Now that 2009 has arrived I wanted to share a list of my top ten most anticipated games for 2009.  This list only contains game that are virtually certain to arrive during the next twelve months, so no Final Fantasy XIII or other such games that aren't confirmed for this year.  Well, here we go!

10. X Edge - March

NOTE:  A GAME ELIGIBLE FOR MY AWARDS MUST MEET THESE CRITERIA:

• THE GAME MUST HAVE BEEN FINISHED TO MY SATISFACTION
• THE GAME MUST HAVE BEEN PLAYED FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR
• THE GAME DOES NOT HAVE TO HAVE BEEN ORIGINALLY RELEASED THIS YEAR

BEST MUSIC

BEST SOUND EFFECTS

MOST SURPRISINGLY GOOD GAME

BEST GRAPHICS, TECHNICAL

BEST GRAPHICS, ARTISTIC

BEST COMPILATION

BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME

MOST IMPROVED SEQUEL

MOST DISAPPOINTING GAME

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE GAME

BEST ACTION/PLATFORMER

BEST SHOOTER

BEST FIGHTING GAME

BEST PUZZLE GAME

BEST RPG

BEST SHMUP

BEST DRIVING/RACING GAME

BEST SPORTS GAME

BEST GAME BOY GAME

BEST DS GAME

BEST PSP GAME

BEST FAMICOM GAME

BEST SUPER NINTENDO GAME

BEST NINTENDO 64 GAME

BEST PLAYSTATION GAME

BEST PLAYSTATION 2 GAME

BEST PLAYSTATION 3 GAME

HANDHELD GAME OF THE YEAR

GAME OF THE YEAR

In the last few weeks I have been playing some serious amount of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.  The original Super Turbo is a game I considered to be my all-time favorite, but now it is Super Turbo Remix and I honestly don't really wanna go back and play the original anymore.  The balance changes really do bring the cast of fighters all really close to each other in power which creates all sorts of great matchups that didn't exist before.  Also, how about that netcode?  Easily the best playing online fighter so far!  I hope all fighters use this netcode until something better can be developed.  In the end, it is a superb fighter and easily the best SFII iteration.  If you claim yourself to be a Street Fighter fan and haven't bought this game, do so immediately.  If you are one of those "fans" that are passing on it because you think it is "too expensive" then you are certainly no fan.

Since Super Turbo Remix's release got me back into fighting game mode, I decided to also drudge out some older PS1 fighters and revisit them.  First was Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha.  This game was pretty good for its time, but now it plays a tad too slow and priority and speed on low roundhouse kicks is too high as well not to mention that well-placed, small combos do tons of damage.  On the bright side, the game is pretty lenient on move inputs which makes playing as grapplers like Zangief and Darun much easier than in most other games.

The other PS1 fighter I have been playing is Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Legion of Heroes which is better known as Rival Schools.  This game is still a lot of fun and it would be great if Capcom would revive this series for a third iteration on current consoles.  The one big problem this game has is that it has a lot of "too much."  Damage done by most attacks is too high across the board (some double team moves can do up to 40% damage and are easy to spam and abuse!), you start with too much super meter at the beginning of a match (3 stocks out of 9!), and gaining super meter is too easy.  Despite these flaws, I still enjoy the game a good deal.

Speaking of good games, I should have Persona 4 this week and I found out that Amazon was selling Eternal Sonata for PS3 for $30 which is half the price it is normally going for!  So obviously that is on the way as well and much sooner than I anticipated which I am sure NeonNinja will love to hear!  :D

Next week I'll be sure to have my Game of the Year Awards post up and all at once!  That's right, one huge mega-post of all of the winners, so look forward to that!  Later.  ^_^

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Hello again! This is my third of three updates this week with me listing my Game of the Year 2008 Nominees.  In this last part I will be revealing my nominees for Platform Awards.  After perusing my nominees, tell me what you think in the comments!

The winners will be decided upon and revealed in 2-3 weeks.  Thanks to all who read and commented on these blogs!

NOTE:  A GAME ELIGIBLE FOR MY AWARDS MUST MEET THESE CRITERIA:

• THE GAME MUST HAVE BEEN FINISHED TO MY SATISFACTION
• THE GAME MUST HAVE BEEN PLAYED FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR
• THE GAME DOES NOT HAVE TO HAVE BEEN ORIGINALLY RELEASED THIS YEAR

It's that time of year again where we all like to weigh in on what was the year in video games and award the ones that we deem the best.  This is my first of three updates within the next week with me listing my Game of the Year 2008 Nominees.  In this first part I will be revealing my nominees for Special Achievement.  After perusing my nominees, tell me what you think in the comments!

