2008: A Year in Review

In 2008, many things happened. The global economy has taken a nose dive, The US elected their first African American President, Numerous celebrities have passed, Wars  in the Middle East go on, and numbers of great viral videos, movies, games, music, have been released. Here is my year in review.

Game of the Year
There have been numerous games released this year. So many great ones, that choosing just one, and saying that it above the rest is nearly impossible. But the one game that stood above the rest, the game that I put up to eighty hours into in the course of the year, with amazing online, and offline, graphics, and gameplay, my Game of the Year has to be awarded to: Burnout Paradise.
Burnout Paradise was a game I was very weary of before it was released. Having an open world, where you just drive around, to get to your races, scared me at first. This was not helped by the utter lack of a crash mode that they said would not be appearing in this game, unless you count Showtime. Though when I got my hands on the game, I was flabbergasted by the amazing graphics, and just how much fun it was to drive around the city itself, not including the already founded greatness of the races, and other events in the Burnout Universe. This was helped by the awesome online, and Criterion's obligation to continue to update the game free of charge. Burnout is probably one the best racing games ever created, though still not as good as Burnout 3: Takedown, Paradise makes a great effort, and that effort pays off.

Movie of the Year
There have been a number of great movies this year. Just like the Video Game Industry, it is hard to pick just one movie that stands out above the rest, when a number of them were so great. Though again, when looking at the one that I enjoyed the most, the choice is pretty obvious. My movie of the year is: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. A surprise to many, who probably though Dark Knight would win this, true I did enjoy Dark Knight, and it was the best movie of the year, until this movie surprised me. Brad Pitt had an amazing performance in this movie, where he plays a person who is born old, and ages oppositely, until he is a baby. I will not ruin anything else with the plot, but Benjamin Button's is a must see by anyone.

Viral Video of the Year
Now here is my final award. With the shear lack of great music this year, I will forgo the Music of the Year Award. Instead, I will move on to, and finish up with my Viral Video of the Year. Again, many video were created or released this year, that made me laugh, or hold my ball sack, in the sheer pain that a person was going through as they hit their testicles with hundreds of rounds of paintballs. Though one made me laugh so hard, that there was not question of which was the best of the year. My Viral Video of the Year is: The Australian Party Boy. Just watch, and enjoy the stupidity of the anchorwoman, and the hilarity of the the 'Party Boy.'

In 2008, many things happened. The global economy has taken a nose dive, The US elected their first African American President, Numerous celebrities have passed, Wars  in the Middle East go on, and numbers of great viral videos, movies, games, music, have been released. Here is my year in review.

Game of the Year
There have been numerous games released this year. So many great ones, that choosing just one, and saying that it above the rest is nearly impossible. But the one game that stood above the rest, the game that I put up to eighty hours into in the course of the year, with amazing online, and offline, graphics, and gameplay, my Game of the Year has to be awarded to: Burnout Paradise.
Burnout Paradise was a game I was very weary of before it was released. Having an open world, where you just drive around, to get to your races, scared me at first. This was not helped by the utter lack of a crash mode that they said would not be appearing in this game, unless you count Showtime. Though when I got my hands on the game, I was flabbergasted by the amazing graphics, and just how much fun it was to drive around the city itself, not including the already founded greatness of the races, and other events in the Burnout Universe. This was helped by the awesome online, and Criterion's obligation to continue to update the game free of charge. Burnout is probably one the best racing games ever created, though still not as good as Burnout 3: Takedown, Paradise makes a great effort, and that effort pays off.

Movie of the Year
There have been a number of great movies this year. Just like the Video Game Industry, it is hard to pick just one movie that stands out above the rest, when a number of them were so great. Though again, when looking at the one that I enjoyed the most, the choice is pretty obvious. My movie of the year is: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. A surprise to many, who probably though Dark Knight would win this, true I did enjoy Dark Knight, and it was the best movie of the year, until this movie surprised me. Brad Pitt had an amazing performance in this movie, where he plays a person who is born old, and ages oppositely, until he is a baby. I will not ruin anything else with the plot, but Benjamin Button's is a must see by anyone.

Viral Video of the Year
Now here is my final award. With the shear lack of great music this year, I will forgo the Music of the Year Award. Instead, I will move on to, and finish up with my Viral Video of the Year. Again, many video were created or released this year, that made me laugh, or hold my ball sack, in the sheer pain that a person was going through as they hit their testicles with hundreds of rounds of paintballs. Though one made me laugh so hard, that there was not question of which was the best of the year. My Viral Video of the Year is: The Australian Party Boy. Just watch, and enjoy the stupidity of the anchorwoman, and the hilarity of the the 'Party Boy.'

Great, now I gotta watch Benjamin Button.

That movie does look really interesting. Such a unique concept, I'm definitely going to watch that sometime.

I love me some Burnout paradise, but man, having lost my entire save game makes me hesitant to play it again in order to unlock all the cars again. And I definitely need to watch that movies sometime. It really sounds very strange in my head when I think about it, but if you picked it over The Dark Knight then it must really have something going for it and deserves a chance.

Man that Anchorwoman is an IDIOT. I guess I do need to see Benjamin Button sometime though.

I heard the movie is pretty long as well. I might go check it out. 

Benjamin Button was great. Saw it a few days ago and loved it. It was very touching, a bit funny, and very well-made from start to finish. It was a new version of Forrest Gump if you will.

The curious case of benjamen button actually sounds like a pretty cool movie.

Benjamin Button looks like a great movie indeed.  I need to see that one myself.

Benjamin Button looked okay, but I don't think I'm gonna see it.

Nice video , liked it

I'm a little tired of the nonstop praise for Criterion's Burnout updates.  Yes, the Bikes pack was great but they haven't come close to what Valve has done with Team Fortress 2.  On top of that, the Burnout updates from now on are going to cost us, so it might be time to stop praising Criterion's failed experiment.

I'm just pissed off at them because of all of the promises they made in their podcast.  Plus, I don't want to pay for the Island pack, which was really the only pack I wanted to begin with.

I'll probably wait for Benjamin Button to come out on DVD and use trusty ol' Netflix. I usually don't see a movie in theaters unless it's a special-effects heavy action flick or similar. I'm strange, I know.

Anyway, nice choices. Here's to 2009 being just as good if not better than 2008!

lol @ sheer lack of great music. you didn't look hard enough! :P

"Get me to do it for you!" Classic.