“Most Likely to Play Over and Over Again” Award
Halo: Reach
I played it through 3 times – solo and co-op, heroic and legendary – and I still would probably play it again on legendary co-op.  I’m not a multiplayer fan so I can’t get my fix that way.  It’s going to be a long dry spell until we get more Halo goodness.

“It Came Outta Nowhere” Award
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
I follow gaming stuff pretty closely.  I read all the big blogs regularly: Kotaku, Joystiq, and the like.  And I never heard a thing about this game until it was released.  All the more surprising: I played the demo and it was good!  Perhaps the only game I bought this year by virtue of playing the demo.  Not destined to win many awards, but definitely worth a pickup if you find a good price.

“Game You Should Have Played But Didn’t” Award
Alan Wake
I was tempted to give this to Metroid: Other M, but it’s got to go to Alan Wake.  This is the category that beloved gems like Psychonauts and Beyond Good and Evil belong to.  It definitely deserves a sequel, but did it sell enough to warrant one?  Remedy is not saying.  Pleeeease, Remedy!!

“Wanted To Like More Than I Did” Award
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
I kept playing and playing, waiting for that point at which I could think of little else until I completed it, and I actually finished it before that point ever arrived.  Which was no small task, as it’s a looong game.  Maybe a little too long?  Not “Castlevania” enough?  Because I suck at “God of War” style games?  I actually stuck with it to the end, which says something about it I guess, but if I had it to do all over again, I might not have even played it.

“If Only It Was Achievements and Not Trophies” Award
Final Fantasy XIII
I didn’t hate this game nearly as much as the gaming press wishes I would have.  That’s not to say it didn’t have its faults, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  So much so, in fact, that I put in over 100 hours on it.  And I got every trophy you could get in it, except the one where I’d have to buy all of the equipment in the game (and hence the platinum trophy as well).  I calculated that I’d have to grind for 6+ hours to make enough gil to do that.  If I had played the Xbox version, I might have done that, to have a complete game and 1000 gamerscore (something I’ve only done twice before).  But you gotta play Final Fantasy on the PlayStation, right?  That’s been a rule since FF VII, hasn’t it?  And I don’t care a fig about trophies, so I never got there.

“It Came Too Early To Win Major Awards” Award
Mass Effect 2
The integration with your save game from Mass Effect 1… awesome.  Nearly all the changes were improvements.  Nearly.  (I’m looking at you, planet scanner!)  It set the bar high for 2010.  But it came out January 26, 2010.  Will it garner any Game of the Year awards with the short term memory crowd, or will Call of Duty overshadow it by virtue of release date?

“Made Me Schlep To The Store With Other Geeks” Award
Dragon Quest XII: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
No, I’m not talking about a launch event.  Just look at Black Friday… people will stand in line in the cold for hours for $5 off a jacket.  I’m talking about standing around an electronics store with my DS open hoping that someone else that’s doing the same will sync a treasure quest to my game.  DQ XII has an interesting online quest sharing function, but it’s local wireless only, which might work fine in DQ obsessed and people packed Japan, but not so great in the suburban US midwest.  So I went to an event to try it out, and got a few quests that were way above my level that I still haven’t been able to do yet.

“Would People Give It Such High Praise If The Graphics Were So-So” Award
Infinity Blade
I get it. The graphics look great. But in 15-20 minutes you’ve basically seen what you are going to do in the whole game, and then you do it over and over again. Why is everyone raving about this game? Has everyone really turned into such graphics whores? I mean, I like the game in general, but The Second Coming of Portable Gaming it is not!

“Who Knew Michael J. Fox Had A Twin” Award
Back to the Future Part 1 – It’s About Time
Great Scott!  That “not Michael J. Fox” guy does an awesome Marty McFly, doesn’t he?

But enough with the silly awards… what is my top game? I only pick from games I’ve played, and the critics and I usually do not agree.  To me, it boils down to a choice between five games, and they all have their merits.

#5 – Metroid: Other M

I had high expectations for the new Metroid game, and it met those in most ways.  While I’ve struggled several times for play through the first person Metroid Prime series, it in some ways just didn’t hit the right notes for me.  I like that 2D side-scrolling action.  Metroid: Other M struck that nice middle ground for me.  I was not, as some were, put off by Saums’ backstory, and I found the action very satisfying.  It was the game I played the fastest this year (calendar-wise), not because it was short, but because I couldn’t put it down, and I played it obsessively to the end.  I even ruined a Wiimote in frustration on one of the boss fights!  I certainly wouldn’t put it at the top of my list, but it rightfully deserves a spot.

#4 – Final Fantasy XIII

Say what you will, but I liked this game.  I spent more time playing it than any other game this year.  But does that make it my #1?  No.  It just didn’t last with me like other games.  When I was (finally) done with it, I was done with it, and in my convoluted mind that drops it down a few notches.

