End of the year video game reflections.

As it gets closer to the end of the year, we all start getting bombarded with GOTY and other yearly game awards from all sides. Well this year, I have decided to embrace that sentiment and talk about some of my top games of the year!

This was originally going to be my own game awards list, but as I have been sitting here at work reflecting on the games that I have played, I realized that a large portion of the games I've played in the last 12 months weren't released in 2011. GameFly has helped a lot with the expensive aspect of being a gamer, but I still haven't had time to just blast through everything for the sake of playing each and every amazing game that came out this year. As you may know, I don't like to just blast through a game. Teams of people spend countless hours crafting these experiences, the least I can do is enjoy them thoroughly. Plus, with my career aspirations being what they are, I have starting looking more deeply into games than I used to, trying to identify what design aspects work, what could be improved, what specifically I enjoy and don't enjoy, etc.

I do have some categories, but this isn't going to be nearly as structured as something like the VGAs. Most games that I played were on Xbox 360, so having a Best 360 game category would be ridiculous, and a Best Wii game category would be empty! As the title of this blog post states, this is more of a reflection on some of the great games that I did play that came out this year. Hope you enjoy it!

First, some stats! The Xbox rewards program has introduced a stat tracking system that, among other (mostly pointless) statistics, shows how many hours I have logged on my top 5 games of the last 6 months. Since it only goes back 6 months, something like Portal 2 is not on there. Also, some of the hour counts are skewed by things like falling asleep on the couch while a game was still running or leaving it paused while running to the store. Oh well. Here it is:

#5: Red Dead Redemption - 16 hours

#4: Bayonetta - 17 hours

#3: GTAIV - 24 hours

#2: Fallout: New Vegas - 39 hours

#1: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - 44 hours

So, this list pretty much proved that I have not played enough of the games that came out during 2011! Let's start exploring some of the 2011 games that I actually did play, starting with some of my favorite Downloadable games! This is one area in gaming that was completely saturated with amazing games, and luckily I had lots of "space dollars" (to quote @GarnettLee) to play a good amount of them. Even though it wasn't easy, I will list these in order too.

#5: Stacking

#4: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

#3: Sonic CD

#2: Bastion

#1: Trenched (you may know it as Iron Brigade, but it will always be Trenched to me!)

I know there are more DL games that I have played, and probably some that deserve to be on the list, but these are the ones that stand out most in my mind from 2011.

Next up: notable games that I don't feel like ranking in the top overall list!

Mortal Kombat

Child of Eden

Starfox 64 3D

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Now, before we get into my top games of 2011, I thought it would be fun to mention the games that came out this year that I haven't played yet, but am looking forward too. These are games that would probably be discussed in this blog, either as notable or top of the year, but I haven't had a chance to play yet.

Bulletstorm

Rage

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Assassins Creed: Revelations

Rayman Origins

Dark Souls

Super Mario 3D Land

And probably lots more... Lol. If you don't already, follow me on Twitter and you will be sure to hear about these and other games as I play them.

And now, here are my top 4 picks for favorite game from 2011!! Ranking these was very difficult, but it seems like the thing to do. Quick note about how I decided on these. In my mind, Neal Bauer (@doubleplusgames) had the best criteria for GOTY from the ++goodgames podcast, so I stole it. These are the games that I will look back on as the defining games for 2011 for me.

#4 - Sonic Generations

#3 - Portal 2

#2 - Shadows of the Damned

#1 - El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron

So there you have it! I have already talked a bit about El Shaddai, so go back and read my last post for more info about why I enjoyed it so much.

Here at the end, I would like to throw out some recognition and thanks to several people. First off, to my wife Uriah for playing video games with me and for putting up with me. Big thanks to Sean for his amazing contributions to my collection of games and always chatting about what we are currently playing. Huge thanks to the podcasts that help me stay up on gaming news and keeping me sane while working: ++goodgames, Weekend Confimed, The Indoor Kids, PixelJunk Radio, KOXM, Legacy Music Hour, and PopCast (from PopCap games). I also want to thank my Twitter followers, and everyone who is reading this blog! Thanks you so much!!!

Surgery complete, recovering nicely!

It has been two weeks since I had my ACL reconstructive surgery, and things have been going really well. I have been using my cool new joint brace so I can bend my leg, and every day I can bend my knee a little bit more than the day before. I am almost completely off Percocet, and my pain is manageable with just Ibuprofen.  I am really hoping to get back to work soon!!

The biggest victory is that I am finally mentally back to my old self. After anesthesia and lots of narcotic pain medication, I was stuck in a brain fog that made it difficult to function. I would do things like shower or talk on the phone, and it felt like someone else was doing it, and I was just observing. It was the strangest feeling, and I didn't like it! For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you have probably noticed I haven't been very active, and this is exactly why. All I could do was sit on the couch and watch TV. I tried to play a video game, but it didn't work very well. It is very difficult to control a character in a virtual world when the real world feels virtual. Being back to normal is wonderful though. I can write, tweet, and play video games again. And I am able to help around that house again too, making my wife much happier!

