Well, today is it for 2006. Most likely we will all be watching some sort of electrically powered sphere descending tonight, ushering in a new year. So let’s look back on 2006, what I consider to be, maybe the most exciting year for video games. Here are my favorite 10 games of 2006. Now the requirements were simple, they had to come out in 2006, and they (obviously) had to be a game I played. I don’t have the time to play every good game from 2006, so there are probably some games that belong on this last, that just weren’t played by me. These honorable mentions would be Okami, Final Fantasy V and XII, and Guitar Hero II. Now, let the countdown begin.

10. Tetris DS
I love Tetris. I have fond memories of borrowing my brothers gigantic gray Game Boy just to play it. Luckily, with Tetris DS, Nintendo didn’t just throw together a rehash. First of all, it has a fun retro motif with all the sights and sounds from classic Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros., Metroid, Zelda, and Donkey Kong. Multiple game modes were added like Puzzle, Touch, Push, and Grab. And the greatest addition of all: Online Play. With Tetris DS, you can play other Tetraheads all over the world.

9. Elite Beat Agents
I kept hearing great things about Osu! Tatake! Ouendan, a Japanese rhythm game for the DS. Given that the cost to import it would run me about $50-$60, I didn’t jump on it. Luckily, given it’s success in the East, Nintendo gave it the green light for a western remake. Elite Beat Agents features an eclectic mix of American pop that you must touch, drag, and spin to the beat. It takes a little while to get used to the concept and timing, but given the games quirky animation and stories, it’s a pretty fun game.

8. Dead Rising
Leave it to Capcom to completely reinvent a genre they created. Capcom created the surrvival-horror genre with Resident Evil, and given all the similar titles that followed, people love it. GTA is known for inventing the go-anywhere, do-anything mechanic known as sandboxing. Put the two together and you get a fun over-the-top zombie romp. A lot of times putting two successful gaming styles together don’t work very well (*cough, Odama), but for Dead Rising, it definitely works.

7. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
In case you didn’t know, Konami loves to make these 2D Castlevania games for Nintendo handhelds. I believe we are now up to the 5th original Castlevania handheld title that uses the same Metroid inspired 2D exploration style. You’d think that it would be getting old, but Konami knows how to keep the mix fresh. Portrait of Ruin adds to the enjoyable “Soul” system established in Dawn of Sorrow, with a two character tandem control scheme. It allows you to double your strategies and is even organic to the plot.

6. New Super Mario Bros.
Did you know that until New Super Mario Bros. Came out, we hadn’t seen an original 2D Mario game since Super Mario World? That’s right, Mario’s adventures have been relegated to 3D romps and 2D re-releases. That is, until now. It was such fun to play this game. You get all the established things from previous Mario games like Koopas, Goombas, and navigable overworlds. But there is a lot more too. There are mega mushrooms, and mini mushrooms, and a ton of fun random mini-games to play with friends.

5. Final Fantasy III
Another re-release in the top 10? How can this be? Well, Final Fantasy III, is probably the most extensive remake of a game ever. Square-Enix started with an 8-bit Famicom title that was never released in the States, completely rehauled the graphics to 3D, and added a ton of jobs. This, my friend, is no simple re-release. And considering, we’ve never had the chance to play it in the States, I’d consider it more to be a really late release, that was worth the wait. Although FF III, still has remnants of classic RPGs like grinding and linear dungeons, I found it to be very engaging and enjoyable.

4. Gears of War
Despite having just talked about this in a previous post, I will summarize it again. Gears of War completely shuns the established status quo for shooters. Where you would normally be strafing in circles and shooting people, you are now moving from bunker to bunker emphasizing positioning rather than firepower. Does this mean there is less action? No, dear reader, there is all the action you can handle. With your chainsaw-for-a-bayonet deathbringer, you will be knee deep in alien guts, with bullets whizzing over your head. You will not be bored.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The wait for Twilight Princess was intense. Nintendo kept pushing it back, and then made it a launch title for the Wii. Finally, on November 19th, with my newly purchased Wii, I began Link’s latest adventure. Twilight Princess is not perfect, but it is really freakin’ close. Featuring some of the best dungeons in the series, exciting combat sequences, and a wonderful story, I was completely fixated on this game. Although the argument can be made that the Wii controls felt a little like a add-on, it was fun swinging around my Wiimote to slash up enemies.

2. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
In case you couldn’t tell, I clearly have a soft spot for fantasy games. I never met a Final Fantasy or Zelda game I didn’t like. (Of course I never met Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, or the Zelda CD-i titles, but that’s another story). Despite my love of of fantastic stories, I had never played an Elder Scrolls game, until Oblivion. Oblivion is one of the most deep, engrossing (non-MMO) games you will ever play. It’s scope is huge, and calling it epic is an understatement. There are cities, guilds, side quests, and dungeons that exist completely independent of the main storyline. As engaging as Oblivion’s environments are, they are equally gorgeous. It’s amazing how great an almost launch title can look.

1. Wii Sports
A free pack-in game at the number one spot? How can it be? I understand that Wii Sports doesn’t have much depth and is not a graphical powerhouse. I understand that Wii Sports could probably run on a last-gen system. I understand all that. But one thing cannot be denied. Wii Sports is fun, and it is changing the playfield of games. Never before has a game had this much mass appeal, this quickly. Wii Sports has been the main fuel for the Wii buzz. Every single person that I have played it with, with even some of them never having played a video game, have enjoyed their experience playing it. After getting my Wii on launch day, I have since taken it to show friends and family. The results have been pretty amazing, I have heard at least 5 people say the words “I am buying one of these”. Wii Sports made the Wii. Without Wii Sports, Wii would probably be doing all right, being simply fueled by sales from gaming enthusiests. But Nintendo’s mission was not to cater to the existing minority of gamers, it was to braoden the market. Guess what? They are doing it. I choose Wii Sports not because of it’s graphics or depth, but because of it’s indelible impact on gaming.

Here’s a game I definitely wasn’t expecting to get for Christmas this year, but so far I am loving it. At first I was a little wary of Gears. I am not a huge shooter fan, and I quickly get board with games like Call of Duty, also this game has been hyped a considerable amount. Well, this isn’t your run of the mill shooter. It’s got some really awesome and fun gameplay mechanics. It’s all about finding cover, and developing strategy to find the right angle for your shot. It’s pretty much the antithesis to a run-n-gun. You must control Marcus Fenix from bunker to bunker, while commanding and aiding your team. Ironically, it draws more inspiration from competitive paintball, than actual warfare. It’s got probably the best graphics on a console game I have ever seen, and it’s got an interesting post apocalyptic alien invasion story. That sounds like a pretty tired concept, but the design of the enemies appearance and behavior is frightening and intense. It did seem a little linear at first, but the game allows you to branch paths to play different parts of levels. The single player campaign mode isn’t very long, but it was definitely built for online play. If you don’t have Xbox Live, you will be missing out a considerable chunk of this game. Gears had a whole lot of hype well before it was released, and now it has what I refer to as anti-hype. Anti-hype is the backlash some people place on a game or movie after it doesn’t fulfill their expectations that were inflated by hype. I can assure you, Gears is a great game, just don’t let the hype get you too excited about it. It’s not “game of the year” in my opinion, but it definitely belongs in the top 10. In summary, Gears is an excited and intense stop-n-pop shooter with all the blood, guts and bullets you could ever want.

Today Rally-X hits Xbox Live Arcade. Prepare to be under whelmed.

Well, for what it’s worth, Merry Christmas. I know it’s late, but better late than never I guess. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. As far as games go, this year was all about Nintendo. The Wii has caught on like a virus and people are really loving it, the DS is still selling insanely well, and Nintendo is now sitting on a giant mound of cash. Just in my circle of friends alone, I know of 4 people that got a DS Lite, 2 that got a Wii, and about 5 people that would get a Wii if they could find one. Those are pretty good odds, considering most of those people aren’t gamers.

