BD Games Awards 2011

Haly · 15-12-2011, 13:29

Been a quiet year for the gaming community on here but it's tradition so I thought I'd write up the usual post for the BD Games Awards of 2011

Hopefully this time round, I'll actually get a chance to write mine up

So *drumroll*:
what is your favourite game that has come out this year?
Your favourite single player gaming experience.
Favourite multiplayer gaming experience.
Your biggest letdown of the year, be it a game, hardware or some innovation that disappointed you.
Your surprise of the year, again be it game or hardware.
The game or future innovation you're looking forward to in 2011.
For the 360ers amongst us: your Arcade game of the year, and for the PS3ers your PSN game of the year.
And anything else you fancy bunging in

For those who want to cut and paste:

Your game of the year:
Single player gaming experience of the year:
Multiplayer gaming experience of the year:
Biggest Letdown of the year:
Surprise of the year:
Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2011:

Xbox Live Arcade game of the year:
PSN game of the year:

Write as much or as little as you want but a bit of reasoning as to your answers always makes these things more interesting

Last year's thread was here: http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14437 2009 is here: http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?p=332648 and 2008's http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10073

Belmit · 15-12-2011, 17:53

Your game of the year: Portal 2. Yeah, it may be short, not as ingenious as it once was and a bit linear, but still one of the best things out this year. Certainly my most anticipated. Funny, frustrating at times (in a good way), and a truly epic jaw-dropping ending (for me at least!).

Single player gaming experience of the year: Uncharted 3. Not as good as 2 but again, there was nothing even close to it this year that I've played.

Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Not sure co-op really counts as multiplayer but I've been playing all the Lego games with my old housemate (she's Harry Potter mad), so Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 I guess.

Biggest Letdown of the year: I've not even played it and I know it's Duke Nukem Forever. What's the point in resuscitation if all you're doing is creating a vegetable? Honourable mention - Deus Ex: Human Revolution which I played for about 3-4 hours and didn't feel like I was getting anywhere or could even keep track of what was going on. May try it again later.

Surprise of the year: Literally years ago now I played the demo for Hitman: Blood Money and promptly forgot about it. Got it for a few quid second-hand and it still holds up pretty well. Enjoyable but not without flaws. The surprise was that it's the kind of game I like but never played.

Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2011: So many to look forward to; Max Payne 3, Bioshock 3, The Darkness 2, Tomb Raider reboot, new Hitman... Doubt we'll see a Half-life 3/Ep3 or Condemned 3 any time soon though.

Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: Only played the Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge remake this year so has to be that. Still amazing - can't believe the point and click adventure is only being championed by Telltale Games these days. Bloody heroes.

There are games I should definitely have played this year but haven't got around to, especially Arkham City and Skyrim. I'm sure both are excellent and would have made the list but I just haven't had time! That said, I'm currently playing through Dead Island and to begin with I really felt like I'd found something that totally met all my requirements for a zombie survival game. Unfortunately after about ten hours of play I'm in the city at level 25 and the things I liked about it initially are being stripped away and spoiling it. The combat just isn't designed to allow you to fight multiple enemies and suddenly you're swamped by super-strong, fast-running undead, meaning you have to climb on a car, weeping, while you swing a wrench and hope to connect with something soft. You know there's something not quite right with the difficulty curve when you knock a zombie down for the thirteenth time and he starts to groan and stand up again, causing you to yell 'AREN'T YOU DEAD AGAIN YET?!'. If I actually give up on it it really ought to go in the 'Biggest Letdown' category.

Psymonkee · 15-12-2011, 18:38

Quick answers, more depth later.

Your game of the year: Portal 2
Single player gaming experience of the year: Deus Ex HR
Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Portal 2

Biggest Letdown of the year: Gears of War 3
Surprise of the year: Duke Nukem finally coming out!
Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2012: Erm?!

Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: Dunno
PSN game of the year: Not played any.

divine · 15-12-2011, 19:32

Your game of the year: Portal 2, one of the few games that has actually delivered well enough to keep me entertained enough to finish it.

