It seems that my Christmas wish last year came true and we were all blessed with what was arguable the best year of gaming ever. I still have a bunch of great games that I have yet to finish or even start for that matter but the following are the games that left a permanent euphoric imprint on my brain and heart alike. 

Best Sports Title: FIFA 2008 

For those of you who don't know I am a huge sports nut in the non virtual world. The huge leaps gaming has made in the recent years has made my boyhood fantasy of playing as a professional athlete as tangable as it will ever get. I follow many different sports and leagues and the same applies to my gaming habits. 

Pro Evolution Soccer, the previous undisputed heavyweight, has been pumemelled off the number one spot this year and has been replaced my the simply amazing FIFA 08. Also worth a mention is another EA Sports title by the name of NHL 08, which is arguable more fun to play but the fact that ice hockey is not everyone cup of tea drops it to second. 

Best Multiplayer: Call of Duty 4 

On the multiplayer side of things we were swamped with shooters which seem to have taken up camp on the 360. FIFA 08 again seems to offer some fresh online options with 5 vs 5, streaming podcasts and the ability to play seasons with your friends. Halo 3 broke all sorts of records in its maiden week and with Forge Bungie has really thrown down the gauntlet for all future FPS, GRAW 2 offered bucket loads of options in its online mode and although Team Fortress 2 was a massive success on the PC its inferior brethren on the 360 failed to make an impact due to technical issues. 

Put the one game that nailed the whole package for me was Infinity Wards COD 4. It was the one game, outside of the sports realm, that suck its hooks deep into me. It may not offer anything new in terms of pure mechanics but the online set up had be coming back to complete one more challenge or rack up a few more kills as I aim to unlock my next weapon. 

Best Breath of Fresh Air: Portal 

SPOILER -------> Dont listen to if you havent finished the game!! 

 I have been meaning to post a blog entry for a few days now but something happen to me. That something was called Football manager 2008. 

My buddy costas (check out his blog over at www.lostingames.net ) has been telling me about how addictive and crazy the football management series has been for him and his friends for a couple of years now. I have been steering clear of this game for a couple of reasons. 

Firstly I am a huge footie nut and I know a game like this could potentially take over my life. The second reason is not such as scary and a lot more fundamental ...... I dont own a computer. Well I didnt until a few weeks ago when i picked up a macbook. 

Seeing as one of the obstacles had been eradicated that left me to battle with my “rock solid” will power. the thing is I have the same control over my will power as a cold turkey crackhead with a mountain of smack placed before him so I went down to my local game and bought myself a copy of FM 2008. 

Just to let you know the last time I played a football management game it was on my psone! So naturally I was very overwhelmed by all the options that the game gives you. It took me two hours of going through all the menus and sub menus just to understand just how much tinkering was available at my fingertips. 

Naturally I picked to manage liverpool. I love the way the game shows you the match unfold, who would have thought staring at 23 circles would be such fun, and the options given to you to make tactical changes on the fly. 

This game is insane!

With the recent release on the Demo on the Xbox Marketplace I finally got to taste the sweetness of the latest Burnout that everyone has been going on about. But are the new ingredients going to satisfy our hunger for an arcade racer?

You see, Burnout has always been in a league of it's own as it doesn't come under any of the other sub genres of racing games. Its not just about point to point racing, circuit racing, unlocking faster cars, overtaking and it sure as hell aint about braking! Its about ripping up the road, terrorising opponents with takedowns, wrecking your ride, balancing risks / reward, speed and then some more speed.

Over the life of this series the game has traditionally added a new features into its bag of tricks with each iteration. First we had crash mode (awesome) then traffic checking (lame) and finally online play. This year Criterion have taken a page from Atari's Test Drive Unlimited book and opened up the city so you can race against bots or you friends. The line between on and offline has been blurred.

It has stopped being just about driving skill as you now need to know your way around the city and utilise the shortcuts you have discovered while roaming around the Paradise City. I generally dont like these open ending paths as it creates an uneven playing field.

Paradise City is huge and if you get boarded of free roaming you can pull up at any intersection and start up a challenge. You will not find any circuit racing put you will have point to point and a new mode where you have to rack up points in a certain amount of time.

Crash mode has been completely removed. But fear not my young padawans as you now have Showtime mode where you can pull both triggers and basically crash anywhere. Sounds a bit odd to me but I haven't tried it out yet so what do I know right? I also dont know if there will be any other modes.

Showtime Mode and how not to hit a bus

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Yesterday I tackled the now routine sprint from work to the train station while all the other suits in the City stared as I went by. The only difference was it was freezing, and I do mean freezing, cold and I had the "pleasure" of carrying a massive UPS box containing my rejuvenated 360 console. 

I now have the opposite problem to our friend Spidey CY, I have an extra console and I am not sure what I am supposed to do with it. The original plan was to trade it in for £100, get a few extra games and keep my new Arcade console plus my old HD. 

Now I am not so sure, do I keep it for piece of mind? I am sure even the new console will eventually die as it's innards are Falcon chipless? Or do I trade it in towards a PS3, which lets face it still has only 1 - 2 games that lie somewhere between average and AAA greatness in my honest opinion (or IMHO for all you forum vets). 

A nice problem to have but it's still a problem.

Some of you might be aware of my love for the NHL, both the sport as well as the videogame. It's a shame that you guys in Cyprus don't get to watch any games as it really is one of the most fascinating specticals around. Everyone plays with their heart on their sleeve and you will not get any cheating or disrespect from the players. Hasek is one of the games greatest Goalies and at the age of 42 he is still getting the job done for the Detroit Red Wings. Gaborik, a Slovak, who plays for the Minnesota Wild, has proved to be a consistant force to be reckoned with over the last few years but injuries have prevented him from reaching his full potential. This happened a few days ago and I wanted to share it with you guys.

Last night I got a text message from Pure Otaku Costa to call our friend and fellow FGS Spidey CY. I have been half expecting to receive this text for a while now since I know Spidey's 360 is on its last legs. Having experienced first hand the trials and tribulations of going through the three phases of the grieving process, when I lost my 360 a few weeks ago, I would try and comfort our friend by taking him through the below phases.

Firstly we experience a huge amount of disbelief and shock as we frantically switch our console on and off, over and over. But we will only be confronted by those three red lights of death every single time. Unable to come to terms with what has happened we go through feelings of anger, rage, sorrow, apathy and dispair. This is known as the Emotional phase.

Secondly we will experience denial, confusion and a search for answers. We will not know where to turn for support but trust me it is out there. A good starting point would be Microsoft, who run a freephone number for all major countries (sorry Cyprus) and have rolled out a service under the chatchy and appropriately named "Microsoft Support". Here we can initiate our questions, seek coalesce and vent our anger in a focused and controlled environment. This is the Mental phase.

The third and final stage is where we will lose our trust and faith in the higher powers of the gaming world. But do not fear as we will come to accept the fact that we cannot understand their plans and revert to a gradual stabilisation as our replacement console finds its way into our humble abode. This is the Spiritual phase.

Having done all my prep work I made the phone call and it turned out Spidey's console was still working (for now) but he had been banned from the Xbox Live service! Upon further investigation it turned out that he had preformed several account recoveries on his profile.

Microsoft are started banning people who abuse this feature as it is being used to boost Gamerscores and access other gamers saved games. I offered to call Microsoft Support and resolve this issue for Spidey but after being on hold for over 20 minutes I had to hang up to watch Liverpool's crutial Champions League match against Marseille (well done lads!). I will give them another try today though, in the meantime Spidey I would ready myself for your upcoming loss.