NOTE:  A GAME ELIGIBLE FOR MY AWARDS MUST MEET THESE CRITERIA:

• THE GAME MUST HAVE BEEN FINISHED TO MY SATISFACTION
• THE GAME MUST HAVE BEEN PLAYED FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR
• THE GAME DOES NOT HAVE TO HAVE BEEN ORIGINALLY RELEASED THIS YEAR

• I finished Yakuza 2 about a week ago and even though it is very similar mechanically, gameplay, and visually to the first one, which disappointed me at first, it was still a very satisfying experience that anybody remotely interested in an action adventure set in Japan will surely love!  Shenmue is remembered fondly by a lot of people and if you liked that, you will certainly enjoy the Yakuza series and is a must play.
• I picked up and started taking a look a My Japanese Coach for DS.  Seems to be a pretty good supplement for learning the Japanese language.  I think it relies a little to much on using romaji in place of the kanas which can be a problem, but it isn't a big enough of a problem to worry about if you are thinking about giving this title a shot.  One of my favorite things about it is the ability to use the touch screen to practice writing the characters.
• LittleBigPlanet has been with me for a week now and I really am loving the creativity of the game and I am very impressed with the depth of the level creator.  The best things about this game is checking out what the community has created and playing online with others.  My least favorite things are the less than precise jumping and the lack of much to do from a gameplay perspective other than running, jumping, and grabbing onto things.  LBP is game that every PS3 owner needs in their collection regardless of its flaws because it is simply something that doesn't exist for any other platform out there and it is a whole lot of fun too!
• The Mirror's Edge demo amazed me far more than I could have ever expected!  I thought that the first-person perspective would take away from the experience and make it tough to judge jumps and such, but to my surprise it was the very thing that added so much to the experience.  It really did feel like you were doing those things the character was doing!  I'm definitely looking forward to this game now and I hope to be able to get it before the end of the year.
• The Resistance 2 beta sold me on the game.  The multiplayer seems to be the best thing going for it.  Playing the co-op was easily the best multiplayer mode and was a ton of fun when you were with a good sized team that worked together and played their classes well.  If you have a team that isn't playing correctly, then it can seem nearly impossible to complete a mission.  I played medic most of the time and maxed out at lv. 10 in the beta with the class.  The medic may be the weakest on offense, but once you level up enough to use abilities like the Chloroform berserk powerup, you can really be a huge help for your team on offense.
• I also picked up Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia which I haven't started playing yet because of something that just came up...
• That something would be entry into the Killzone 2 beta!  Just hours ago I checked my email and up popped an email stating I am in the KZ2 beta even though I didn't know anything about it and thus could not have tried to sign up for it.  It was just there and I don't know why, but I immediately downloaded and started playing it.  I can't say anything about my experiences with it since Sony seems to have participants agree that they will not divulge information about their experiences with it outside of the official KZ2 forums--at least as far as I know.

• Since my last blog I have played through Dragon Quest 1 again on Game Boy and it was still fun to play even though it is extremely archaic and simple compared to modern JRPGs.
• Nintendo DSi - I like the larger screens, the ability for the DSi store to give us some potentially interesting downloadable games and perhaps even some Virtual Console action, and the SD card slot for music playback and as a general storage solution.  I am someone who thinks the flash card storage solution for handhelds is better than a built-in one because it makes it easier to move your media around and if your flash card goes bad, you can simply buy another one, where as having a built-in only solution could be very expensive to replace.  I've heard others have a dislike for the removal of the GBA slot, but it doesn't bother me since I still have a GBA SP.  The downside to the larger screens it that I'd have to get a new case.  I also really like the matte finish the DSi will have because I am not a fan of the glossy finish of the DSL.  It is just way too easy to get it dirty which leads to the need to clean it way too often.  The cameras are completely useless IMO and will just end up as a dumb gimmick.  Overall, I think the DSi is a good redesign and I am looking forward to it.
• Eternal Sonata demo - I played this same demo back when I still had a X360 early last year and it was still fun to play which means I will definitely get this game sometime down the road.  The combat is a lot of fun and the game is still artistically beautiful.
• BioShock demo - While this game looks great, I didn't like it much.  I wasn't intrigued by the story and the combat lacks the 'umph' I need in first-person action games.  If I'm going to get a game of this genre in the near future, I'll probably go with Resistance 2 or wait for Killzone 2.
• The TGS announcment of White Knight Chronicles getting a four-player online co-op mode is pretty damn cool!  Hopefully the game will be awesome enough to warrant it when it finally releases.
• The Wii is looking a little bit better in my eyes now that Namco has announced a remake of the first Klonoa (PS1) game for the system.  I absolutely love the Klonoa series and would love to see this game do well enough that new Klonoa games are made once again.
• I finally put up some footage of the crazy Taito beat-'em-up, PuLi-RuLa.  You can check it out in my About Me section on my main profile page.

In this video I go over my September acquisitions and cover some thoughts on the Burnout Paradise trophy patch, Mega Man 9, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and my current high score for Star Soldier.

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