Although it is likely this information is only interesting to me, I’m so excited about all the video game related stuff I’ve gotten that I just have to write about it. As you can see, I got a lot of stuff, some as gifts, some borrowed, and some as gifts from me…to me. Here’s the rundown of what I got and my expectations for each, in order of my current level of excitement.

120 GB Hard Drive – I’ve been toying with upgrading my storage for months now. It’s a luxury, and not a necessity, but I’ve becoming increasingly frustrated juggling my limited hard drive space, especially since I like loading games to my hard drive. I kept bugging my wife to buy it for me for Christmas/my birthday, but to no avail. Finally, I managed to “negotiate” a purchase at cost: both financially and chores-wise. Transferring my data over was relatively painless, and now I’m enjoying quieter, fan-free gaming. Worth it! Hopefully.

DJ Hero – My sister bought this for my birthday, and I broke it out over the weekend and put in a few hours. I’m pretty excited about this game, if only for the music. It seems like it could be a cheesy idea, but from what I’ve read, it really seems like a solid first entry in the series and a refreshing change of pace for music games. Too bad nobody bought it, except for my sis! Expect espion4ge’s impressions soon, and my review after that.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Another system, another gift. I absolutely loved Super Mario Bros. 3, and NSMBWii, besides having a horrible name, is a spiritual successor to that game. I missed out on New Super Mario Bros. on DS, but I blew through this game on the 3 days during the break that I had access to a Wii. I’m not done with it yet, but a review will be coming soon. The short version: great game, but don’t play with friends if you don’t want to throw your controller out the window.

Resident Evil 5 – I picked this up for $13 in the Gamefly End of the Year Sale, and I’m actually looking forward to it. Going to try to convince a friend to pick it up so I can play it through on co-op, but after reading a bunch of game of the year stuff, the game looks really good and hopefully it won’t remain on my backlog for too long. One thing in the way though, is…

Mass Effect DLC (Bring Down the Sky and Pinnacle Station) – EA had a “buy 3 Xbox Live products get 800 points” promotion over the holidays so I picked up the two DLC packs for Mass Effect and Boom Boom Rocket. I’m planning on replaying Mass Effect before the sequel comes out at the end of the month. I’m thinking about putting something up in the forums akin to a “Game Club”, so if anyone is interested in playing through at the same time keep an eye out in the forums.

LEGO Rock Band – I met up with LargeLobster and he gave me his copy of LEGO Rock Band after he downloaded the music to his console. We played a bit…it’s okay, but I’m probably just going to use this game for some music-related achievements.

Boom Boom Rocket – I downloaded this Xbox Live Arcade game because I heard it was pretty fun. I needed something else to get the 800 points from EA! They better credit my account.

I also received a couple scarves and sweaters, but I’m certain nobody cares about that. Instead, I leave you with a few awesome Christmas present vids. Anybody else get any new games to play?

Rounding out our main categories, today we will be looking at Best Action/Adventure, Music, Real-Time Strategy and XBLA games. Looking at the list of titles from this year, there were a surprising number of good action/adventure games out this year, and even though neither of us owns a PS3, you can’t talk about action/adventure in 2009 without mentioning Uncharted 2. I’m glad I didn’t have to nominate that game though, since that would probably have made for some tough decisions. Music games, on the other hand, seemed to take a step backwards, or maybe we are just getting sick of them. Meanwhile, Live Arcade continues to put out good titles worth taking a look at.

Best Xbox 360 Action/Adventure Game of 2009

Resident Evil 5
Prototype
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Shadow Complex
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Assassin’s Creed 2 [winner]

This was the most difficult category to decide on, as there were a lot of worthy nominees this year. Resident Evil 5 kicked things off to much controversy. Over the course of Resident Evil’s history, it has been the quintessential survival horror game, but RE5 changed the series game by focusing the game on co-op. This turned into a love it or hate it situation. For the most part, RE5 was a success, and if you are a fan of the Resident Evil series you should definitely check it out. I’d recommend playing with a friend, since the AI is a bit wonky.

Prototype is an open world action/adventure game featuring a protagonist wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt whose claim to fame is being compared to Infamous, another open world action adventure game featuring a protagonist wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt (PS3 exclusive). The game got pretty good reviews, but most people prefer Infamous to Prototype. The game deserves mention though, since it is a victim of it’s release date.

A surprisingly strong game this year was Ghostbusters: The Video Game, which is a game that is perfect for anyone who loves the movies. Generally, these licensed games are a bust, but this 3rd person shooter is a lot of fun and serves as a sequel to Ghostbusters 2. It’s too bad it’s the 1980s anymore, because Ghostbusters is sure to be a hit with kids!