Now that Christmas is over, I can tell you about Chris’ great holiday surprise. Chris had been searching high and low for a Wii to no avail for the past month. Little did he know, that his wife and I had conspired to buy him one as a surprise. So last Sunday, the 14th, was what many considered to be the last chance to get a Wii. Stores had been stockpiling their shipment for this one day. I knew I would have to get to the store well before opening to get a spot in line. Some people even camped out, as if it was a second launch. Arbitrarily, I decided if I got there around 4 AM, I’d have a good shot. My buzzer went off at 3:30 AM. I can’t express how bad I just wanted to go back to sleep. But then, Chris’ Christmas would suck, so I got up, got dressed, and drove to my nearest big box retailer, Best Buy. I immediately found what I refer to as the List Master. He’s the poor sap who decided to maintain the list, to keep track of the line order. I was number 15, out of 18 systems. I was excited, I was in. Within 30 minutes, numbers 16-18 showed up. So by 4:30 AM that morning, all the Wiis at the Edgewood Best Buy were spoken for. That didn’t stop people from coming though. For next couple of hours people showed up, and even though they were told there was only 18 systems, they signed up anyway, just in case. The list got up to 35, and by 7, even more showed up that immediately just left. In the time I had to wait, I met a very strange mix of people. Some people were of course gamers, some parents of gamers, and some self-professed entrepreneurs that wanted to make a buck. It was eclectic. At 7: 30 Best Buy came out and handed out tickets and even gave us some coffee and doughnuts. At 8, the store opened, I purchased Chris’ Wii, and immediately went home and went to sleep. Altogether, it was a unique and successful experience. Needless to say, on Christmas, Chris was both overjoyed and amazed. Happy Holidays!

Well, I wasn’t able to post this Monday, when it would have actually been news, but it was Christmas. I had better things to do. Anyway, as you know, Christmas fell on a Monday this year. That means VC games for Christmas! Today’s releases are:

• Super Mario Bros. – NES (500 points)
• Castlevania IV – SNES (800 points)
• Street Fighter II – SNES (800 points)
• R-Type – TG-16 (800 points)
• Toe Jam n’ Earl (800 points)

Compared to the regular mediocre VC titles we’ve been seeing, this is pretty good. You’ve got the classic SMB, and a couple of great SNES titles. Today’s also marks the first game above regular price for a given system. Normally TG-16 games are 600 points, but R-Type will cost you 800 points. Remember when Nintendo announced pricing for the VC, and each system had its own price associated with the games. Don’t forget those prices had “starting at” before them. So really, Nintendo can charge whatever they want for VC games. Anyway, aside from that little nugget of lucrativity, I’m happy about this weeks VC titles. Festivus for the rest of us!

That’s right folks, Opera’s custom Internet browser for the Wii is now available to download (trial version). In fact, I am writing this post with it. Of course I will never do it again (cursed on-screen keyboard). Anyway, it works pretty well. I won’t be getting rid of my desktop computer, but it is great for YouTube and Strongbad e-mails.

Recently I placed an order to one of my favorite online retailers, ThinkGeek, for some Christmas presents for friends and family. They have a decent reward points system, and as a freebie, I chose some PerplexCity cards. I had read a little about PerplexCity before, but now I got to try it for free. Anyway, they came in last night, and I think the game is pretty fun.

Basically PerplexCity is a trading card puzzle game based in the UK. Each card has a puzzle, riddle, trivia question, or brain bender you must solve to get points for that card. The more cards you solve the more points you get. Not only is PerplexCity made up of several small individual puzzles to solve, but there is also one central mystery to crack. You see PerplexCity is a fictional metropolis whose sacred Receda Cube has been lost in our world. This is what’s known as an alternate reality game, or ARG. Somewhere this Cube is hidden on earth, and whoever finds it gets £100,000 (roughly $200,000) reward. Cards have clues which lead to locations and websites to help you find the Cube. Obviously, given I do not live in the UK, and that I do not have infinite intelligence, I will not find this Cube, but the game is fun nonetheless. PerplexCity card packs come with 6 cards to solve. Each card varies in complexity and rarity. In fact, according to the wikipedia entry, there are 3 cards no one has solved yet, so they can get pretty hard.