As I mentioned in my last post, I am still overwhelmed with video games, thanks to GameFly and my buddy Sean. I still have the Sly Collection and now El Shaddai from GameFly, and Red Dead Redemption, Catherine, and Batman: Arkham Asylum from Sean. I am really digging El Shaddai right now though! It is on of the coolest games that I have ever played, and I think that it is awesome that a game has finally taken a story from Judeo-Christian mythology and adapted it into a great game. If you haven't tried it yet, go download the demo and play!

It is time for one of our favorite holiday seasons: Halloween! We will be buying pumpkins probably tomorrow, so look forward to some pictures of our carvings soon. Follow me on Twitter to see them first @NinjaPatBeck. Otherwise, I will create a blog post with pictures in the future. Thanks for reading!

Still home, waiting for surgery...

Well, as you can tell from the title of the post, I am still sitting at home, out of work, waiting to go in for surgery on my knee. One month ago to the day, I tore my ACL playing walleyball at a work top performers celebration. Workers compensation makes everything much slower to process than it should normally take. You may think that over a month off work would be awesome, but I have about had it. That is part of why I started this blog; to maintain my sanity. My wife is still  working, so for a large part of the day, 5 days a week, I am stuck at home, mostly immobile, alone. Try it sometime, and you will know why I want to get back to work.

My surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, October 4. During my last visit with the doctor, he explained how they reconstruct a torn ACL. To my surprise, the ACL is not something that can be fixed, so they will be fashioning me a new one. The doctor told me that he will be removing two strands of my hamstring tendon, which doesn't affect or compromise any stability, and using those to replace my now defunct ACL. After hearing that, I was blown away by how cool the human body is, to be able to let a ligament be replaced by a tendon, and have it function as normal.

Here are some picture to show you the fun that I have been having...

This is the night of the injury, after going to the ER. I am in the back of the car while my amazing wife is in the pharmacy, getting my prescriptions filled.

This is also night of injury, at Walmart. We bought a pair of shorts and a pair of track pants for me to wear. It has been a month since I have worn jeans...

On days that Uriah has off work, we have been baking and cooking quite a bit together. Uriah found a really good recipe for clafoutis, and we have made several different kinds. We have also been making a lot of salsa with the produce that we have been getting from Uriah's mother out of their garden. Here are a few pictures to make you hungry:

This is a corn and black bean salsa. The only ingredient that wasn't fresh were the black beans, which we got out of a can. This salsa was gone within 2 days, it was that good!

Raspberry Clafoutis

Peach Clafoutis, using fresh peaches from Uriah's mother's peach tree. They are the best yellow peaches I have ever had in my life.

Aside from cooking and eating, I have been using this down-time to play lots of video games and some reading. So far, I have beat God of War 1 and 2, Child of Eden, Sly Cooper 1, Shadows of the Damned, Bastion, Bayonetta, and Stacking. I am currently playing Sly Cooper 2, God of War 3, Burnout: Crash, Catherine, Red Dead Redemption, Batman: Arkam Asylum, and Final Fantasy 6. I know that it is a lot of games to be playing at once, but I have gamer ADD, so I switch games pretty regularly.

That's all I've got on my mind right now, so I will leave it at that for now. I have opened this posting to comments, so let me know what you think of my blog, or let me know what you would like me to write about with my next post. Thanks for reading!

Intro to Me!

Hello friends and new friends, and welcome to the first post of my first ever blog!  This will be a totally new experience for me, and I hope it will be enjoyable for others to read.  To begin, I would like to write a little bit about myself, so you can get an idea of who I am and what I will be blogging about. I don't have a specific topic that I will be exclusively blogging about, but will rather be writing about me, my life, and my hobbies. That means my blog will talk about my wife Uriah, our miniature Dachshund Remy, video games, cooking, cartoons (both U.S. and anime), graphic novels, and many other random things.

To begin, some basics. In case you didn't realize, my name is Patrick. I am 27 years old, and have been happily married for almost 4 years to my wife Uriah. We have had our dog Remy for 3 1/2 years. I graduated from the University of Utah in 2006 with a B.A. in Japanese. I am currently working in a data processing / customer support position for a large internet company, which has nothing to do with what I studied in college. My goal for a career is to go back to school to study video game design, and make games for a living. I have lived in Utah for my entire life, except for 2 separate months that I spent in Japan for a study abroad program. Before you ask, no, I am not Mormon any more. I was raised in an LDS family, but am no longer a member of any type of religion.

My wife and I love to cook together, and I will probably be writing about what we have cooked fairly frequently, including pictures. Uriah is the better cook between the two of us, but I am a pretty good sous chef. We also enjoy going out to eat and love trying new things, so I will write about our food and restaurant experiences also.

After my wife and dog, my biggest passion in life is video gaming.  I have been playing video games all my life, starting with the Atari 2600 that my family had before I was born. When I was 5, we got an NES for Christmas, and that is what really got me hooked on video games.  One day, I will create a blog post that talks about my favorite games and systems, but I will save that for another time.

That should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect in future posts. I hope that you will enjoy getting to know me through what I have to write!  I will try to add to this blog once or twice a week, but I am not making any promises. Thanks for reading, and I hope you will come back for more!