Everyone else is doing it, and since I'd jump off a bridge if everyone else was I figured I'd do it too. Here's my personal top ten list of 2008 games along with some extras (I totally stole this format from Shaun, thanks buddy!). Watch out for the occasional spoiler!

10. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia: The best Metroidvania yet (people who call them Castleroids are dumb). A great main character, awesome story, challenging gameplay, all new monsters and art (!), fantastic bosses, and totally rad soundtrack.

9. Super Smash Bros. Brawl: I loved this game early in the year when I reviewed it, though it was gradually left behind in favor of others. Lately though, I've been playing it again with my brother now that we've moved in together and I'm reminded of how fun it can be.

8. Street Fighter IV: Just cause it's not out in the US yet doesn't mean anything to me! Playing this on genuine Japanese arcade machines is awesome. We'll see if the home versions are as good for me.

7. Fallout 3: I loathed Oblivion. Like, I couldn't play it for longer than 20 minutes. I did enjoy Fallout 3 though, for some reason. Maybe it's because I like Fallout (even though this game isn't really Fallout in any way) but whatever. My biggest issues with it is that it's not an RPG because none of the choices you make really matter (at the end of the game I was a known mass murderer and cannibal, yet the Brotherhood of Steel was still all like "Hey man you can totally join up with us and save the world!") and that the entire game wasn't like the Libery Prime sequence at the end.

6. Persona 4: I loved Persona 3--it's one of my favorite RPGs ever. Persona 4 took that formula and perfected it, and in every way its gameplay is superior to its precessor. Where it doesn't succeed quite so well though is in the story. Though the characters were much more believable in P4, P3 had such a much more epic story (especially the ending, which is pretty much the best final encounter ever). As original as the social link/dungeon crawling combo is though, I'm really hoping they radically change the series again for P5.

5. Left 4 Dead: This game is awesome. There's nothing better than having four people team up to fight zombies post-apocalypse. I can't recommend this game enough for co-op play.

4. Valkyria Chronicles: I love strategy RPGs, and Valkyria Chronicles is among the best ever made. Though it has a few issues, I love its art style and direction, the manner in which its story is told, its characters, the sheer amount of backstory there is to read and uncover, and the many steps forward its taken for the genre. I'm very disappointed at how poorly its been recieved as far as sales are concerned in the US.

3. No More Heroes: Travis Touchdown's hilarious and bloody rise to the top is pure genious. Suda-51, I salute you. While this is basically Boss Fight: The Game 2 (the first Boss Fight: The Game was Shadow of the Colossus, another fantastic title), the bosses are just so over the top and awesome, the art style so stylish, and the combat and controls so right. The ending is epic too. Can't wait for the sequel.

2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Solid Snake's final mission is absolutely amazing. I broke down and bought a PS3 for this game alone, and it was worth it. I can't really say anything about this that hasn't already been said so I won't.

1. Dead Space: This was one of my most anticipated games of the year and it was way better than I expected. I loved this game from the beginning all the way through the end, and I think that it's done an amazing number of things for the genre in that it managed to be heavily action oriented yet still unmistakably survival horror, unlike Resident Evil 4 which was anything but a pure action game.

Special Awards:

Barely Missed the Top 10 (In No Particular Order): Gears of War 2, Braid, Prince of Persia, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Rock Band 2, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and Mega Man 9.

Didn't Quality Since They Were Remakes/Ports: Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger. Two of the best games ever, but yeah they've been out for like 10 years or something.

Most Disliked Game: Mirror's Edge. I will never understand why some people liked this.

Worst Game: Emergency Mayhem. This is one of the worst games ever made. It represents everything wrong with Wii Shovelware.

Favorite Book I Read: I actually read about as many books as I played games in 2008 so maybe I'll write a separate best books blog post sometime (scratch the maybe, I will sometime this week). Anyway, this is a tie between two books that are a lot older but only recently were read by me: Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light and Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. They're both amazing stories that I count among my favorite of all time.

