2012 Gaming Nexus IP Draft: Wrap-Up

Written by Jeremy Duff on 5/4/2012 for 360   3DS   PC   PSP   Vita   Wii  

 To be honest, I am sure that everyone on the staff could easily continue with another 10 or so rounds of the IP draft. There comes a point though when you have to bring things to an end and this is it!


After 5 6 extensive rounds of drafting, the final rosters of the draft ended up as follows:

Sean Cahill
Round 1: Final Fantasy
Round 2: Halo
Round 3: The Legend of Zelda
Round 4: Resident Evil
Round 5: Ace Combat
Round 6: The Sims

John Yan
Round 1: Super Mario Bros.
Round 2: The Elder Scrolls
Round 3: Star Wars
Round 4: Minecraft
Round 5: Dungeon Keeper
Round 6: Half Life

Travis Huinker
Round 1: Call of Duty
Round 2: Diablo
Round 3: Star Trek
Round 4: Fallout
Round 5: Psychonauts
Round 6: Hellgate

Nathaniel Cohen
Round 1: Mass Effect
Round 2: Red Faction
Round 3: Red Dead
Round 4: Assassin’s Creed
Round 5: Dead Space
Round 6: Saints Row

Russell Archey
Round 1: Mega Man
Round 2: Kingdom Hearts
Round 3: Borderlands
Round 4: BioShock
Round 5: Darksiders
Round 6: Sonic the Hedgehog

Dan Keener
Round 1: Grand Theft Auto
Round 2: Pokemon
Round 3: Madden
Round 4: Uncharted
Round 5: Rock Band
Round 6: Spyro

Jeremy Duff
Round 1: Angry Birds
Round 2: LEGO
Round 3: Street Fighter
Round 4: God of War
Round 5: Star Fox
Round 6: Tom Clancy

Charles Husemann
Round 1: Warcraft
Round 2: Battlefield
Round 3: FIFA
Round 4: The Witcher
Round 5: League of Legends
Round 6: “World of" games from Wargaming.NET

In an attempt to bring everything together, we decided to pose a few questions to the staff based on everything that transpired throughout the draft. You’ll find our answers to these questions below, but we would love to here your responses as well. Please feel free to let us know your responses to the following questions in the comment section below.


Which selection did you consider to be the worst pick of the draft?

Sean Cahill: I have to think that the worst pick was Warcraft at the end of the first round. WoW is dying a slow, horrible death, even though it has been a cash cow for awhile. If the point of this was to use a franchise that has staying power, Warcraft is easily on the downswing.


John Yan: While I do like the Red Faction universe, I think there's a few others they Nathan could have gotten and picked that one later on down the road. It seemed to have gone a little bit high in that regard.

Travis Huinker: Rock Band has to win for the worst pick of the draft because I believe that genre was simply a fad. I can't even imagine what innovation would possibly bring the series back to the forefront. People are simply tired of the gameplay and no longer desire to have more fake instruments in their houses.

Nathaniel Cohen: Mario / Mega Man / Final Fantasy are all three horrible first round picks. All three are obvious reaches. It's one thing to vote your heart, it's another thing to waste first round picks on your heart.

Russell Archey: Psychonauts. About everything else I see on our picks are major franchises or games that have been recently released that could become major franchises (Darksiders, Minecraft, etc.), but not Psychonauts. I don't recall hearing about another Psychonauts game, and if I recall reading correctly, sales didn't do so hot for Majesco with the game.


Dan Keener: The worst pick was John Yan’s selection of Dungeon Keeper. Understanding that we are drafting IPs and then explaining how we would use them, I still think it was a poor selection of a franchise that has been left for dead. While the first two games (released in 1997 and 1999 respectively were modest success, the third game never made it off the development floor. Although the IP potentially lives on with the rumored Dungeon Keeper Online.

Jeremy Duff: The first pick was definitely the worst pick. As much of an issue as I had with Mega Man, I would have taken that way ahead of final Fantasy. Square has killed that franchise over the past couple of years!

Charles Husemann: I hate to pick on Sean for Final Fantasy but how is that the number one pick of the entire draft?


What was the biggest “steal” of the draft (aka what is the one game that you are kicking yourself for not taking)?

