Like Super Paper Mario for the Wii, Paper Mario may be what truly decides whether or not I will get a 3DS. Even though I despised the little time I spent with Super Paper Mario, which was enough, I bought a Wii by join-payment with a buddy of mine. He wanted it more than I did, I swear. Super Paper Mario - what a huge disappointment. Borrowed my niece's Wii just for that and pretty much took a shit on it with that game.

But if a Picross game comes out on the 3DS, then that's a game changer.

I may help that 80% of my wages go on video games.

@AhmadMetallic: Maybe it's easier for me because I have more specific tastes, or rather that I see fewer games as "Must-Beat" and instead as "Must-Experience-Eventually." Here are my games from 2011:

• Ghost Trick - Cranked through in 3 days because I could not put it down and stayed up waaay to late every night in bed with it.
• Marvel vs. Capcom 3 - Probably logged around 1000 hours sporadically throughout the year, can't really "beat" it anyways.
• Dragon Age II - Beat it twice, stalled out halfway through a third playthrough because of...
• Patapon 3 - Stole my free time for a few weeks. Got to the point where I would find stages I could do by sound alone and play while driving, just like the first two.
• Portal 2 - Played it, beat it, loved it.
• Mortal Kombat - Cleared the tower, did a few Kombo videos even, then my PS3 died and so did my interest
• L.A. Noire - Got about halfway through the final desk before my PS3 died. Loved it but can't bring myself to play through all of it again.
• inFamous 2 - Burned through it in about a week and had a blast. PS3 died before I could get started on my "evil" run but that's ok. I didn't like the fire girl anyways.
• Magic: the Gathering 2012 - It's easy to play with one hand which is handy when you're feeding a baby. I have no real sense of how much time I spent with it but my baby is 6 months old and eats 5 times a day for 15-30 minutes each feeding.
• SSFIV:AE - Only played a few hours of it, all my fighting game time belonged to Marvel.
• Dead Space 2 - Bought on Steam sale over... Summer? still haven't played the first one yet so I'm waiting on that. I get freaked out by games way too easily so I still need to pass that mental hurdle before I can dig in.
• Shadows of the Damned - Bought it because I felt like it was my responsibility, played it and ended up loving it all the way to the end.
• Bastion - Bought it mostly because of GB buzz but my XBL account was hacked as part of the whole FIFA fiasco so I haven't gotten around to playing it yet.
• Deus EX - Made it through with 0 kills (except for the opening when non-lethal wasn't even presented as an option grrr).
• Street Fighter III: Online Edition - Only played it a few minutes, but I've played so much 3s in the past that it was more out of franchise loyalty.
• Mortal Kombat: Arcade Collection - What a major fuck-up, totally unplayable.
• Orcs Must Die! - Got about halfway through before getting bored.
• Batman: Arkham City - Another burner, couldn't put it down until I got all 400 Riddler trophies :D:D:D and it was totally worth it.
• Dungeon Defenders - Expected to play this with my friends but we were never able to coordinate play times so it remains untouched
• Gear of War 3 - A birthday gift, I'm not the biggest fan of console shooters. I stalled out about 3/4 through the game, mostly because I kept dying to one encounter, then ToR happened.
• Uncharted 3 - Another birthday gift. Remains untouched because of ToR.
• Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 - Only logged about 200 hours I think, would be more but my capture card stopped working properly which really bummed me out.
• The Witcher 2 - Bought it off of Amazon when it was $15. Played a few minutes then realized my computer is too old to handle it. I'll have to get back to it later.
• SWToR - Since it came out, a majority of my free time has been spent playing it. I'll probably try to squeeze some Uncharted 3 in next week though.
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations - A holiday gift. Didn't even play Brotherhood until October so I'm not particularly eager to jump back in.
• Skyward Sword - Another holiday gift. Hated Twilight Princess but I feel the need to give every new Zelda game a fair shake. Will get to it when I slow down on ToR.
• Bulletstorm - Bought during end-of-the-year Steam sale because it was stupid cheap, more interested in the legacy of it than the actual game itself. May never play it.