Before I worked at GameSpot, I used to post my favorite games of the year. I called my personal little awards "The Cubbies," named for my old username "fiddlecub." Of course, now I am part of the actual awards discussion, and trust me, our GOTY meetings were intense. But having a voice is invigorating, and while I originally shied away from doing a list, my fellow editors have been posting their personal favorites. Tom Mc Shea and Shaun McInnis have already thrown out their thoughts, so I'm throwing out mine.

Of course, it whould be said that these games represent my own thoughts. Any "best of" list is bound to strike a chord (or a nerve). If you need proof, glance at our best-of feature, where clearly not everyone agrees with each other. But we all do agree that we love games, passionately. And when you love a game passionately, you want to cry its greatness from the rooftops in the hopes that others will adore them as much as you do.

For some, that also means disparaging the thoughts of others. Me, well, I would rather focus on the positive and stay away from the negative. 2008 was an incredible year for games, and when I look back, these are the ones I will most remember.

10. Valkyria Chronicles - The art design is awesome, of course, but even beyond that, Valkyria Chronicles does something few other strategy RPGs can manage: remove unnecessary frustrations that come between you and the game. It's *gasp* fun, it's different, and it has the potential to change a genre, in a genre in desperate need of new blood.

9. Tales of Vesperia - On the other hand, Tales of Vesperia does little that's new, but that's ok. It's fun, and it's extremely well paced. Pacing is an important thing in most games, but doubly so in RPGs, which generally have a broader ebb and flow than other genres. With lots of flashy but easy combat, a good smattering of bosses, frequent-but-manageable cutscene, and easy-to-navigate towns, this is the greatest example of how old-fashioned RPG gameplay can be updated for a new generation.

8. Condemned 2 - Dead Space is the horror game most people will remember from this year, but Condemned 2 is less predictable and uses silence and periods of inaction to incredible effect. It gets a bit hokey, but as Shaun would say, you can shank hobos, so that makes up for it. In all seriousness, the sound design, the high-impact melee combat, the creepy locales--all of these elements make Condemned 2 one of 2008's oft-overlooked gems.

7. Geometry Wars 2 - This is probably my most-played game of 2008. I liked but didn't love the original, but hell if the sequel didn't keep me addicted. My favorite mode is possibly the least favorite of others: Waves. But every mode was top-notch, and when you get tired of one, you can just move to another. Pure fun.

6. Okami - I almost didn't includes this, because Okami has had its day in the sun. But who cares? It deserves a day in the sun every year. It is one of the finest action adventures ever created: stunningly gorgeous, long, charming, and a blast to play. It also inspired aspects of another great game from 2008, Prince of Persia. Renewal is an important theme in all art, and it's only natural that games should follow suit.

5. Sins of a Solar Empire - If you didn't play this game, you should. I don't care if you need to scour junkyards for RAM chips, just play it. It's massive, it's extraordinary, and it's hella fun. 2007 was a stronger year for PC strategy games, but that's ok. Just play it, already.

4. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - The ending of Crisis Core will stay with me for a long time, and this in a year of memorable moments that strike your very, well, core. It featured an engrossing story yet was still playable on the go, a difficult tightrope-walking act that few portable games can accomplish. And I am not afraid to say it: I wept during the last half-hour. You can't put a price on games that tug at your emotions.

3. Fallout 3 - The bane of some Fallout fans and the apple of others' eyes, Fallout 3 infuriated some old-school enthusiasts, captured others, and managed regardless to be one of the best games of the year. When other games parade around this idea of "meaningful player choices" but deliver nothing more than smoke and mirrors, Fallout 3 makes it happen. Flawed, sure, but eminently playable and totally addicting.

2. No More Heroes - Best game with a lightsaber all year. Yeah, I said it. But really, the game is so funny, so over the top, and so enjoyable that I want to play it right now just because I am writing about it. It also gets motion controls right. It embraces them but it doesn't murder them. Play it, and you won't forget it.