Single player gaming experience of the year: Portal 2 again, though as an alternative honourable mention, DiRT 3 was good fun and kept me playing.

Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Not bothered with online really, didn't renew my Live sub and on the PC I just can't dedicate enough time to it. I tried BF:BC2 for a while but was just getting slaughtered whenever I found the time.

Biggest Letdown of the year: I would say Duke Nukem Forever but really I expected it to be complete crap and it was, so it wasn't a let down in that sense, it was just as rubbish as I thought it would be. Forza 4 was perhaps the biggest let down in that it promised so much but ultimately wasn't really much different to Forza 3. A fantastic game but it should have delivered so much more IMO.

Surprise of the year: Don't know really, nothing has particularly surprised me this year. No spectacular breakout games that I can think of that no one saw coming.

Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2012: Half Life 3 is being optimistic isn't it?

Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: That free doritos thing that was kinda like Total Wipeout, that was a laugh

Joe 90 · 15-12-2011, 19:56

Single player gaming experience of the year: Deus Ex HR.
Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: MW3. I wanted so much to hate it. But I can't. I <3 FPS.
Biggest Letdown of the year: Duke Nukem, or on a serious note, BF3 Single Player!
Surprise of the year: Dead Island & Saints Row 3 maybe even Deus Ex. Didn't know about any of them, but loved them all.

I don't have a GOTY. Skyrim is up there, but I've only had it for a day. MW3/BF3 will be games I'll play for the next few years, but I don't know what makes a GOTY. Longevity is in all 3, but I'm massively indecisive!

Creature · 15-12-2011, 23:34

Your game of the year: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

I'd been wanting to play this since it came out, but due to work and money, i'd never got round to picking it up until a few months after release. It took me a little bit of time to get used to, but I love stealth games so I wanted to persist with it to see it through to the end. I was also going through a stage of wanting to complete games fully, so that kept me going, and i'm very glad it did. Going through it a second time for all the endings was a bit of a pain, but getting to kill everyone that time was kind of fun.

Single player gaming experience of the year: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

I got the original the day it came out, and was hooked on it, both SP and MP. Getting to relive that again was a fantastic feeling when the music kicked in, and i've had a beaming smile on my face every single time i've booted it up, even if some of the levels are a lot longer than I remember (Assault on the Control Room took me longer than the entirety of Secret of Monkey Island)

Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: N/A

Not played anything MP wise this year

Biggest Letdown of the year: L.A Noire

Shock as man who disliked GTA and Red Dead dislikes Rockstar Game! Wel not really. I enjoyed about 75% of the game. The voice and face work are fantastic, and the storys pretty good. But man does the game drag. Unskipable cutscenes and ridiculous grinding achievements that were more tedious than FFXIII just took it one step too far for me and left me feeling very bitter towards the game.

Surprise of the year: None of note.

Nothing gaming wise took me by suprise at all. I suppose my re-found enjoyment of games is a bit of a suprise though.

Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2012: FFXIII-2

Love JRPGS. Loved FFXIII. It's more of the same and looks stunning. 'Nuff said

Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: N/A

Not played any

PSN game of the year: N/A

Not played any

I've had an incredibly busy year, and only really started playing games in the last few months so have very little to comment on =/

volospian · 16-12-2011, 08:37

I haven't bought any games this year. The suprise of the year is that I just can't be bothered with games anymore...

Aboobie · 16-12-2011, 16:11

Haven't posted in a while as I've been a tad busy but a tweet from Haly reminded me about this place

Your game of the year: Dark Souls

This one was a really tough choice between Dark Souls and Skyrim. Both are utterly brilliant but Dark Souls for a good 80% is possibly my favourite game ever (I won't go too into how I think it let's itself down a little in the last 20% here). Punishing but totally fair, it makes accomplishing something feel more rewarding than anything else I've played. Perfect design and pacing and despite finishing it months ago I still think about this game almost every day.

Single player gaming experience of the year: Skyrim

I'm kind of cheating and using the multiplayer aspects of Dark Souls to get Skyrim in a winning position here. Skyrim is utterly brilliant. Huge, gorgeous, on the 360 anyway

and I'm 65 hours in and still going strong. I can also see myself playing this for a while to come.

Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster

I'm counting this as I played it all the way through with my two girls. Brilliant Kinect game from Schafer.

Biggest Letdown of the year: Hmmm

Whilst I'm tempted to say LA Noire I kind of new what I was getting myself into and it wasn't too bad; just 50% too long.

Surprise of the year: EASA 2.

Nothing took me too much by surprise this year. Dead Island was better than I expected, Dark Souls took over my life for 3 weeks and Gunstringer was a blast. Actually I will call out something. I dedicated months to Kinect and the various fitness offerings and found myself completing the EASA 2 12 week program without missing a routine. What surprised me was how well paced it was, constantly pushing me and varied and good enough to make me not miss a single routine. It also worked and I lost loads of weight!

Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2012: Bioshock: Infinite

Lots to pick from, FFXIII-2, Mass Effect 3, Halo 4 but Bioshock: Infinite is the one that hypes me most.

Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: Torchlight

Can I count this? Was it this year or was I late to the party. I loved it and couldn't stop playing.

PSN game of the year: N/A

Not played any. In fact I don't think I've used my PS3 for anything other than blu-rays this year.

Del Lardo · 17-12-2011, 15:29

Your game of the year: Deus Ex
Single player gaming experience of the year: Deus Ex
Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Forza 4 though it's the only game I've played online so default really.
Biggest Letdown of the year: Forza 4, don't get me wrong this is a great game but suffers from 3 critical faults that really annoy me. Those ****ing cones, why would anyone in their right mind what to goto Laguna Seca and then spend their day weaving down a straight to get through some cones? Ghost cars in challenge mode can't be turned off making it much harder to judge a corner/breaking point, made even worse if you are within 1/2 second as you are actually in the ghost. Lack of circuits, this has hurt the previous games as well, but there simply aren't enough circuits to keep me amused especially as most of them have been in previous games.
Surprise of the year: GoW3, really wasn't expecting to like this but the single player campaign kept me amused for a few days and I px'd it for more than I paid for it.
Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2011: Should this be 2012? Either way none.
Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: None
PSN game of the year: None

Adding in what I consider to be a very relevant category....
Mobile game of the year: Asteroid Defender 2 - Android. Simple gameplay (build guns to shoot asteroids) but highly addictive, I've lost whole afternoons and complete battery charges to this game.

Haly · 18-12-2011, 00:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aboobie

Haven't posted in a while as I've been a tad busy but a tweet from Haly reminded me about this place

Yay for your return

I only did the shorter program with EASA 2 but I was pretty impressed with it. Certainly wore me out

Quote:

Originally Posted by Del Lardo

Adding in what I consider to be a very relevant category....
Mobile game of the year: Asteroid Defender 2 - Android. Simple gameplay (build guns to shoot asteroids) but highly addictive, I've lost whole afternoons and complete battery charges to this game.

I can't believe I didn't think to add this considering what my job entails

I'm also impressed that some of you have quietly changed the date for the innovation without pointing out my silliness

Your game of the year: See below!
Single player gaming experience of the year: Time wise, it should probably be Skyrim but while I've played it for many hours, I don't rate it as highly as many. The combat system is a mess and none of the storyline is particularly compelling. It's all a bit wooden plus a few other oddities. Much like an MMO though, it's hooked me and I'm pursuing the 1k quite nicely. Single player experiences for me have been pretty underwhelming this year. Enjoyed LA Noire but it was flawed. My two most anticipated games: Batman: AC and Uncharted 3, I can't find the enthusiasm to complete. I reckon my SP of the year will be Super Mario Land 3DS once I get it at Christmas. So I'll leave this open for now.

Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: 2011 was a rare year in which I played a decent amount of multiplayer. I played a huge amount of Gears 2 MP just before Gears 3's release and loved every second of it. But I think it's down to either Gears 3 or MW3's MP for me. Not sure I could choose as they're very different experiences and they're both games I need to play a lot more of, hopefully over the Christmas break.
Biggest Letdown of the year: The 3DS. It's slowly getting there but as someone who bought it on launch day, it's taken a long time to get there and has got a lot cheaper too. Didn't even create many great work opportunities for me!
Surprise of the year: Sonic Generations. Finally, a Sonic game that's excellent fun again

The 3D sections, especially later on, are pretty weak but the rest of it is great. Only about £15 now too so well worth that.
Also, OnLive. Great piece of kit if you've got a decent broadband connection and a sign of the future I suspect.
Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2012: The advancement of mobile gaming. I can play GTAIII on my iPhone now. Can only get better!

Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: Bastion. Mostly thanks to the narrator that adds a great vibe to the whole thing. Can't resist an RPG either.
PSN game of the year: I've not played many PSN games but I'll go with Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken. Very stylish side scrolling shooter that's not afraid to make fun of itself or the genre.
Mobile game of the year: So many to choose from! Dead heat between SpellTower (word game), Monster Burner (lighthearted shooter that really encourages you to be competitive with friends) and Hard Lines (Snake mixed with Geometry Wars basically).

15-12-2011, 13:29	#1
Haly Do you want to hide in my box? Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 14,941	BD Games Awards 2011 Been a quiet year for the gaming community on here but it's tradition so I thought I'd write up the usual post for the BD Games Awards of 2011 Hopefully this time round, I'll actually get a chance to write mine up So drumroll: what is your favourite game that has come out this year? Your favourite single player gaming experience. Favourite multiplayer gaming experience. Your biggest letdown of the year, be it a game, hardware or some innovation that disappointed you. Your surprise of the year, again be it game or hardware. The game or future innovation you're looking forward to in 2011. For the 360ers amongst us: your Arcade game of the year, and for the PS3ers your PSN game of the year. And anything else you fancy bunging in For those who want to cut and paste: Your game of the year: Single player gaming experience of the year: Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Biggest Letdown of the year: Surprise of the year: Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2011: Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: PSN game of the year: Write as much or as little as you want but a bit of reasoning as to your answers always makes these things more interesting Last year's thread was here: http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=14437 2009 is here: http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?p=332648 and 2008's http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10073 __________________ Halycopter

15-12-2011, 17:53	#2
Belmit The Mouse King of Denmark Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The Winchester Posts: 6,476	Your game of the year: Portal 2. Yeah, it may be short, not as ingenious as it once was and a bit linear, but still one of the best things out this year. Certainly my most anticipated. Funny, frustrating at times (in a good way), and a truly epic jaw-dropping ending (for me at least!). Single player gaming experience of the year: Uncharted 3. Not as good as 2 but again, there was nothing even close to it this year that I've played. Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Not sure co-op really counts as multiplayer but I've been playing all the Lego games with my old housemate (she's Harry Potter mad), so Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 I guess. Biggest Letdown of the year: I've not even played it and I know it's Duke Nukem Forever. What's the point in resuscitation if all you're doing is creating a vegetable? Honourable mention - Deus Ex: Human Revolution which I played for about 3-4 hours and didn't feel like I was getting anywhere or could even keep track of what was going on. May try it again later. Surprise of the year: Literally years ago now I played the demo for Hitman: Blood Money and promptly forgot about it. Got it for a few quid second-hand and it still holds up pretty well. Enjoyable but not without flaws. The surprise was that it's the kind of game I like but never played. Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2011: So many to look forward to; Max Payne 3, Bioshock 3, The Darkness 2, Tomb Raider reboot, new Hitman... Doubt we'll see a Half-life 3/Ep3 or Condemned 3 any time soon though. Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: Only played the Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge remake this year so has to be that. Still amazing - can't believe the point and click adventure is only being championed by Telltale Games these days. Bloody heroes. There are games I should definitely have played this year but haven't got around to, especially Arkham City and Skyrim. I'm sure both are excellent and would have made the list but I just haven't had time! That said, I'm currently playing through Dead Island and to begin with I really felt like I'd found something that totally met all my requirements for a zombie survival game. Unfortunately after about ten hours of play I'm in the city at level 25 and the things I liked about it initially are being stripped away and spoiling it. The combat just isn't designed to allow you to fight multiple enemies and suddenly you're swamped by super-strong, fast-running undead, meaning you have to climb on a car, weeping, while you swing a wrench and hope to connect with something soft. You know there's something not quite right with the difficulty curve when you knock a zombie down for the thirteenth time and he starts to groan and stand up again, causing you to yell 'AREN'T YOU DEAD AGAIN YET?!'. If I actually give up on it it really ought to go in the 'Biggest Letdown' category. __________________

