2008 has been, alternately, a very good and very bad year for video games. On one hand, the artform has never before experienced such widespread acclaim and mainstream appeal. On the other, never before have so many promising games and young, rambunctious studios gone under, thanks to the financial crisis. In this end of year celebration are included two entries per console—one a returning champion, one a new intellectual property, and both are deserving of your attention.

The Nintendo Wii

2008 was not kind for Nintendo's  console that got your parent's into video games—despite having the strongest install base of the three current consoles. Wii was overall ignored by developers and fans, but that didn’t stop it from having two of the most genuinely amazing games of the year call it home.

Newbie –No More Heroes

 One of the first releases of the year was one of the best. The player becomes American looser Travis Touchdown as he scours fictional California slum Santa Destroy for 10 assassins, each more powerful and absurd than the last. Did I mention he does this with a lightsaber? Yes, this is the lightsaber experience of the year… scratch that, century. The game may not have the production value or humanist approach of Grand Theft Auto IV, but what it has is an unstoppably dada sense of humor, fueled by a razor sharp script that rips pop culture a new one, and incredible voice acting. This is the videogame John Waters and Seth Rogen’s love child would make, and the fact that it’s on the most kid-friendly console ever only deepens the irony. 

Returning Champ – Super Smash Brothers Brawl

So what if the online version was a disappointment.  This is still the multiplayer game of the year. Deceptively simple controls hide a deep and complex fighting game where player-controlled Nintendo mascots both popular and obscure beat the living snot out of one another. It may seem a bit graphically lacking, but closer looks reveal nearly infinite amounts of nuance in the fantastic stages, as well as the gigantic roster of characters. The characters themselves are each charming and distinct (even the so-called clone characters) as well as incredibly balanced for such an intense fighting game. Like chess, the game is easy to learn and near impossible to master, and once you’ve mastered enough characters there’s still the shockingly good stage creator for players to sink their teeth into.

The Microsoft Xbox 360

What on earth will the 360 do with the PS3 catching up in terms of sales and no new Halo games to save it? Why, rely on the still-impeccable Xbox Live to keep the headshots (and greenbacks) coming in. Still, 2008 meant two major changes for Microsoft’s plan: one, that console exclusives are no longer the norm, and two, that downloadable games are a rising force in the entertainment industry. The latter is so important, in fact, that the 360 GOTY is downloadable.

Newbie – Braid

This is the game that styled itself to be the silver bullet in the games-are-art revolver. Did it succeed in that regard? Debatable. While this game is exquisitely presented and as polished as a first-party Nintendo game, much of its purported intellectual depth turned out to be fluff. For a game that set out to explore the gender divide inherent to humanity, its sentiments are less than cutting edge. It is, however, still one of the very best 2-D platformers ever encoded, embodying the vest best of Mario, Donkey Kong, and even the Prince of Persia with its time-bending mechanics. In the age of multimillion dollar games ruling the market, it is amazing to see something so lovingly crafted not only available on the cheap, but popular. 

Returning Champ – Far Cry 2

Far Cry 1 was little more than a graphics wankfest with minutiae of tactical shooter tossed in for good measure. It was pretty enough to break computers, but was not actually a very good game—a tradition carried on by its true successor Crysis. Far Cry 2, on the other hand, is a beautiful game with something to say about how we play games, and how we see the world. As a soldier of fortune, the player traverses war-torn and poverty stricken Africa taking up missions for unsavory characters and dispatching rebel factions in an open world. Want to go in guns blazing? Do it. Want to sneak around with minimal resistance? Do it. Want to think long and hard about post-colonialism while you spread the violence? You’re going to end up doing that either way.

The Sony Playstation 3

The Playstation has been a dark horse for this entire generation: an excellent console undermined by its own price tag and lack of excellent exclusive games. Finally that turned around this year. With blu-Ray on the rise and a sudden flood of excellent titles, the PS3 finally has begun living up to the promise of its predecessor. Unfortunately, it still has a bit to do in the online department, but 2008 was definitely the year of the PS3.

Newbie – LittleBigPlanet

Maybe the most revolutionary videogame released this year, certainly the most unique. On the surface LBP seems like nothing more than an excellent platforming game with an unusually adorable main character—and it is. What makes this game a herald of things to come is the emphasis on the player. You make your own character, you make your own levels, you can even make complex machines inside the game and then share them with your friends. Yes it’s only a platformer, but it has infinite charm and perhaps infinite replay value. To an extent this is less of a game than an interactive toy, but what it succeeds in doing is stimulating the imagination through means other than titillation and excess. Quite the feat.

Returning Champ – Fallout 3

The most remarkable of experiences come from the most unlikely sources. This is the long-awaited sequel to a pair of obscure decade-old PC games that appealed solely to the kind of gamer that loves the Sci-Fi Channel. This is something else entirely; it is an entire post-apocalyptic world to explore. Yes, it’s basically Oblivion with guns, but it’s still most definitely worth the plunge, if only for the sheer amount of choices the player can make. This game is actually available on both platforms, but so is Far Cry 2, I placed Fallout 3 for the PS3 because it’s far less of a shooter and far more of an RPG, and thus easier to control on the PS3. But anyone with either console owes it to themselves to give this piece of work a look.

Bargain Bin Game of the Year

PC – Audiosurf

Music games are all the rage now, but with all due respect, neither Rock Band nor Guitar hero are close to a match for Audiosurf. This is not technically a music playing game; rather it is a racing game like Wipeout with a twist. The race courses and gameplay is all perfectly synchronized with MP3’s from your PC, and the result is a pure shot of adrenaline. You only play songs you like, and the experience is never the same twice. No peripherals needed, no plastic guitars or drums, just a keyboard. This is in many ways the ultimate game, and a must-play.