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The Best of 1UP 2011: Community

Check some of the best posts from our community in 2011.

By: 1UP Staff December 26, 2011

With 2011 almost completely in the bag, we’ve taken the opportunity to celebrate some of the year’s best content at 1UP. But of all the categories — from podcasts to reviews — narrowing down 10 selections for 1UP’s best feature proved the most challenging task.
We’re not just patting ourselves on the back here; our features section played host to an incredible array of great material this year from both 1UP staff and our trusty cadre of freelance contributors. We sneaked a bizarre glimpse into the world of banned
Xbox Live users; took a trip through the trials and tribulations of developer Starbreeze Studios; mapped the development of Uncharted 3; and lamented Nintendo’s missteps surrounding Mario’s 25th anniversary. Whatever the topic, we feel 1UP delivered on the
site’s long-standing commitment to bring you insightful features every week. Check out our 10 best below.

Jump to: Best of News | Best of Podcasts | Best of Blogs | Best of Previews

Best of Features | Best of Community | Best of Guides | Best of Video
Best of Reviews | Best of Retrospectives

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  Festivus Airing of Grievances

  We here at 1UP try
  to remain professional as often as possible. It wouldn’t look good if we pulled a Network and walked to our windows yelling “We’re as mad as hell, and we’re not going to take this anymore!” That’s why it’s nice to see a user blog that bundles up so many of
  the rants we hold back into a neat little package that fits nicely under any Festivus Pole. Few companies manage to escape the wrath of Epic Greenman as he airs his grievances towards all of the ridiculous decisions that make you want to slap your forehead
  in disbelief.

• 
  
  

  My Journey Through Hyrule

  While we all have
  some personal connections of gaming, 1UP user Jesse Miller’s attachment to The Legend of Zelda runs very deep. His of story of tragedy, frustration, and rediscovery shows how deeply gaming memories can resonate within us.

• 
  
  

  Those RPGs From Way Back

  Blogger Sam Torres
  takes a trip in the Wayback Machine (actually a 1994 Miata) to revisit the role-playing games of this youth. From big names like Final Fantasy to the obscure (does anyone remember Miracle Warriors?), this is a neat, compact survey of the console RPG landscape
  of the late ’80s.

• 
  
  

  Impaired Gamers Aim for the Head

  In one of the year’s
  most inspirational blog posts, 1UP member Chris Abbott told the story of his friend Andrew L’Italien who plays games with one hand — and in many games, does so better than Abbott himself. “I never get pissed off at my situation because I could have easily
  not been alive,” said L’Italien. “So I really try to make the best of it? it adds more to my character. That being said, I do sometimes get discouraged and play the ‘what if’ game, but then I look and say ‘this is who I am, I could live in sorrow or I can
  make the best of it’ and try different approaches to things.”

• 
  
  

  Why Ico is More Important Than Ever

  1UP user deep_search
  wrote a ton of great blogs this year (seriously, check them out), but none were as compelling as his analysis of Ico as a piece of minimalist art. In a season filled with AAA titles which he aptly describes as busy, this entry helps explain why games like
  Ico, even a decade after its launch, are more important than ever. Fumito Ueda’s freshman title as a designer is one deserving of mature and articulate commentary, and deep_search’s blog is about as good as they come.

• 
  
  

  Naked Bob’s 6th 1UP Anniversary

  Naked BoB joined 1UP
  six years ago, and in this post, he takes a look back at what changed in that time. He even wins the 1UP superfan crown for showing off his 6-year old 1UP user registration email.

• 
  
  

  A PAX East 2011 Photoblog

  1UP user and photoblogger
  extraordinaire David Ngo covers his second PAX East in this detailed post and takes you through the lively halls of the Boston Convention Center from top to bottom.

• 
  
  

  The Fake Cary Woodham TV Show

  Long-time 1UP member
  Cary Woodham describes a surprisingly convincing fake game-oriented TV show (seriously, “Boxer the Unboxer” sounds like something we’d actually see on G4) in this April Fool’s blog post. The hoax actually had a few people going in large part because everyone
  who reads 1UP knows Cary is so darned sincere
  that him pulling one over on everybody caught them all by surprise.

• 
  
  

  Clever Difficulty Settings

  You, dear reader who
  actively reads and blogs on this site, are part of a clever bunch. That’s why we like to have a featured user blog, to show off fellow games from the community who offer scintillating thoughts and insights. Here, Jostein “nipsen” Johnsen writes about the topic
  of interesting or clever difficulty settings — with citations to specific examples from Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Shadow of the Colossus. We applaud you, fine sir, for writing this rather than another screed about cheating in Modern Warfare 3.

• 
  
  

  Creative Culture, Final Part

  User BigMex set out
  “to remind the community of lessons long forgotten or simply overlooked in the pages of video game history.” His five part series digs deep into the origins of Capcom characters both famous and obscure. In this final entry examines just why these characters
  look, act, and feel the way they do.