Another year, another list of game awards. Compared to 2009, my 2010 in terms of game playing wasn't that great, but the culprit is obvious; my new full-time job. That takes a lot of time away from games, and many days I just felt too tired to spend some quality time with my systems. I played a lot during weekends, though, and I mostly did accomplish my goal of not replaying games. The exception is Perfect Dark, although I originally played it 10 years ago; I think 10 years is a good amount of time to let go by and then replay a game; a decade is good enough to relive those great memories :)

NOTE: Just to clarify, these are games that I beat this year (regardless of their release year), and they're not exactly in order of Best to Worst, but in order of how much I enjoyed them overall.

Without further ado, here's my list for 2010:

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2010

10 – Puzzle Quest 2 (DS)

09 – Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs (DS)

08 – Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS)

07 – Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

06 – Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii)

05 – Pokemon HeartGold (DS)

04 – Perfect Dark (XBLA)

03 – Trauma Team (Wii)

02 – The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)

01 – Okami (Wii)

Missing in 2010: Games from new systems! I got a PSP, Xbox 360, and PS3 this year, and no games for those systems made it on the list. I really need to start playing some of those :)

Return in 2010: Awesome FPS action thanks to Perfect Dark

Funniest Game – Nothing comes to mind; I guess this was a more serious year

Best Sound / Music – Kirby's Epic Yarn

Best Multiplayer – Nothing new, so... Brawl :)

Old-School Game of the Year – Perfect Dark

Biggest New Character – Naomi Kimishima (Trauma Team)

Greatest Moment – Final boss battle in Okami

Dissapointment of the Year – Rock Band 3; great reviews? Really? Why!? :P

Biggest Surprise – Er...nope, nothing surprising this year

As far as 2011 goes, I'm looking forward to some stuff; Pokemon Black, Dead Space 2, Okamiden, Ghost Trick, and some 3DS games. I'm also looking forward to actually playing games for my 'new' systems; stand-outs include Mass Effect, Arkham Assylum, BioShock, Final Fantasy XIII, and Shadow Complex. And as for the backlog, let's see; Dementium II, Metroid: Other M, 3D Dot Game Heroes, Rock Band 2, and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn should be finished in 2011, hopefully :) Should be a great year for games, time pending.

Here's to a great 2011 for everyone; gaming-wise and everything-else-wise!

Hi! It's been a while; thanks for looking at my blog!

So what upcoming games are you most excited for? Even though I'm, like, the world's biggest DS fan, my most anticipated game right now is Trauma Team for the Wii, coming out in mid May. I love the franchise; I honestly do prefer the DS games, but I'll take what I can get, and Trauma Center worked very well on the Wii as well.

Before that, though, I'm snagging Picross 3D and the recently delayed Dementium II, both for DS and both coming out in the first week of May.

That's about it; May's gonna be a crazy gaming month for me :)

PS - I should've made a blog about this a month ago, but um, yeah, I got a real job this time; I'm basically an architectural visualization artist, mostly working on 2D images but making some neat 3D videos sometimes as well. Good job; I like it.

Another year, another list of game awards. Unfortunately, 2009 was a bad gaming year for me; I only played and fully beat only about 12 new games or so. I played a ton of old games during the year, amazing stuff like Resident Evil 4, Brawl, and Metroid Prime 1 and 2, but I have decided to only include new games on my lists from now on. So on we go, to my worst gaming year so far:

TOP 10 GAMES OF 2009

10 – Puzzle Kingdoms (DS)

09 – Fossil Fighters (DS)

08 – Resident Evil 5 (PC)

07 – Professor Layton & the Curious Village (DS)

06 – Resident Evil: the Umbrella Chronicles (Wii)

05 – Daigasso Band Brothers DX (DS)

04 – Dead Space Extraction (Wii)

03 – Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS)

02 – Mirror's Edge (PC)

01 – Dead Space (PC)

Missing in 2009: Zelda; didn't replay any, couldn't beat Spirit Tracks before 2010

Returns in 2009: Professor Layton; hadn't played it in a long time

Best Import – Daigasso Band Brothers DX

Funniest Game – Mario & Luigi: BIS

Best Sound – Dead Space

Best Multiplayer – Daigasso Band Brothers DX

Old-School Game of the Year – Oops, didn't play any (unless Pokemon FireRed counts)

Biggest New Character – Hershey Layton

Greatest Moment – Playing 'Y.M.C.A.' in Daigasso Band Brothers at college, during speech class, with classmates, including Karaoke (somehow pulled that off)

Garbage of the Year – Puzzle Quest: Galactrix; flat-out horrible

Biggest Surprise – Mirror's Edge delicious fast-pased first-person running gameplay

Most Disappointing – Puzzle Quest: Galactrix; I was expecting a lot more

2010 should be a much better gaming year. I'm going to try my best to play only new games (besides Brawl, of course). I'm almost done with Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and Sands of Destruction (DS) is on its way. I'm looking forward to Dementium II, Ace Attorney Investigations, Pokemon HeartGold, Picross 3D, Puzzle Quest 2, Trauma Team, and of course Dead Space 2. I really want to play and beat Okami (Wii) for once, and maybe, just maybe, I'll finally finish Super Mario Galaxy.