2010 game of 2011

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - Didn't get it until it went really cheap a few months before Revelations came out. Got fairly close to 100% before beating it. Fuck the Leonardo mission with the tanks.

So that's 28 games bought (or bought for me), not counting all the Kairosoft games that I play when it's slow at work. 15 of them I beat or invested sufficient hours in. All the games I did not beat were either on sale, minor casual purchases, or gifts that I would not have bought for myself.

@AhmadMetallic I get what your saying, I do. My 2011 games beat are MW3, Saints Row TT, Uncharted 3, Shadows of the Damned, Resistance 3, Mortal Kombat, Mass Effect 2 ( PS3) LA Noire, MVC3, Killzone 3, inFamous 2, Dead Space 2, Dead Island, Bulletstorm, Batman Arkham City, Pokemon White and Pokemon Black, Super Mario 3D Land, Res4 (PSN). I'm waiting for PS3 Skyrim patch to come out so I can conutinue on my 70+ hour dude. I like to power through games, I spend the majority of my time playing games so I suppose that's why.

@AhmadMetallic I get what your saying, I do, my 2011 games beat are...

• MW3
• Saints Row TT
• Uncharted 3
• Shadows of the Damned
• Resistance 3
• Mortal Kombat
• Mass Effect 2 ( PS3)
• LA Noire
• MVC3
• Killzone 3
• inFamous 2
• Dead Space 2
• Dead Island
• Bulletstorm
• Batman Arkham City
• Pokemon White and Pokemon Black
• Super Mario 3D Land
• Res4

I enjoy completing games, I used to be really into games like Skyrim were I could happily spend hours doing nothing. A couple of years ago i spent most of the year playing Oblivion/Runescape/MW and finished about 3 games, but now I try and focus myself into finishing as many games as possible. That way I get to talk about more games, have an larger knowledge of video games and just feel like I've done something. Since listing to the Bombcast I enjoy hearing what they have to say about games, so I try and beat as many games as I can so I understand more of when they talk about that game. So far this year I have beaten Brutal Legend, Star Wars the Force Unleashed, Saints Row the Third and I'm very close to beating Warhammer 40K Space Marine.

Where is Luigi's Mansion 2?

Btw, I like Mario Party... though the 9th installment doesn't appeal to me. Guess that 8 Mario Parties will be enough for me.

@AhmadMetallic: I have over 100 PS3 games, about 60+ of them are in my backlog and not completed. I still enjoy buying new games, what will happen is I will buy most of the big games up until the summer when no more games come out for a few months. In that month I will play the games I didn't play right now.

@AhmadMetallic: Some of us are capable of simultaneously enjoying our current games AND looking forward to the new games on the horizon :-P

I mean, why not be excited?

@AhmadMetallic: Some of us are capable of simultaneously enjoying our current games AND looking forward to the new games on the horizon :-P

I mean, why not be excited?

@Hizang: Consoles are defined as requiring a television or some other separate screen for use. I WILL NOT LET THIS STUPID THING INJUSTICE CONTINUE!

@AhmadMetallic: I have over 100 PS3 games, about 60+ of them are in my backlog and not completed. I still enjoy buying new games, what will happen is I will buy most of the big games up until the summer when no more games come out for a few months. In that month I will play the games I didn't play right now.

@MooseyMcMan: I class the 3DS as a console, I play it at the same place I play my PS3 so i don't class it as a handheld.

@Hizang said:

With Mario Kart, Mario 3D Land, Resident Evil Revelations this handheld video game system is getting easier and easier to recommend.

I corrected that for you.

Calling a 3DS a console...

The fact that we're already anticipating new games is disturbing. The average amount of games bought by each one of us in 2011 is well over 20, I doubt that you've finished them all already. 
 
