PixlBit

This year has been a crazy year for video games. Many blockbuster titles came out, which only added to the insane list of games that I already own. I played a ton of them, and managed to finish a good amount of them too. My backlog still grows by the month, but this year I completed a great amount. Im just gonna run down a few games I finished, and also mention a few that I almost got through, which I may try to get around to in 2012. Anyway lets start this off!

Hey Guys! First off, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to everyone! I hope everyone's gaming needs are being satisfied this holiday if they havn't already. I know personally I was lucky enough to play a bulk of the huge titles of the year as they came out, so I'm using this Christmas to pick up a few games that I've missed out on. First off is the highly adored Team Ico Collection, featuring Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. I'm definitely looking forward to playing this after hearing so many good things about the game over the years. I hear the HD makeover did it a great justice which is good to know. Ill probably start it early next year, because for now I have a couple of other games on my plate, like AC: Brotherhood (which i've backlogged for over a year atm) and a title that I'll be talking about in a bit. Next off is a game that I tried to beat off of a rental, but was too sidetracked and couldn't finish and that game is Enslaved. I know that its not the best game in the world, but the characters and the world were pretty  interesting, and I enjoyed what they were doing with the story. On top of that, something about it gives me a refreshing feeling, perhaps its my affinity for action adventure titles. Not only that, but it was about 9 bucks on amazon, so I figured "why not?"

So 2011 is drawing to a close and what a year it has been for video games. We got a new portable, a slew of new interface changes for existing consoles and tons...let me emphasize TONS of great games. All year we gamers were bombarded with fantastic games of all genres. I doubt that there are any gamers that didn't get what they wanted...(unless you're a hardcore Playstation Move gamer...). Now we are in December and pretty much the gaming year is over. All the major releases have come out and now its time for us to start anticipating the games of next year. Based off of that, I already feel like theres enough reason for me to be tight on money well into next year.

Last night, I caught myself on youtube listening to select tracks from the Baten Kaitos OST. While the game is hardly popular, and not to mention about five years old, the game(and its sequel) hold up for a few reasons but one of those has always been its fantastic OST. Baten Kaitos had music in it that completely added to the package of the game. The music sounded calm when necessary, and cool when it wanted to be and it worked. Not only that, but a lot of the songs carry a ton of weight emotionally, which further helped me and even other players connect with the story, world and characters. Listening to some of these songs got me thinking, and one huge factor that is often undermined is the original soundtrack of a game, and how it creates a bond between the gamer and the game itself. The Baten Kaitos series will always be one of my favorite series of all time and the amazing sountrack that Motoi Sakuraba composed is part of my reason for that.