Gamers have possibly never seen such a good season for gaming as perhaps this year. Never in my life can I remember a season with so many solid high-quality “must-have” titles.

It all started back on September 16, 2008 with the release of Star Wars: Force Unleashed. A decent title, not the best game ever but a worthy addition to the Star Wars line-up, and it told a relatively decent story arc, in comparison to Episodes I-III anyway. One thing that continutes to depress me is how much Lucas seems obsessed with making Vader a bitch. In either ending to this game the kid comes out of no where and totally hands Vader his own ass on a platter. It just makes the Lukes accomplishment later seem somehow less amazing. I mean, nobody, save the Emperor, should be able to take on Vader. And somehow this kid seems to take them both out, one after another, no problem. And jeez why did it seem like nobody knew what Jedi were in IV with all these Jedi running around killing stuff everywhere.

Anyway, two weeks later we got Fracture. Can’t really say this i a must-have title this year, but in a lesser year it would have been a more than acceptable addition. Then, a week after that on Oct 14, we were blessed with Dead Space, an amazing sci-fi/horror survival game. This game had heart. Amazing atmosphere! Oct 21, Fable 2. A solid update to the XBOX classic (multiplayer is the suck however, why two players over xbox live cant control their own camera is COMPLETELY beyond me, it makes no sense and whoever was in charge of that should be banned from making any decisions in the future…). Also that week we got FarCry 2, which bears little resembalnce to FarCry 1 but whatev, its cool.

Next was the epic Fallout 3. I don’t feel like I have even scratched the surface of this game, and it will probably warrant multiple play-throughs, so its easily going to consume a chunk of next year. November 4th, was got EndWar. I haven’t had a chance to pick this up yet, but I’ve heard good things. Just too many games to play and not nearly enough time. Friday of the same week, Gears of War 2 was released… I posted earlier how I feel about that… Amazing.

This week we got two solid titles that are almost polar opposites of each other. We got CoD: World At War which is all about shooting people and MirrorsEdge which is about shooting no one. I picked up MirrorsEdge today, mostly for Abby because I think she is sick of seeing me shoot things in Fallout and GoW2.

November 17th, a date which I seem to run into more often than I would like to, is the release date for Left4Dead. I’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time now, and am excited to the point of being about to pop that it is so close. This was going to be my big “MUST HAVE” title this year, but damn if I don’t love the hell out of Horde. Finally in early December, things get wrapped up with the new Prince of Persia title.

All I have to say is I’m glad I’m not a kid anymore, and can buy my own games. Because having to come up with a list of one or two games that my parents MIGHT buy me would kill me this season. Ahhh, the small joys of being an adult.

Last weekend I got a chance to pick up Gears of War 2. I’m not that far into the single-player campaign, but thats not because it isn’t a solid improvement over the first (it is). The reason I haven’t dipped much into the single-player campaign is because I’ve fallen in love with Horde multi-player. Unlike most multi-player games where your opponents are always human (and frankly always better than I am), Hoard is a purely co-op multi-player experience. The idea is that you and four of your buddies are in basically arena and you have to hold your position for as long as possible. Simple, but deviously fantastic.

I’ve never felt this level of comradery with a group of total random stranger before. Usually, in team based games (like Team Fortress of the Battlefield series), even though there is a strong emphasis on “team” and working together. I’ve never felt like I really gave a damn if somebody else died. I mean I could be standing right next to a guy and he could take a bullet to the face, and I would think to myself, “Sucks to be him!” Mostly because I knew that 10 to 15 seconds from now he would respawn and it would be cool. No harm, no foul. Just as long as I didn’t die.

Horde is a completely different. The entire atmosphere reenforces the idea that the guy next to you is just as important as you. If one of your guys falls to the enemy, it just makes it that much harder for you to hold your position, and you have to cover more territory, making it even more difficult to stay alive. The thrill of running into a firefight, bullets flying around you, as you try to race against the Horde to get to your fallen teammate is intense.

Yes, intense is about the only word that I can use to describe it. I’m looking forward to getting a match going tonight with Ford, Declan, and Rashaan. It’ll be good times indeed.

Also this week, the Left 4 Dead demo went public (it hits the street mid-next week). Which is also a lot of fun. I will reserve final judgment of the game until after I’ve played the real deal. But so far, it’s going to be tough to edge out Gear of War 2 Hoard mode as the multi-player experience I’ve ever had.

I picked up the new Mario Kart this weekend, and I have to say that I am mostly pleased with it. I don’t have the time to write a proper review yet, nor have I played enough of it that I feel I am qualified enough to say anything definitive about it. A few quick comments though.

Overall, it feels more like sequel to Mario Kart DS than Double Dash. Snaking is more or less out, which I think makes it more balanced for new-comers especially for online matches, but I’ll have to see what its like with some serious competition. Drafting is in from Mario Kart DS, which is great.

The Wii Wheel is surprisingly more responsive than I would have thought. I played all weekend with it and it was a lot of fun. I think as I try to share the precious seconds off my times, I’ll probably switch over to the classic controller or GC controller. But in terms of Nintendo wanting a straight-forward, easy-to-pick-up, rewarding controller option, the Wii Wheel is spot-on for casual gamers.

Playing online is a blast. I hate the need for Friend Codes, but pick up games are fun, lag free, and easy to jump in. I really like the idea of the leader-board for ghost runs. I think its a perfect fit that has been missing from the series for a long time.

My biggest complaint, aside from removing snaking, is the inability to play through the championship cups with two players like you could in Double Dash. I think they really dropped the ball there. But at least you can play two player multi-player.

I’ll try to write a more detailed review later, after I’ve gotten more of chance to play it, and some of my friends have ponied up for it and I can get a better feel for the multi-player.

While I’m trying to finish off a website for a friend of mine, John Hill, and that still is taking top priority in my spare time, those of you who know me, know I teach part time over at ITT. Far from the most glamorous teaching position in the world, but I enjoy it. Free time seems to be more and more of a luxury these days.

Either way, I got into a discussion with my class the other night, and they were talking about how it was suggested before they started school that the college either had on site, or had access to, a mocap facility. After a long discussion about how a mocap studio wont make you better animator, which I firmly believe, I remembered an idea I had several months earlier.

The idea was to try to construct a primitive yet functional motion capture system using mostly off the shelf products. The Wii Remote is little more than a simplified IR 1024×768 camera. The best part is that the Wii Remote does most of the heavy lifting and can keep track of 4 distinct IR light sources. Using multiple Wii Remotes, and a custom build IR suit rig, you should be able to toggle just 4 points on the suit each frame and still get a decent sampling rate across the entire suit.

Last night in class, I started working on a prototype. I’ll post some photos as work progresses.