Right now 2010 seems to be shaping up to be one major money drain for gamers. The variety of games seem to have something for everyone. For me, Heavy Rain had some flaws but largely lived up to my expectations. Splinter Cell Conviction is looking like Sam Fisher meets Max Payne which, if so, will be awesome. Speaking of Max Payne, Remedy looks prepared to surpass that series with Alan Wake. Valve has announced Portal 2 for release this year. Halo Reach looks to be at least a solid and potentially outstanding entry in the Halo franchise. Crysis 2 should be a solid follow on to that series. There is even some talk of Gears of War 3 and I'm still hoping for Half-Life 2:Episode 3 news at E3.

Then there are some lesser publicized titles on the horizon - Alpha Protocol, The Secret World, and Singularity. All are games I want to play and some could be major time investments.

But maybe, just maybe, the biggest launch for me this year could be Deus Ex: Human Revolution (aka Deus Ex 3). Deus Ex still stands as my favorite game of all time. An action (or stealth) RPG (shooter) where your choices were reflected in the way NPCs treated you and whether or not some of them were around later in the game. Deus Ex: Invisible War (aka Deus Ex 2) was a good game that I enjoyed but there were flaws. It was simplified from Deus Ex and it attempted to incorporate all the endings from the original game. So I'm nervous about Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the following is just a teaser. But I'm starting to get excited (the Icarus imagery doesn't hurt) and this game is the one I most want to learn more about when E3 comes around.

"If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

Portal has updated on Steam. According to the press release they "Added Valuable Asset Retrieval." What does this mean? Well, the ending has changed. For those who might be playing Portal/The Orange Box on the 360 and not Steam here's the video.

Can you say Portal 2? I'm sure you can (hopefully packaged with a certain other anticipated Valve title).

UPDATE: After thinking about this, Valuable Asset Retrieval sounds like something from the G-Man (doubt I'm the first that thought of this) though it may be Aperture Science. Opinions?

Still my most anticipated game for 2010 (at least until Half-Life 2:Episode 3 is officially announced).

In two previous posts (first and second) I have detailed out eight of my top ten most memorable PC Games of 2000-2009. There are some wonderful games and experiences but the two games listed here are the best from the last ten years.

But before I get to those, let's address the elephant in the room, or not in the room as the case may be - Left 4 Dead 2. The original Left 4 Dead is number five on my list and I have stated that Left 4 Dead 2 is as good as if not better than the original. Has my opinion changed? How could Left 4 Dead 2 not make this list? The answer, really, is simple. It has not (primarily) been a PC game for me. To this point I've spent much more time on the X-Box 360 version of Left 4 Dead 2. I've been trying to rectify that a bit this week but with the hours I've put into L4D2 on the 360 it will take some time. So as time has progressed I've grown to like L4D2 more than L4D. But it doesn't belong on this list (at least not yet).

(I'm not always fond of IGN's reviews but I think they got L4D2 right.)

My top two are after the jump.

The following video is of Jonathan Coulton (the Still Alive writer) doing his song Your Brains which is on the jukeboxes scattered around L4D2 levels. It's sweet.

In my previous post I listed numbers 10-6 of my top ten memorable PC games from 2000-2009. These were:

10. Doom 3
9. Crysis
8. Audiosurf
7. Portal
6. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines

These are great titles that speak volumes about the quality of the remaining five. Before I list those, however, I'd like to briefly mention three games not on this list. Two are the Pop-Cap games Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies. While both are great games and provide hours of fun, they are not memorable in the way these other games are. Still they are great games and I would recommend them to many people I would not recommend these other games to. Far Cry 2 has was also a great game and has one of the best payoffs of any game I've played. It falls just short of making this list.

This video is the start of that payoff. Warning, this scene is a major spoiler for Far Cry 2.

Three of the top five most memorable PC games after the jump.

If you listen to some video game analysts PC gaming has been dying longer than a B-actor in low budget western. So what were the last ten years like for PC gaming? Clearly it was not the dominant platform it had been in the 1990's when first person shooters and real time strategy ruled much of the game market and were almost exclusive to the PC. While the PC is still the home of the RTS that and MMOs are about the last genres where the PC is the base platform. Consoles have become the first home of the FPS and most other genres. 

