Year of the console sales – If you were in the market for a ‘next gen’ console or your last console broke (*cough*Red Ring of Death*cough*), this was the day to get one. The best deal for me was at Best Buy to get a 360 with a bundle of six games with it. Granted the six games weren’t quality titles, the fact that you could get the bundle for about $300 was astonishing. Other stores like Walmart, Gamestop, and Target had good hardware bundles but Best Buy got the gold star in this category.

Lets Rock Out – Guitar Hero and Rock Band seems to be the talk around town again not for how good the games are but for how cheap they are this season. If you held out like Brad and myself did for a long time, you should get to your store ASAP today/tonight before they run out. If it was a certain rhythm game that you wanted or the bundled package, go now. Why are you still reading, get going. The best selection for this can be found at Walmart.

Get Your Old Games Here – I think this is a tradition for all gaming retailers to find ways to clear inventories of older games that aren’t selling. This year was no exception as you could get games like Tom Clancy’s End War ($37.99 Best Buy), Left 4 Dead ($49.99 Gamestop), Dead Space ($30.00 Target) or Bully (PS2 $10.00 Walmart). You will not be disappointed in the selection of games on this this year new coming out and old on sale this Friday.

2009 Overall – If you were interested in game consoles then this is your time to spend, spend, spend. Need a PS3 for decent price, get it now. 360 broken, get a new one with six games. If you wanted a Wii, didn’t move in price but still cheap to have. The gaming selection is ‘blah’ at best but still had good games on sale that you might have own sometime in the past. If you held out this year with gaming purchases for next years releases, save up as more block busters are coming at you in 2010.

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This list covers everything that came out from the beginning of Jan. to the end of Aug., so here goes the Ten Favorite games, in no particular order, that came out this year thus far. This list includes games on the XBOX 360, PS3, Wii, DS, PSP, PC and iPhone:

Battlefield 1943 (XBLA/PSN) – It’s pure Battlefield, sure, but its also one of the best bargains for multiplayer games. $15 for a great, competitive multiplayer game with satisfying gunplay and multiplayer mechanics is considered a great bargain to me…now if only Fat Princess could be anywhere near as satisfying.

Space Invaders Infinity Gene (iPhone) – This beautiful, trance inducing iPhone games meshes the simplistic, addicting gameplay of Space Invaders with the artistic aesthetic of Rez to create one of the best games on the iPhone platform. $5 for this game is a steal.

UFC 2009: Undisputed (PS3/X360) – Featuring one of the deepest, most intricate one on one fighting systems in any game, UFC could have been completely content on being a cash-in product to the rising popularity of MMA. What it became, however, is the ultimate fighting/wrestling simulation that fans of the sport have been waiting for. Deep fighting mechanics, excellent graphics and one of the most rewarding fighting systems makes this a game that all fighting game fans should experience.

Knights of the Nightmare (DS) – Knights of the Nightmare is a strange, cerebral hybrid of turn based RPG, strategy-RPG and shoot-em-up. The game takes a while to get started (and to learn, you’ll spend your first few hours on the tutorial), but once you get the ball rolling, you’ll find an incredibly unique and satisfying RPG on your DS.

Street Fighter IV (X360/PS3) – The true king of fighters is back, relying on its old school charm and deep fighting system to elevate it to one of the best fighting games ever made. Excellent balance, great fighting mechanics and a beautiful art style create one of the best fighters to come out in a long time.

Wii Sports Resort (Wii) – It’s easy to scoff at the minigame collections on the Wii, but Wii Sports Resort creates some of the best minigame collections for its new WiiMotion Plus peripheral. There are key favorites (Table Tennis, Archery) compared to others (Cycling, Canoeing), but the overall package is so well thought out and polished that its hard to fault its shortcomings.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy (PSP) – PSP gamers who have been dying for their next big gaming fix has certainly foudn it in Dissidia: Final Fantasy. This unique Power Stone/Final Fantasy hybrid marries fast paced tug of war fighting mechanics with the lore and the RPG mechanics of a Final Fantasy game. Fighting games fans with some RPG love should pick this up immediately.

Plants vs. Zombies (PC) – PopCap makes another smash hit. It’s twist on tower defense and strategy blends with its unique sense of humor and RTS qualities to create what may possibly be the most addicting game to come out on PC.

Drop7 (iPhone) – Easily the most addicting puzzle game to come out on any platform, Drop7’s ingenious twist on the Match3 concept makes this game impossible to put down, even after only play a quick 5 minute game. For $3.99, every iPhone owner should have a copy of this game to play at all times.

Shadow Complex (XBLA) – A perfect homage to 2D exploration games like Super Metroid, Shadow Complex takes this once handheld only genre and creates one of the more addicting games this year has produced. A $50 disguised as a downloadable product, Shadow Complex is easily one of the deepest offerings on any downloadable service.

Here are some honorable mentions that just didn’t make it to the Top Ten:

Halo Wars (X360) – Almost perfectly blends the RTS genre into consoles. A great time for fans of the genre.
Klonoa (Wii) – A level for level remake of the original PS1 game. For $30, any platformer fan owes themselves to have this game in their collection.
‘Splosion Man (XBLA) – A platformer filled with personality and maddening difficulty, this will pull your hair out but leave you completely satisfied.
Shatter (PSN) – This Arkanoid-plus blends clean visuals, an excellent soundtrack and excellent ball bashing mechanics to great effect.
Flight Control (iPhone) – A simple 99cent puzzle game is one of the more addicting, with its colorful visuals and its addicting and sweatbreaking gameplay.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Wii) – The WiiMotion Plus-ified features one of the best games of golf you can play. The WiiMotion Plus attachment adds a lot of weight and interactivity to an already deep and fun game.
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (X360/PS3) – Beautiful animation and crazy character designs are par for course with Aksys Games, but the intense and intricate fighting system of BlazBlue elevates the game past its predecessor Guilty Gear.

And thus ends the first 8 months of the year, but for some, the year in gaming is just beginning. Let’s see what happens in the next 3 months of gaming.

(Note: Some of you might be wondering “Hey, where’s Batman: Arkham Asylum? Well, in all honesty, I got to play a good amount of Arkham, but not enough to have a strong opinion on it, thus it wasn’t included.)

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Brad’s Take: And I just thought that me being a 20+ year gamer was just something I loved to do…

Honestly, this doesn’t surprise me at all, but the question I have is to what capacity of gamer were they looking for? I think more data on this study would be well in order.

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Brad’s Take: Now more than ever, with the popularity of Steam and Gamefly as well as the announcements of OnLive during GDC, the means of getting games through digital distribution seems to be more and more feasible as the days go.

Hopefully, this also means that the main console makers will look at these means of distribution as a way of giving great games without going to GameStop.

And we all know how most gamers feels about GameStop.

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If you are visiting us in the coming weeks, I will be changing things on this website to improve visually and provide a wonderful service to you, the gamers.

If you have any advise, thoughts or comments about the new site, please comment or send me email at bryan@opinionunlocked.com

Cheers,
Bryan

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