Those three games were merely appetizers to the main events this year, though, which kicked off when Microsoft released Shadow Complex on Xbox Live Arcade. Shadow Complex is a spiritual successor to Metroid, set in a universe created by Orson Scott Card, and a game worth much more than its $15 price tag. Between acquiring power-ups, finding hidden secrets, and exploring the expansive map, there are hours of enjoyment to be found in this game.

The runner-up in this category also released in August. Due to its pre-holiday rush release, Batman: Arkham Asylum was primed to do well, and it made a modest killing in sales. More importantly, Arkham Asylum solidified its place as one of the best superhero games ever made. With an engaging story, a surprisingly deep combat system, and lots of fun gadgets and tools to play with, this was one of my favorite games of the year. Unfortunately, the game misses out a bit on the “adventure” aspect of things, but if you’re a fan of comics, it doesn’t matter. This game is awesome.

Finally, the last action/adventure game and the winner is Assassin’s Creed 2. First, Ubisoft should be commended for not delaying the game because of Modern Warfare 2, something a lot of publishers were doing this year. They were rewarded for their boldness, and so were gamers. Assassin’s Creed 2 brings the series to Renaissance Italy and is a resounding success. The majority of the flaws from the first game have been fixed, and Assassin’s Creed 2 has really gotten me excited about the conclusion of the trilogy. This game can take up 30 hours of your time, so it’s a great value too. Buy it for someone you love and you can’t go wrong!

Best Xbox 360 Music Game of 2009

Guitar Hero 5
The Beatles: Rock Band [winner]
DJ Hero
Band Hero
Lego Rock Band

This was a tough award to pick this year because, frankly, music games may have reached their saturation point. I basically bought my 360 to play Guitar Hero 2, but I just wasn’t as pumped up by the games this year as I have been in the past. A lot of this was due to curious decisions made by the publishers, and I don’t only mean Activision.

But let’s start with Activision. In the course of this calendar year, they released Guitar Hero: Metallica, Guitar Hero V, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, DJ Hero, and Band Hero. Metallica was pretty good, but Van Halen supposedly is terrible (though espion4ge liked it well enough). I actually think DJ Hero looks pretty awesome, and if I had 120 dollars to spend (or 90 at this point), I would have checked it out and it might have won this category due to its innovative gameplay. But that’s the problem, I have way too many plastic instruments and thus didn’t want to dip my toes into the DJ Hero pool. Meanwhile, Guitar Hero 5 suffered with its all over the place tracklist. Though the game made a lot of improvements in the interface, and is much easier for party play than Rock Band these days, it’s just weird to switch between Megadeth and Grand Funk Railroad. The game has no identity. Band Hero is basically the same game, but it features Taylor Swift. I actually think if you want to buy one of the “Hero” games, you’re best off getting Band Hero or DJ Hero, as those are probably the games with the most enjoyable soundtracks for the general public. Of course, you could always just refer to our import/export guide and play all your songs off of one disc.

Harmonix, which has been king in the music game genre, hasn’t had the greatest year either. The Beatles: Rock Band is my winner in this category, due to its unique take on the genre. The Beatles is more of an experience: you follow the career of the Fab 4 and the graphics, music, and presentation all work together to create a cohesive, spectacular experience. Unfortunately, the game is too short, and only features 45 songs. Also, DLC is more expensive (about twice as much). This is a great game to buy if you plan to play with your parents or someone of an older generation, but it’s not going to be for everyone. Lego: Rock Band, on the other hand, is probably the weakest nominee in this category. It features a casual-friendly tracklist, but Harmonix really missed a huge opportunity here to build on the humor and fun block loving gameplay of the Lego games. Lego: RB is just Lego David Bowie playing Rock Band – but it could have been so much more.

Best Xbox 360 Real-Time Strategy Game of 2009

Halo Wars [winner]
Brutal Legend

I think people are still surprised to find out that Brutal Legend is a real-time strategy game, but with a cult online multiplayer following and a lot of RTS gameplay, it deserves to be mentioned in this category. Brutal Legend is a great game with a great story, and I had a blast playing it, but the truth is it isn’t for everyone. Aside from the story elements, Brutal Legend does a bunch of things well, but doesn’t do anything great. Its RTS component focuses more on using your hero character correctly – it’s almost as if it’s a third person brawler with other units to command. I almost put this game into the music category though – its soundtrack is SOLID.

Halo Wars wins the real-time strategy hands down, and really did not have any serious contenders. It was Ensemble’s swan song, and the studio can be confident that it went out on a high note. Halo Wars successfully blends an interesting story campaign with a robust multiplayer component, one that unfortunately did not receive the popularity it deserves. I continue to be impressed by the slickness of the controls – Ensemble did a great job customizing the controls for consoles. Moreover, the balancing in the game is spot-on. Real-time strategy is all about counters, and like Starcraft before it, EVERY unit in Halo Wars is useful for countering something. Well, maybe not Brute Choppers, but hey, who’s counting?

