Well it's been awhile since I've written/published a blog so I've decided to write down my thoughts of this year in gaming and some thoughts on the end of the 7th gen for consoles.

To start it off, it seems every year we say "this year -insert year- is the best year in gaming" and we've been saying it a lot. The diversity on peoples opinion on which year is the greatest year in gaming goes from 1998 (and even earlier than that) to this year (2013). I've stated a few times that "-insert year- is the best year in gaming" rightfully so there's been a lot of amazing years in gaming, which is the sole reason why I love being a gamer since there's been so many amazing years in gaming and so many amazing games. The awkward thing about 2013 being one of the best years in gaming (and being my fav year in gaming fyi) is it's officially the end of the 7th gen of gaming, yes I know some people like me are crying it's over and they are eating a tub of ice cream and watching Arrow on Netflix, while other people are jumping up and down thinking 8th gen will bring in new ways of gaming cause they grew tired of one of the best gens in gaming (yes that's me taking a stab at all of you haters).

First off I'll take a look back on what made 2013 one of the best years in gaming history (not a top 10 list btw). There's been the usual here's a few amazing games, good games, mediocre games and even the awful games like every other year but there's been a few games that caught my eye, by a few I mean a lot more than the usual year in gaming. I thought no year could topple the god tier year of 2011

• Skyrim
• Mass Effect 2
• Total War Shogun 2
• Mortal Kombat 9
• The Witcher 2
• inFamous 2
• Bastion
• Dark Souls
• Batman Arkham City
• Uncharted 3
• LoZ Skyward Sword
• Minecraft
• Trine 2

You'd think it would almost be impossible for another amazing year for gaming during the 7th gen, specially the end of it. Well it's happened and it's called 2013, one of the best years in gaming and here's a list of games that made 2013 one of the best years in gaming (at least for me)

• DMC (reboot)
• Tomb Raider (reboot)
• Fire Emblem Awakening
• Starcraft 2 HoTs
• Don't Starve
• Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon
• Metro Last Light
• State of Decay
• The Last of Us
• Shadowrun Returns
• Dragon's Crown
• FF14 ARR
• GTA V
• Shadow Warrior
• The Wolf Among Us EP 1
• Path of Exile
• Assassin's Creed 4
• Pokemon X/Y
• Starbound
• DayZ stand alone

This year was simply AMAZING!!!, that's not even including games from systems I don't have (Wii-U, PS4 and XBO). There's no reason why 2013 should not be considered one of the greatest years in gaming history cause the amount of games and even systems that came out this year just make peoples wallets (specially mine) scream in agony. If you haven't played a majority of those games, do yourself a favor and look into playing those games, there's games from almost every genre in gaming on that list so if you find yourself lacking games to play, look at that list and do yourself a favor and go try some of those games, goodbye sweet prince named 7th gen, you will be remembered.

Now for something less melodramatic, my top 10 games of 2013 (feel free to agree, disagree, not agree and just pretend that eating that whole medium sized pizza by yourself just means eating makes the pain go away)

My top 10 games of 2013

10. Shadowrun Returns

9. Final Fantasy 14 ARR

8. Metro Last Light

7. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag

6. Pokemon X/Y

5. DayZ

4. Fire Emblem Awakening

3. GTA V

2. State of Decay

1. The Last of Us

Uh oh another top 20 list, but it's not just any other top 20 list!!!, yea I have a crappy sales pitch so sue me...Here's my top 20 list of what were the top 20 games of the 7th gen in my opinion.

