Publisher: Konami
Developer: Zombie Studios
Genre: Survival Horror
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

If it’s Halloween, it must be Saw. At least, that’s how the movie taglines have gone over the last few years as each successive Trick r’ Treat season found a new installment in the popular torture yarn slicing its way through the multiplex. Having received a copy of Saw II for review just before Thanksgiving, I fired up the game with hopes that it would teach me a few new ways to carve my turkey. At the very least, I’d find some innovative methods to extract that carefully implanted stuffing. We already know there will be blood, so the question is, will there be compelling gameplay too?

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Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Electronic Arts
Genre: Family/Party
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

In our text-crazed world, family game nights have become a faded relic of the past. Sure, a walk through your local Toys R’ Us will yield ample evidence that the board games we grew up with as kids are still enjoying shelf life. But they’re usually busted out for special occasions, and even then, Rock Band and Dance Central often command the living-room stage. So game developers look to the ever-popular digital playground to breathe new life into those golden oldies, presenting us with compelling new reasons to gather around the tube and get our game on. It’s this strategy which EA employs in Monopoly Streets.

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Publisher: Activision
Developer: Eurocom
Genre: First Person Shooter
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

The cult of Goldeneye is a strange one. For all intents, the original N64 version never should have succeeded. It was a licensed game, released a year too late because of development issues on a misunderstood platform that was using cartridges when the industry had moved on to disc-based media. In those tween years of video gaming, shooters were the bastion of the PC world, which looked down upon every sophomoric attempt made for the lower-class home console crowd. But Nintendo held a wild card in Rare, a British-based third-party developer that shared the Big N’s commitment to exhaustive quality control and expert game design. Both houses were dedicated to releasing products only when they had been fine-tuned towards one unwavering goal – providing a fun gameplay experience. And like Mario Kart before it, Rare’s Goldeneye 007 pushed sales of extra controllers like few other games, with a compelling four-player split-screen multiplayer mode that offered the next best alternative to a home-based LAN party. More than a decade later, Activision hopes to celebrate this nostalgia by bringing James Bond back to the company that first gave him that coveted license for virtual kills.

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Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega
Genre: Racing
Rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now

In that past age when Nintendo ruled the console roost, Sega arguably held sway over the arcade. While Nintendo busted its mojo to create real magic through their Mario series, Sega was demonstrating that they could also work real wizardry through their arcade circuitry, churning out bright, colorful entertainments that screamed loud and clear from across a crowded bowling alley, compelling players to drop one more quarter. And while arcades never morphed into the bizarre futurescapes teased by Tron, Sega’s legacy lived long as gamers waxed nostalgic for that impressive series of addictive amusements that dominated the tail end of the 1990s. Their Dreamcast might have proven the last gasp for these games, but now that current console owners have virtual storefronts at their finger tips, Sega has a new pipeline to bring that arcade experience back home. It’s time to take Crazy Taxi for a spin again.

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Publisher: DreamBox Games
Developer: DreamBox Games
Genre: Action-Adventure
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now

As a child of the 80’s, the particular brand of action-adventuring pioneered by the Metroid and Zelda series is melded to my marrow. The way to my heart is paved through a tricky expanse of puzzling caverns that can only be surmounted by locating mystic artifacts which in turn unlock new pathways. At least, that’s what I tell my wife. It’s a game design that’s timeless in its ability to juice our inquisitive nature – with each new power up offering a chance to finally get our hands on that precious missile expansion or treasure chest that once dangled just out of reach. And it’s that nostalgia that drives many indie darlings, including last year’s Super Metroid homage, Shadow Conspiracy, and one that developer DreamBox Games employs in their new WiiWare release, Robox.

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Publisher: Scholastic Interactive
Developer: Scholastic Interactive
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

As a parent, I’m called upon to spy a lot of arcane minutia, with my precious little daughter using almost every situation we find ourselves in as perfect fodder to train my brain. In reply to her inquisitive “Daddy, I spy something red,” I hand her a laundry list of items, from a friendly neighborhood ladybug to a squished ketchup packet. “Nope—it’s those little red lines in your eyes.” That’s right, those stinging crimson rivers surging through my optical orbs are nothing but child’s play to my little princess. That being said, the hunt for hidden objects remains a tantalizing prospect for us adventurous gamers, who stare at a monitor for hours hoping to ferret out a carefully concealed platypus hidden in a bed of bottlecaps—a pastime that Scholastic Games looks to explore with their latest Wii release, I Spy: Spooky Mansion.

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It’s that time of year again, when wishful lists are dutifully drafted before being checked and rechecked. That’s Santa’s job, you might argue, but I can’t leave anything to chance. Not in a household where, years ago, my wife quit frowning at the litany of digital bauble that dotted my list and began using common sense to appeal to my better nature. Did we really need a fifth 360 when a new dishwasher was demanding its way in? So, I stared down at my sweet little angels (my little boy Colin and daughter Aria) and realized quite quickly that these wee elves might be able to cobble the game carts I desire.

“Hey, I have no idea why Aria squeezed New Vegas in between The Littlest Pet Shop and Princess and the Frog discs, but look at that sweet little face. Do you really want to say no to that?”

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Every year, as we close the calendar and look ahead to the next, we dream about what enchantments wait in the new year. Hell, with game developers delaying their big holiday titles with greater frequency, we have no choice but to wait, our eyes and minds teased with images of the next new “hotness,” while knowing that our thumbs will soon ache once that title finally goes gold.

Last year I took a different tack, opting to highlight a game that I was dying to play, but fearful that it wouldn’t measure up. I chose Bioshock 2, the follow-up to my favorite game of 2007 (and in my list of All Time Faves for this Decade). I knew Ken Levine wasn’t at the helm, and everything I saw simply gave me a sense of déjà vu. Been there. Done that.