1. Metal Gear Solid 4 - I wrote a lengthy review detailing what makes this game so incredible, so I hate to retread all of that ground again. I am hardly an MGS fanboy; I enjoyed the hell out of MGS2, but MGS3 never captured me, nor was I ever an enormous fan of the original, though I appreciated it a good deal. Yet MGS4 enthralled me from beginning to end. Perhaps you aren't a fan of the storytelling and long cutscenes, but even if you subtract that from the equation (which you shouldn't), you have an incredible game that was just a lot of fun to play. And you know, I like fun.

I would offer up an honorable mention list, but really, where does it end? This was a great year, and for every game on my list, there are two more that could have just as easily been there. What games did you love above all others in 2008?

You may be wondering right now if your eyes are playing tricks on you. "A top 8 list," you may be thinking to yourself. "In this society of circles and spheres, shouldn't a top list be represented by a round number?" No, it should not. My year-end lists always encompass the games that I loved, no matter how many that is. Last year I had a top 11, whereas 2006 only had 7 games worth wooing. Plus, what's more round than 8? It's made of two circles! Only a monstrous 3 circled number or, heaven forbid, a 4 circled freak of nature could top this curvy delight.

On to the list!

8. Burnout Paradise - It took me a good 10 hours before I actually started to enjoy this game. The city is so huge, that just learning how to navigate its treacherous streets is an oftentimes arduous ordeal. But you know what? I stuck with it because there wasn't anything else out last January, and once I learned how to play, it was a non-stop blast. As strange as this sounds, this was probably the most violent game I played last year too. Those crashes made me cringe. The multiplayer is especially awesome. There's nothing quite like having seven of your friends ridicule you as you desperately try to jump through a hanging airplane cylinder. I just hope with all the DLC they keep churning out they come up with a better crash mode.

7. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts - This is one of those rare (pun!) games that literally has no peers. I have never played a game like N&B; before, and the sheer novelty is enough to make it a memorable experience. But you know what? It's really fun as well. Making vehicles is a cinch, and trying to come up with creative ways to pass the objectives is rewarding and often hilarious. I can't wait to see this idea expanded in the future, with crazier objectives and more outlandish worlds, but in its current form, it's easily one of my favorite games of the year.

6. Culdcept Saga - Yeah, it's a card collecting game. I understand how lame that must sound for people who have not experienced its awesomeness. But it is awesome. It combines the nerdy glee of playing with mythical cards with Monopoly, which makes it a lot easier to pick up and more fun and strategic once you get going. I probably sunk 100 hours into this beast earlier in the year and still haven't unlocked all the cards and fancy avatar parts to cloth my naked character.

5. Prince of Persia - It's easy, but who cares? Not every game needs to be difficult to be fun, right? Navigating around the beautiful environments was a joy, as was seeing the relationship develop between the crass Prince and the noble Elika. And the ending is making me drool in anticipation for the next game in series. I've never played a 3D platformer that was so inviting, that constantly rewarded players instead of punishing them when they coudn't make a treacherous leap.

4. N+ - From the easiest platformer of the year to the most challenging in one smooth jump. Have you noticed a trend? I love platformers, and N+ was the best pure platformer of the year. Without a compelling story, complex characters, or an exhausting creation tool to get in the way, it was able to focus on just pure running and jumping bliss. The co-op levels provided some of the most memorable experiences of the year. The levels are designed with teamwork in mind, so you'll have to rely on your buddy to get to the next level. It makes for a frantic and often anger-filled experience, but it's still one of my favorite games around.

3. No More Heroes - What a weird game this is. The story is absolutely nuts, and the characters are so over-the-top, they are impossible to believe. But that works in this game's favor. It knows it's ridiculous and relishes in it. And the combat showcases some of my favorite uses of motion controls on the system. You use the A button to swing your lightsaber, but finishing moves are performed with a hearty slash in whatever direction you want. Lopping off heads never gets old. I can't wait to see what Suda has in store for the sequel.

2. Braid - I was shocked at how good Braid turned out. I've seen time manipulation used in games before, but it's usually just a simple rewind feature, like Sands of Time. A way to erase a stupid mistake. But the time mechanic in Braid was implemented in such devious ways that you'll have to think long and hard, and logically, to pass these puzzles. And the ending was just fantastic. I couldn't get over the events, thinking about the satisfying twists all through the night and into the next day when I started to work on my review. An unforgettable experience.

