Don't ask me why I'm posting this at three-thirty in the morning. It's a combination of boredom and playing follow the leader with everyone else's blog posts. Anyway, I've decided to make my first update in about 6 months that of my favorte game picks of 2008. It was an awesome years for gaming despite the crippling economic recession, and if you could still afford to finance your gaming obsession and had the time (which, despite being on a college budget and time management plan, I somehow accomplished), then you were in for some treats.

These are the games I've played this year that will be making my list of the creme-de-la-creme of this year's games. Note that some may have come out in 2007, but because I physically purchased them and played this this year, I'm putting them in here. Note that I'll be picking up Fallout 3 tomorrow and The World Ends With You, and those will doubtless end up on here in post editing in the future. Anyways, I'll break these down by categories, and then if there are any notable mentions leftover, they'll come afterwards. This post isn't going to get fully completed tonight, but it will be finished by tomorrow.

Jay's Favorite Games of 2008

Best Music/Rhythm Game: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Legends of Rock was my first Guitar Hero game, and my first venture into the burgeoning Rhythm game genre. It was an epically amazing way to begin. 99% of the main setlist is made up of great music,and the bonus songs have their fair share of wonders. This game has turned me onto so many great bands; Lacuna Coil, Heart, the list could go on and on. It also contains tracks from many of the bands I already loved like Metallica and The Rolling Stones. The GHIII Guitar Controller is the best guitar controller I've ever used with either Rock Band or Guitar Hero games, hands down. Battle Mode was stupid but the actual battle songs written for the game were very enjoyable. Being forced to deal with the harder difficulty of the game made me easily prepared for ventures like Rock Band and GHII, and I'm now playing Hard/Expert on GHIII, which makes me pretty darn happy. This game is going to be staying on my Now Playing list for a very, very long time.

Best Platformer: Braid

What can be said about this little Old School Throwback Platformer That Could? The storyline is minute but more deep and thought provoking than most 70 Hour RPGs. The gameplay, though seemingly simple, is actually satisfyingly complex and forces you to think in new ways about how platformers can work. The artwork is gorgeous and plays a brilliant homage to the game's obvious predecessor: Super Mario. And though you have to work for the ending sequence by collecting every single puzzle piece, it's worth it, because the last level? Left me utterly flabbergasted and shocked to contemplate the true message that was trying to be sent. Part Game, Part Artwork, Part Existential Philosophy: Braid is not a game to be missed. Pick it up already, it's not like it's expensive, and you'll get much more pleasure out of it than any 60+ dollar reiteration of that same sports franchise you were going to buy.

Best RPG: Fallout 3

Best FPS: BioShock

This scared the s**t out of me, but also left me breathless. I was never much into FPS until I picked this up because I just couldn't get the double analog stick movement down right. But BioShock looked so good that I was determined to figure out how to work it, and now I can actually play and enjoy FPS. Thanks BioShock! That's not the only thing I have to thank this game for; Rapture's design is amazing and makes me feel both nostalgic and utterly creeped out. The Splicers are nasty little buggers, creepy when charging at you and even creepier when you can hear their voices in close vicinity but can't see where they are. The various gene tonics are fun as hell to use, I loved setting Splicers on fire and felt a little triumphant thrill whenever they burst into flames. The storyline was fabulous, although some of the twists you could see coming (though some of them you definitely couldn't.) This game made me both able to play FPS and stomach horror games, mostly because it was so brilliant that any misgivings I had about the two genres were overblown by Bioshock's pure amazingness

Best Action/Adventure: Grand Theft Auto IV

Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Best Overall Game of 2008: Fallout 3

Other Notable Mentions:

Mirror's Edge

The World Ends With You

No More Heroes

Rock Band

Assassin's Creed

Owowowowowowowowowowow.

Yeah, that's all I have to say. Worst part is that I have to go to work like this. Ugh.

I wannna add some blogs to my watched blogs list. Are there any blogs here on Gamespot that you all enjoy reading? I prefer ones dealing with games and the industry, and no specifically political ones please. Ones with some IRL posts are fine too, just any blogs that you think would be interesting for me.

Wohoo! Awesome! I've almost doubled my point total in the last day, it's hilarious how much I've earned on GH: Aerosmith.

Since the setlist is small and it's basically an upgrade pack of GHIII, I figure I can play it now through renting once, and then grab a used copy in the future when it's reduced price. Just played about four hours worth, completed the setlist and some of the vaullt songs. I have a weird obsession with Joe Perry's avatar, it's kind of cute in an odd way. As for the music, it's pretty good, has a lot of Aerosmith songs I don't recognize; hell, I'd say 75% of all the songs were unknown to me before this game, including the non-Aerosmith ones. Some of them are a little odd (how is Run DMC the "King of Rock?" That's like saying Aerosmith is the "King of Rap"), but I haven't really found any that I absolutely refuse to ever play again. The avatar choreography is great, and I like the little new guitarist that they have onstage with the opening band. Also, WOAH are the achievements easy as hell! Look at my usertag, I almost doubled my userpoints by playing that game alone. Working on the Hard level right now, which is kind of easy for hard, I'll hopefully finish it tomorrow and try to grab some other achievements. Overall, scoring this game a tentative 7/10.