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Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios
Developer: Disney Interactive Studios
Genre: Music
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now

YouTube was seemingly invented for times like these. With so many music-rhythm games on the market, it’s inevitable that grown game critics like myself are going to find their aspirations toward higher office dashed when leaked footage of our best Taylor Swift imitation goes viral. That said, there is a huge market for these karaoke jams and its one that Disney Interactive has mined successfully, giving the same fans that made stars out of the High School Musical kids a chance to exercise their pipes in the popular series, Disney Sing It. The latest release, Pop Hits, provides some new tracks to warble the night away.

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Publisher: Konami
Developer: MercurySteam
Genre: Action-Adventure
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

In a generation when so many beloved 8-bit properties have made the leap to the third dimension, revitalizing their brand and teaching gamers new tricks while showcasing their fancy new looks, it’s quite jarring that the venerable Castlevania series has stumbled hard whenever it has stepped aside from its usual 2D platforming action. That damned third dimension has haunted the series like a grim specter, cackling madly each time some foolhardy developer has dared to take a Belmont to the big time – with notable failures marring the series on the N64 and PS2. And while the games have lived long off their 2D Metroidvania design, producing a series of stellar items for the handhelds, their big brothers demand something more. Usually the news that Konami is at it again would leave fanboys laughing maniacally in the dark, but the addition of Kojima Productions, as a guiding light to developer MercurySteam, has made Castlevania: Lords of Shadow one of the most anticipated titles of this holiday season.

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Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
Genre: Platformer
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

Sonic the Hedgehog is the MC Hammer of gaming. In the mid-1990s, the blazing blue hedgehog blasted onto the scene and dared Mario to keep up. After fumbling for years, Sega finally captured lightning in a bottle, producing a star character they could send toe-to-toe with Mario and crafting a game that measured up to the classic Nintendo action-platform design while in some ways sprinting well beyond it. Mario and Sonic ran neck and neck in the early part of the decade, but eventually hubris kicked in. Following a successful series of inventive sequels, Sega lost its way and began sending Sonic down some perilous paths, and when the time came to leap into the third dimension, Mario stuck the landing while Sonic floundered. Somewhere around the time the rodent went “gangster” and started packing a piece, it was obvious he’d hit rock bottom. All it took was a cameo appearance by the speedster, flying by some familiar looking emerald environments at this year’s E3, to remind players why they chased the hero in the first place. With Sega’s first installment in their new digitally-distributed release, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Sega hopes to set him back on the right track.

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Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA Montreal
Genre: Sports
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now

Boomshakala!!! If there’s any phrase that brings me back to midnight marathons spent in my college dorm hunkered around the Sega Genesis and a Multitap; it’s that infectious rallying cry that signaled another monster jam by my dynamic duo of Bill Clinton and Shaquille O’Neill. NBA Jam may have been a mainstay of every early-90’s era arcade, movie theater and bowling alley but it was the home edition and its casual pick-up-and-play game mechanics that solidified the title’s stance as one of the all time greats. Like its kissing cousin, the Midway-produced Mortal Kombat, these titles changed the industry – turning their home console launches into marquee events and bringing more people into the gaming fold. This brought sports games to the masses; making it accessible to anyone who could jockey a control pad and a few measly buttons. Looking to tap into that nostalgia, EA Sports has raided the vaults and handed NBA Jam another shot at the big time.

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Publisher: Konami
Developer: Climax
Genre: Action-Brawler
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now

What hath Pokemon wrought? Ever since Nintendo’s vast menagerie of collectible critters hit the retail space, game and toy developers have worked overtime to pair collectible figures with the trading card craze. It seems everyone is looking to capitalize on the pre-teen appetite for destruction which can only be met by collecting as many critters as possible and setting ‘em on each other in mortal combat. Enter, Gormiti: The Lords of Nature – a new Wii title based off the collectible card and action figure series.

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Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sonic Team
Genre: Action/Platformer
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

If ever there was a video game console crying out for the E! True Hollywood Story treatment, it’s arguably the Sega Dreamcast. Released in 1999 – poised to get the next-gen jump on the successor systems from Sony and Nintendo – the Dreamcast burned brightly before flaming out in unspectacular fashion. Boasting a launch day line-up that included arcade perfect ports (and some say better) of Crazy Taxi and Soul Caliber, the Dreamcast attracted the Sega fan base but did little to sway the legions of Nintendo fanboys and Sony loyalists. While the system offered the best visuals on the market and some nifty innovation, including the forward thinking VMU (Virtual Memory Unit) device – it wasn’t enough to keep Sega in the game and with that system’s demise, Sega said goodbye to hardware development. Not that they didn’t try their hardest to make an indelible impression – following the old maxim “Live Fast and Leave a Good Looking Corpse” – and who better to sell that ideal than their speedy mascot in his Next Gen debut, Sonic Adventure.

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Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Bungie
Genre: First Person Shooter
Rating: Mature
Release Date: Available now

It’s pretty safe to say that without the support of Master Chief, Microsoft never would have soldiered this deep into the console wars. Bungie’s much-lauded launch title, Halo, arguably did as much to evolve the console-based first person shooter as Goldeneye did for the prior generation, and it helped put the Xbox in a nice strategic footing. While Microsoft wouldn’t win the last round, Bungie’s expert blend of run-and-gun shooting with cinematic narrative beats had many gamers looking at the beloved PS2s and for the first time, giving serious thought to defecting to the other side. Two sequels, a side story, and an entire cottage industry later – Bungie has returned to send their beloved property off with a fitting swan song. Halo will continue but under new guardianship. As these forerunners take their show on the road, pointing their eyes towards multi-platform development, the talent at Bungie offers one final take on the mythos – plunging headfirst into the Reach.

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