1. Metal Gear Solid 4 - Holy crap, this game is amazing. I plowed through the whole thing in two 10 hour sessions, and then went online to read other people's thoughts on the controversial ending. I absolutely loved every second of this game, and this is coming from someone who had spent one painful hour with the first MGS a decade ago and hasn't touched the series since. The stealth/action was immensely rewarding, letting you tackle situations in whatever manner you choose, but the sheer variety in the gameplay kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. From excellent vehicle sections to heart-pounding boss fights, this was as fun a game as I have played this year. And the story! Oh my! Yeah, I didn't understand everything (what's Foxdie?), but, at its core, this is just about relationships and conflicts between different people, and I certainly grasp that. The characters were strongly developed and their motivations felt real. Just writing this makes me want to play through all over again.

We've had our Best of 2008 Awards feature up and live for a few weeks now, but what you might not realize about those awards is that the winners were decided in an elaborate series of physical challenges in which several editors were forced to fight each other in American Gladiators-style blood duels. In other words, there was a lot of fighting in order to whittle down everyone's favorites into a manageable list that we could proudly call our official awards.

But this being my blog, I figured you'd like to know what my own personal favorites are. This list wasn't an easy one to make, but I feel pretty good about it. Here are my favorite games of 2008:

10. Mirror's Edge - Most disappointing game of the year? Not to me. One of the biggest critiques leveled at Mirror's Edge was the frustrating amount of trial and error required to progress through its environments. I didn't experience that. My time with Mirror's Edge was fun, relaxing, and utterly unlike any other game I played this year. My only complaint is that there are a handful of moments when you're essentially forced to pick up a gun and shoot your way to safety. I managed to make it to the 7th or 8th chapter before this became a necessity, and it was heartbreaking when I finally killed my first enemy. That in and of itself is quite the triumphant achievement.

9. Condemned 2 - I might be placing this game a bit higher than it should be, but I really wanted to make sure I didn't leave out any deserving games from early in the year. Condemned 2 was a brilliant, atmospheric, and extremely twisted FPS/brawler that I loved all the way through. And even though the online multiplayer kinda sucks, it managed to produce one of the best Game Nights of the year as we gathered a bunch of crackheads on a trash barge hurling bricks and sledgehammers at each other.

8. Fable 2 - This game is basically Fable, but longer. And with a dog. But you know what? Fable was my favorite game on the original Xbox by far, and I'm perfectly content that my only real complaint with it (its pitiful length) was fixed this time around.

7. Metal Gear Solid 4 - One of the bigger themes among audience reactions to MGS4 was the number of people who had never been into the series, but still loved the hell out of MGS4. I'm sort of the opposite. The original Metal Gear Solid is among my five favorite games of all time, and 3 might just be my favorite PS2 game. Unfortunately, with 4, Kojima's unique (read: self-indulgent and ostentatious) form of storytelling finally reached reached critical mass, and the rest of the game suffered for it. But you know what? The rest of the game is so awesome that it still made the top 10. That's something right there.

6. Rock Band 2 - I wrote the blurb for RB2 on our awards feature, so I'll just quote myself here: "How did [Rock Band 2] manage to take home the prize this time around with actual competition nipping at their heels? By erasing nearly everything you could nitpick about from the first game while delivering an entire year's worth of weekly music packs--a sum so massive it could bring most obsessed record collectors to their knees." Oh, and delivering a sweet new drum set for me to pound on certainly didn't hurt.

5. Professor Layton -I don't think there was a more charming game all year save perhaps Little Big Planet. The art style was brilliant, the puzzles were challenging and rewarding, and the plot (while a bit Scooby Doo at the end) was surprisingly enthralling. Sure, the music is numbingly repetitive, but you can't win 'em all. I just wish there was more replay value. But judging by the lines of Japanese fans lined up to play the sequel at this year's TGS, I'm sure we'll be getting a new Professor Layton adventure eventually.