*rubs her aching pinkie* That's okay little guy, we don't have to play Before I Forget on hard again for a long time...

Gah, I'm getting a bit frusturated. Hard on GHIII is really, well, HARD. I've been at this game for a good 6 months and I'm still having trouble even completing the setlist for that level. I finally conquered "3s and 7s" as well as "Before I Forget" tonight, but I'm dreading Knights of Cydonia that I still have to do. Plus I tried the next songs on Quickplay... suffice to say, it was bad.

Does anybody know of some good playing techniques? Maybe something I'm forgetting? I have trouble switching between spread chords like RB to YO, and I'm sucking at pull offs, especially the intro to Before I Forget, the only reason I could conquer it was keeping my finger jammed on the G button. Or is it all about training your finger muscle response and building strength in your hands? Because my hands aren't the strongest; they're pretty flexible from playing piano in the past, but their speed isn't too good.

Or hell, maybe I just need glasses.

I really need to get a better sleep schedule, especially since I'm starting my counselor job next week, but ah well, feel like posting.

I'm still amazed at how much GTAIV is affecting me right now. (This will be a spoilerific post most likely, so you might wanna skip if you haven't gotten far/haven't played. Note: I just finished the mission Deconstruction for Beginners, and Have a Heart before that one.) The storyline is amazingly deep for a GTA game, though note that I've only played Vice City and like 5% of San Andreas, so I can't utterly prove that, but look at what everyone else is saying and you'll see my point. Niko's character is so deep and fleshed out, you really feel the pain he's going through trying to adjust to Liberty City crime life, a past similar to what he seems to have tried to leave behind in the old country. My second favorite character has to be Roman, he's hilairous, and deep down a likeable guy, if a bit rough around the edges.

It's just, how can I really describe what this game is making me feel? When Dmitri ordered Niko to kill Faustion, the entire drive over, I was turning the idea over in my mind, wondering if this was one of the decision missions, and if so, would I make Niko spare Faustion or kill him? When Dmitri and the Michelle betrayed Niko, I was shocked and saddened; when Elizabeta shot Manny, my jaw dropped for a second and then I got pissed off (I amazingly somewhat liked Manny), and now I know if the decision comes to it, Niko's gonna drop her in a flash and stick with Little Jacob and his pals. In other games, characters go from point A to point B, rising to success, and you mostly follow along and agree with the path they're taking, understanding the moral lessons being applied. But with a game like GTAIV, where your heroes are the "bad guys" and they don't always win in the end, how do you deal with an experience like that? How do you not go through this game without that sinking feeling that the ending isn't going to be the sunshine and daisies and relief for Niko that you really wish it could be, but know it probably won't be?

Damn, now I really want a miniseries or book version of this story.

I posted my first game review in nearly 2 years, Phantom Hourglass, newly finished after my plane ride to California. I also spent the week there playing New Super Mario Brothers on and off, which made me appreciate that little gem even more.

GTAIV is amazing. I'm a little annoyed that I STILL haven't unlocked Algonquin, but according to the GS game guide, I'm only about 1/4 of the way through, so I suppose it comes with time. I've watched Republican Space Rangers, tried to outrun a six star rating on the bridge to Algonquin, killed more drug dealers than I thought possible, competed in a street drag race, got lucky multiple times, and I'm still only 1/4 of the way through. Dear GOD, how, how the hell did a game like this come to be? It's a freaking MIRACLE.

Still awaiting Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and the handheld one. Yes, I'm going to get both somehow. And then by the grace of a higher power, find a college roomie who wants to split the cost of World Tour with me. Because it is indeed necessary to get my rocking on. Though who knows how I'll pull it off on my poor college budget. Ah well, que sera sera.

Guitar Hero III= Awesomeness.

And now I've got Barracuda stuck in my head and it won't come out =D

Hrm, finally updated this whole place a bit to freshen it up. May think about getting a new banner up there as well. Put in my Xbox Gamertag, so if any of you feel up to adding me, go ahead, may or may not be able to communicate with you if I ever find the time =D And seriously, I am scrapped for time, it's ridiculous.

Picked up Super Mario Galaxy last night and I already love it. Collected about 20 stars so far and have unlocked up to the kitchen. It's a really interesting new approach to Mario, and I can see why GS gave it Game of the Year. Which frankly surprised me considering how Nintendo's stuff usually gets kicked around by critics, but there you go :)

Tried Perfect Dark Zero yesterday. Apparently I'm an idiot who can't figure out what the hell to do on LEVEL 1. Well actually it's level 2, but level one is "Level 00" so yeah. I've tried scoping out the two thugs patrolling the entrance dock but they're "not recognized." Do I have to take them out and then look for others to check out? Aren't I supposed to "keep my cover" and "use my gun as a last resource" though? How the hell do I do that when it's impossible to get around the guards without sounding the alarm?

One final note, all my Pinatas in Viva Pinata are fighting each other. Which really is quite annoying, 'cause I can't afford to just throw ten billion Happy Candies in the garden. Hoping to work out how to get them to live semi-peacefully again soon.