My top 20 games of the 7th gen

20. Diablo 3

19. Metro Last Light

18. Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag

17. Zelda Skyward Sword

16. Bayonetta

15. Dark Souls

14. Uncharted 3

13. The Wolf Among Us Ep1

12. Left 4 Dead 2

11. Red Dead Redemption

10. Hotline Miami

9. Dark Souls 2

8. GTA V

7. Batman Arkham City

6. The Witcher 2

5. State of Decay

4. Mass Effect 2

3. Mass Effect

2. Skyrim

1. The Last of Us

10. Resident Evil 6

RE6 is the definition of a love it or hate it game. Some people claim it tarnished the RE name which is pure idiocracy since RE4 started the whole formula of changing RE, which btw the last "true" RE game was back in 2002, no use in beating a dead horse the last decade, ether accept the changes or move on. The only two thingsthat annoyed me in RE6 was the last boss for Leon and Jakes campaign was pretty dull, thankfully Chris and Leons campaign were pretty decent.

9. Dragon's Dogma

Capcoms answer to The Elderscrolls games, this is a good example of East meets West in video game design and genre. I applaud you Capcom for giving a crack at WRPG fantasy.

8. Spec Ops The Line

One of the most over looked TPS this gen, this game will make you question the morals of being a soldier. The gameplay is a hit or miss, also if you are one of the few people who played Spec Ops on the playstation 1, have no fear this game is leagues better than those.

7. Sleeping Dogs

Square-Enix proves they aren't a total loss, taking a crack at the sand box genre that R* has reigned supreme in they do a pretty good job with Sleeping Dogs which is a nice change in scenery looking into Asian culture instead of the Western culture GTA is known for.

6. Hotline Miami

Best $10 game ever, seriously a nice throw back to 8 bit games with electronic soundtrack that is just as good as the game itself.

5. The Walking Dead

One of the best art styles I've seen a game to date, not to mention 2 of the best character duos I've ever seen in a game Lee and Clementine, which made me the ultimate guardian angel of this 8 year old girl, I made it my goal to keep her safe from zombies and the human scumbags that are left in the world.

4. Lego The Lord of The Rings

I've never cared for the Lego games but Lego Lotr does something that just pulls me in with the voice overs from the actual Lotr films and a few comedic moments that make you giggle.

3. Mass Effect 3

One of the most depressing games I've played being a gamer (The Walking Dead is up there as well), the past 5 Years I've loved every moment molding my John Shepard into the ideal Commander, the ending was not the send off I wanted but the game made you realize what would happen if you got attached to a character you love.

2. Xcom Enemy Unknown

Never played the original but Enemy Unknown is such an outstanding strategy game, and I'm very picky when it comes down to these type of games.

1. Far Cry 3 (my 2012 goty)

The return of one of my fav FPS series (check), an amazing open world FPS (check), freaky villain named Vaas (check), a FPS protagonist that actually speaks and has character (check), awesome bow killing (check), sharks (chec...wait I hate sharks).

Honorable mentions: Max Payne 3, FTL, Legend of Grimrock, DayZ (mod), Borderlands 2, Kid Icarus Uprising, Resident Evil Revelations, Mark of The Ninja, Planetside 2, Fallen Enchantress, Guild Wars 2 and Binary Domain.

Top 5 disappointments of 2012:

1. Dishonored

2. Torchlight 2 tied with Diablo 3

3. DMC and Aliens Colonial Marines getting pushed to 2013

4. No release date for FF VS 13 (still...)

5. Still no info on Half Life 3/ Half Life 2 ep 3

With the end of this gen almost coming to an end we've had an awesome 2011, an awesome 2012 so what about 2013?. I can tell you 2013 is gonna be one hell of a year for gamers, in fact it's not gonna pull punches ether since the first 3 months of 2013 is gonna be a disaster for my wallet.

Let's take a look at 2013 shall we (from what we know, games can be canceled or pushed back at any moment). This is only a PARTIAL LIST, of course I'm gonna miss out a few games in this list and of course games will be mentioned from devs as the year goes on.

Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm- March 12 2013 (pc)

Those of you who know about Starcraft, well here's the first "expansion" for SC2, if you don't know about Starcraft I suggest you look into it.

Dota 2- still TBA (pc), was supposed to come out in 2012 but so far it doesn't look like it will make a 2012 release since there's 18 days left in the year

I find moba games a hit or miss, it's one of those genres that can be fun but honestly take way too long to finish a round in moba games. Since I've been following Dota 2 it has that art style that makes it stand out compared to other moba style games. Did I mention it's free?.