Sean Cahill: Dead Space was the best steal. It's a relatively new franchise that has had two solid titles and has already had spinoffs in mainstream media. It's a franchise that can be expanded upon in many ways and, for as late as it went, is definitely a steal.

John Yan: Red Dead Redemption I think is a good steal. I really enjoy westerns and Rockstar hit it out of the park with that. Remember how Grand Theft Auto 3 was the start of something big for Rockstar? Red Dead Redemption is one that I think could have potential to be a starter for a monster franchise as well.

Travis Huinker: John easily wins the steal of the draft with Mario, which resulted in the rest of us crying over the lost opportunity. If one character was chosen to represent video games, the pick is often that of the beloved Nintendo character, Mario. It's for good reason too, the franchise has a wealth of great game releases under its belt and near endless potential for future concepts.


Nathaniel Cohen: Yan’s final selection of Half-Life. Did John put a spell on all of us? How did no one think of this before round 6. I guess that's what Valve gets for pretending like the franchise doesn't exist.

Russell Archey: I'd probably have to go with Diablo. For some reason, I completely forgot about this one when I picked Kingdom Hearts and it would have been a much better pick. While I think I kind of made up for it in later rounds with Bioshock and Borderlands, I still don't know how I forgot about another of the most anticipated games of the year.

Dan Keener: The biggest steal of the draft was made by Jeremy in the last round. I actually suggested the Tom Clancy pick to him a few rounds earlier, as I had other choices that I really wanted instead. The best thing about this IP is that you get multiple genres of games under the banner including 1st Person Shooter, Air Combat, RTS, Stealth, and 3rd person shooter. So one stop shopping for Jeremy!

Jeremy Duff: Simply because of how much it stung personall, I am going with Resident Evil. I had a long list of ideas drawn up for the series and was very (VERY) upset to see it go 1 round before I would have selected it. Damn you Sean!

Charles Husemann: Star Wars falling to the third round is pretty big given the intense loyalty that the franchise.


What selection went undrafted was longer than it should have?

Cahill: Saint's Row in round 6 went way late! The Yin to GTA's-Yang, I felt that Saint's Row should have gone a couple of rounds earlier than it did. Another series that has tremendous potential to be a blockbuster.

John Yan: The Witcher.. Just kidding! Since I am omitting my own picks, I'd say Fallout is one that surprised me falling so low. It's a great series and a lot of people love it, so I was surprised it lasted as long as it did. In fact, I was going to pick it up if Travis didn't on the pick before me.

Travis Huinker: I was particularly surprised that Half-Life was only picked in the bonus round of the draft. The internet has quite an obsession with Gabe Newell and Valve and eagerly await anything that the company produces, even if it isn't yet Half-Life 3.

Nathaniel Cohen: Half-Life. See my answer to the previous question; they're seriously exactly the same.

Russell Archey: How the hell did Skylanders make it six rounds? Why didn't I think of it? I mean, I work in a store that can't keep the individual figures in stock for longer than two days (actually, we're closing in on two weeks straight, so that's amazing).


Dan Keener: I have to go with the Elder Scrolls franchise that John grabbed as the 15th overall pick. My main reasoning is that this is the premiere single player RPG on the market and is strong on both console and PC.

Jeremy Duff: Mario should have been first. It should always be first in this sort of draft. End of story.

Charles Husemann: Half-Life making it to the final round. Honestly it wasn't even on my draft board despite Half-Life 2 being my favorite game of all time.


What was the one selection that defined someone picking with their heart and not their mind?

Sean Cahill: Admitting that my Final Fantasy pick is one of those, I would say that Russell's pick of Mega Man in the first round is tops on the list. A franchise that has only had two titles released in recent memory and still in 8-bit format. While it's a nice change up from today's graphics hogs, what can be done with this franchise to warrant a first round pick?

John Yan: The top one would be Final Fantasy for me. While a solid series, I think it's lost a lot of its luster in the past five years or so and I think Sean could've had that in a lot later round.

Travis Huinker: I picked Psychonauts due to my personal love for the game and desire for playing its sequel someday soon in the future. With the genius of Tim Schafer and Double Fine Studios Productions, I would do anything possible to support the development of a Psychonauts sequel.

