Morning Hangover

I consider myself a pretty serious gamer and as such I tend to buy games as soon as they come out. For example, first-person shooters are the most fun when they are played with other people on multiplayer. These games are being played the most the first week they come out. I can't miss out on playing with everyone so if I'm even considering getting a game, I get it its first week of release. When relatives ask me what games I want for Christmas I don't know what to say since I already played all the must-have games. Are you ever in the same situation? Are there games that you purposely hold off on because you know someone might get it for you? Or are you going to ask for a game that you wouldn't normally buy yourself but will happily play if someone buys it for you, cough LEGO Harry Potter, cough. What games did you ask Santa for this year?

Well, it's still raining. I'm not talking "I live in California and I'm complaining about some mist" rain either. There has been so much rain that I didn't even go out this weekend. Instead I played video games. Whenever the weather is especially bad I like to play one of my "rainy day" games. There are certain games that are just better when it's raining. Maybe it's because you have no where else to go or maybe because the rain adds to the ambiance. For me the perfect rainy day games are BioShock and BioShock 2. The rain hitting my windowsill makes me feel like I'm in Rapture. What's your favorite rainy day game?

It's been raining in California for so long, and so steadily, I'm thinking of building an ark. I'm also thinking about weather in games. Of recent games, I think Heavy Rain used the weather most effectively. The way the precipitation mirrored the dark, dreary story really set the mood. What other examples can you guys think of of weather playing a huge part in a game?

Is it just me, or did this week seem to just go on forever? It feels like there were at least a couple extra days crammed in there somehow, and I don’t really know why. No matter. That’s all behind us now, and the weekend is just a few short hours away. Tonight, I’ll be heading back to south Florida for the holidays, so there will be quite a bit of DS/PC/iPhone gaming in my immediate future. But what about you? What games are you playing this weekend? Anything you’ll be playing for the first time? Anything you’ll finally be finishing? Any non-gaming activities on the agenda? Perhaps reading one of them newfangled “books” the kids are always talking about?

The end of the year is always filled with best of lists and buyer’s guides and various awards of one kind of another, but one of the biggest topics that always comes up, and rightfully so, is holiday gaming. Whether you’re traveling across the country, or staying home and ringing in the New Year with your cat Dr. Fisheatington, there is no shortage of ways to get your gaming fix during the holidays. So as we approach year’s end, what does your holiday gaming agenda look like? What games/platforms do you tend to favor when the family is around?

For me, the holidays are always a time to catch up on Nintendo DS games that I missed out on over the course of the year, because I obviously don’t bring my consoles with me when I travel. Any suggestions on DS games that I should check out other than Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, which is at the top of my list?

By now, you’ve probably seen that Mass Effect 2 took home X-Play’s Game of the Year 2010 and StarCraft II walked away with the Videogame Deathmatch crown. Both games are obviously deserving of recognition, but what are some of the other, perhaps more under the radar, games that caught your attention this year? I’m thinking more along the lines of indie games, web games, mobile games, and so on.

One completely random example: Ragdoll Blaster 2 for the iPhone. A brain-wracking, physics based puzzler with an amazing soundtrack. Highly recommend.

I’m playing a lot of PopCap’s Bejeweled 3 at the moment (check back later in the week for my verdict), and while there are numerous reasons I’m thoroughly enjoying it, the one that keeps coming up is the fact that I’m constantly yelling, “Holy s***!” in response to the utterly mental destructive combos you’re able to unleash in the game. It’s a visual and aural overload in every way, and it’s something you just don’t come across very often.

So what I wanted to find out this morning is what are the games that blow your minds to such a degree that you can’t help but let the joy-induced expletives fly?

I saw Darren Aronofsky’s twisted, tense, and terrifying Black Swan this weekend, and while I definitely went into the movie knowing what to expect (at least in so far as it being about a crazy ballerina who believes she is transforming into a swan), when it was over, I felt the same way I felt at the end of Aronofsky’s other gut punching tale of addiction and obsession Requiem for a Dream. And by that I mean, physically and emotionally exhausted (and I mean that in the best way possible). Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours is a similarly draining experience, and an equally brilliant film.

The point is, I wanted to find out if there have been any games that have had this kind of exhausting and impactful resonance on you? What games left you breathless by the end of them, and what was it that made the game so affecting?

The first three games that come to mind are BioShock, the original Silent Hill, and Limbo.

It's Friday, people. Only a few scant hours stand between you and a weekend full of holiday magic... or at least a lot of free time to play video games. I'm planning on (finally) finishing Fallout: New Vegas this weekend, as well as playing more Kinect Adventures with my tiny spawn -- we're close to beating that damn game. Also, it pains me to admit it, but I'll probably get sucked into Cityville (shudder.) What about you? What are you playing this weekend?

We're all about providing a forum for divergent views here at G4, so today's Hangover is devoted to giving you, the readers, a chance to discuss whatever you'd like in our comment section. Got a personal question for me? Ask it below. Want to talk about Jake "Killer" Gaskill? Do it below. Mention your favorite game! Tell a funny story! The sky, as they say, is the limit.

World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion is available now, after a long wait. I fired it up last night, and I've already completed ever quest, reached the level cap and started a second character. I'm an overachiever.

But seriously, I'm staying away from that game the same way I stay away from crack. What about you guys? How many of you are going to be playing this game?

You know what I played this weekend? Forza 3! The release of Gran Turismo 5 has me really into racing games, and I thought I'd give F3 a shot. It's a pretty amazing game, but it's no GT5. It's interesting how each game takes a different approach to the problems inherent in creating a realistic driving simulator: Mainly that driving a high-performance car in "real" race is too difficult to be fun for 98% of the population.

Friday is upon us, and even though we have a full day ahead of us, it’s never too early to start thinking about what your weekend gaming lineup is going to be. For me, it’s all about Disney Epic Mickey. It’s a truly enchanting, dark, and deceptively complex platformer that couldn’t fit one more ounce of charm and style into it if it tried. I also need to finish up Mafia II, which I’m still really digging, but that might have to wait until I finish my first playthrough of Mickey.

But enough about me. What are you playing this weekend?

It seems like we’ve been talking a lot about game soundtracks lately around the G4 offices (Daft Punk doing the soundtrack for the upcoming Tron Legacy hasn’t helped things), and so I’ve been thinking back over the past year and trying to remember some of the standout soundtracks. I’m a huge sucker for a great score, and there have been some great ones this year.

Red Dead Redemption, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, and Disney Epic Mickey, are definitely up there, but what are your picks?

The internebs have been all aflutter recently with regards to some rather odd design elements found in Polyphony Digital’s absurdly long awaited Gran Turismo 5. Specially, the damage system has many gamers scratching their heads and rightfully so. We’ve been running a lot of tests ourselves and will offer up our findings shortly. In the meantime though, I want to find out how GT5 players, franchise devotees and newcomers, are finding the game so far. Does the peculiar damage tier system bother you? How are you finding the AI? What things absolutely work for you and what things don’t?