I’d fallen over several times already, and I hadn’t even started drinking. The roads were packed and traffic had ground to a complete standstill, so I was left negotiating the frozen pavements on my way to GamerDork’s central headquarters. Despite this, I was intent on reaching my destination no matter how many bruises I received along the way. The makeup of the GD staff and fanbase comprises of all kinds of gamers; some are old, some are young, some play, some podcast, some write, there have been fans from various areas of the UK and beyond, but we’d all ended up converging here for the day to swap gifts, to reflect upon a great year and to talk about what the next twelve months could possibly bring.

As for me, I’ve been pleasantly surprised again – it seems that every year I think our hobby’s going down the pan as a result of massmarket licensed junk, shelves full of accursed “lifestyle” games, people in love with their favourite franchises and wanting little more than sequels and spin-offs and not enough titles that inspire me to celebrate the state of gaming in 2009. To say I was proved wrong is an understatement to which I was planning to go into further detail when I reached the party at HQ. It started well; I was greeted with a handshake and a drink, everyone seemed in high spirits, and John and Yoko had just started breaking into chorus, along with the rest of the crowd:

“And a very merry Christmas…”

When I first got into gaming, Christmas took on a whole new meaning; rather than looking forward to getting a Nikko remote-controlled car or a Lego pirate ship, I’d look forward to a shiny new cassette for the C64. With my meagre pocket money and addiction to sweets and comics, I usually bought budget games or covermounts on magazines, so I was rarely able to get hold of a new, full-price title. Receiving gaming gifts reached its peak when my folks bought my brother and I a Sony PlayStation – since then I’ve had to buy most of my own gaming stuff – but for older gamers I’m willing to bet that (unless you have no soul) there’s still a little bit of childlike excitement when looking at the lineup of games being released over the festive period. I’ll admit that not a huge amount of stuff has taken my interest lately, but I still decided to get hold of a copy of Borderlands (after telling various friends that I thought it looked like shit – not that I’m a hypocrite or anything) and so I’ll no doubt be pestering people for Xbox Live fun even though I’m fairly late to the party. In reality though, I think that even though there are many good games around for people this Christmas, the best is still to come in 2010. As the party is roused by another chorus, I contemplated the games I would be looking forward to in the next twelve months.

“…and a happy new year…”

If there’s anything that winds me up more than anything, it’s an early announcement. Or a delay. Or a combination of the two. Games like Sensible Soccer and Speedball 2 seemed to take forever to be released, but they eventually saw the light of day. Happily, only one of the games I’m looking forward to seems to be taking it’s time getting released, and there are still a lot of things that will surely keep me busy in the meantime. Things such as PlatinumGames’ Bayonetta, a game that’s threatening to rewrite the rulebook for thirdperson action games. With a combo system that rewards simple mashing and more complex move strings, an incredibly satisfying dodge/counter mechanic in the form of Witch Time and some superb presentation, it polishes up the rough edges of your God of Wars and Devil May Crys and deserves to blow them away. Another title which I’m tipping to be a success is Serious Sam HD – the one game that has taken a while to settle on a release date. Even so, anyone who enjoyed the PC and console outings should know what to expect; gorgeous backdrops, astonishing hordes of enemies and one of the best co-op experiences I’ve ever, um, experienced. However, let’s not be forgetting the handhelds; whilst I seem to own more PSP games than DS, I have a soft spot for Capcom’s legal adventures and I’m hopeful that Ace Attorney Investigations – Miles Edgeworth will enjoy the same success as Phoenix and Apollo have. There are many more great games to be released next year, but 2009 was still a hard act to follow…

“…let’s hope it’s a good one…”

It probably won’t come as a surprise that I’m a member of a few gaming communities online, and lately a number of people have been reflecting on the highlights of 2009, including Gamerdork’s own community forum. Looking at everyone’s celebrated games and contemplating my own, I can only say that it’s been another excellent year for gaming. The first significant release for me was released in late February, going by the name of Street Fighter IV. As someone who grew up with Street Fighter II and later discovered the excellence of SFIII: 3rd Strike, my expectations couldn’t have been higher. In hindsight, I think I’ve spent less time with SFIV than with 3S (even though I wasn’t able to get onto Xbox Live in the previous generation), but it’s still a better brawler than most. Following this was Persona 4, released less than a month after the Capcom behemoth but delivering an RPG rich in beauty, character, humour, challenge and balance. I don’t think I’ll play a better game this year, although back in November a certain DJ Hero came pretty close, defying the postal strike and giving me the widest smile I’ve ever worn this year. With such brilliant games released in 2009, one has to wonder how next year will be able to compete, but the aforementioned titles above should be a good start. However, let’s not forget that it wasn’t all smiles and greatness this year; there were more than a few turkeys released too…

“…without any tears”

Whether it was a hopeless cash-in, a laughable news story or an embarrassing moment in an otherwise excellent game, our love for ranting on forums was well catered for in 2009. There were a few lazy “updates” to classic games via digital distribution channels (Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure), an endless production line of second-rate music games (Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, Guitar Hero Metallica, Guitar Hero Greatest Hits), moments in games that seemed hopelessly out-of-place (No Russian) or just plain weird (F.E.A.R. 2’s ending), full price updates of classic games that fell short of expectations (Bionic Commando) or just people who delivered unintentional comic relief when making the headlines (thanks Tim Langdell.) I admit that some of these are personal lowlights and doubtless you have a few of your own, but it doesn’t matter. Every year has its disappointments as well as its triumphs and I can’t wait to discover where the next twelve months will take our hobby. However, with people already leaving for the after-party, I’ll leave 2010 speculation for another time. Until then, thanks for your time, and I wish you all a great Christmas.