Nathaniel Cohen: Mario / Mega Man / Final Fantasy all earn this honor. The only way you'd pick these in the first round is because your heart beat your brain in a wrestling match. Seriously, THE FIRST ROUND? How do they deserve to be first round picks? They're all legacy franchises that deserve spots in the gaming hall of fame rather than a roster of active franchises.


Russell Archey: Believe it or not, I may have to go with my Mega Man pick. Even Capcom seems to be distancing themselves from the franchise and I took it right off! There are still a few things you can do with the blue bomber, but something tells me it'll be up to the fans to make it happen, not Capcom.

Dan Keener: Russell’s selection of Mega Man with the 5th overall pick was not only baffling, but clearly a selection that would doom any companies portfolio from the start. While the franchise has sold over 29 million units worldwide since the late 1980’s, it clearly is a later round pick with limited viability in its current state on today’s consoles and handhelds.

Jeremy Duff: I am torn between Final Fantasy and Mega Man, but Final Fantasy wins out mainly due to how horrid I think the series has become. To me, that was a selection that was based solely on great memories and not recent experiences with the franchise.

Charles Husemann: See #1 although Russell picking Mega Man in the first round is also up there.


Who do you feel had the best overall draft?

Sean Cahill: Overall, I lean towards Dan Keener's draft. He has a powerhouse in GTA, the money machine for handhelds in Pokemon, the ever-popular Madden series, a new franchise with Uncharted, a series that keeps releasing DLC at a phenomenal rate in Rock Band, and then a long-forgotten series with Spyro. A great starting point for his choices.

John Yan: From a monetary standpoint, Dan's picks seem to be one that's going to be a lot of successes other than Uncharted. He shouldn't have any trouble staying out of the red. From a variety stand point, Travis seems to have a lot of interesting IPs that span a multitude of categories.

Travis Huinker: I'm going with John as the best overall draft picks because of Mario, Star Wars, Elder Scrolls and Half-Life in a single company would dominate over the rest. Especially, Mario and Star Wars provide an extensive catalog of back titles to release as high-definition versions and the endless possibilities for future games and projects.

Nathaniel Cohen: I'll say Chuck had the best draft. I know it sounds like I'm sucking up, but every single pick is solid, with a good mix of cash cows, cutting edge ideas, and games that appeal to both hardcore and casual gamers.


Russell Archey: I'd have to go with Keener's six picks. Keener has a decent mix of genres, age groups, and hardcore vs. casual games.

Dan Keener: I firmly believe that my draft was the best of the bunch. While I do have a small hole with a lack of a traditional RPG, I have a nice blend with the #1 Sports title in Madden, a top 3rd person shooter/action adventure game in Uncharted, the #1 sandbox franchise in Grand Theft Auto, the #2 all-time selling franchise (behind Mario) in Pokémon, the hottest selling game/toy crossover in Skylanders and the only music video game (Rock Band) in the 48 picks. If I had to pick a couple of runner-ups, they would be Sean Cahill, Jeremy Duff and John Yan in that order.

Jeremy Duff: I would have to give this category to John Yan. His final list of acquisitions are among the most well-rounded and contain nearly all sure-fire hits. Dugeon Keeper is the only questionable choice of the bunch, but he has a plan and has the resources to back the project thanks to his other selections.

Charles Husemann: It's a bit egotistical to pick yourself but I'm very happy with my draft as I've got a solid mix of old legacy franchises as well as new and upcoming franchises that embrace our free to play future. Close behind me are John and Jeremy who both have solid mid and upper level franchises.


No explanation needed: what is the one franchise you are shocked to see went undrafted?

Sean Cahill: Gran Turismo
John Yan: Mortal Kombat
Travis Huinker: Guild Wars
Nathaniel Cohen: Prince of Persia
Archey: Castlevania:
Keener: Metal Gear
Jeremy Duff: Gears of War
Charles Huseman: Metroid


There you have it: the 2012 Gaming Nexus IP Draft! We all had a lot of fun doing this and I know of more than a few who are already scouting their picks for next year. Again, please feel free to let us know your thoughts and comments in the comment section below. Thanks to everyone on the staff who took the time and participate in this little project, I think I smell another type of staff-draft just around the corner...