4. Fallout 3 - I'm much more of an Elder Scrolls fan than a Fallout fan, so I approached this game from the perspective of someone who sunk a lot of time into Oblivion rather than a Fallout purist looking to nitpick every little change Bethesda made to the franchise. And you know what? I loved it. My only regret is that I finished the main storyline much, much sooner than I expected. But the game is so great that I have no problem playing it all over again to tackle some more sidequests as I develop a slightly more evil character.

3. Left 4 Dead - Has Valve ever made a bad game? No. Has shooting zombies in their undead faces ever not been fun? Rarely. Combine those 2 things with the technology of the AI Director, the feature that mixes up every play-through to feel different from the one before it, and you've got an amazing game. My favorite online shooter of the year.

2. Braid - One of the most often overlooked things about the GAMES AS ART!! debate is that every big budget game is a product of massive development teams, tons of corporate financing, and tremendous amounts of QA testing to make sure audiences will like it. Books? Usually one author. Albums? A couple dudes in a band. Traditional art doesn't have to make compromises to fit the needs of the many. So what happens when a ridiculously talented programmer and artist (i.e. two guys) set out to make an art game? They absolutely nail it.

1. Grand Theft Auto IV - Oh, right, this one. Let's see... how can I reword the same praise that's been heaped upon GTAIV time and again for the last eight months? Let's try this: Grand Theft Auto games have always been ridiculous fun. But this time around, Rockstar not only refined the gameplay, but they produced the most lifelike city ever seen in a videogame while delivering a powerful and heartbreaking story about a guy who's constantly stuck between a bad decision and a worse one. I don't know if I've ever felt more connected to a character than I have with Niko Bellic. Nothing resonanted with me more than the journey Niko took through Libert City's seedy underground and all the bloodshed it produced.

And now, the special awards categories:

Barely Missed the Top 10 (In No Particular Order): Burnout Paradise, Dead Space, Far Cry 2, Little Big Planet, NHL 09, Bionic Commando Rearmed, Resistance 2, Bully: Scholarship Edition, The World Ends With You

Game Everyone Loved that I Couldn't Get Into: Gears of War 2

Game I Fully Intend to Love Once I Actually Play It: No More Heroes

Game That Might Make This List if I Wasn't Still Playing It: Banjo-Kazooie Nuts and Bolts

And just to prove I'm a cultured individual who doesn't play videogames all day:

Favorite Book of 2008: The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (this came out in September 07 but I read it this year)

Favorite Album of 2008: "The '59 Sound" by The Gaslight Anthem

The Entertainment Software Rating Board forbids companies from selling violent or sex-ridden games to kids. It's in the company's advertising guidelines, one of those things the group points to in order to make parents feel safer about leaving their kids alone with the latest E-for-Everyone or T-for-Teen rated game.

One of the fundamental principles of those guidelines is that "Companies must not specifically target advertising for entertainment software products rated Teen, Mature or Adults Only to consumers for whom the product is not rated as appropriate." According to the ESRB, advertising counts as "all forms of interactive entertainment software advertising, i.e., all commercial messages and/or marketing materials related to the promotion or sale of a product or service which (a) is directed at consumers within the United States and (b) is contained in or disseminated through any and all media now known or hereafter to become known, including but not limited to printed matter, packaging and box art, pictures, photographs, symbols, graphics, videos, visual images, online, television, radio, home video, outdoor, in-flight, in-theater, demo and trailer advertising of any kind or any combination thereof."

So let's suppose you're Sony. Despite a respectable showing from the PlayStation 3, you're pretty much bringing up the rear in the console wars. Nintendo outflanked the whole damn industry, and Microsoft is seriously boosting its installed base by selling Xbox 360s for $199 a pop. You need your games--specifically PS3 exclusives--to sell in huge quantities if you want to take back anything resembling an industry-leading position. The biggest PS3 exclusive you have is Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4, a core gamer's game if ever there was one. But you need more than the core gamers; you need the casuals. That's why you bankrolled Media Molecule's undeniably charming Little Big Planet. And that's why you're using Little Big Planet downloadable content to promote Metal Gear Solid 4. The latest costume packs and level packs for LBP prominently feature Metal Gear characters, as well as a paintball gun and new creation tools that could fundamentally reshape the sort of game Little Big Planet really is.