So why do I still consider myself primarily a PC gamer? I play a lot these days on the 360 and own a PS3. Am I just hanging on to past glory? I don't think so. The following ten titles that were released over the last ten years provided many memorable experiences for me on the PC. Not all of these are PC exclusives, but generally speaking given the choice between a game controller and a mouse and keyboard, I'll take the mouse and keyboard every time.

10. Doom 3

Doom 3, released in August 2004 on PC (8 months later on XBox), was a re-imaging of the original Doom story. While many of the locations and characters were based on the original game, there were significant changes from what little story existed in the first Doom. While Doom 3 would not be as revolutionary as the original Doom, it was still a great game and I had a lot of fun romping around with some old friends, even if they did look a lot different in this game.

Doom 3 was a true PC FPS, and yes there really is a difference. I love Halo and it's successors, but they are console FPSs. Halo didn't translate into as good of an experience on the PC just as, I imagine, Doom 3 didn't translate well onto the consoles. There is a pacing and feel to a PC that, so far at least, is unmatched on the consoles. Which is not to say console FPSs are inferior just different. (more after the jump)

There is a Left 4 Dead 2 game night scheduled Saturday to try to get The Real Deal achievement (complete an expert run with realism turned on), one of two achievements I still need for L4D2. The last time we tried we had a good run and there's a good chance they could pick it up Saturday. But I will not be there.

Saturday night starting at 8:15 Eastern the Indianapolis Colts will face the Baltimore Ravens in an NFL playoff game. This will obviously overlap The Real Deal run. The Colts are my favorite professional football team - Indy's just 30 minutes up I-74 from me. But I will not be watching this playoff game either.

Saturday night Ellis Paul is playing in Indianapolis. I suspect the crowd will be down with the football game going on. But I've seen Ellis live before and those of us that choose to go to the concert as opposed to watching the game will not likely be disappointed with our choice. Here's a small sampling.

If you're interest is piqued at all, there is another video after the jump.

So in the previous posts on Left 4 Dead 2 the one question that hasn't been addressed so far is perhaps the most basic one for a video game, is it fun? Yes it is. Some of the elements that can make the game fun to play will be shown below along with some discussion of similar items that make the game an enjoyable experience.

(Weren't you on a rocket the last time I saw you?)

L4D2 is definitely a Valve game and continues Valve's tradition of putting tongue-in-cheek humor into the game. In none of the movies is this more apparent than in Dark Carnival. Three achievements in the level relate to playing carnival games. The most Valve like of these is the Guardin' Gnome achievement, where you win a gnome for scoring high enough on a shooting game then have to carry the gnome around through the remaining scenes and help it escape at the end. This is of course homage to The Little Rocket Man achievement from Half-Life 2: Episode 2.

I have always shunned attempting The Little Rocket Man achievement in Half-Life 2. It seemed rather pointless and out of character for that series. But on an easy run through (PC version) of Dark Carnival I decided to pick up the little guy and see if I could get him to the end. There was something rather unique, and fun, about carrying the gnome through the map and beating clowns to death with it (and yes Moxxi, that probably does make me a little twisted). Maybe I'll have to make another run through HL2:EP2.

A lot has been said around Talking about Games (TAG) about Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2) recently, from the review by Patrick to the discussion on the Talking about Gamers Game of the Year discussion (Episode 27). Many negative things have been said about the game, particularly in respect to the original Left 4 Dead. This review will respond to those criticisms, in many cases offering an alternative perspective.

Let me start by acknowledging that both Patrick, Robbie, and Forgetfool (didn't play much with the other members of the Talking about Gamers podcast so I'm not sure about their time with L4D) put a lot of time into L4D so their opinions can in no way be described as uninformed. However, I don't agree with many of their opinions so this will serve as a response from someone else who has spent a lot of time with L4D and L4D2.

(Did Valve let it all go south with Left 4 Dead 2?)