What was your favorite gaming memory this year?

R. LeFeuvre:

When I bought Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the US release of a Japanese Game Boy Advance game called Gyakuten Saiban, I really just thought I was getting a quirky Japanese that would give me some interesting, fresh gameplay. That, quite often, is enough for me... but Phoenix Wright ended up being one of the best games I've ever played. It's the first game in ages I've literally laughed at and it held my attention even stronger than Shadow of the Colossus. When Phoenix Wright came out I was purchasing portable titles to play on my hour long train rides to school and back, but the courtroom drama ended up being far too addicting -- I was completely unable to wait for those opportunities. My poor clients weren't going to be proven innocent without my help and I'm sure my teachers would understand the severity of the situation:

"I'm sorry my homework assignment is not done but I had to cross-examine a parrot all night."

That week of non-stop lawyer action was the best gaming week in 2005. Hey Nintendo, I'm ready for Gyakuten Saiban 2 to be brought to the US. Sure, I hate that damn logo, but the game is nearly flawless. I can't wait until I've forgotten most of the stories so I can pick it up again and play it from the beginning anew.

D. Riley:

Shadow of the Colossus is maybe not only the best gaming experience of this year, but of the past five even. Better than Ico? I should say so! The sheer feeling of exhilaration as you gallop your horse alongside the descended wing of the giant sandworm was exceeded only by the terror in the moments between your death defying leap and the feeling of relative safety as you cling desperately to the now-active wing as the worm takes to the skies again. I showed many non-gaming friends Shadow of the Colossus and all were amazed. The game was like a series of cinematic moments, but not lame cinematic moments like the 45 minute Metal Gear Solid cut-scenes where the guy is dead but he's not really dead and it's all a simulation in Raiden's head and the Colonel is a robot but also a butterfly (and you're naked). In this game you can actually PLAY the movie, and the brief interlude with the sandworm was just ONE in a series of amazing "wow" experiences the game had to offer.

G. Turner:

A simple as it is, yelling 'OBJECTION!' and 'TAKE THAT!' into my DS microphone to present evidence in Phoenix Wright was probably my most favorite and fun-laden memory this year. It's so silly, yet stern and forceful that I briefly felt like it was OK to use my voice to control a video game character.

What was your most unpleasant gaming memory of 2005?

R. LeFeuvre:

Lost in Blue. Maybe I just don't "get it" but the idea of running around a small island to keep my stomach full of food and my body full of water is just not fun. The worst situation I ended up in, and the one that finally caused me to quit playing, was when I was prevented from going back home because of a high tide. I eventually died of dehydration because my guy wouldn't wade through three feet of salt water.

D. Riley:

Remember the best time you ever had sex? That was like Devil May Cry 1 for me. Explosive, active, people were doing cartwheels and shooting guns off and stuff. It was an experience! Now imagine the first time you had sex. It was sort of clumsy and awkward and very nondescript, and you knew all the pieces went together a certain way but you couldn't get it just right.You do a whole lot of moves you think are SUPER cool, but the girl's just left staring at you at the end of the night and you kind of blush and sheepishly admit that you've got a strange brain disorder. Well that's Devil May Cry 3. It's a game that shows a heck of a lot of promise, but stalwartly refuses to live up to its pedigree. Apparently ridiculous nonsense like weapons made out of electric guitars and driving a motorcycle up the SIDE OF A BUILDING and then proceeding to use said motorcycle as NUNCHUCKS is what passes for "cool" in this day and age. Forget about it. I miss the Dante that would say "Flock off feather face" and start the sweet boss battle against the giant bird monster. I also miss when almost every enemy in the game wasn't a grim reaper with ONE attack.

G. Turner:

There were so many unpleasant memories, it's hard to choose only one! There was the utterly monotonous lock picking in Still Life, several more-than-painful battles in Soul Calibur III, the whole debacle that was Game On, all are contenders for my most unpleasant gaming memory of the year. But yet, one moment (or series of moments) rises above them all and they're all in Indigo Prophecy. Let's face it: the story is a mess. The fact that the third act spirals into bizarro-Matrix territory should come as no surprise to gamers (and critics) - just look at the content of the first two acts! The ominously shrouded group coupled with the UFO in the military bunkers indicated that madness would lay ahead, and not the good, psychologically motivated psychoses we all know and love. Sitting through the ludicrous fisticuffs, the larger-than-life imaginary bedbugs chasing after our hero, having to endure the awful, mind-searingly hollow sex scenes and hearing the pseudo-urban jive talk of Tyler Miles just made me sigh, shake my head out of disappointment and wish I was playing something else entirely. Given the potential shown in Indigo Prophecy's visual storytelling, having the story ring completely hollow was a severe disappointment, and terribly unpleasant.

