Sure, there are too many games and games lists being published anyway, but I decided to add my own five cents once again with one listing my currently--or in some cases even eternally--played favorites:

-Battlefield 3 Multiplayer (PC)

-Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC)

-Dead Space / 2 / 3 (PS3, PC, AND)

-Yakuza 3 / 4 / (5) (PS3, PSV?)

-Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (PS3) / Uncharted: Golden Abyss (PSV)

-Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (PS3, PSV)

-Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (PS3)

-Path Of Exile (PC)

-Dragon Age II (PC)

-The Last Story (Wii)

-Fable III (X360)

-Angry Birds Star Wars (AND)

-Kid Icarus Uprising (3DS)

-Inazuma Eleven (DSi)

-Star Trek Online (PC XP)

-Phantasy Star Online 2 (PC, Japanese)

-Phantasy Star Online, Shenmue (DC)

-KOTOR, Shenmue II (Xbox)

-Okami, Sly 3 (PS2)

And to be added soon:

-The Last of Us

-GTA V

Apart from the last two, I consciously refrain from speculating about new consoles and future favorites to be figuring in this list soon--though I'd actually plan to purchase five and sell three consoles still this year, but this depends also on my personal situation. Anyway, whatever and how many consoles I'll be buying, I am sure to be using them for gaming purposes mainly--isn't the interactive but too young a type of media to cede to the purely passive movie and music consumption again?

So, in case anybody is interested in keeping track or even playing with me (in spite of possible time differences), most of my platform IDs are listed via Raptr: http://raptr.com/VintAge68/about

CU :)

So I finally got together my Heroes of Ruin user review (http://www.gamespot.com/heroes-of-ruin/user-reviews/813888/platform/3ds/), and others hopefully are to follow until the end of the year.

Why writing a user review at all, since I have also a full-time job during the week? Well, for me a video game does have to be in a certain line of thematic interest, and/or I might feel that a game has been underrated on GB or GS (which unfortunately is the case for quite a number of them).

Psychologically, planning to do a review about a video game is also a good incentive for getting oneself to finish it in an acceptable period of time--thus quite recommendable an approach for everybody--, while it too permits having a clear(er) idea about and seeing its details (also with respect to comparable games).

One word still about Heroes of Ruin itself: though I found it quite a new type of pocket dungeon brawler playable via 3DS StreetPass rather than the web, it being "lite" in about all aspects: size, challenge, upgrade system, gameplay possibilities..., still is the main impression retained from the game, surprising perhaps considering Square Enix being its publisher.

Nevertheless, it is a game difficult to take away once started, while the main replay interest consists in the different techniques employed by each of the hero classes (Vindicator, Gunslinger, Alchitect, Savage). Unfortunately, Square Enix already stopped releasing new challenges every week which quite diminishes its possibilities.

And the not too predictable story too has its surprising turns--in short it's a game both underrated and not up to its very potential.

Oh, and as regards the term "summer hole": (in German language) this characterizes the period during summer when politicians are on holiday so that the media have almost nothing to report...

In any case, comments, suggestions, objections are welcome :)

So finally, after a year of uncertainty and general financial worries, the organization aDeSe (Asociación Española de Distribuidores y Editores de Software de Entretenimiento) decided that Madrid will get a big video game fair on its own again, which will take place November 7--10 at IFEMA this year, and then hopefully every year again (http://www.adese.es/).

The first day will be reserved to professionals and the other three days be open to all publics, and following the models of Milan and Paris, Madrid aspires this being the (Spanish) video game event getting the most attention in Spain as well as the rest of the world.

Fact is that besides Barcelona as point of attraction in comic and entertainment matters, several Universities of the Madrid community (for instance, La Universidad Complutense, cf. http://www.videojuegos-ucm.es/) offer studies in video game creation & development now.

Anyway, recalling the crowds of video game aficionates having flooded the last GAMEFEST in fall 2011, one may also hope that a bigger exhibition space will be available for the upcoming Games Week. In any case, more information is going to be announced the following months so for now just hold the date until then.

See also http://www.hobbyconsolas.com/noticias/madrid-games-week-7-10-noviembre-53202

No doubt, this year it has been Microsoft who did the best publicity job: Sony just needed to wait for their E3 press conference in order to have the very American Jack Tretton announce what every gaming soul had been longing to hear: do whatever you like with your used games --lend, trade, keep them--, and while no permanent online connection or 24h-authentication will be required, PSN+ subscriptions will flawlessly be carried over to yet a new member of the big PlayStation family.

Thank you, Microsoft, for making future buyers' decisions so much easier in gaming matters, in about the same way as Windows 8 has been sharply raising the demand for Linux-based operative systems, so that one should guess that their selling the Xbox division might just be a matter of time. For now, however, still loyal Xbox Live Gold subscribers will be getting two (non recent) games for free download per month --a sign that MS did but learn something from Sony's so successful subscriber policy.