Best Xbox 360 Live Arcade Game of 2009

The Maw
Peggle
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
Magic: The Gathering – Duel of the Planeswalkers
Battlefield: 1943
‘Splosion Man
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Shadow Complex [winner]

Microsoft continues to put out some quality Arcade games, and I hope they keep it up because I really enjoy the Arcade titles. Since these games are shorter for the most part, I will do the same with my descriptions!

The Maw is a short but sweet 3-D action/adventure game that has you following a cute, but growing alien. As you progress through the game, The Maw acquires more and more powers and gameplay options increase exponentially. By all accounts it’s a great game, but it ends a bit too soon for it’s $10 price tag.

Peggle and Puzzle Quest: Galactrix deserve to be mentioned because these two franchises are universally popular. Peggle is a perfect Arcade game, one you can pick up and play for 5 minutes or 5 hours straight, depending on the circumstance. Puzzle Quest: Galactrix is not as strong as the medieval entrees in the series, but a worthy game nonetheless.

Magic: The Gathering – Duel of the Planeswalkers does a great job of translating the classic card game to the console, but lacks one key feature: fully customizable decks. But if you’re into Magic, and you have some friends, the game is probably worth the $10 price tag.

Battlefield: 1943 is the runner-up in this category and for good reason. For $15 you can get a surprisingly deep multiplayer experience that you can play for months without getting bored. There are 3 standard maps to play on and one airplane only map, but the game’s maps are well designed, and the gameplay is simplified enough to make it easy to pick up and play (if you’re already familiar with FPS). There are no persistent upgrades like Modern Warfare 2, but it doesn’t really matter – as an arcade game, Battlefield: 1943 succeeds in every way.

‘Splosion Man and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 were featured in XBLA’s Summer of Arcade, and are throwbacks to former generations. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is basically the same game you remember from the Dreamcast, for better or worse. Don’t bother playing online, you will get pwned. But if you are a fighting game master, it’s worth a shot. ‘Splosion Man is an incredibly hard platformer with a unique presence: you “blow yourself up” to jump which leads to all sorts of puzzles. Just make sure there aren’t any windows nearby, you might throw your controller out of it.

Topping all of these quality games, Shadow Complex is the champion in this category. I chose Shadow Complex as the winner not only for the reasons outlined above in the Action/Adventure category, but also because it’s the best value out of all of these games (Battlefield: 1943 or Peggle are the only competition). It’s a great game, and one every Metroid fan should not hesitate to check out.

With Band Hero and LEGO Rock Band recently released, I picked up Band Hero to play with my family this holiday season and am even looking at LEGO Rock Band since both have several “family friendly” recognizable songs. But then I was trying to understand how the importing works for all these music games and it was somewhat of a headache since there’s over a dozen of them out now. Well, as I went through figuring them out, I decided to write up a guide at the same time, so those of you that are curious about how exporting works for all the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games can now learn from what I just learned. However, please keep in mind that I’m talking about these games specifically from a 360/PS3 perspective – Wii owners may find even more limitations in place since I don’t know much about the Wii versions. I believe the Wii Rock Band universe does not support any sort of exporting but the Wii Guitar Hero universe follows the same limitations as the 360 & PS3 versions.

First off, it’s a given that the Rock Band and Guitar Hero universes do not play together so you cannot export music from one universe to another. Second of all, it’s good to think of all this exporting business centralized around your hard drive like DLC music tracks. Each particular game has potential to “export”, and if it does, any other game that supports it will be able to play it just like DLC. For all intents and purposes, consider exported tracks the same as DLC. The one time cost comes from exporting the track to your hard drive so other games can play it, not for the ability for a particular game to play tracks on your hard drive. If the songs are already on your hard drive, it’s free to play by any games that support the songs.

With that, here is the breakdown:

Rock Band Universe

Rock Band Track Pack 1
Rock Band Track Pack 2
Rock Band Unplugged
Rock Band AC/DC
Rock Band Classic Rock
Rock Band Country
Rock Band Metal
Export: All these discs are free to export one time with a unique code in the game box
Import: n/a

Rock Band
Export: All songs except for 3 are exportable an infinite number of times for $4.99
Import: All Rock Band track packs, LEGO Rock Band, and Rock Band 1-2 DLC (shared)

Rock Band 2
Export: none
Import: Rock Band 1 (except 3 of the songs), all Rock Band track packs, LEGO Rock Band, and Rock Band 1-2 DLC (shared)