What were you most surprised by in 2005?

R. LeFeuvre:

HOLY CRAP! THERE'S SEX IN SAN ANDREAS! You know, when the whole thing began I really thought it was a player created hoax. I couldn't fathom Rockstar North being that stupid.

But they were! Then there were the Action Replay codes for the PS2 version, the nude patches to make the sex even more "fun" (which was then misreported as being part of the original content by much of the press) and the eventual attacks on the ESRB. I don't think things could have went any worse, seeing as it cost Rockstar millions of dollars and, on a larger scale, hurt both the reputation of the ESRB and the game industry as a whole. Just what it needed.

It really saddens me to think that more people will remember 2005 for this "scandal" than either of my two favorite games of the year. But at least now we all have a great excuse if we ever get caught with a hooker: video games made us do it!

D. Riley:

In Japanese culture there's a submissive pose called the "dogeza" which, as far as I understand, basically means "You're a cool dude and I owe you one." Resident Evil 4 came out and it was nothing like its predecessors. In fact, the gameplay was so different than the average fellow wouldn't even be able to tell it was part of the franchise, containing purchasable items, (slightly) less clumsy controls, an ample supply of healing herbs! Resident Evil 4 is Capcom's dogeza to the videogame community. They're saying they're sorry for ten years of survival horror games with tank controls and a total lack of ammo, and the sixteen dozen other copycats that Resident Evil spawned. While there are people like me that still cling to the old ways, this was a stroke of pure genius as far as I'm concerned. They might have just breathed life into a dying franchise. Here's hoping Resident Evil 5 will be equally as awesome!

G. Turner:

The Nintendo DS was my surprise of the year. Within a matter of months it went from yawn-worthy to a must-have, thanks to titles like Kirby: Canvas Curse, Zoo Keeper, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and my favorite underrated game of the year, Trace Memory. The majority of my gaming in the latter half of the year had taken place on this delightful little machine and, with a few minor exceptions, all of it was been positive. What's even better is that 2006 looks just as bright, with my future acquisitions of the quirky art project Electroplankton, the magnificent rhythm game Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, Worms: Open Warfare, Tetris DS and more.

What were you disappointed by most in 2005?

R. LeFeuvre:

When I started my education at the Art Institute of California - San Francisco, I started up a design journal. In it I would scrawl ideas for possible video game ideas that later, when the need arose for a homework assignment, I could pull from. One of my favorites was game set in an ER where you played as a doctor. The player would use the mouse (or a Tablet/Pen) and draw mouse gestures to perform the surgeries, draw zig-zags to do a suture, drawing lines to slice open the body, following paths to cut out tumors... it was a sure winner. Imagine my surprise later when not one but two games were announced for the DS that did this exact thing. I figured I had better try out the games so I could at least see if the idea I had sketched out had any merit.

The second of these two games came out in the US this year: Trauma Center. Right off the bat it seemed great, what with it's fun characters and quick-action surgeries sections. Too bad that quickly turned into five minute frustration tests, where each surgery was less about using mouse gestures and logic and more about twitch gameplay and luck. For a game which had content similar to something I would myself put in a game, it was an incredible let down.

For the curious, the other surgery game was a Japan release called Kenshuii Tendo Dokuta and it came out in 2004. The prognosis for that game was even worse: each stage required you to wander around the hospital in order to trigger dialog in the correct order before any operation could begin. There was about one part surgery for every 50 parts story. For a surgery game, that's not good.

Maybe it's good that my own hospital game designs went a completely different direction... these doctor games blow.