#3 – Halo: Reach

What can I say?  Halo: Reach is like the definitive FPS.  It does so many things right and it does them so well.  Plus, I’m a sucker for tragic stories.  IRL I’ve been a huge Titanic buff since the late 70′s, and have read innumerable accounts of what happened that night.  Knowing the ending adds to the fascination.  It doesn’t detract from it.  The story of Halo: Reach is the same way.  I played the campaign 3 times, twice alone and once co-op, and would probably play it on legendary co-op if I had the chance.  I just can’t give it #1, though, for essentially the same reasons.  It was exactly what I knew it would be.  The same way that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the 2nd highest rated game on Metacritic ever, but doesn’t make my list.  So I’m looking for memorable and unexpected….

#2 – Mass Effect 2

Mass Effect 2 is nearly the perfect game IMHO.  I remember playing it in late January 2010 and thinking “Wow, this is the gold standard for every game this year.”  Immediately followed by “Will anyone remember it 11 months from now when the awards are handed out?”  The gaming industry is often fickle, and the last hot thing is often the “best” thing.  So I worried myself that if a game unseated Mass Effect 2 in my mind as the best of the year, would it be because it was newer?  And that game did come.  Mass Effect 2 was certainly memorable.  I can picture the whole game still nearly a year later, and I immersed myself in the universe via books and comics.  it was unexpectedly much much better than the original Mass Effect.  Going beyond just a few tweaks, Bioware threw all the bad from Mass Effect out the window and added so much more goodness.  You never know with sequels.  It seems like a simple thing, but some many companies get it so wrong.  But in the end it was still more Mass Effect, wasn’t it?  What if something was memorable, unexpected, and unique as well?  Along came…

#1 – Alan Wake

I loved Alan Wake.  I love the setting, the humor, the atmosphere, the music, the chapter structure, the engrossing narrative, the plot twists and turns… everything.  It stayed with me well past my first playthrough.  Well past my second playthrough.  I completed the original game 100% on the Xbox 360 (1000 achievement points).  When the DLC packs came out, I downloaded each the day it was released and played through them THAT DAY.  I can’t say that about the Mass Effect 2 DLC, which I downloaded but still have not played through.  I thought Alan Wake looked interesting when I bought it, and I thought that the LE packaging was neat and dovetailed nicely with the fact that you play a writer, but I really didn’t expect to be hooked by the game.  I almost wasn’t.  I played the first bit of it, and then stopped, because I was going on vacation and didn’t want to get too wrapped up in something and then leave it for a weeks.  So I put it down for more than a month, and unlike most games I do that with, I came back to Alan Wake with a vengeance.  You could describe it in non-gaming terms, with its elements of Twin Peaks or Stephen King (another personal favorite), but it couldn’t be described well in gaming terms, like so many “unique” games are today.  It wasn’t “a supernatural Call of Duty” or a “God of War meets Grand Theft Auto with flashlights.”  it was memorable, unexpected and unique.  It left me wholly satisfied and yearning for more at the same time.  The fact that it didn’t sell as well as was hoped for and might not get a sequel just breaks my gaming heart.  Alan Wake was not the highest rated game of the year by critics or gamers, but it was “my type of game” in nearly every way, and it is my #1 Game of 2010.

This list represents games that I spent a significant amount of time playing.  Brief flirtations don’t count.  And games marked with an * were completed.

• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)
• Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360) *
• Bioshock 2 (Xbox 360) *
• Bioshock 2 (Xbox 360) “Miranda’s Den” DLC
• Halo 2 (Xbox) *
• Halo 3 (Xbox 360) – Heroic solo *
• Heavy Rain (PS3) *
• Halo: ODST (Xbox 360) – Heroic solo *
• Halo: Reach (Xbox 360) – Heroic solo *
• Halo: Reach (Xbox 360) – Legendary solo *
• Halo: Reach (Xbox 360) – Heroic co-op *
• God of War Collection (PS3)
• Final Fantasy XIII (PS3) *
• Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)
• Cave Story (WiiWare)
• Professor Layton & The Curious Villiage (DS)
• Dementium (DS)
• Golden Sun (GBA)
• Alan Wake (Xbox 360) – Hard mode *
• Alan Wake (Xbox 360) – Nightmare mode (+ all achievements) *
• Alan Wake (Xbox 360) “The Signal” * DLC and “The Writer” * DLC
• LIMBO (XBLA) *
• DeathSpank (XBLA)
• Lily & Sasha: Curse of the Immortals (PC)
• Torchlight (Steam)
• Portal (Steam)
• Singularity (Xbox 360) *
• Hydro Thunder Hurricane (XBLA)
• Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (XBLA)
• Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (DS)
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
• Fallout 3 (Xbox 360)
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Xbox 360) *
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Xbox 360) *
• Metroid: Other M (Wii) *
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360) *
• Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360)
• Red Dead Redemption (Xbox 360)
• The Chronicles of Inotia 2: A Wanderer of Luone (iPod Touch)
• Costume Quest (XBLA) (+all achievements) *
• Rock Band 3 (Xbox 360)
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (XBLA)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 (XBLA)
• Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (XBLA)
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Xbox 360)
• Disney Epic Mickey (Wii)
• Planescape Torment (PC)
• Zork (Frotz on iPod Touch)
• World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (Mac)
• Angry Birds: Seasons (Android)
• Scrabble (Kindle)
• Goldeneye 007 (Wii) – 007 mode *
• Doctor Who: The Mazes of Time (iPod Touch)
• Pinball FX 2 (XBLA)
• Back To The Future Part 1: It’s About Time (Mac) *
• Infinity Blade (iPod Touch)