DMC- Jan 15 2013 (multiplat)

Well here's the reboot to the series Devil May Cry, yes some people are QQing that they changed Dantes look which in honestly I'm with the other half of the fan base and I like his new look. After trying out the demo I have to say my doubts about the gameplay have been expunged..

Ni No Kuni Wrath of the White Witch- Jan 22 2013 (ps3)

Well we get our first taste of a JRPG not to far into 2013, in fact it comes out the first month of 2013. Going by the demo I was 50/50 with the game. It seems to me this game will get better as it goes on which might be a turn off for some people. Anyways if you need to sink your teeth into a JRPG (a good one) this might be your saving grace.

Aliens Colonial Marines- Feb 12 2013 (multiplat)

Remember the movie Aliens?, if you don't then I'm gonna stop talking to you. Aliens CM takes place 17 weeks after the events of the movie Aliens, one of the best Sci-Fi movies of all time. Time to scream Game Over Man!!! during my play through of the game in 2 months.

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance- Feb 19 2013 (multiplat)

What do you get when Vanquish creators get a hold of a Metal Gear game, well we've seen the gameplay trailers and if you want to slice up grunts,cyborgs and metal gear rex/rays then Bring it!!!.

Tomb Raider- March 5 2013 (multiplat)

If you don't know about Tomb Raider or Lara Croft you've lived a shelterd life. The reboot/remake looks like it can give Lara the breath of life she needs.

Other games that will put a damper on that wallet in 2013

Dead Space 3,God of War Ascension, Beyond 2 Souls,Deadpool, Bioshock Infinite, South Park The Stick of Truth, GTA V, Crysis 3, Remember Me, Metro Last Light, Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2, Anarchy Reigns, Geow Judgment, Arma 3, DayZ (stand alone), Neverwinter, The Last of Us.

Possible Games to come out in 2013

Dragon Age 3,FF VS 13 (doubt it),MGS Ground Zero, Dark Souls 2.

Again this is not a full list of games that come out in 2013

Well it's almost that time of year so if you're thinking what games you want to buy this holiday here's a helpful list of games that came out this year.

Mass Effect 3 (PS3,360 and Wii-U)- If you liked Mass Effect 1 and 2, love sci-fi wrpgs or a fan of Bioware this game is right for you.

Max Payne 3(PS3,360,PC)- If you liked last gens Max Payne and Max Payne 2, love TPS (third person shooters) or a fan of R* this is one of their best games to date.

Dragon's Dogma(PS3,360)- If you liked games like Skyrim and Capcoms Monster Hunter this a fine combination of the two.

Borderlands 2(PS3,360,PC)- Remember Borderlands 1?, well here is the sequel and if you enjoyed the first one well Borderlands 2 does everything better than the first game.

Dishonored(PS3,360,PC)- A few years ago a game named Bioshock came out, if you remember Bioshock, Dishonored pretty much plays like Bioshock (minus the under water city thing).

Hotline Miami (PC/Steam)- Combine a gorgeous looking 8 bit top down shooter, 1980's electro soundtrack then you got a game like Hotline Miami, which if you liked Super Meat Boy you might enjoy Hotline Miami.

Assassin's Creed 3(PS3,360,PC)- If you played any Assassin's Creed game this gen then well you know how AC3 plays, if you haven't played any AC game yet, don't start with AC3 even though it's the best AC game in the series, it's just....don't start with AC3 or you will miss out a lot of what's going on in the story.

Sleeping Dogs(PS3,360,PC)- If you want a sim game about dogs sleeping...I'm just kidding, Sleeping Dogs is a combination of GTA,Yakuza and the Batman Arkham games which is honestly a nice combination if I say so myself.