D. Riley:

I am not a reading expert, I don't go out of my way to pick up that sort of thing. But I have spent a boring day of work or two mulling over the old tomes of H.P. Lovecraft. I don't claim to be an expert or anything, but I do know that it's relatively against the ideas of the mythos to kill a giant, ancient god-type thing. And that's not the only thing wrong with the recently released Call of Cthulhu! But apparently I'm the only person in the entire internet that thinks this way. This was even more disappointing than the lackluster game that bears Lovecraft's name. There's no accounting for taste, I guess... but I don't see how a game with such poor polish could get such high marks in the gaming community. Being "not as bad" as other Lovecraft-ian adaptations doesn't really equate to Call of Cthulhu being the kitten's mittens. Forget them, I still say that Eternal Darkness was a better Lovecraft-ian game. At least that one was FUN.

G. Turner:

Apart from the DS, this just wasn't a fantastic gaming year for me. Soul Calibur III would have been a big disappointment if I hadn't already felt let down by Soul Calibur II, Burnout Revenge soured me a bit on the franchise and Trauma Center's sense of the fantastic tarnished an otherwise quality game. But ultimately, it was the Game On exhibit that proved to be most disappointing, if for no other reason than I had been longing to experience it for years, ever since I heard of the first exhibit's existence. Sadly, instead of the wondrously enlightening trip through gaming history I had hoped for, I ended up wading through a garishly designed array of emulated games and factually incorrect placards. Hopefully the upcoming Game On 2.0 will outshine this preliminary exhibit, but I'm not holding my breath.

What game, or gaming moment did you regret missing out on this year?

R. LeFeuvre:

After all the wait to grab GTA: Liberty City Stories for the PSP I still haven't played the multiplayer games. It's the number one reason I bought the game! Sure, GTA on the go is fabulous, and if I was on the go more, I'm sure I would have near 100% in the game by now, but without the multiplayer experience I feel totally gypped.

I went to a school full of people that want to make games for a living and I wasn't able to find a single person that had the game. I almost regret buying the game... maybe I can trade it in for the PS2 version.

D. Riley:

It is no secret that I am in love with lawyers. I watch enough Law & Order every week that it could legitimately count as a part time job. But I would never let anyone pay me to watch Law & Order. The snide witticisms of Jerry Orbach (god rest his soul) or more than enough for me. There's just something about me and courtroom drama that strikes a curious chord. It's sad, I know, but a guy's gotta have his hobbies! The Nintendo DS is something I still don't have in my possession and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney just sours the deal. Late at night I'll thrash out of my blankets, sit straight up and scream "OBJECTION!!" in some sort of misguided attempt at sublimating my needs. But there is nothing... nothing but a yearning desire to experience my own lawyering successes and failures.

Maybe this year DS, maybe this year.

G. Turner:

Lumines. I'm a big fan of puzzle games and an even bigger fan of rhythm games, so for Tetsuya Miziguchi, one of my favorite developers, to merge the two into an unique PSP experience certainly piqued my interest. Unfortunately when I saw the PSP launch with very little else of any interest, I had to sadly sit on the sidelines, hoping that I could find an additional game to give me a good excuse to buy the handheld. Sadly, 2005 never delivered that game so my life remains Lumines-less.

What gaming moment will you remember years from now?

R. LeFeuvre:

Shadow of the Colossus: Fighting 'Number 13'. The giant majestic flying one from the desert. With air sacks. You know, THE AWESOME ONE! You shoot that last air sack to bring this giant dude to your level and then must leap to his 'air flippers', which drag though the sand. It's exactly like catching a runaway train... except this one lives... at least until you drive your magical sword into it's most sensitive of places. I will never forget that first leap, standing on the saddle of my horse at full speed, grabbing onto one of his flippers and hearing the score kick in.

Too bad the rest of the leaps I had to make onto the bastard were far more frustrating.

D. Riley:

G. Turner:

Arguably not a gaming moment, but a general feeling: the sense of scale & sadness that Shadow of the Colossus conveyed. If I had to break that down into moments, well, there's the first moment I really stared into a colossus's eyes. It was the horse-like colossus who just sort of looked at me, a bit bored and a bit inquisitive that I realized 'there's more to this creature than meets the eye'. Let's not forget the scale - not only the impressive stature of the colossi, but also of the hauntingly desolate landscape. Then there's entire beautifully melancholy ending and how it all loops back to the opening screen.

I have more than a few nits to pick with Shadow of the Colossus, but now after having a few months to reflect on my experience I can't help but look back in awe at the feelings the game evoked. Regardless of the problems I had actually playing the game (robbing me of the joy my fellow co-writers experienced with some of the colossi), the sum of the moments are more than enough to keep the game seared into my memory for years to come.