Here's to a great 2010 for everyone; gaming-wise and everything-else-wise!

Hello everyone. Just wanted to blog for once to remind you all that today, November 21st, marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of the original Nintendo DS. Five awesome years of dual-screened gaming already!

I remember that cloudy Sunday morning, going to my local GameStop at 11 AM and picking up my system and Super Mario 64 DS. The place was deserted; I guess people, like myself, were skeptical on just how innovative this 'DS thing' would turn out to be.

And now, five years later, with DS Lite, DSi, and even DSi XL, the DS legacy stands as the best-selling video game system in recent years, with a huge catalog of games of all genres.

Thank you, DS, for being with me for the best 5 years of my life; here's to 5 more!
---
sergioalb64 - The #1 DS Fan

So, turns out I was so busy loving and playing my beautiful blue DSi that I forgot to update my DS Lite avatar; whoops!

Avatar = updated. DSi FTW! I'll make a nice DSi banner soon, too.

Haven't been around here in a while. I blame college.

But guess what? It's over; I'm done with school! Time to start looking for a job, and to actually get paid for doing my 3D work.

Would you do me a favor? Please check out my site on your favorite browser, and let me know of any problems that might occur. I want your feedback, especially for Mac users, since I haven't tried my site on Macs:

www.sgviz.com

PS - On the DS side of life (the best side of life, of course), I'm liking Scribblenauts and loving Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.

Yep, I got that stylus pictured above. $23 gets you the best DSi stylus available for your system. However, I must say, it's not as impressive as the stylus upgrade between DS and DS Lite. The metallic finish isn't as clean as the chrome finish on the DS Lite stylus, and the spring-loaded tip is a mixed blessing; it's nice to take the 'force' away from the screen when you push the stylus a bit too hard, but you can feel the tip going into the stylus and it feels a bit scratchy; makes me feel like I'm scratching the screen!

I would say, if you have the DS Lite Pro stylus, keep it and use it on your DSi; it fits perfectly and works just as well. If you don't have a Pro stylus from PDA Panache, get the DS Lite one, even if you have a DSi. The only reason to own this specific stylus is if you like the gold highlights on it; everything else is the same, or even worse, than the DS Lite model. I'm disappointed, but as the #1 DS Fan I had to have this :)

UPDATE: This might not be too bad, actually. I've spent more time with this stylus, and I'm really liking the excellent grip it has; it just stays in your fingers really nicely. I'm also really enjoying the extra length, but that's probably because this is the first DSi-specific stylus I've used.

Got a DSi? Looking for the 'bestest' stylus available for it? The wait is over; PDA Panache finally has the DSi Pro Stylus for sale!

I have both the original and the DS Lite models, and they were the best styli I ever used. You can order this stylus in either EasyView orange tip or traditional black tip. They feel great, the weight is awesome, and as long as you keep your screens clean they won't scratch them! As the #1 DS Fan, I can safely recommend this product :)

You can get it here:

http://pdapanache.com/products.asp?PID=NINDSi&S=6

It's pricey but worth it. I'll give a quick review once I get my stylus.

So I'm almost done with school, and I'm currently in a Career Strategies course, which now is focusing on job interviews. There are a lot of things to consider and pay attention to; it's tough! One bad word, and the whole thing could be over, or so I'm told.

I was wondering if any of you have any tips for job interviews that you would like to share. I'm learning a lot of them in class, but nothing beats personal experience! If you don't mind giving me some tips, I would appreciate it.

I should be job-hunting by the end of September!

Wow. I just checked all my previous blog posts, reading 'em all. I found good stories, sad stories; a good mix, with a ton of laughs all the way through :) Man, I'm so crazy :D

I suggest you check up on your old blog posts if you have a bunch; it should be fun and interesting. Oh, and feel free to check my blog posts; there's so many crazy things in there, I guarantee something will catch your eye :)

Have a great day!