I have since solved all 6 cards I received, but some of them took a bit of thought. One I was stumped on was actually dependent upon seeing real life billboards in London, so there can be an artificial handicap on Americans playing the game. When I started I was ranked somewhere around 50,000th, but have since climbed to around 11,827th. Apparently these cards are available at brick and mortar retailers like Gamespot, so I may hit them up for more.

Oh my poor Xbox 360, it has been neglected lately. A little white console from Nintendo has been getting all my attention lately. But don’t you worry Xbox 360, you have not been forgotten. I felt that since I reported Nintendo’s Virtual Console releases on Monday, I should at least make mention of today’s offering from Microsoft. In fact, I am going to make an effort to at least mention both XBLA’s and WiiVC’s titles each week, provided of course, they have something to offer. So, today brings us Novadrome. I haven’t gotten to play it yet, and since XBLA hasn’t had a classic in a while, I have no idea as to the quality of this title. Novadrome is a combat driving game with full online multiplayer support. So think of it as Twisted Metal, with (presumably) smaller arenas and the fun Xbox Live experience. Obviously, I can’t yet tell you if it’s worth the 800 points ($10) or not. But then again, you shouldn’t even take my word for it if I could; try out the demo for free.

Today Nintendo announced some details for the next upcoming chapter in the Pokemon series. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl will be hitting stores April 22nd. You will be able to transfer your existing pokemon from the GBA titles, through the GBA slot on your DS. There will be Wifi and local battles and trading with voice chat. Finally, if you pre-order a copy, participating stores will give you a Pokemon stylus.

Now I know most gamers out there hold nothing but disdain for the series, especially folks my age. But before you condemn, I have a confession to make: I like these games. Let me tell you why. Now when I say I like the Pokemon games, I am not speaking for the countless side story games that some refer to as poke-milking the franchise. I am just talking about straight up Pokemon games of the multiple color/gem variety. First of all, Pokemon is basically a classic RPG game with a highly addictive collection mechanic. You must travel around a region collecting Pokemon, by using your Pokemon to catch them. After a time, the Pokemon you use evolve and learn new abilities. Finally, what brings it all together is how fun it is to trade and battle other people playing the game. Now, I understand these games are for kids, but I don’t care. They are fun. Anyway, I am really looking forward to the first Pokemon game for the DS. Even though each Pokemon game is essentially the same game, with just newer Pokemon, I think I will be getting this one. Given that I haven’t played one in years, and that this iteration will feature WiFi battles and voice chat, I am predicting it will be pretty fun. That is, if you like Pokemon games.

Press Release

That’s right folks, Nintendo saw fit to not only grace us with the Forecast channel a day early, but has also given us a big update to the Opera browser.

Forecast Channel

I actually got to play around with it this morning. It’s actually a pretty nice and smooth interface. You just put in your state and city, and you are instantly shown the current temp, today’s forecast, the 5 day forecast, and even the UV index. You can even zoom out and view the entire globe displaying current weather conditions, or current temperature. All the information is provided by weathernews. I can’t see myself checking it on a regular basis, but it was pretty fun to grab the globe and spin it around with the Wii remote.

Internet Channel

Opera used a very strange way to break the news of their Wii Channel debut. They put the news in a webcomic (as seen above, click to enlarge). The trial edition of Opera’s browser will be released on Friday (12/22), with the full version launching sometime in March. Not really sure why it is called the trial edition, since the full version will be free (limited time), it’s probably just a beta thing. So why didn’t they just call it Beta? Anyway, from the press release, it looks like the trial version will definitely support Flash (YouTube, here I come), but no word on AJAX. I really like this, but I hope Nintendo lets us use USB keyboards soon. On screen keyboards get old quick, and that USB port ain’t doin’ a thing.

From the Press Release: “The final version of the Opera browser will be available at the end of March 2007, and will be free for all Wii owners to download through the end of June. After June 2007, the browser will be available for download in the Wii Shop Channel for 500 Wii Points. ”

UK Press Release

[Update 1: At least the US Press Release correctly calls it a beta, although it was a little late. Also for some reason, it says the Forcast channel is coming tomorrow, after it had already launched.]