15-12-2011, 18:38	#3
Psymonkee A cat wearing a wet suit Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: St.Andrews Posts: 2,023	Quick answers, more depth later. Your game of the year: Portal 2 Single player gaming experience of the year: Deus Ex HR Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Portal 2 Biggest Letdown of the year: Gears of War 3 Surprise of the year: Duke Nukem finally coming out! Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2012: Erm?! Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: Dunno PSN game of the year: Not played any. __________________ Sonisphere FMC Code: 1k949178

15-12-2011, 19:32	#4
divine Moonshine Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Southampton Posts: 3,201	Your game of the year: Portal 2, one of the few games that has actually delivered well enough to keep me entertained enough to finish it. Single player gaming experience of the year: Portal 2 again, though as an alternative honourable mention, DiRT 3 was good fun and kept me playing. Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Not bothered with online really, didn't renew my Live sub and on the PC I just can't dedicate enough time to it. I tried BF:BC2 for a while but was just getting slaughtered whenever I found the time. Biggest Letdown of the year: I would say Duke Nukem Forever but really I expected it to be complete crap and it was, so it wasn't a let down in that sense, it was just as rubbish as I thought it would be. Forza 4 was perhaps the biggest let down in that it promised so much but ultimately wasn't really much different to Forza 3. A fantastic game but it should have delivered so much more IMO. Surprise of the year: Don't know really, nothing has particularly surprised me this year. No spectacular breakout games that I can think of that no one saw coming. Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2012: Half Life 3 is being optimistic isn't it? Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: That free doritos thing that was kinda like Total Wipeout, that was a laugh __________________

15-12-2011, 19:56	#5
Joe 90 Absinthe Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chester Posts: 2,345	Single player gaming experience of the year: Deus Ex HR. Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: MW3. I wanted so much to hate it. But I can't. I <3 FPS. Biggest Letdown of the year: Duke Nukem, or on a serious note, BF3 Single Player! Surprise of the year: Dead Island & Saints Row 3 maybe even Deus Ex. Didn't know about any of them, but loved them all. I don't have a GOTY. Skyrim is up there, but I've only had it for a day. MW3/BF3 will be games I'll play for the next few years, but I don't know what makes a GOTY. Longevity is in all 3, but I'm massively indecisive! __________________ 360 Blog \| Join GiffGaff \| Twitter

15-12-2011, 23:34	#6
Creature Crispy Coated Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Gloucestershire Posts: 2,087	Your game of the year: Deus Ex: Human Revolution I'd been wanting to play this since it came out, but due to work and money, i'd never got round to picking it up until a few months after release. It took me a little bit of time to get used to, but I love stealth games so I wanted to persist with it to see it through to the end. I was also going through a stage of wanting to complete games fully, so that kept me going, and i'm very glad it did. Going through it a second time for all the endings was a bit of a pain, but getting to kill everyone that time was kind of fun. Single player gaming experience of the year: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary I got the original the day it came out, and was hooked on it, both SP and MP. Getting to relive that again was a fantastic feeling when the music kicked in, and i've had a beaming smile on my face every single time i've booted it up, even if some of the levels are a lot longer than I remember (Assault on the Control Room took me longer than the entirety of Secret of Monkey Island) Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: N/A Not played anything MP wise this year Biggest Letdown of the year: L.A Noire Shock as man who disliked GTA and Red Dead dislikes Rockstar Game! Wel not really. I enjoyed about 75% of the game. The voice and face work are fantastic, and the storys pretty good. But man does the game drag. Unskipable cutscenes and ridiculous grinding achievements that were more tedious than FFXIII just took it one step too far for me and left me feeling very bitter towards the game. Surprise of the year: None of note. Nothing gaming wise took me by suprise at all. I suppose my re-found enjoyment of games is a bit of a suprise though. Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2012: FFXIII-2 Love JRPGS. Loved FFXIII. It's more of the same and looks stunning. 'Nuff said Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: N/A Not played any PSN game of the year: N/A Not played any I've had an incredibly busy year, and only really started playing games in the last few months so have very little to comment on =/ __________________

