Well, this year turned out to be an interesting year.  The focus was on prolonging the life-cycle for the current generation.  As developers are claiming that we're "good on the graphics" and manufacturers are yearning to make a profit in a tough time due to the economic downturn, the focus this year was expanding the user experience.

3D and Motion Control were the main focus from the Big Three.  Sony Move, Microsoft Kinect and of course the new Nintendo 3DS all made a big show.  Whereas Sony and Microsoft showed off the abilities of the Motion Controllers coupled with providing an expanded user experience for social gaming, Nintendo showed off a 3D capable handheld that will not need 3D glasses.

New Games were also shown off.  We have a slew of titles coming from Nintendo.  All of the big names have a game coming out, with classics such as Zelda, Kirby, Kid Icarus, Donkey Kong and even Goldeneye getting remakes and new titles.  Microsoft has Gears of War 3, Halo: Reach and other big name titles coming as well, and PlayStation 3 users finally get their hands on Gran Turismo 5 and Killzone 3.

So who won this year?  Nintendo.  Sure, we have a whole batch of cool shooter titles and whatnot, but Nintendo is offering a dazzling set of games that will surely entice fans.

My pics for this year:

1. Halo: Reach.  Im a huge fan of the story, this should be fun.   I'm more than sure shooter and MLG type gamers are going to have  a blast.

2. Metal Gear Solid: Rising: Xbox MGS.  Im still wary on what we can do, but the MGS storyline hasn't let us down yet.  The coloring and style were clearly different from MGS4 though, we'll have to see how that goes.

3. Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Starfox 64 for the DS.  Hell yeah.

4. Dead Space 2: Gotta get this for PC, it's a heck of a good game

5. Gran Turismo 5.  The Stig.

6. Crysis 2.  The first one was iffy, the styling has always been off, but this game just looks great and plays great.

7. Killzone 3.  YES.

8. Medal of Honor.  Though it looks like the love child of BFBC2 and MW2, it'll be fun to finally shoot up some durka-durkas in a legitimate manner, not some unnamed Middle Eastern country full of terrorists (CoD 4 anyone?)

9. Portal 2.  Valve has never been wrong before.  Seriously, find a game from them you dont like.  Didnt find one, did you?  

It's gonna be a good year for gaming, for all gamers.  Kinect and Move might not have the impact we're hoping for, but the core gamers are getting a good year.  Though its the same rehashed stuff...it doesnt matter.  We love the IPs, we love the games.  It's like 2007 and 2008 all over again.

Oh, new Xbox 360.  No more Red Ring.

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