The Beatles: Rock Band
Export: none
Import: none

LEGO Rock Band
Export: All songs exportable for $10 one time with a unique code in the game box
Import: All family friendly Rock Band track pack songs, family friendly Rock Band 1 songs, and family friendly Rock Band 1-2 DLC (shared) songs

Guitar Hero Universe

Guitar Hero II
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Guitar Hero: Metallica
Guitar Hero: Van Halen
Export: none
Import: none

Guitar Hero World Tour
Export: 35/86 songs for $3.50 one time with a unique code in the game box
Import: none

Guitar Hero Smash Hits
Export: 21/48 songs for $2 one time with a unique code in the game box
Import: none

Guitar Hero 5
Export: 69/85 songs for $6 one time with a unique code in the game box
Import: Guitar Hero World Tour exported tracks, Guitar Hero Smash Hits exported tracks, Guitar Hero World Tour DLC (except 6 Jimi Hendrix songs), Band Hero exported tracks

Band Hero
Export: 61/65 songs for $5 one time with a unique code in the game box
Import: Guitar Hero World Tour exported tracks, Guitar Hero Smash Hits exported tracks, Guitar Hero World Tour DLC (except 6 Jimi Hendrix songs), Guitar Hero 5 exported tracks

Summary
It looks like the two universes are focusing in on a couple games as their primary mediums. The Rock Band Universe focuses around Rock Band 2 – practically every other Rock Band game can export out tracks and Rock Band 2 can import everything in. It’s possible to pick up all the other Rock Band related discs and pay and/or use the code to export the songs, and save for the 3 Rock Band 1 songs, you’ll have everything available to play when you boot up Rock Band 2. That means you can basically sell all the other discs and use Rock Band 2 to play everything.

The Guitar Hero universe is a lot more tricky it seems, because not only did Activision start late with the exporting business, the focus is split between two games now too. While there have been several Guitar Hero games released, it wasn’t until World Tour that the exporting/importing business was implemented. And even then, Activision did a pretty shoddy job since not even half of the tracks for either World Tour or Smash hits are currently exportable. This means even after you export them, you may still want to hold onto the discs in case you ever feel like playing songs that weren’t exported. What’s good with Guitar Hero 5 and Band Hero now though is that they can both play the songs exported from World Tour or Smash Hits, and can even play songs exported from each others’ games if the player wants to pay for the associated exporting costs. A higher percentage of Band Hero’s songs are exportable than Guitar Hero 5′s songs, so perhaps Guitar Hero 5 is more fitting as the current primary Guitar Hero Universe hub.

One more thing to think about is to be very cautious about buying used games that have any of these one-time export codes. Many people may simply pick up Band Hero or LEGO Rock Band and pay the export cost and sell the game to Gamestop. If you pick up that same used game, you won’t be able to export it to your system and you’ll be stuck having to use the disc whenever you want to play it. In the case of games you might want to export, try to buy them new. Oh, and make sure you have a hard drive big enough to store all of these songs you plan on exporting. You can export the songs to your hard drive, delete specific songs, and still re-export them in the future should you ever desire to so it may be worth holding onto the discs if you have low hard drive space.

Every bone in my alternative, grunge-loving, rock and roll body (aka my childhood) finds the upcoming casual-friendly Lego Rock Band and Band Hero games kind of gross. Taylor Swift? Janet Jackson? BRYAN ADAMS? These are the artists being rolled out for Lego Rock Band (Harmonix) and Band Hero (Activision) in the two companies’ latest attempt to cash in on the music game craze. Yet, the older, more mature, and lamer side of me is intrigued by both these games.

Harmonix’s game I’m sure will be made with the high standards all the Rock Band games have had (although I’m not sure how Lego David Bowie and Lego Iggy Pop are going to look different), and there are a lot of catchy tunes on there, including the aforementioned Bryan Adams “Summer of 69′”, Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin”, and the one song I would like to play: Europe’s “The Final Countdown”. Band Hero counters with The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “The Impression that I Get”, Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting”, and the CTY classic “American Pie”, by Don McLean.

These games and their tracklists present me with two dilemmas:

1) I would feel like a corporate sellout playing these songs. At the same time, pop songs are so catchy and they seem like they would be genuinely fun to play, especially with friends or my wife.

2) I really shouldn’t be spending any more money on music games. There are tracks on both discs that I would love to try out, but I can’t shell out $120 on more music games, especially when I’m still planning on picking up Guitar Hero 5 eventually! This is getting out of hand.

In the end, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I don’t even need reviews, I’m pretty sure both games will be much of the same. If I had tweenage kids it probably would be a no-brainer, and I think a lot of families will have fun with these games, but as a solo act…I might have to pass………or not. Bah!