But this is the problem. The LBP Metal Gear Solid packs are a cross-promotional advertising tool. They are selling the M-for-Mature Metal Gear Solid 4 to people playing the E-for-Everybody Little Big Planet.

I asked one of the developers if there was any concern on the team's part about shilling for a mature title in a kid's game, and he explained that they only borrowed some aspects of Konami's game, leaving its themes and adult content behind in the process.

I see his point, and I don't think the Little Big Planet content is especially objectionable or anything that should be kept away from gamers. That said, this is clearly a violation of the ESRB's own advertising rules.

And that's what galls me. The ESRB claims transparency is not an option in order for the board to operate free from undue influence of publishers. Perhaps, but consistency should always be an option--indeed a mandate--and something in the back of my mind is telling me there's no way D3Publisher of America or Destineer Studios gets away with plugging an M-rated game in one of its E-rated games. All I'm asking for is a level playing field. If companies aren't allowed to introduce trailers for T-rated or M-rated efforts in E-rated games, no way should this fly, no matter if it's Sony or Konami or Nintendo or Microsoft or Destineer Studios trying to get away with the it.

Sony returned my inquiry for comment, saying the Metal Gear Solid pack had been rated E for Everyone by the ESRB. They didn't comment on the DLC's alleged violation of the board's advertising guidelines. The ESRB hadn't returned request for comment as of this writing, citing the need for more time due to the holidays.

For the longest time I didn't care about kill ratios in multiplayer shooters. I think I developed a complex from my counterstrike days in college where I was mercilessly slaughtered by, judging from the amount of genital jokes, pre-pubescent children. At some point I think I started to consider myself a human bullet detector for skilled players on my team. But now I realize that games like counterstrike were enablers for my low shooting self-esteem. Quick round times and fast re-spawns let me get away with a lot of crud and still have fun.

Americas Army changed all that for me. AA is an abusive, abusive, abusive, drill sergeant for new players. You die fast and you stay dead for a long time. You probably won't even have fun, but for some inconceivable reason, you will desire in the height of your agony, to be the guy who is shooting you, to seek revenge and make sure he's the guy sitting there twiddling his thumbs on the sideline while you make the rest of his team your bi-hatch. It is a painful journey in which you will end up, thanks to indistinct looking friends and foes, shooting your own team in the back and loosing hours of progress before making progress. When you finally get to the point where you have the luxury of having fun in this game, you will be a better shooter for it. Here is what I learned so you don't have to.

Top ten lessons of a Newb shooter: other than don't join the Army unless you enjoy boredom and getting shot.

10) If you're loosing every round change games or you'll keep loosing every round.

9) Keep moving or someone will shoot you in the back, seriously.

8 ) Know your effective range. If you don't have a scope, don't get into long range sniping battles, you'll loose.

7) Never be where they think you are. If someone spots you, anticipate how they are going to come at you and be somewhere better.

6) Shoot from the dark recesses of a building, never be in a window, corner, or on an open roof position where your outline is easy to spot.

Know when you're about to loose a ranged gunfight and disengage, then follow lesson seven.

6) Move smart, don't get caught out in the open period. If you have to cross out in the open, scan the area first, then run like hell. (You'll still die but less often.)

5 ) Aim low and to the left with machine guns because they kick up and to the right.

4) If someone gets the drop on you, duck, turn fire. It works on a really lucky day and if they're holding a machine gun it will be kicking up and away from you.

3) If you find yourself in an inferior position, i.e. shot and survived, maneuver to a better position before re-engaging, don't just go back to the same corner and get shot again. If you need to go back, wait at least ten to fifteen seconds to make your opponent think you've moved on.

2) If you are unfamiliar with a map, spend an entire night going one direction until you learn it, then spend another entire night going another direction until you learn it.

1) Hold your fire until you know you can make a kill so as not to give away an inferior position. Don't shoot at everything that moves.