Resident Evil 6(PS3,360)- Remember RE5? well RE6 is pretty much RE5 except it does things a lot better and a lot worse than RE5, you might have heard the amount of hate RE6 has gotten and I have to say do you always trust what people say over the internet?. If you look at the review there's 20 something above avg reviews, 20 something avg reviews and only 6 ish reviews people saying it's an awful game. I'll keep it simple if you liked RE5 and you've come to peace that RE isn't survival horror as it once was then give this game a try, which btw takes around 30 hours to complete which is very long for a RE game.

Planetside 2(PC/Steam)- As I'm writing this, Planetside 2 is 14 hours tell it unlocks on Steam. If you're a fan of massive online MP FPS then this game is for you, did I mention it's free??? go DL it now.

The Witcher 2(360 this year,PC last year)- If you don't have a PC that can run TW2 and you have a 360, buy this game. If you remotely enjoy WRPG's and you haven't played TW2 then you are missing out BIG TIME!.

Torchlight 2(PC/Steam)- If Diablo 3 didn't fix your lust for collecting gear,loot and legendary items then a game made some of the original devs of Diablo 2 in Torchlight 2 should scratch that itch for you.

Diablo 3(PC)- D3 might have started off slow although in recent months patches are continuously coming out to add life to D3, so if you want to spend endless hours of gearing up your character then D3 will fix that for you.

Mass Effect trilogy(PS3)- The Mass Effect trilogy is finally coming to the PS3 this holiday, so if you missed out on ME1 on the 360 then pick up the trilogy asap for PS3.

The WarZ(PC)- The game is in alpha/beta atm which you can actually buy the game right now, play alpha/beta tell it goes golden which you don't have to buy the game once it comes out since you already bought the game. If you're a fan of the Arma 2 mod DayZ or a fan of survival horror games then this game is for you.

Hopefully this list helps you out this holiday season on what to buy/play. I only listed games that I ether played,bought or spent a few moments with so there could be still some games out there that could satisfy your gamer lust.

Well I finally got done with my sig (which I've think I've done around 6 before going with one lol), new profile banner and blog header.

Dinged lvl 58 on GS as well, skipped lvl 57 in less than a day cause of the lvl glitch so I'm perfectly fine with that lol :lol:. Here's hoping I can skip 59 in the near future!!.

Well time to clean house and spruce up the place!! :P

*puts on headphones,cranks up the music and opens up Gimp*

Well I've reached lvl 49 on GS (thought I would have been banned by now lol) and I've reached over 14,000 posts since my debut here in 2005.

Also I noticed I've had a Deviantart account for 2 years...and now I've just started to add my artwork/sigs to it lol

http://slackermcgee.deviantart.com/gallery/?catpath=scraps

Well since 2011 is over and people have had time to look back at the year and try and decide what's their personal goty i'll do the same which will be on heck of a deal since I don't know about you but 2011 was one heck of year for gamers.

Honorable mentions/games (games that I thought that made 2011 great)

The Witcher 2

Saints Row The Third

Skyrim

Uncharted 3

Star Wars The Old Republic

Batman AC

Dark Souls

Zelda Skyward Sword

Portal 2

Battlefield 3

Call of Duty MW3

Gears of War 3

Games I thought were underrated

Shadows of The Damned

Warhammer Spacemarine

Crysis 2

Catherine

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Now for my personal Goty, which is not easy since I could easily say 6-8 games on that list deserve the title 2011 Goty

Ballroompirates 2011 Goty is

I have a soft spot for fantasy RPG's and Skyrim does the unexpected and delivers endless amount of playtime, I've already logged in over 120 hours into the land of Skyrim. The world of Skyrim is probably the best fantasy setting you see in current gaming, I will tell you nothing beats the feeling of standing on top a mountain ridge and looking out into the distance and see snow,fog or rain hit a town hold and wonder if the town will get hit by a dragon.

Made a few more sigs, just felt like getting to know gimp more than I use to lol

(not really new, just haven't showed it yet)

Only took like almost 7 years being on GS but....I've done it....if it weren't for stupid moderations I would be lvl 50 but nooooo /sad panda :evil: