Even though we’re supposed to pick a single game–hence the title Game of the Year–I couldn’t do it. In a year of great games like Batman Arkham City, Portal 2, Uncharted 3, Modern Warfare 3 (and that’s just the mainstream titles) I was able to narrow my choice down to two, one mainstream and one indie game that I felt deserved to be called my Games of the Year.

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Officer Wagon has a big problem – a gang of sexy criminals have busted out of jail, and it’s up to her and her alone to put them behind bars again. Over sixteen levels, Wagon will sprint, leap, and blast her way through various obstacles and enemies to capture five fleety jailbirds per level.

Although she does have a gun, the game is primarily puzzle based (like Mighty Flip Champs) – but is it exciting enough to warrant a $5.99 price tag? Read more… »

It is chilling to think that ours may be the last generation to consider the term “social” as primarily being outgoing. With the deluge of so called social apps flooding the market, I can only expect, in somewhat hyperbole, that the definition of “social” will soon change. Maybe, it will become something like “the act of sharing your location, pictures, videos, thoughts and activities (in 140 characters or less) leveraging one of these apps”.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more apparent than in the emergence of a new generation of social games. This new generation is legion, climbing out of (the) Facebook  onto PCs and mobile devices independent of any one client. At its worst, this generation bears cookie cutter copies of the villes, Mafia Wars and even StarCraft. There is a glimmer of hope, however, as some developers are pushing the social platform forward through innovation and creativity.

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In case you were too busy nerf-herding, The Old Republic launched this week, and it’s kind of a big deal. Part KOTOR/Mass Effect style action-RPG, part MMO, the newest game in the Star Wars franchise has finally hit. Of course, you can never be too careful to protect yourself from online smugglers, so some extra security methods are available.

Similar to WoW’s extra authentication method, Bioware and EA are offering both a physical authenticator device (for a fee) or a free mobile app to help secure your account. Either option helps protect your account by generating a random number that you must input before logging into the game, or your online account. Considering how easy it is to keylog these days, I’d highly recommend picking up either option.

Also, as per the usual MMO routine, you’ll have to put a credit card or game card on file before utilizing your 30 day free period – to bypass this, you can use Paypal on the official website, or use a pre-paid Visa Giftcard (just make sure it has a 3 digit security code on the back, and an expiration date).

Let’s cut to the chase: you know those 10 new nifty Gameboy Advance Ambassador games you just bagged on your 3DS? There’s a trick to changing the resolution and shrinking the picture. Are you ready for the secret? Grab your notepad, because this one’s time consuming: hold select when your GBA game starts. There you go – your resolution is now the original size!

A lot of sources are reporting that they find the new mode “less ugly”, but personally, I’m used to the screen-stretching effect, and I couldn’t care less either way (but hey, the article gave me an excuse to post a Minish Cap picture, so I can’t really go wrong here).

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[Update - the redesign is live! Go grab your games!]

2011 isn’t the greatest year on record for Nintendo news, but the year isn’t over with yet! Nintendo Everything is reporting that the new and improved Club Nintendo will offer something the original storefront was severely lacking: digital downloads. These downloads won’t break your virtual bank either – they’re reasonably priced at around ~100-150 coins per item (roughly 2-3 retail game redemptions).

The first reported offering consists of Fluidity (150 points), Super Mario Kart (100 points), 3D Classics: Xevious (100 points), and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! (150 points). Thankfully, these games will be cycled out in quick succession for new ones on January 10th – could it be that Nintendo is finally making that big push for online infrastructure? Stay tuned in 2012 to find out, as the Wii-U will be the Big N’s biggest online test yet.

If you have a few Nintendo product codes lying around, make sure you create a free Club Nintendo account and register them!

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Spoiler alert: This article contains some details about Skyrim’s Imperial-Stormcloak civil war quest line.