Is this what we're all about now? Looking forward to new releases 24/7?

@Vexxan: With Mario Kart, Mario 3D Land, Resident Evil Revelations this console is getting easier and easier to recommend.

It may not be enough to make me buy a 3DS but I'm kinda excited to see how Paper Mario turns out, I never played Super Paper Mario but I loved playing the thousand something something for the Gamecube.

Anticipated is a funny word. I anticipate anticipation.
 

Some called 2011 a bad year for video games, what with all of the sequels, but I for one really enjoyed 2011. But enough about 2011 because 2012 is just about to begin, January really does not count because nothing has come out in 2012 up to this point aside from a few games. So here are the games that I am personally most looking forward to getting my hands on.

Please note these games are in no order.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection

Although released last November in this US it was for some unknown reason delayed until Febuary the 3rd in Europe, being a huge MGS fanboy this was not the best of news. My first impulse was to import it from the US, but at the time there was so many games coming out (Skyrim, MW3, Uncharted 3, Saints Row the Third etc) and I did not want it to fly away into my backlog. So I waited, the wait is almost over, I have completed MGS2 over 100 times and I am not joking. When your little you just play the same game over and over again, every single weekend I literally rotated between playing MGS2 and MGS1 and every weekend I would beat it. I know that game in and out and it got to a point where I would mouth the words before the characters even said them. When MGS3 came out I was a tad older so did not play it as many times, but i still completed it probably 50 + times. Peace Walker remains the only MGS game I have not played, so I'm really excited for that. Ironically it comes out just as a whole mess of other games start to come out too, but hey whatever check out the European launch trailer which has to be one of the best trailers I have seen in a while.

Turns out that this trailer is even not official, wow..

Resident Evil 6

I did not get in to the franchise until Resident Evil 4, after playing that and enjoying it I went back and bought some past Resident Evil games, I really did not like any of them. So I was glad when Resident Evil 5 arrived and they decided to not go back to the horrible gameplay of the first games, yes I'm admitting I really enjoyed Res5, one of my favourite games of that year. Sure it's not scary, but I don't think that is what they are going for anymore, I'm totally ok with that being the case. All I'm looking for a decent action movie experience full of shooting and awesome set pieces. It is only a recent announcement but the game from the trailer does look pretty awesome, I really hope it comes out this year.

Mario Party 9

The Mario Party franchise gets a lot of hate from many people, I am not one of those people. I honestly enjoy the Mario Party franchise, it has a nice blend of luck and skill with the mesh of a board game with mini games. I have played pretty much all of the Mario Party games and I love how they continue to make original and awesome mini games. But the board game aspect is what really drives me to play these games, the mini games are good but there is something satisfying about planning out what route to take across the board. The boards have been really good so far and I hope to see them continue this trend with Mario Party 9. Mario Party 8 came out around the time the Wii came out, so they have had a while to gather ideas for this game, I couldn't be any more stoked for this game and I really hope you guys give it a chance.

Mass Effect 3

I don't think I need to justify having this on my list, its fucking Mass Effect 3. I really enjoyed Mass Effect 2 and I am interested to see what will happen in the game based on my actions of Mass Effect 2. I ended it with all characters alive aside from Miranda, fuck that bitch! The one thing I am hoping for is better shooting, it was good in ME2 but not great. In all honestly I'm not interested in the multiplayer at all, I don't see why the felt the need to include it to a story driven game, but hey video games am I right?

Paper Mario

I'm not a fan of the direction they took the Paper Mario franchise with Super Paper Mario. I didn't really like the art direction or the gameplay direction, I much more preferred the original Paper Mario. From the trailer and the little pieces of information we know I believe they are taking it back to its roots and I couldn't be more happy. This is one of the reasons that I am happy to have a 3DS and I can't wait to see what new features they add to this game.

So there we go, 5 of the games I am most looking forward to this year!