I think I may have gotten a sinus infection for Christmas. The last two nights I’ve woken up at least a dozen times, my head is killing me, and I’m so congested my head throbs whenever I move it. Which, as it turns out, is frequently.
So I’m exhausted and a little blurry right now, because I’m not getting enough sleep and I feel like my head is encased in lucite and pudding. Well, maybe pudding in a lucite box. Yeah, but the lucite doesn’t have any scratches in it, so it’s almost like it’s not there at all. But if it wasn’t there, what would hold the pudding? Nothing, that’s what. There’d be pudding every where, and I’d still feel like hell.
Uhm.
From that place — which isn’t exactly Bat Country, but is certainly on the road to it — I present my game of the year award:
Nobody asked me, but if someone did, my Game of the Year for 2007 is Portal, from The Orange Box, because I can’t recall the last time I played a new game and loved every single thing about it. Seriously, there’s nothing in Portal that I don’t like. The story is creepy and simple, the gameplay is unlike anything else I’ve ever encountered, and the length of the game — cited by its detractors as their chief complaint — was perfect for me. The soundtrack is awesome, too, and I find myself singing Still Alive almost every day. I loved Portal so much, I bought myself a Weighted Companion Cube plush toy for Christmas. I put it on the red chair next to the tree, with this silly snowman we put out for Christmas every year, but had to move it, because Ferris kept trying to take it off the chair and chew on it.
I’m not the only person who likes Portal enough to bring it into our world, either. When I finally gave up on staying in bed and trying to get sleep this morning, I came across this Portal LEGO display at Geekdad, who say “You could call it the Orange Blocks.” I loves it.
Oh, hey, look! Gabe and Tycho agree with me. See? Great minds think.
Runner up — by a Planck Length — is Rock Band, which I’ll be playing with my friends on Monday when they come over for the first annual Wil and Anne’s New Year’s Rock Band Eve. (This is why I’m going to the doctor today to get shot up with uranium or whatever I need to beat this sinus thing into submission right quick. I don’t want to cancel this party, El Guapo.)
Honorable Mentions: Bioshock, New Super Mario*, Puzzle Quest.
*Oops. This came out in 2006. But since I discovered it in 2007, I’m putting it on my 2007 list. Hey, I’m the boss around here, and I can make up whatever rules I want as I go along. Don’t mess with me; I’ll chase you with a used kleenex. I am so not kidding right now.
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Tis the season to be sick. I think I got a cold for Christmas. I wonder if it was included with my copy of Happiest that arrived on the 24th. Hmmmmm. Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas, Wil.
Go down to Raymond Avenue and smell the flowers as they are pasted onto the floats. It is guaranteed to cure you. Hope you feel better enough to take some time and watch the Parade. But you will probably enjoy the game more than the parade which makes us different. A Healthy, Peaceful, Prosperous 2008 to you and yours. Bill M.
Because nobody asked: Wil’s Game of the Year for 2…
Bookmarked your post over at Blog Bookmarker.com!
I got some sort of infection before Christmas finally got rid of it now. Or so I hope. Right in time for my flight to Sao Paulo tomorrow, where I will celebrate New Year’s Eve. The life as a flight attendant rocks!
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family and get better soon. And while I’m at it: I wish you and your family a happy new year!
Hope you get better Wil, it sucks to be ill on New years.
A quick note. Thank you for the best late Christmas present ever. Just received my
hardcover and it is hawesome.
Can’t wait to read it.
Where do the 300 list their numbers?
Thanks again.
Been so busy with TF2, I never bothered to even try Portal. I think this will be remedied shortly.
I had a cold over Christmas myself. I got it around the 15th and it was one of those nice, long, drawn-out colds where you feel congested for almost two weeks. Fortunately I finally started feeling better yesterday. Good luck shaking off the sinus thing.
Be careful how hard you hit the drums there Wil. In a Mad run on Should I stay or Should I go I managed to crack one of the drum pads! EA is going to RMA it but it looks like I won’t be rocking this new years eve
Check out my post about it: http://www.wizzer.org/2007/12/drums-are-silent.html
I’m glad I get over colds and flu really quick cause I felt it coming on strong.
I had to take my mom to the emergency room the other night and wait for 6 hours only to be told they couldn’t do anything for her. Her nose won’t stop bleeding if you care to know. She’s allright now cause it stopped on it’s own, but I caught something sitting next to all those sick people. I’m over it now so I feel better, but yesterday it was tough yelling at my players to change during their tournament. My voice cracked a few times. I hope you’re feeling better Wil. It sucks to be sick during the holidays.
