The result of all that candy...

You do realize his question was rhetorical, right?

Well, Proteus at least meets that standard.

Except, you know, for all the other content sold on Steam that isn't a game.

Well, I agree with you, then.

So, like an orange Hulk?

Like apogee mentioned, Metal Gear came out back in 1987, way before Thief. Even Metal Gear Solid came out before the first Thief game, though only by a few months.

"Extremely beautiful world with a character that elegantly climbs the colossi all within a highly optimized game engine while his shirt remains untucked."

You might start here:

I remember writing all the codec frequency addresses down when playing MGS2 (my first MG game) for the first time. Unbeknownst to me, they were all stored in a convenient drop-down menu in the codec screen, but for the longest time I would always plug them in manually...

Yeah, that's the reality of Nintendo — you know they have so many high-quality franchises that inevitably they'll release a game from one or two of them within a year of any given point in time.

Extreme close-ups of manly fingers plunging hardcore metal paddles accompanied by crashing sounds of powerful gear action all in a shot lasting less than one second.

And yet, it would still be a game, which is why you had to write "pretty much" in your first sentence.

Why would adding an optional low-difficulty mode to a game alter the status of the original content such that it would no longer be considered a 'game?'

FYI, technically "North America! Fuck yeah! I haven't loved Canada this much since the end of Argo," is the last paragraph of the article.... >_>

Well, 1440p if you want to be technical, but yes it's running on the Dolphin emulator.

Here's an example of the original cell shaded graphics. Compare them to the Wii U screenshot I posted in my other response.

I think those screenshots up top aren't really the best examples of the difference in look.

It looks like independent studios and distribution along with Kickstarter funding could help to shake up this industry. All that's needed are some well-respected names to try it out first. In fact, didn't Production IG or some other well-known studio (Gainax?) do something along those lines? The next step would be to…

Well, yeah, they all say "Pocket Monster."