FilePlanet
Daily Download

Special Features

What 40 games made our most sought after titles of '04? Find out!


GameSpy Grudge

 


Most Popular
Video Games
  1. Xbox Video Game
    Lowest Price $149.99


  2. Gran Turismo 4
    Lowest Price $38.07


  3. Playstation 2 Console
    Lowest Price $135.00


  4. Slim Playstation 2 Console with Controller
    Lowest Price $159.99


  5. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
    Lowest Price $29.71


Powered By PriceGrabber

Top 10 Daily Victims
They came, they saw, they victimized.
By - Dave "Fargo" Kosak

[UPDATE: No sooner do I write this list than, just this weekend, a New Victim entered the top 10! It goes to show you how this feature continually evolves...]

For nearly a year GameSpy has run a feature that we lovingly call "The Daily Victim." A combined comedic effort from yours truly and Gabriel from Penny-Arcade, it's a unique feature -- part comic, part story, part editorial, partly my fault. It's a daily tribute to the Internet gaming culture and the characters who inhabit it.

One of the highlights of the feature, though, is the audience participation. Each day when a new victim is posted, YOU -- our invincible readers -- rank that victim on a scale of one to ten. The votes are tabulated and averaged out, giving each victim a score (this may represent the only time many of them will ever score.) At the end of the week the highest ranked victims are drawn in full color and are featured in a special story of some sort. Frequently the victims will run across one another -- characters you like will have a habit of appearing and reappearing.

As a result, GameSpy can look at those rankings and compile a "definitive" Top 10. I say "definitive" inside of "quotes" and make the "gestures" with my "fingers" because sometimes I just can't understand WHAT you people were THINKING! Sometimes I'll write what I believe to be a comedic masterpiece and it'll score an average of six, while a toilet jokes busts out with a score of 8.5. What is going on inside your heads!? Nonetheless, these rankings aren't fudged. It's literally a reader's choice of the best of the best.

The Daily Victim feature just got a New Look and we've just started offering the first ever Daily Victim Tee-Shirt, a limited-edition run that will not be available after August 6th. In honor of both progress and rampant, unchecked capitalism we present: The Top Ten Victims of All Time! As voted by our readers. With my own comments included. Plus trivia. On with the list!

[Click on the pics to go to that Victim!]

10. The Daily Victim Easter Special


This Victim immediately scored high on the richter scale because it contains the infamous Gaming Gigabuys Guy, one of the most hardcore of victims ever. He's mean, foul-mouthed, usually dressed as a fluffy animal, and hates his life. As a result he's a blast to torture (someday this dude has to get his own Tee-shirt). In this case he was the victim of an unfortunate incident involving the retail release of Tribes 2 and a Monkey. I always love when Victims can run across one another, so making the poor guy hand out easter eggs seemed like the perfect excuse to bring back dudes like The Unix Admin Wizard, another personal favorite. The unexpected Matrix-twist ending really brings this puppy home -- I'm glad this made the top ten. I think if I hadn't gone on Vacation he woulda been on the Top 5 ... you creeps tend to start ranking victims lower and lower if they're online for more than a day or so!

The Gaming Gigabuys guy also had a cameo during the Daily Victim E3 Week that was pretty funny.

9. Arch Nemesis In A Body Cast


I was surprised that the color version of this victim did better than the black and white version -- in that one, I introduced "Stewie the Frosh," a hardcore deathmatcher who was willing to break his own arm in order to even the odds with the victim pictured above. It had that kinda Quentin Tarantino-esque "savor the moment before the violence so your audience is cringing" kinda thing. When it came time to do a color version of him, I thought, how was I gonna top that?

The result was this guy, number 9 on our list. It's the most morbid and gruesome Daily Victim EVER. But the black comedy somehow seems to work, especially when the guy flatlines in the hospital. The one-upsmanship is totally unrealistic -- or is it? I mean, come on, I know super-competitive people like that, so the story is ridiculous but it's still based around human traits. I think that's why people liked this victim. Alternatively, maybe you're just a bunch of SICK BASTARDS. Either way.

8. The Server Admin Who Torments People on His Unreal Server


Sometimes I have a lot of trouble coming up with a color version of a victim that I felt was a "one-shot." But, people loved this guy, who after running the most reliable server on the net for a couple years, decides to tweak all his server settings in order to mess with peoples' heads.

For the color version, I stared at his picture for a long time before I decided that the only way to take him to the next level was to show people reacting to the havoc he creates. I brought out the all-stars: The Overclocker, the Unix Wizard, and even The Guy Who Hates His ISP. Maybe people just love to vote high when the characters they like appear. Regardless, I managed to squeeze a lot more laughs out of this guy than I thought I could.

Trivia: Madame Rochquet, the fortune teller who can read gibs, foretold this whole storyline. Creeeepy...

Next: Tribes 2 Victims




home     • send feedback     • send news     • corporate     • jobs     • developers     • advertise     • legal stuff    

© 1996-2004 GameSpy Industries.