Not too surprising, either, in that context is that for me E3 2013's biggest game revelation is also a game for PS4 rather than X1: The Order: 1886, plotted in an phenomenologically alternative Victorian London, struck me about as sort of love at first sight that I can hardly wait for it being finally released.

Another game I'll be hoping to get my hands on right at PS4 launch is Killzone: Shadow Fall which now more open-leveled looks so much more appealing than the Halo-successor Destiny resembling rather a blend of ME + SWTOR in its present shape (not that I had something against those two BioWare games, though).

Nicely preparatory to the former while waiting may be Killzone: Mercenary for the PS Vita, with a somewhat different concept, also certainly one of the most anticipated games for this quality handheld in all 2013.

Yet InFamous: Second Son is the third PS4 one which I'd put in my list here, together with quite a list of interesting Indie games released via PSN, like Transistor, Secret Ponchos, or Doki-Doki Universe.

The press conference which had my greatest interest besides Sony's has certainly been that of EA starting with the surprising Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare looking so ridiculously fun in co-op survivor mode, followed by other yet eagerly awaited games like Battlefield 4's still more enthralling multiplayer, DICE's StarWars Battlefront and Mirror's Edge 2, BioWare's mmorpged Dragon Age III, or also Titanfall, unfortunately prioritizing XOne, whereas I would certainly have preferred learning something about Homefront 2 rather than Ryse from Crytek's part.

Last but not least to be distinguished out of E3's demonstrations:

- Call of Duty: Ghosts (featuring the CoD Dog)

- The Crew (sporting several of my favorite racing features)

- Castlevania: Lord of Shadows 2 (sequel of the 25 year-old hack'n'slash)

- Wolfenstein: The New Order (sequel of the legendary FP shooter)

- Shin Megami Tensei IV (the 4th of the demon-ish RPG series, still TBA for Europe)

So while I guess that Microsoft and not EA will probably be nominated the worst US company this year, I already project buying another, smaller, smarter X360 to be conserved for the future: May the PS4 be with you...

Two interesting events are taking place in Spain this weekend:

The first is the 31st edition of the Int'l Comic Fair in Barcelona http://www.ficomic.com/

And the second one is IDÉAME 2013, an encounter of young developers at the University Complutense in Madrid featuring the idea of authorial, non mass-produced video games http://ideame.es/

With spring finally coming also to Spain this year I can only hope that those two events reach some farther attention on more international level. Thanks!

So ok, I am rather on GameSpot so there's another retro-review of mine:

We often desire going back in time to fix everything when it's too late --here is the occasion: play this game.

http://www.gamespot.com/inversion/user-reviews/809939/platform/pc/

Playing Binary Domain one may ask oneself whether there was or will be a corresponding sci-fi movie given its capturing cinematic action which might remotely recall that of Syndicate or Deus Ex HR (Bionics) or else Yakuza (Tokyo setting).

Developing Binary Domain they did seemingly not consider the question whether having a female (co-)protagonist could be of common gamer interest or not, although the player --Dan Marshall rather than Faye Lee-- cannot actually choose which character to play here. Consequently, one might treat as very "politically correct" the squad one deploys during most part of this 3rd-person shooter: two female soldiers out of five, one Asian (Chinese), one "Caucasian" (in fact she's rather Celtic), a black man, two US, two UK, perhaps even homosexuals (Big Bo, Rachel...?), but in any case better than leaving this delicate question completely out, perhaps out of fear of loosing a bigger public for this game (Gears of War...?).

As by Toshihiro Nagoshi (known from the Yakuza series), Binary Domain too sports a surprising plot and moving love story, but what else makes the game attractive in order to be played twice are the fun fights against a robot army proper to a futuristic Tokyo set in the Machine Age (2080 AD), in spite of the rather "generic" bosses, or the upgrade system allowing to generously provide all the squad members, including Cain, the charming French-accented mech.

So in short, I should have given a 2012 GOTY award to Binary Domain --not as the best shooter, but as the one with the best-balanced squad (excluding, perhaps, Mass Effect), in addition to a great story context which I consider more interesting than that of Deus Ex HR, an example hopefully to be imitated rather than profitably avoided in the nearer gaming future...

Well, I know: it would probably be far easier to make a list of the games I am not interested in, and, yes, I did not even buy/play all the games on last year's wish list (some of which were just rented)... Also, I plan to buy a PS Vita and a (Japanese?) 3DS a bit later this year, if possible, which would still enlarge my yet too long desirable games' list.

