Finally, a new post

Well, it has been a while since my first post.  I'm not sure I have a valid excuse, so we'll just leave it at that.  Now that Bioshock and 3:10 to Yuma are both old news, I guess it would make more sense to talk about something a little more timely.

The fourth quarter of the calender year is always a huge time for the video game industry, but this year was a different beast entirely.  Similar to the film industry, the game industry this year was absolutely inundated with honest-to-God AAA titles.  Starting with Bioshock at the end of the summer, this season saw great titles such as Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box, and to a (much) lesser degree, games like Assassin's Creed.  I've played all of these games (except Halo, it just couldn't hook me) a pretty large and they are all SO good.  If these games would've come out in different years, they literally all could've walked away with a handful of game of the year picks from top publications.  

That said, I think I can pick a favorite.  One game to rule them all.  I'm not sure why I just said that, I really don't like those movies very much.  Anyway.  I can say with great confidence that the best game of the year was Super Mario Galaxy.  None of the other games can match the sheer, old school fun of this title.  Unfortunately for the other games, it also possessed great graphics and a phenomenal art style, a rock-solid and physics engine, and planetoid-based gameplay that takes advantage of said engine.  However, a game like this also makes me feel a little bit of resentment.  Why hasn't a single developer besides Nintendo been able to make a Wii game look and play like it was made for a true next-gen console.  We keep getting crappy ports of old games with unique (read: gimmicky) Wii waggle controls.  The one exception, the one game that is both a good port and better than the original game as a result of the unique Wii controls, is Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition.  Anyway, the game is great.  If you own a Wii, and don't own Super Mario Galaxy, you need to go get it.  Right this second.

Honorable mention, and I mean very honorable, is Bioshock.  I've never been as engrossed in a universe as I have in the beautifully haunting underwater land of Rapture.  Only the actual shooting mechanics left a little bit to be desired. I could wax poetic about the game all night long, but I'll save you the histrionics.  It's amazing.  If the mechanics would have been up to snuff with the atmosphere and visuals, it would have been a tougher competitor for SMG.  Good thing we can play both.

Take it easy out there,

Will