Vidya of 2009

It’s been a really interesting year for me, partly because this year in 2009, I have bought more video game than I have for the previous 3 years combined *thinks* I’m pretty sure, that’s just an estimate, but it sounds about right. Either way, a lot of games were bought and played and now that it’s extremely close to 2010, it’s time to have a look back at the year that was.

2009 has been an awesome year for me. Back in 2008 I managed to get a PS3 for free and also bought a 360 elite during end of 2008. This meant that going into 2009 I had access to a DS, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 (if you only count the current generation line-up). This meant that I had a lot of opportunity to play a hell of a lot of different kinds of video games.

From the very beginning of the year I was enjoying the last game in the Phoenix Wright arc of the Ace Attorney series and was also getting ready for some co-op action on Resident Evil 5 with Jeff. I also had a hell of a lot of fun with my Wii this year despite the fact that it has been a pretty quiet year for the console. Most people are pretty disappointed with Wii in 2009, which is pretty understandable considering some of the games released for the console this year… but there were a couple of gems in there that people should never have ignored or overlooked as they did.

A prime example of that would be House of the Dead: Overkill. For shame to anyone who hasn’t bought that game because it’s hilariously disturbing/funny. Also, even more shame on the people who didn’t buy Metroid Prime Trilogy. I bought TWO copies of that game. The Australian version and the US version. Why would I do such a thing? Just so I could get that awesome steel book case which only the folks in the US got… yes, I’m THAT much of a fan to go that far.

Lastly, I don’t need to even mention New Super Mario Bros. here considering that if you have a Wii and don’t own that game then you may as well stamp an “Idiot” print on your forehead.

Wii had its moments, but the hands down winner this year for me was the Xbox 360. I spent a lot of my time catching up on games released in previous years that I hadn’t owned before, but there are also a lot of games for the console released in 2009 that are just made of pure awesome. Where do I begin? RE5 was a lot of fun, even though it’s nowhere near as good as RE4, Jeff and I played the hell out of the game over the year. Jeff and I also played through Halo 3 ODST together as well… not really a big fan of Halo to begin with, but I honestly do think that ODST is a much better game than the previous Halo titles, though I’m sure most fans would disagree with me.

I had bought Assassin’s Creed quite some time ago and only played a little bit of it. Despite that, I ended up buying the second game and they sat there on my media rack for a long time until Christmas long weekend when I ended up playing the entirety of Assassin’s Creed from start to finish and also 98% of Assassin’s Creed II. Right now I’m up to the very last part of the second game and will end up finishing it probably on New Year’s days.

Another great game of 2009 has to be Batman: Arkham Asylum. When I heard about it, I was sceptical and didn’t think it would be any good at all. Having actually played the game, it really is surprising how damn good the game really is. I’m also really glad they’ve announced a sequel this soon because I really can’t get enough of how awesome Arkham Asylum is. If I had to name the biggest surprise of 2009 for me, this game would be it. It’s just brilliant.

A lot of time was spent playing on my Wii and 360, not as much on my PS3, though I still value it for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves by itself… that and the tonne of Blu-ray movies I ended up getting this year… most of which were bought in December lol. I think I bought around 38 Blu-rays in December alone. The only other PS3 game I’ve bought this year is LittleBIGPlanet, though I’ve spent rarely any time on that… when I go down to the store to try to get myself to buy some more PS3 games, I find it hard to justify spending my money on them. To be honest, a lot of them don’t really excite me that much… there are a few I’d buy if they were cheaper.

I also feel really bad about neglecting my DS for most of this year. I’ve bought quite a few DS games over the last 12 months but I still feel like I should’ve paid more attention to it and I’ve probably ignored some of the more obscure DS titles I should be focusing more on. That’s okay though, I can catch up on those titles in 2010 or get them later on when they’re ridiculously cheap like the PS2 games I’ve been buying recently lol.

Anyway, that’s it for me at the moment, how has 2009 been for the rest of you?