My Top 10 Video Games of 2013

This year was a great year for video games. Many great titles we released and many were delayed into 2014. But with that in mind, 10 games captured my attention this year and felt that I should at least speak my mind on the subject. So, thanks to Lex, here are my top ten video games for the year of 2013. But first, let's name the honorable mentions!

Honorable Mentions

1. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time - Sly returned this year with a big bang after many years of being away from Sony and a good game deserves to be mentioned. Sly and his band of thieves travel back in time to help restore his family book by helping his ancestors in the past.

2. Payday 2 - Probably one of the only games me and my friends play online on Steam, it's the sequel to the popular heist game where you work together to rob a bank and try to make out with the loot.

3. Ducktales: Remastered - Being that I never grew up playing the game, it was a nice feeling to play such a classic and makes me wish I grew up in the time of great games of the past.

4. Fire Emblem Awakening - Probably one of the finest RPG games to be currently released on the 3DS, I'm not a fan of the series but the game is that good.

5. Tomb Raider - The return of a different Lora Croft has sparked many gamers minds and this is a fine return for our fem hero.

And now, on to the list!!!!

10. SimCity - Ah yes, the game that caused a lot of problems at launch and even with posts about always being online, the game in itself is very fun and I still enjoy it many months later. While I have a few things I want from it, it's still deserving on my list for trying.

9. Game Dev Tycoon: Probably one of the more surprising games I played this year, I supported the team with my own copy of the game and getting a few Steam game when it was released a months ago. A fun game about becoming the man behind making games, this is still one of my favorite games to pass the time.

8. Injustice: Gods Among Us - A fighting game that takes our favorite DC Superheroes against each other, it has a great story and the fighting is great. Nothing really over the top but just enough that you want to know more about the story, Joker can be quite the asshole after all huh?

7. Project X Zone - The most interesting game on the 3DS I have played, PXZ is a game where you have your Capcom characters teaming up with some Japanese characters to fight pure evil and the game itself is all in Japanese (with English subtitles). It's great to see so many faces in a single game like this and maybe we can have more in the future.

6. Animal Crossing: New Leaf - This is the first game in the series that I have ever played and man, this was a welcome for me. Not only to create a character but to run a town and see how beautiful it will become with the change of seasons, it's a must have for 3DS owners.

5. WWE 2K14 - Now, I understand why people don't like the game because it's the same as last year. But, I played the game to have a better understanding of some of the great Wrestlemania matches from the past and to really focus what we could see in the future.

4. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon - Having enjoyed the original back on the Gamecube, Luigi is back in the spotlight once again but now on the 3DS and this is one of the best games to have on the 3DS. Support the green people!!!!

3. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team - I'm a sucker for Mario RPG games (I still want a true Paper Mario sequel to Thousand Year Door damnit) and Dream Team shines in comedy and epic fights both in the real world and dream world. Mario and Luigi always have great adventures together and this is one of them I love so much.

2. Grand Theft Auto V: Besides Sand Andreas, V is the only other game in the series that I have played the entire story from beginning to end. While Vice City, III and IV were great, I never got really into it like I did with San Andreas. But V captured three characters so perfectly that you didn't even know what to expect in the next part of the game. V will forever be currently as my favorite GTA game of the series and it proves that a great story can be divided between three of the best characters in the game.

And now, my number one game that was released in 2013 is:

Bioshock: Infinite - The series has always been a favorite of mine and after what happened in the second game, I was wondering what they could do now that they are leaving the seas and towards the sky. But when you step out in Colombia, the beautiful world captured my heart and won me over before I even learned how to use my vigors. With a rich story, great characters and probably one of the best looking games of the year, Infinite proves to be a hell of a game and my game of the year for 2013.

My View on the Nintendo Wii U

Well ladies and gentlemen, today was a big day for Nintendo. They finally opened up the curtains and told us what the heck we can expect the Nintendo Wii U. And I must say, I am surprised at what I heard and decided to dive into it just a bit to decide if it's really worth the money.

The Nintendo Wii U will be arriving November 18, mere days before Black Friday so I can see why Nintendo would release a new system close to the one day where all hell breaks loose. You can be able to purchase two types of bundles at launch or via pre order. For just $299.99, you can get your basic package, which comes with the system itself and a nice HDMI cable. For just $350.00, you get more memory and will include a copy of Nintendo Land. So for fifty bucks more, you get more memory, a game and a black Wii U. So, what's my opinion on this?

I say that I'm happy with the price and once again Nintendo does something good. However, I'm on the fence because of all the games that are coming out between launch and the future. I won't say there's a lot of blockbuster games but at the same time, I want more coming from Nintendo. Sure, there's Black Ops 2 (which I hate the Call of Duty series period), ZombiU, which in my mind will be a very good game to play, New Super Mario Bros. U, which will be a hot seller from the start and then, we got the rest of shovelware.

I'm not going to lie, I want a 3DS XL right now to get set for some good 3DS games coming out and with the Wii U, I think Christmas might be the right time to get it as more games are released. But on the plus side, you can play some Wii games on the Wii U so that's a plus actually. As the system is the first in the next gen line, I can only wonder what we can see from Sony and Microsoft. This is a step in the right direction and Nintendo has to take the ball and run with it. It's not everyday we get to see a new system and good launch titles and so far, it's looking good and I can see the system selling very well in the first week. I don't know if there will be anything special waiting for Black Friday for the new system but knowing Black Friday, anything is possible.

Here are some box art for some of the upcoming games:

Y2Jant E3 Blog: Nintendo/Microsoft/Sony Thoughts

It's that time of the year ladies and gentlemen. E3 is here, bringing us the best in games from now until the following year. This year, it's a bit harder for me to pick the winner of the big three conferences and here is why:

Microsoft brought the big guns early when we had more info on titles like Gears of War 3, Fable: The Journey and the big Halo 4, plus with Modern Warfare 3, seems that Microsoft was ready this year with their big titles. Not to mention all the nice add ons for the 360, like Youtube and the Kinect features, you wonder how they took the head start in the race.

Switching over to Sony, they knew that they were going in after what happened with the PSN. They kicked out the heavy games as well and introduced us to their new portable system that had many gamers look in amazement. Sony got their games ready for the world to see and amazed me at some points.

Nintendo came out to know that we are celebrating 25 years with The Legend of Zelda series. With more games coming out, Nintendo wanted the world to see that Mario Kart, Super Mario 3D, Luigi's Mansion 2, Star Fox 3D, the list can go on. But then they brought out the new toy of E3: The Wii U. Looks like a new system in the works and I was confused at first. Then, the titles that might be on this new system: Assassin's Creed, Batman Arkham City and many other games, I even saw the man behind Bioshock talking about it. The kick for me? Off besides the Kid Icarus game, Sakurai said that the Super Smash Bros. series will be making a return to both the 3DS and the Wii U.

My opinion on who won? Sony has the edge in this case because they knew that they were going in with more coverage thanks to the outage. However, Nintendo gets my vote and stole the show (Come on, I never heard a reaction to Smash Bros. like that in a while). Got to give it to Nintendo for changing the gaming tables yet again