of that from yourself before now but didn't realise how much had happened, I assume they never noticed the credit fraud because they looked at all your weekly game purchases. I hope that the forum and all its extensions can continue to provide some respite for whatever happens elsewhere, I know its helped me through some harder times.

Bloody hell.
Thanks for the podcast shout-outs.

Bloody hell.
Sorry to hear that, Mas. Sounds like a real fucker of a year.

Thanks guys

From what info I've got Smurf, some how they changed my address on my driving licence, then used that as ID to take out accounts etc in my name that of course I knew nothing about as all the stuff would have gone to those addresses.

This year not been the best start with my teeth though that feels a continuous from last year, just now need root canal & a new tooth which is rather spenny. And Dad, now got some weird rash that they don't know what it is and my Nan is now struggling by herself, so we're trying to figure out best for her.

I can commiserate with you on the root canal at least. Luckily for me, dental care is the one place where the Japanese health insurance system is much better than the NHS.

Yeah due to no NHS dentist now here, I'm private why so spenny.

And it's a big issue like been on BBC Radio Somerset that been people outside a new NHS Dentist for two days trying to sign up and Police having to separate people.

The Kirby's Epic Yarn Award for Topic of the Year (6 voters, 17 votes)

Thread, geddit?  No?  Okay.  A smidge more popular than the postal vote, which were your favourite discussion centres of 2023?

Third Place:

Second Place:

And your Topic of 2023 is...:

The best of the rest and my thoughts:

Thanks for the Mas honourable for posts, which goes to a dishonourable about post count, hopefully those topics bring some good chat.

The end is nigh!  Huge thanks to everybody who took part for taking part, I still thought it was a lot of fun and I hope you did too.


The Grackler Award for Best Nintendo Game (7 voters, 34 votes) (missing one due to the Coocon switcheroo)

These days, this is why we're really here.  Have at it.  Oh, and I will drop comments in each case here, there's enough going on.

Fifth Place:

Fourth Place:

Third Place:

Second Place:

And your Nintendo Game of 2023 is (try to contain your surprise)...:

The best of the rest and my thoughts:

Quote :

GNamer 2023 Post Count - “Why the death rattle?  Are we all just waiting for the next console?  Twitter’s shit now, don’t tell me you’re all still posting there instead.”

Twitter is indeed a shit heap, most of my free time is spent playing games rather than posting about them.  

Balla wrote:

I won't pick F-Zero 99 up, battle royales aren't for me - but it's just nice to see Nintendo doing something, anything, with the series again.

This isn't anywhere near your standard BR tbh, plus there's various modes including classic which is your standard 20 racers format. (Though this does rotate out alongside other events)  

Quote :

"Honestly, anyone voting for anything other than this needs to have a word with themselves. Is it perfect? No, of course not. Is it as good as BotW? Arguably, no. But being the second best game of all time is still pretty bloody special, and the fact that this delivered against all the odds is bonkers."

"Is it better than Breath of the Wild? Yes which makes this the new best game ever. Did everything the previous game did and innovated in unimaginable ways, the story was great, had some amazing set pieces and just a joy to play from start to finish."

I like that these two comments are beside each other.

Balladeer wrote:

I said: Looks like I'm having a word with myself.

yEp

The_Jaster wrote:

Ballallalaa sorry I broke the link and am re-typing this bit wrote:

GNamer 2023 Post Count - “Why the death rattle?  Are we all just waiting for the next console?  Twitter’s shit now, don’t tell me you’re all still posting there instead.”

Twitter is indeed a shit heap, most of my free time is spent playing games rather than posting about them.

Wasn't sure what to write about post counts. We might be shooting ourselves in the foot - but then also this is where my opinion perhaps differs from everyone. Twitter is crap, and I basically don't open it now, except to read the Fantasy Game Manager Club post things from you guys. Then the occasional chat appears on Dicord. And then there's here - which I may log onto my PC once a week to check; the website just doesn't work on mobile, and that specific app looks like malware. We probably need to optimise this. The answer of course is Skype

The_Jaster wrote:

Balla wrote:

I won't pick F-Zero 99 up, battle royales aren't for me - but it's just nice to see Nintendo doing something, anything, with the series again.

This isn't anywhere near your standard BR tbh, plus there's various modes including classic which is your standard 20 racers format. (Though this does rotate out alongside other events)

Would second this, don't let the 99 put you off, just treat it as an arcade-y racer as per your F-Zeros.

I didn't send any votes in because I was absent for about half of the year, so had no meaningful contribution to make... but enjoying seeing the results come through! Apart from the results of mas's 2023, which obviously is a big shitter, and I also hope 2024 is much much better for you.

Yeah F-Zero 99 is huge fun and I say this as someone who's traditionally quite bad at the game, I've never been at the tail-end of the pack in 99 but from what I've seen I don't think many people ever get eliminated anyway. I also see they've added private lobbies now, not sure how many people it's for but there's a potential multiplayer session to be had there.

No real surprises with the votes but then really why should there be, Nintendo are just masters of the craft and Tears of the Kingdom is one of their many masterpieces.

Of all the games listed Cassette Beasts is very much the one I've yet to play that I really should, I think it released at the wrong time and I just forgot about it then, now that I've been reminded though I'll be looking to pick it up soon.

With that being the last award I think it appropriate to thank Balla for this year's awards, it might not have had the expected turnout which as someone who's been too exhausted to do most things lately I can understand but he's made it work and it's been an enjoyable read.

Jimbob wrote:

Would second this, don't let the 99 put you off, just treat it as an arcade-y racer as per your F-Zeros.

You can definitely play it more casually compared to other entries in the series too,

Treesmurf wrote:

Yeah F-Zero 99 is huge fun and I say this as someone who's traditionally quite bad at the game, I've never been at the tail-end of the pack in 99 but from what I've seen I don't think many people ever get eliminated anyway. I also see they've added private lobbies now, not sure how many people it's for but there's a potential multiplayer session to be had there.

I even suggested a GNamer league over on twitter, also the private lobbies are for 99 people & every mode can be played.

I’m sorry that I didn’t get involved for this 2024 vote. A combination of things in-and-out of work meant that I just didn’t have or make time to look into 2023’s best posts or threads, or take the time to think about the games I liked the most and least. January was a stressful month and the thought of spending even a nanosecond in front of a computer screen for any longer than I needed to be was very demotivating. I sadly lacked the energy for this years awards.

Thanks for the kind comments that were made about the posts and topics I’ve made though, they’re much appreciated. Within my gaming community GNamer is basically where I live; I’ve got nowhere else I’d want to go, or post, or contribute. So, thank you for hosting and humouring my utter bollocks.

All that shit Balla said about why he didn't vote TotK is exactly why I think votes and aggregators are the worst shite and have no place in any kind of critical discussion.

Jimbob wrote:

Jas and Balla wrote:

Some shite

Wasn't sure what to write about post counts. We might be shooting ourselves in the foot - but then also this is where my opinion perhaps differs from everyone. Twitter is crap, and I basically don't open it now, except to read the Fantasy Game Manager Club post things from you guys. Then the occasional chat appears on Dicord. And then there's here - which I may log onto my PC once a week to check; the website just doesn't work on mobile, and that specific app looks like malware. We probably need to optimise this. The answer of course is Skype

I am curious about this. I really love talking to this crowd in particular -

Cappa wrote:

Within my gaming community GNamer is basically where I live; I’ve got nowhere else I’d want to go, or post, or contribute.

And I wish we could all chat more, but I understand not everyone has the chance to hop on here and talk on the computer during their work day as I do. I know Balla hates it, but maybe the answer would be a more fleshed-out Discord. Unless Forumotion makes their phone version/ app less shit.

Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't get involved with this. I haven't been as active in 2023, mainly because work has ramped up and eaten into many evenings, and I spend two nights a week with my missus. And I write music reviews each week too, so life's just got in the way.

I pop on Discord to view the Back Page's channel most days, so I think that has also given me my gaming/magazine fix that I used to get from here, but definitely look forward to visiting the forum to read posts. It is more rewarding, and conversations quickly get lost in Discord. I'd rather log on to a handful of thoughtfully written posts, then a 100+ messages from people with questionable taste.

masofdas wrote:

Yeah due to no NHS dentist now here, I'm private why so spenny.

And it's a big issue like been on BBC Radio Somerset that been people outside a new NHS Dentist for two days trying to sign up and Police having to separate people.

Currently looking for a dentist too. Had a Labour MP at my door explaining that 400 people went to A&E in Swindon for dental work - you're right, it's a problem. Sorry to hear you've had a rough twelve months, Mas.