Tis’ the season for gift giving. With some many great games released this year, finding the perfect gift for that gamer in your life (or for yourself, you selfish jerk!) can be quite a task.

That’s where we come in. Destructoid staff writers were asked to make a few holiday, game-related gift picks, either based on personal choice or simply in the spirit of giving. The results were wide and varied, as each staff member’s tastes and gaming experiences, uh, vary widely. We’re quite an eclectic bunch, that’s for sure.

If there’s one thing that people can’t seem to concur on in the world of MMOs, it’s how games that are designed to be played forever should fund themselves.

There are plenty of models out there, like subscriptions, micro-transactions, advertisements, but all of them seem to have their different issues. When we spoke to Jeff Strain about his new MMO company, Undead Labs, and his upcoming zombie MMO, we brought this up.

He’d some interesting things to state about why paying a monthly or annual subscription fee is the ideal way to go.

So, I recently got to play a beta of Super Meat Boy, and it was awesome. I haven’t played a game with this much impending death in a long time. So far, it seems the Super Meat Boy world is pretty much made up of five things; you, the walls, the floor, giant buzz-saws, and cute tiny bunnies (who frequently jump into the buzz saws).

Oh, and blood. Lots and lots of blood.

From the looks of it, the game’s first boss will do well to keep with the game’s bloody, saw-filled feel. From the looks of it, the thing is basically a giant chainsaw with feet. Why hasn’t this been done before? It’s such an obviously good idea; a chainsaw with feet. Here is it, 2009, and this is the first time I’ve seen one.

Want to simulate the feeling of fighting this boss right now? Well, you can start by making chainsaw-sounds with your mouth while squirting ketchup all over your personal monitor. If that’s not enough, you could listen to the actual theme music for the boss, which can be found right here. If you really wanted to go for it, I guess you could do all three. Just don’t let anybody catch you while you’re at it. They might think you’re weird.

We’d a bunch of awesome Naruto prizes courtesy of Tomy Corporation to giveaway to some Naruto fans last week. We wanted to give them to real Naruto fans so we asked you all to show us how much of a Naruto fan you really are.

Congratulations to TocanRider, Kaaru1990, danielwjenkins, worldagainstjose and chicken008. They’ll each be getting a copy of Naruto Shippuden: Clash of Ninja Revolution 3 for the Wii, a t-shirt, headband and Naruto chopsticks. Congratulations also go out to Erica Berkowitz who will be getting all of the above prizes PLUS

It’s Monday morning. Aside from meaning that I need a lot more coffee, fat strippers, and protein to operate than on a normal day of the week, it means a whole new host of Nintendo digital downloads are available for purchase across the publisher’s various platforms. Get excited or something.

This week we see the release of BIT.TRIP.VOID, an important videogame as noted by its profuse punctuation and all capitalization, and the venerable Super Mario Kart.

But that’s not all — Nintendo continues to hack Electroplankton into even smaller chunks for download via DSiware, and several other developers have various releases across all three platforms. Check below the fold for a cute, short list of all the available titles and don’t forget to tell us what you’re downloading this beautiful, need-more-protein-and-coffee Monday morning.

WiiWare

BIT.TRIP VOID – Aksys Games (600 Wii Points)
Harvest Moon: My Little Shop - Natsume, Inc. (1,200 Wii Points)
Little Tournament Over Yonder – Gevo Entertainment

Here’s a pet peeve of mine; people with a rose-tinting deification of Ocarina of Time. For me, that game, along with Mario 64, will always symbolize a personal low-point for my feeling of connection to videogames as a whole. Of course, I comprehend why people love both of those games, and it’s totally understandable that they’d be a lot of people’s favorites, but to unequivocally state that either of those games are “the best” in their respective series is just poppycock.

It’s nice to hear that Eiji Aonuma, current overseer of the Legend of Zelda series, seems to concur with me. According to a recent interview (translated from Japanese to Spanish to English, so take it with a grain of salt), Aonuma feels that “If you play Ocarina of Time nowadays, you notice that it’s not that good. Sometimes it doesn’t move as fast as it should, graphics aren’t as beautiful as they should be; there are some confusing parts… Any present Zelda is technically superior.”

Hear hear, Aonumu-san. Personally, I feel that every 3D Zelda since OoT has been a big improvement over the series’ original outing into the third dimension. I still prefer Zelda in 2D, but if I have to play a “newer” one, I’d rather it be Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, or Twilight Princess.

For more on Aonuma’s take on Zelda past and present, and the rumors of an OoT remake, hit the link below.

[via Gonintendo]

source Destructoid