Andrew7

Deus Ex is on my top 10 of all time list (and I've been gaming since 1984). And yeah, nothing like that came out since. Those were the days of Thiefs and System Shocks and small, independent studios pushing the envelope. Today's games are getting more and more shallow, even the highly decorated ones like BioShock don't come close.

How about a WARNING when you post an external link to Gamespot? Some of us have REALLY sworn off that site, you know? Or did you already forgot?

I used to read GameSpot every day and rely on it as my primary source of games info. I stopped visiting it at the time of the scandal - and I'm proud to say I haven't been there since (apart from a very occasional visit through a linked news, and even that only as an accident). That's one resolution I didn't have trouble keeping, though it does hurt a lot to not have a comprehensive site one can depend on. RIP.

I have a friend who is abstaining from buying a Xbox 360 for EXACTLY the same reasons as you. I can't see how can he be so patient, either.

Agreed, Mass Effect is my pick for GOTY too. A friend who came over was hooked on it before we even landed on the Eden Prime. Now he's trying hard to justify not buying a Xbox360 :).

I like your list, fairly well politically balanced, as it would be from a major publication. Not that I fully agree with it - Portal should have probably been included somewhere (even though I haven't played it, the amount of praise is staggering). Probably as "big sleeper hit" category winner. Also I'd personally award the "Adventure" genre to Uncharted as AC just didn't grab me. BioShock licensed old songs rocked, too.

360 was indeed the best this year, I fully agree.

Crysis was my most disappointing game of the year. It just sucks until you get to the aliens. I haven't even bothered to finish the last level yet. Sorry, but when I hit a target, I expect to see an effect from the bullet hit (hint to the team: an automatic rifle isn't a peashooter). I expect a game to be fun, not frustrating. And once graphics are reduced to playable levels, it doesn't even look all that good. They got low sales and they deserve it.

Same (frustration) could be said for Heavenly Sword, I couldn't bother to even finish that preposterous garbage (I probably would were it not for the ridiculous story).

Mass Effect and Uncharted were the best games (IMO) this year. Still, even with all those games there was nothing TRULY outstanding this year.

Bioshock is nothing like System Shock 2 save a few gameplay issues, and those have been done in many other games since they're par for the course of the genre. It is very much a new IP. Otherwise it's like saying Halo is the same thing as Doom because they're both FPSes.

No, he's right. I coded a version of Pacman in 1985 on a Z80 machine using a mix of assembly and just a touch of basic. All with 6k of available RAM. It took few months. And I was in 6th grade.

While a few years later at university some guys coded it on VT220 terminals, on UNIX, in C. It took way less effort obviously.

Sure, there was no music and only one level in my version, enemies weren't animated (but where pretty good at chasing you and spreading out to surround you) etc. but you get the point. Or do you? I program for a living now (not games though) but it doesn't take a programmer to realize how much more effort and education is needed to make a game today. Very few games can be made by one person today, yet such important games as Elite were made by just one man back then.