So in summary….

Games completed (1st playthru only, DLC excluded):  18
Replays:  2 (Halo: Reach – 3 times, Alan Wake – 2 times)
Favorite Games: Stay tuned…

Alan Wake by Rick Burroughs

The Alan Wake Files by Clay Steward (book in Alan Wake LE package)

Dr. Catherine Halsey’s journal (book in Halo: Reach LE package)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

‘Salem’s Lot (Limited Illustrated Edition) by Stephen King
(includes “Jerusalem’s Lot” and “One for the Road” from Night Shift)

Gears of War: Anvil Gate by Karen Traviss

Halo: The Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund

Doctor Who: The Forgotten Army by Brian Minchin

Ok, so I included some pretty weak choices in there, like the two gaming supplements.  But they both were quite thick and took me several sessions to read, so I included them.  But wow, that’s a small list.  I must do something about that in 2011.

Doctor Who Monthly Series
#133 City of Spires
#134 Wreck of the Titan
#135 Legend of the Cybermen
#136 Cobwebs
#137 The Whispering Forest
#138 The Cradle of the Snake

Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles
5.02 Echoes of Grey
5.03 Find and Replace
5.04 The Invasion of E-Space

Doctor Who: The Lost Stories
1.01 The Nightmare Fair
1.02 Mission To Magnus
1.03 Leviathon
1.04 The Hollows of Time
1.05 Paradise 5
1.06 Point of Entry
1.07 The Song of Megaptera
1.08 The Macros
2.01 The 1st Doctor Box Set (Farewell Great Macedon and The Fragile Yellow Arc of Fragrance)

Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Adventures
1.1 Blood of the Daleks Part 1
1.2 Blood of the Daleks Part 2
1.3 Horror of Glam Rock
1.4 Immortal Beloved
1.5 Phobos
1.6 No More Lies
1.7 Human Resources Part 1
1.8 Human Resources Part 2
2.1 Dead London
2.2 Max Warp
2.3 Brave New Town
2.4 The Skull of Sobek
2.5 Grand Theft Cosmos
2.6 The Zygon Who Fell To Earth
2.7 Sisters of the Flame
2.8 Vengence of Morbius
3.1 Orbis
3.2 Hothouse
3.3 The Beast of Orlok
3.4 Wirrn Dawn
3.5 The Scapegoat
3.6 The Cannibalists
3.7 The Eight Truths
3.8 Worldwide Web
4.01 Death in Blackpool
4.02 Situation Vacant
4.03 Nevermore
4.04 The Book of Kells

Doctor Who Special Releases
VIII An Earthly Child

Doctor Who: The Stage Plays
1 The Ultimate Adventure
2 The Seven Keys To Doomsday
3 The Curse of the Daleks

Doctor Who Television Soundtracks
004 Marco Polo

Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest
1 The Stuff of Nightmares
2 The Dead Shoes
3 The Circus of Doom
4 A Sting in the Tale
5 Hive of Horror

Doctor Who: Demon Quest
1 The Relics of Time
2 The Demon of Paris

Highlander
1.01 The Lesson
1.02 Love and Hate
1.03 The Secret of the Sword
1.04 Kurgan Rising

That’s 63 stories in 52 weeks.  Not bad, considering that the only thing I listened to outside of the car is Marco Polo.  You would think my commute was longer than 10 minutes each way!  I’m to the point where I’m caught up and keeping up with The Lost Stories, The Eighth Doctor Adventures, and the Tom Baker specials.  I’m trying to do the same with the Monthly Series range, though I purposely skipped the last few with Hex since I never listened to any of his previous stories.