Remind me if I have forgotten something (Activision?, Betheseda?) --yet my experience tells me that this list tends to stretch through the year anyway (with all the Arcade and Indie and Google play stuff to be added later on). And with Sony seeming the most active, it will also be (of course?) yet another pre/sequel year of great past titles, but no matter:

Upcoming (Q1/Q2):

-Dead Space 3 (*pre-ordered)

-Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

-Aliens: Colonial Marines

-Crysis 3 (*pre-ordered)

-God of War: Ascension

-Gears of War: Judgment

-Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel

-BioShock Infinite

-Metro: Last Light

-Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs

-Fuse

-Injustice: Gods Among Us

-Star Trek

-The Last of Us

-Remember Me

-Disney Infinity

Most anticipated during the year:

-Dust 514 (now open beta)

-GTA V

-Yakuza 5 (English edition)

-Phantasy Star Online 2 (English edition)

-Star Wars: The Old Republic - Rise of the Hutt Cartel (*pre-ordered)

-Dragon Age III: Inquisition

-Battlefield 4

-Watch Dogs

Later this year (Q3/Q4):

-Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

-FF XIII Lightning Returns

-FIFA 14

-Beyond: Two Souls

-Carmageddon: Reincarnation

-Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

-XCOM

-Doom 4

-Prey 2

-Until Dawn

-Cyberpunk 2077

-MechWarrior online

-Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots

...

Finally, my own bit of Best Of:

- Game of the Year: Mass Effect 3 --BioWare's efforts to polish the game with respect to the two previous editions (close combat, evasion, weapon upgrades, planet scans...) reflect very positively, as well as the different game modes (role, action) and the new multiplayer, and a whole load of additional DLCs. Moreover, the game looks good on all platforms, including the recent Wii U launch edition. --All in all a very complete game rounding up this all too memorizable sci-fi saga.

- Shooter: Black Ops II --Well, I am not anti-COD, and it is a compact game whose impacting nonlinear story justifies a very heterogeneous gameplay

- Adventure: Dishonored --Simply a masterwork, in all aspects

- Action: Asura's Wrath --A highly entertaining mix of science fiction and Asian mythologie

- RPG: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning --I had a special liking for this one, its lovely graphics and Combat moves

- Racing: Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed --A refreshingly different though less realistic looking racing game, pure fun

- Fighting: All-Stars Battle Royale --To me the most appealing of 2012's fighters

- Platforming: Epic Mickey 2 --Perhaps not he best one, but hey I am an ol' Disney fan

- Strategy: XCOM: Enemy Unknown --Great in its class, though there are some issues with X4 PCs

- Sport: FIFA 13 --A classic, just like Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona, nothing to justify here

- MMO: Star Wars: The Old Republic --Victim of its infortunate release date: too late for 2011's GOTY, and too early for the 2012 one, as well as, perhaps, for its severe critics; now free-to-play and with same-sex relations, SWTOR's sound BioWare-ish narrative structure and great design make it yet one of the greatest

- X360: Halo 4 --A longstanding fan of the Halo series, I couldn't miss out on this one

- XBLA: Hybrid --Really fun multiplayer sci-fi shooter, try it out if you didn't

- PS3: Journey --Unique in its way, a bit sad

- PSN: Tokyo Jungle --Created through a team of young developers, this is a really original, Darwinist game

- PC: PlanetSide 2 --Great sci-fi MMO, and free to play

- Graphic Design: Max Payne 3 --Extraordinary movie-like action and design choices

- Narrative: Spec Ops: The Line --Great asphyxiant atmosphere, inspired through Joseph Conrad

- Music: Black Ops II - Jack Wall --Liked it without knowing he was also behind Mass Effect

- Re-edition: Jet Set Radio Future --Has aged well: Loved the original one on Xbox

- Platform of the Year: Wii U --Surely suited for an entire family, though I don't plan to buy one in the moment

- Most undervalued game: Inversion --Interesting story and gameplay options, a bit in the vein of Bulletstorm and Gears of War

- Blockbuster of the Year: Angry Birds --1,000,000,000 downloads! (they'd better grin like piggies now)

- Gaming Pro of the Year: Gabe Newell --Has been anticipating Windows 8 "being the end of PC gaming" --and potentially that of Microsoft itself, Xbox 720 going to be a Windows 8-PC equipped with blu-ray reader and Xbox gaming pad...

On October 26th, 2012, Shigeru Miyamoto has been awarded the Prince of Asturias price for Communication and Humanities as an acknowledgement of his important contribution to the history of video games. The "father" of Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and Zelda has been present himself in the Teatro Campoamor of Oviedo (Asturias, Spain) in order to be given his award, among other homages he happily received during his short stay in Spain.

Arigatō gozaimasu, Miyamoto-san!

Cf. also: http://www.hobbyconsolas.com/noticias/shigeru-miyamoto-principe-asturias-44718