The year 2008 has been the most productive and rewarding year in video game history. We've seen alot change almost always for the better, we've seen video games that will be remembered for years to come and we've seen changes with the two major next gen consoles. Due to me not owning or playing a Wii, psp or Nintendo DS anymore, these and there games will not be included in my awards.

Game of the Year - Metal Gear Solid 4

Lets be honest, this game should win all the GotY awards. Its the first game thats had an emotional attachment over me so great since Metal Gear Solid 3. The game has some fantastic graphics, awesome gameplay and brilliant characters. But its the story that it will be remembered for. This game was the perfect way to say goodbye to an old hero, to Solid Snake whos become a gaming icon and a legend.

Best Graphics - Dead Space

I will always remember this game for its opening cutscene when the bright light shines into the front cockpit. One of the few times I've thought "wow, thats amazing". The monsters are detailed and well designed, the levels look realistic and not overdone. The colours, graphics and design of this game overall makes it one of the best graphical successes of 2008.

Best Game World - Far Cry 2

This was one of the most filled awards of them all, with so many games like Fable, Oblivion, Fallout and much more having beautiful worlds, Far Cry 2's world is by far the most realistic and beautiful to look at. Alot of people complained there wasn't much to do in the world and rightly so. But this is an award for the way it looks and I realised how well designed it was when slowly swimming through a swamp with over hanging tree's and vines above me with the African sun just seeping through the trees. A brilliant achievement in gaming worlds.

Most Improved Series - FIFA 09

Fifa 08 marked a big step forward in the Fifa games but there was still alot of room for improvements. Fifa 09 answered the fans call and in doing so made itself one of the most complete games around. With only the exception of taking out the change squad number ability, Fifa 09 is almost a perfect football game leaving you wanting nothing more than what you already have.

Best RPG - Fable 2

Fable 2 had alot of expectations when it came out and it almost answered them all, with only the fact the games too short as its only downfall. Its an amazing tale and adventure giving the player alot of choice and role playing factors. Improveing alot on the first Fable this one delievers a bigger but just as beautiful world and a brilliant adventure to travel.

Best Underated Jem - The Last Remnant

A host of problems with how the game plays was enough to make this game slated by almost all of the gamings major sites. But I don't think they even looked past these problems, did they even play past the first disc? Installing the game to the Xbox 360's hardrive is enough to take away these problems but this aside, The Last Remnant is one of the best and fun RPG's I've ever played, brilliant music score, brilliant story and game world and a lovely new and refreshing battle system with some great ideas, this has to be the most underated game of the year.

Best Value In Package - Oblivion Game of the Year

Oblivion got released, world went mad, it had its time right? Wrong, the Game of the Year version features all the major expansions added as well as the latest patches and graphical improvements. A fantastic deal for your money, you can litterly bag 100 hours in this game and still not be bored, it holds its spot as one of the best games ever made in my opinion.

My awards arn't very expansive, I'm missing such awards like best action game and so on. But these are the awards that mattered most to me and the games that mattered most to me this year.

So I haven't been doing as much different types of gaming as I normally do because I've been solidly playing Oblivion since I started it now. I completed Mass Effect but I only truley count a game completed and able to be reviewed when you achieve all the achievements or trophys, either that or you do your best to get them all, hence no review. But I'm on Oblivion till I've finally completed it now. I have 25 hours clocked on it, I'm level 15, completed the thieves guild and the dark brotherhood as well as the main quest and about half of the random city quests so I've still got quite abit to go.

Other than gaming I've become big on buying BluRay films now. I bought The Matrix box set and watched it, to be honest its not as different in BluRay really, I was abit disappointed because it looked the same as the dvd versions. I also bought Cloverfield and let me tell you, that is a film with a big amount of difference in BluRay, awesome film.

Okay I've come to the conclusion I just can't multi-game, it makes me feel gritty.

I was playing on Mass Effect, The Last Remnant, Fable 2 and Hitman. It just dosn't work. When I play a game, I try to get as much into the game as possible (visit websites, read forums and just basically do everything) following multi games somehow depresses me. So I've desided to start again with my collection.

I had to set up a new psn due to me breaking my account somehow?!

My new psn is : DIBM (add me if you want)

I've started again on Oblivion and ill play the damn thing till 100% if it kills me, I've always wanted to get 100% on this and never found the time. I also play FIFA but thats understandable.

I've always had and loved my ps3, I use to think its got everything I want from games to media use and much more and to a certain extent it does but the Xbox also had a few things I wanted, or at least wanted to expirence.

It start when Microsoft annouced the New Xbox Expierence, it looked good, it was new and the features drew me in alittle. The second part was some of the games coming out for it, for example, The Last Remnant - A big JRPG I've wanted to play and is only out for the 360 at the minute. Others too like Tomb Raider having exculsive downloadable content and much more. So in the end I just gave in and bought a 360. Here's my deal, I already had a 20GB hardrive (I use to own a 360 when they first come out) so all I needed was the arcade pack, I managed to seal an arcade 360, the last remnant, tomb raider underworld, a nintendo and littlebigplanet t-shirt and some poster all for just £160, not going I thought.

Anyway after getting my new 360 hooked up to my HDTV I was away. My first impressions were good, I like the new dashboard, I like the new avatar and I like the options you have too. But after setting up a new account and getting hooked up onto Xbox Live it was well worth my money. The gamerscore and your personal space is so much cleaner now and feels nice to control. The windows media center is fantastic when I just want to stream music and videos from my pc. Tomb Raider is awesome and the graphics are marginally better than the ps3 in general. Don't get me wrong, I still think the ps3 is the better console but thats my opinion of course and dosn't stop the 360 being an outstanding console either.

We live in a day and age where video games cost alot of money. Now-a-days new games can even hit the £50 mark so the best thing any gamers can do is to fully check out your video games before you buy them.

When going to buy a new video game, for me, there is a number of things I do first. The obviouse one is read the reviews, not just the Gamespot review but every review I can find, that includes player reviews. In these reviews you find different bits of information in each one which can paint a nice picture of weather or not the game intrests you even more. Reviews are all coming from one reviewer so its worth checking out multi-reviews to get a broader picture of different points of view about the game.

I also like to do my research on the company and developers of the game. If its a smaller company I'll even go onto the website of that said developer and check out there other games and what kind of stuff they've made before and how good that turned out to be. If its a big developer, say EA for example, you might find it pointless you go onto there website as most of us already know what EA's all about. But if thats the case watch all the avalible interviews you can find that EA has done about the said game. This can not only inform you even more about the game but also get it from the developers point of view. Previews from gaming websites also help, although most may hype the game more in previews that they should, it will help you make you mind up even more.

You should also watch all gameplay and official videos of the game as well as viewing screenshots to make it alittle bit clearer about the product. I only say all this because I was once the type who would see a game, look at a few screenshots or pick it up in the gamestore, read the back and buy it. Often leading to me returning it in a trade in. Its our money we've earned that we're spending so it dosn't hurt to do a full research about the game before buying it, renting games can also help although I've never been a fan of that simply because a) I don't like paying £5 for a few nights and b) I don't like having a time limit on playing a game, you need your own time to appericate it. So its the little thing that matters in buying the big things, I say don't buy a game unless you're sure you want it, that way we wouldn't have as many people slating that said game on the forums when they've bought it and been let down.