So what will 2011 bring?  Will I go back to audiobooks?  I haven’t decided.  I’d like to keep my momentum on the Doctor Who stories, maybe using any extra time to go back to the older Monthly Series (originally stopped around #35) or the Bernice Summerfield series (originally stopped around 3.2).  Yet there are some book series I’d like to continue on audio with, such as The Wheel of Time series and A Song of Ice and Fire series.  I’m two books into each, and I think my brain would not cope well with seeing all the made up fantasy words and names that I’ve only ever heard before and not actually seen written.  But those books are long and would take upwards of two months each for me to listen to, which would put me behind on the audio dramas again.

Such decisions… only time will tell!

One of the things I love about the Kindle is that it does one thing really well, which is be a book reading device.  It doesn’t have to make bacon and change my oil and do a dozen other multimedia functions, so long as reading on it is a superlative experience.  So while it does have a browser on it, I really haven’t cared much, other than to buy books.  Until today, when I stumbled upon the perfect marriage of new tech and old.

PortableQuest is a game engine made for text-based interactive fiction that can be played on the Kindle.  Just fire up Whispernet and browse to PortableQuest.com on your Kindle to get started.  You can play Mini-Zork I, Zork I, Zork II or Zork III.

Best of all, you won’t have to worry about being eaten by a grue.  Who said the Kindle needs a backlight!

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, PopCap is offering Bejeweled 2 for the Mac and PC for free.  But only for the next few hours, until 10/10/10 at 10pm PST.  (See what they did there?  Clever PopCap.)  So go get yours now!

Like the Phoenix, I will rise again

Life called, and I answered.  Every year, when summer winds down and fall ramps up, I feel steamrolled by stuff to do.  Work has been busier than usual, and when I haven’t been at work it seems like I haven’t paused for a moment.  At one point I was at home for 36 hours out of 280.  While I haven’t made any progress on my Phoenix model, there has been some fun and games.  I spent a week having and awesome time with Justin and Becky, doing things like playing Castle Ravencroft, attending a ren faire, going to the world’s largest arcade, and stalking Stephen King’s house.  I messed around quite a bit with the Caanoo.  The kids are running us ragged to soccer and scouts and everything in between.  We raised over $1600 for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and participated in their local annual event.  I played and beat Metroid: Other M and Halo: Reach (solo Heroic … and now about 1/3 thru solo Legendary).  And we ditched the Blackberry’s and got new Android phones (a T-Mobile G2 for me and a MyTouch 3G Slide for the wifey).

The long and short of it is that I haven’t spent any time with the blog, which has been bugging me.  I’ve been thinking about some modifications I’d like to make, though.  I’ve also been setting up the G2 with the thought of how I can best integrate it with the blog.  No radical changes, but there may be some tests as I get things up to speed again.

Woo Hoo!  We made it to Papercraft Friday #100!  And I mean “we” because as much as I love papercraft, I doubt I would have consistently blogged about it week after week if I hadn’t got such great interest and response from everyone.  So what did I choose for #100?  It had to be the God Phoenix from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.  Possibly more well known in the U.S. as just the Phoenix in the Americanized and heavily edited Battle of the Planets, which featured that added little robot that fans now love to hate.  So when Studio Time Ring posted it in Tamasoft’s Pepakura Gallery, I knew I had my #100.  Bird, Go!  Transmute!

I’m currently building this one and hoped to have it ready to go for today, but life got in the way and I still have a long way to go.  Papercraft Friday stops for no build though, so I’ll do a followup post of the build when it’s done.  Here’s a little preview:

In honor of Papercraft Friday #100, I figured I’d dig into the blog stats and see what the three most popular papercraft posts have been.  And they are…. *drumroll*

3rd Place -Papercraft Friday #8 – Dragon
This one surprised me.  I didn’t realize until I started analyzing the stats that this would come in third.  While you might think that this one just benefits from the fact that it was one of the early ones and it has time on its side, it’s consistently high, even as recent as the last 3 months of data.

2nd Place – Weighted Companion Cube
This isn’t even technically a Papercraft Friday post, but it could be know as the origin of the series.  It reinvigorated my interest in paper modelling, and after seeing it consistently attract interest months after the original post, I started to think that maybe I should do a regular segment on papercraft.  And so Papercraft Friday was born.

1st Place – Papercraft Friday #4 – Link and the King of Red Lions
I gave up counting how many weeks that this post has been the #1 viewed post since I blogged it in August 2008, even as the site traffic has risen consistently month after month.  Only one post on the entire blog has more unique page views.  It comes from Ninjatoes’ Papercraft Webpage, so it’s no surprise why I thought another great Link model from there deserved the runner-up spot last week.

The party’s only just begun as Papercraft Friday rolls on.  Thanks to the great modellers out there who provide us with these great models to build, and to everyone out there for following Papercraft Friday at ZarkSeven.

Not keen on this one?  Want more?  Check out other Papercraft Friday posts.