As for game of the year, I’d have to say FIFA08. The only reason I say that is it’s one of the few games that I care to own. I’m not into the sci-fi fantasy games that you love. The only other games I own are F1 racing, and my niece and nephew bought me NASCAR08 for christmas. I need a wheel for NASCAR cause it’s just to tough with a joystick.
Here’s some news I think you’ll like hearing though. My nephew got GH3 for christmas so I’ll have to give it a spin. After I do that, I’ll let you know if I like it or not.
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you and yours,
Mark.
I love love love Portal, and I *suck* at fps games. I would certainly call it the best game of the year, too, and can’t wait for a sequel.
Feel betterly soon! ^_^
Get well soon to Wil and all those who are also sick.
I miss video games. When I have the time my eyes are too tired to concentrate on what I’m doing as I play. My last purchase of a game was the 1st Tony Hawk American Wasteland! I really like Guitar Hero (cousins have it) so I’d like to save to buy that. I like games that are just about the fun. Right now I’m nostalgic for my old Sega (pre-Genesis) games – especially Space Harrier.
Have a great New Year everyone.
You got a sinus infection for Christmas too! I want to find who’s giving them out and shoot them with uranium or whatever it takes for me not to get another one:) Hope you feel better Wil!
~~TARA~~
Get well soon, Wil.
I wanted to share something that happened during my family holiday get-together:
My oldest daughter (20) came over and we were catching up (because I don’t see her nearly often enough, blah, blah, blah). She mentioned that she’s been reading and enjoying your blog, not realizing that I’ve been reading it for years. I showed her my signed, hardback copy (#206) of “Happiest Days of our Lives.” I’m pretty sure my “cool mom” credit went up more than a few points that evening. 🙂
For your sinus: Try the saline solution in the squeeze bottle. I was terribly infected in Oct/Nov and I used the stream method with the saline squeeze bottle 3 or 4 times over 2 days and it made a big difference. It is a bit disgusting, but when you have a sinus infection, disgusting is where you live anyway. Stream in through your nose for at least a minute each nostril. It really worked for me.
Not to be annoying or anything, but New Super Mario Bros. came out last year. In the spring of 2006. Otherwise I would certainly concur with you, as the first few weeks I played it, it made me feel as giddy as when I first played Super Mario Bros. 3.
Mario Galaxy, on the other hand, would be a great contender for game of the year too, as it does damn near everything right.
But I still agree with you about Portal. There just aren’t enough games that reach this level of innovation and polish. Nintendo have a slightly better track record at this, but they still often rehash things.
Get well real soon!
Will,
I’m having a New Year’s Eve party as well and I’m dead certain Rock Band will make an appearance at some point during the evening.
Yay! I’m so glad you posted this, as my Wii arrived in the mail ten minutes ago (no, I’m not joking), and we were trying to figure out what games to get for it. Hooray! Thank you; this is very helpful!
Forgot to mention what helped me when I had a sinus infection last year. I was on vacation in Bavaria with my friends December 2006. Surprisingly, a somewhat brisk walk helped and also a piping hot mug of Jagertee in the morning. Wiki info about Jagertee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagertee
But those offered only temporary relief from symptoms. At home I had to get meds from my doctor. The Jagertee tasted better.
worse than being sick:
family members who visit on Christmas Eve and can’t tell the difference between Standard Def DVD’s and High Def DVD’s on my shiny new player. I sent them all home early to make Eye Doctor appointments.
I didn’t break my drum pads, like Wizzer said above, but did break my foot pedal. It is a common problem, it seems.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOIBSAA:US:11&Item=280185390852
http://www.woodrockpedals.com/
Chasing someone down with your used kleenex? That is the height of disgustingness. I’d best do what you say… 😉
Feel better soon!
Hi Wil,
Sorry to read about the sinus infection, ’tis the season, I suppose.
However, I am right there with you on Portal. My boyfriend and I bought ourselves a 360 for Christmas this year and he picked up the Orange Box. He has been up late playing, I have already put in a few levels (and I HATE puzzle games). I can’t wait to show it to my 9 year-old son.
The game is just all kinds of awesome!
Have you gone through with the commentary yet?
So, you’re calling the new years party that, are you?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Just felt like mentioning that for what’s about to be three years now, my friends and I do much the same thing, only we don’t specifically restrict it to one game (though Rock Band will feature prominently this year). Generally, we just go crazy with all kinds of party games, including Mario Party, Mario Kart, Resistance, DDR (to my eternal shame), and many many more. Occasionally, we’ll rock the MMOG genre, but as the party has grown bigger with new people being invited every year, that hasn’t always been possible. After all, not everyone is into that sort of thing. Civilization 4 has featured very prominently for a while now, mainly because it can support a whole hell of a lot of people, and its not twitch gaming.
Anyway, the reason that I bring all this up is because we have the coolest name ever for this annual party. We call it NERD NEW YEAR.
And when we do the smaller scale parties throughout the year (preferably every week or so), we call it NERD NIGHT.
I think it’s great. Feel free to use it in the future, as long as you give credit where credit is due. Ah, who am I kidding? Use it without giving credit! Just have a shitload of fun.
…oh, and feel better. That’s important too.
Agh, that’s right I have to finish playing the commentary version of Portal myself! I love that game far too much. Made me sad to see the WCC plushies are sold out and now on eBay for hundreds of dollars a piece. Ah, well – maybe I’ll take a sewing class and make one myself.
Sorry to hear that you’re so sick, Wil (and a lot of you other guys). Not sure how much it’ll help now, but I’ve been using this Therabreath toothpaste to keep for getting sick. It’s originally made to get rid of bad breath but using it seems to interrupt some part of the ‘getting a cold’ cycle. My coworker who recommended it to me hasn’t gotten a cold in 2 years. I and another coworker started using it (we’d run out of sick time) and haven’t gotten sick in the 6 months since we started.
It might be worth checking out: http://www.therabreath.com
They sell the products at Walgreens and Target so it’s not hard to get ahold of.
I memorized “Still Alive” a few days after I finished Portal. Now I can listen to it in my head 20/7.
I’ve been playing Mass Effect the past few weeks and have really been enjoying it. Check it out if you get a chance.
This is a triumph.
I’m making a note here – HUGE SUCCESS.
Wil,
Get a Neti-pot and use it daily!
they sell ’em at pharmacies under the name Sinucleanse. Sounds grotty, but it works. My acting coach told me about them…
ccpeterson,
Thanks for the heads up, I’ll have to keep an eye out for Sinucleanse at the local pharmacies.
Wil,
I hope it’s not a bacterial infection; those can be a bitch to get rid of. You know it’s a serious medical procedure when they bring out an array of cold chisels. 🙂
I love “Still Alive”, and I haven’t even played Portal yet! Orange Box is next on my list for 360 games.
Bioshock and Puzzle Quest were awesome for sure.
Gotta love Christmas illnesses. My 2 year had pneumonia for Christmas, and my 7 year old had a sinus infection. Now I have the cold that caused both of their secondary things. Yay motherhood! The 2 healthy kids have been playing Ghost Recon 2 and Motor Storm on the PS3 and Mario Strikers and Wii Sports on the Wii. My 9 year old gives 2 thumbs up to New Super Mario Brothers on the DS, too, Wil. We just picked it up for Christmas.
You should get the Xbox 360 version of Scene It 🙂 One of the questions it has about Stand By Me is “Wil Wheaton played Wesley Crusher on what popular sci-fi series?”
Wil-
I am brand new to your site. I am in the process of rewatching ST:TNG (the whole series)and at the same time came upon a blog somewhere or another about famous people who have blogs. You just have no idea how happy I am to know that you’re just as big a geek as I am! 🙂
Now, to be on topic, I have to agree with you on Portal. That is a great game, and as a matter of fact, I just picked it up a few weeks ago. It has such a wicked and satisfying sense of humor about it. I have also enjoyed playing Half-Life 2, which I was waiting for the Orange Box to play. Bye bye social life!
Get better. Don’t worry, you won’t be in Bat Country until you drink all the NyQuil.
PaladinPhoenix:
HEY! My friends and I have NERD NIGHTS too! Only we use that term when we get together to watch SciFi (cheesy or otherwise; MST3K, Rifftrax, Star Trek, [new] Battlestar Galactica, etc.).
My wife and I also threw a Rock Band New Year’s Eve party, which was pretty much the best way to ring in the new year’s ever.
Portal was definetly amazing, but if you somehow missed out on Mass Effect in 2007, you’ve definetly gotta give it a try in ’08, which boasts some of the best writing I’ve ever seen in a video game