16-12-2011, 08:37	#7
volospian Vodka Martini Join Date: May 2009 Posts: 786	I haven't bought any games this year. The suprise of the year is that I just can't be bothered with games anymore...

16-12-2011, 16:11	#8
Aboobie Vodka Martini Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Beverley Posts: 749	Haven't posted in a while as I've been a tad busy but a tweet from Haly reminded me about this place Your game of the year: Dark Souls This one was a really tough choice between Dark Souls and Skyrim. Both are utterly brilliant but Dark Souls for a good 80% is possibly my favourite game ever (I won't go too into how I think it let's itself down a little in the last 20% here). Punishing but totally fair, it makes accomplishing something feel more rewarding than anything else I've played. Perfect design and pacing and despite finishing it months ago I still think about this game almost every day. Single player gaming experience of the year: Skyrim I'm kind of cheating and using the multiplayer aspects of Dark Souls to get Skyrim in a winning position here. Skyrim is utterly brilliant. Huge, gorgeous, on the 360 anyway and I'm 65 hours in and still going strong. I can also see myself playing this for a while to come. Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster I'm counting this as I played it all the way through with my two girls. Brilliant Kinect game from Schafer. Biggest Letdown of the year: Hmmm Whilst I'm tempted to say LA Noire I kind of new what I was getting myself into and it wasn't too bad; just 50% too long. Surprise of the year: EASA 2. Nothing took me too much by surprise this year. Dead Island was better than I expected, Dark Souls took over my life for 3 weeks and Gunstringer was a blast. Actually I will call out something. I dedicated months to Kinect and the various fitness offerings and found myself completing the EASA 2 12 week program without missing a routine. What surprised me was how well paced it was, constantly pushing me and varied and good enough to make me not miss a single routine. It also worked and I lost loads of weight! Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2012: Bioshock: Infinite Lots to pick from, FFXIII-2, Mass Effect 3, Halo 4 but Bioshock: Infinite is the one that hypes me most. Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: Torchlight Can I count this? Was it this year or was I late to the party. I loved it and couldn't stop playing. PSN game of the year: N/A Not played any. In fact I don't think I've used my PS3 for anything other than blu-rays this year. __________________ Last edited by Aboobie; 18-12-2011 at 09:12.

17-12-2011, 15:29	#9
Del Lardo Absinthe Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Cambridge Posts: 2,539	Your game of the year: Deus Ex Single player gaming experience of the year: Deus Ex Multiplayer gaming experience of the year: Forza 4 though it's the only game I've played online so default really. Biggest Letdown of the year: Forza 4, don't get me wrong this is a great game but suffers from 3 critical faults that really annoy me. Those **ing cones, why would anyone in their right mind what to goto Laguna Seca and then spend their day weaving down a straight to get through some cones? Ghost cars in challenge mode can't be turned off making it much harder to judge a corner/breaking point, made even worse if you are within 1/2 second as you are actually in the ghost. Lack of circuits, this has hurt the previous games as well, but there simply aren't enough circuits to keep me amused especially as most of them have been in previous games. Surprise of the year: GoW3, really wasn't expecting to like this but the single player campaign kept me amused for a few days and I px'd it for more than I paid for it. Game or gaming innovation you're most excited about for 2011: Should this be 2012? Either way none. Xbox Live Arcade game of the year: None PSN game of the year: None Adding in what I consider to be a very relevant category.... Mobile game of the year:** Asteroid Defender 2 - Android. Simple gameplay (build guns to shoot asteroids) but highly addictive, I've lost whole afternoons and complete battery charges to this game.