For the past four years, The Game Awards and PlayStation Experience were events that usually ended the year in video games. This time, however, PlayStation’s Worldwide Studios Chairman Shawn Layden announced that there would be no PSX. To fill the gap, Kinda Funny co-founder Greg Miller took to Twitter and invited developers and publishers to be part of the Kinda Funny Games Showcase.
While fans of Miller know him primarily as a PlayStation enthusiast, he didn’t necessarily make the showcase to be a substitute PSX but a celebration of video games. He stated, “everything you see [in the showcase] deserves to be celebrated right? We love these developers. We love games. That’s what it’s all about.”
KFG Showcase takeaways
On December 8, 2018, the showcase went live with over 60 games and lasted for a little bit over an hour. That’s an average of a game per minute and judging with the comments on the KFG Showcase video, Miller, alongside his co-founder and co-host Tim Gettys, were able to pace it well. Games like Anthem and Judgment have been featured on the show, but a lot of attention has been given to indie games such as Super Meat Boy Forever and Vane.
It is not farfetched that people would compare it to TGA 2018. However, the showcase was by no means overshadowed by it despite the difference in scale. The overall compact size of the showcase with its minimized detailed game analysis brought them to the limelight without overexposing its overall gameplay or story to the audience.
Events such as TGA or other conferences would also seldom give the floor for a developer’s commentary on a game being released which would end up slightly long-winded to some. The difference in the KFG Showcase was the self-awareness to know that lengthy commentaries might slow down the pace, which could be seen with how they handled Anthem. Instead of allotting more time for Anthem with the risk of cutting down content, they’ve decided to show the full commentary on a separate video without slowing down the pace.
Nothing but games
Aside from that, the showcase was all for game trailers and releases, peppered with a bit of engaging banter from the hosts as they filmed the whole thing across San Francisco. Free codes were also offered (which unfortunately may be all gone by now) for games like Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey for PC not to mention 3 months of Xbox Game Pass. Included in the announcements were games released on the day itself, early access games and games on beta, as well as available pre-orders.
Here is the list of games as shown on the KFG Showcase:
- Super Meat Boy Forever (April 2019 – Switch, PlayStation, Xbox One, PC)
- YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG (January 17, 2019 – Steam, Switch, PS4)
- At Sundown (Available now on Discord; January 22, 2019 – everywhere else)
- Aftercharge (January 10, 2019 – Xbox One, Steam)
- Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove (March 1, 2019 – PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Steam; Pre-order available now)
- Quarantine Circular (Available now on Switch)
- Adams Ascending (Live on Kickstarter)
- Moving Out (2019 – PC and Consoles)
- Operencia: The Stolen Sun (2019 – Steam)
- Golf Blitz (Beta available online)
- Motorball (Beta available online)
- Conan: Unconquered (2019)
- Lapis x Labyrinth (2019 – PS4, Switch)
- Danganronpa trilogy + The Art of Danganronpa Trilogy (2019 – PS4)
- The Messenger: Picnic Panic (Free Expansion) (2019 – PC, Switch)
- Human Fall Flat: Dark (Free update until December 10; More levels on 2019 – Steam)
- Guacamelee 2! (Press Down, Down, Up, Up, Right, Left, Right, Left, Up, Left in Costume Shop to unlock Shirtless Arachnid guy + Portillo dog. Available now – PS4, Steam; Coming soon – Switch, Xbox One)
- When Ski Lifts Go Wrong (Early 2019 – Steam, Switch)
- Windjammers (Physical copy: December 21, 2018 – Switch)
- Celeste (Physical copy: January 1, 2019 – PS4, Switch)
- Mineko’s Night Market (Early 2019 – PC, Switch)
- The Occupation (February 5, 2019 – PC, PS4, Xbox One)
- Disco Elysium (1st half 2019 – PC)
- Slay The Spire (2019 – PC, Switch)
- Fae Tactics (2019 – PC)
- Ikenfell (2019 – PC)
- Long Gone Days (Available now on early access; Full Release April 2019 – Steam)
- Away: Journey to the Unexpected (February 5, 2019 – PS4; February 7, 2019 – Switch; February 8, 2019 – Xbox One; February 2019 – PC)
- Vane (January 15, 2019 – PS4; Pre-order available now)
- Bury me, my Love (January 10, 2019 – Switch)
- The Wild Eight (Full Release March 2019 – Steam; August 2019 – PS4, Xbox One)
- Slime-san: Creator (Available now – Steam)
- Sumo (Early access available now – Steam)
- Notmycar (Beta available online; Early 2019 – PC)
- Anthem (February 2019 – PS4, Xbox One)
- Color (April 2019 – PC, Mac, Linux)
- Reading Rush (December 2018 – Android, IOS)
- Collapsus (2019 – Switch, PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Steam, Mobile)
- Triwave (January 10, 2019 – Steam)
- Dawnthorn (Spring 2019 – PC, Mac, Linux)
- Anew: The Distant Light (Summer 2019 – PC, Consoles)
- Double Cross (January 2019 – Switch, PC)
- Devil Engine (January 2019 – PC, PS4, Switch)
- Reverie: Sweet As Edition (Available now – PS4, PS Vita; January/February 2019 – Switch, pre-order available now)
- Virgo vs. The Zodiac (Available now – PC, Xbox One)
- Boyfriend Dungeon (2019 – Steam)
- Knifeboy (February 2019 – Steam, PS4, Switch, Xbox)
- Vulpine (2019 – PC, Mac, Linux)
- Mini-Mech Mayhem (January 2019 – PSVR)
- Rym 9000 (Within 3 months – PS4)
- Log Jammers (November 2018-January 2019 – PC, Switch, Xbox One, PS4)
- Turbolance (2019 – Switch, PC. Free Demo available now)
- Thunder Rally (2019 – PC, Consoles)
- Wreakout (February 2019 – Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Steam)
- Ape Out (February 7, 2019 – Switch, PC)
- Fight Knight (Spring 2019 – Steam, PS4, Switch)
- Tunche (Kickstarter on January 14, 2019 – Steam, Xbox, PlayStation 4, Switch)
- It Lurks Below (Available now on early access – Steam)
- Hardcore (Working title; 2019 – PS4, PS Vita)
- Supermarket Shriek (2019 – Consoles)
- The Church in the Darkness (2018 – Steam, PS4, Xbox One)
- A Fold Apart (2019 – PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch)
- Falcon Age (2019 – PS4, PSVR)
- Jenny LeClue: Detectivu (2018 – Steam, Switch, PS4)
- Desert Child (December 11, 2018 – PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Steam)
- Stormdivers (Beta sign-up available)
- Project Judge (Summer 2019 – PS4 for the West titled as Judgment; December 13, 2018 – PS4 for Japan titled as Judge Eyes)
- The Walking Dead: The Final Season (Available now, Season 1-4 – Xbox One, PS4, Steam; January 15, 2019, Episode 3 – Xbox One, PS4, Steam)
You can also watch the whole KFG Showcase below if you want to get the full first-hand experience on it. Enjoy!
Kinda Funny Games Showcase: Judgment, The Walking Dead, And 67 More Games
Photo credit: The feature image (Anthem) is owned by Electronic Arts.
Source: YouTube (embedded) / Jonathon Dornbush (IGN) / Greg Miller (Kinda Funny)