The other day I read an article on Motherboard, “Skyrim Should be a Game About Nothing”, where Joshua Kopstein claims that Skyrim should’ve been a game about nothing: “Of course I mean ‘nothing’ in the tabula rasa sense; a kind of videogaming zen that coaxes enlightenment from simplicity.” After admitting to being “spoiled” by games like Minecraft, he also says that Skyrim breaks his flow with “the fact that there is some grand quest I should be embarking on, some dragon I should be slaying or village I should be saving.” Read more… »

As a game reviewer, I occasionally comes across an indie game that just strikes a chord with me. Either the art style captures something from the past, the story resonates with me on some level, or the gameplay is a refreshing take on an old genre. I have to say that I was extremely lucky to find a game that has all three of these, in this case the game is Gemini Rue.

Gemini Rue is a little indie game made by Wadjet Eye Games that combines the retro art style of games like Flashback and Out of this World with the great gameplay from classic Lucas Arts adventure games. To make it even better, the story comes across like a Phillip K. Dick novel with it’s neo-noir elements and mind bending discussion of identity. Long story short, if you’re a fan of science fiction or adventure games, you need to check out Gemini Rue. Read more… »

Tired of your old iPod Touch? Up until Saturday, December 17th, you can trade in select models of the iDevice family and nab either an extra $50 in credit, or if you’re trading in your high-end device, you can walk away with a free Xbox 360 and Kinect sensor. That’s not a bad deal if you’re not hip to auction/seller websites like eBay or Craig’s list.

For full details, hit up Gamestop’s official website.

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The rhythm genre, for the most part, has been over-saturated these past few years. After the sucess of titles like Gitaroo Man, PaRappa the Rapper, and DDR, the market started to flood with Guitar Hero after Guitar Hero iteration, until finally, it imploded, with basically only Harmonix Music Systems remaining. Thankfully, Harmonix kept things fresh with the much needed keyboard instrument, and of course, the Dance Central franchise, which took the country by storm.

But is Dance Central 2 in danger of flooding the market once again? Read on to find out.

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The Android marketplace has grown at an exponential amount, no doubt due to the fact that pretty much every mobile handset out there is Android enabled (and Angry Birds are on them). Well, today Google can really boast with some really big numbers: 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the Android Marketplace.

To celebrate, a number of apps and games have been discounted to .10c a pop. Today’s offerings include the following: Asphalt 6 HD, Color & Draw for Kids, Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro, Fieldrunners HD, Great Little War Game, Minecraft,Paper Camera, Sketchbook Mobile, Soundhound Infinity & Swiftkey X. I bought everything there was on offer – you should hurry up and do the same, and follow Google Mobile’s blog to nab more discounts over the next ten days!

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Worried that the looming specter of the Wii U is staged to make your favorite paper weight even more useless? Well, Reggie Fils-Aime is hear to quash all your fears, give you a pat on the head and lull you to sleep in those giant meaty arms of his. The Nintendo of America executive believes there’s plenty of room in the closet for both consoles.

“The consumer buying Wii hardware today is going to be a different consumer than the one who will be buying Wii U in the future,” said the beefburger boss. ”This is the first holiday that the Wii is available at $149.99 or below, so it’s an expanded demographic we’re reaching.

“We haven’t announced pricing for Wii U, but you can definitely expect that pricing is going to be different and that the games are going to be different,” added the tenderloin tycoon “We do believe that Wii and Wii U will coexist for some time. As we drive the install base of Wii, we’re really setting people up to take their gaming library and be able to transfer it over to Wii U.”

When asked about what will keep the Wii afloat heading into the future, the pastrami president touted Nintendo’s WiiWare and Virtual Console services and their weekly updates — funnily enough purchases that will likely not be making the transfer over to the Wii U thanks to Nintendo’s brilliant online program. See, there is a reason to keep the Wii around after all. And besides, with no Wii U GCN support, you’re going to want to keep that Wii around to play P.N.03 anyway.

Nintendo’s Reggie Fils Aime Talks Zelda, Future of Handhelds and Wii’s Big Holiday Push [Time]