Nintendo's new shiny Wii U console is the first since the Nintendo 64 to debut with a new Mario title. And what a title it is. It plays like a giant-sized HD version of Super Mario World, never a bad thing. Our favorite new suit turns the plumber into a cool flying squirrel! Mario Time, indeed.
Master Chief's long awaited return delivered the best story since combat evolved, a decade ago. As you battle to save Cortana, the heart of the series, the visuals amaze. The multiplayer modes are as addictive as ever and the Spartan Ops co-op mode ensures you'll be playing well into the New Year.
Every hop you hip, dub you step, and funky chicken you make is captured via the Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral. The story mode's clever time travel conceit allows different periods of dance crazes. The Dance Central series is still the best reason to own the motion-sensory device. Be sure to snag the download of PSY's "Gangnam Style!"
Many play the all-time biggest shooter for a variety of reasons: the still fun multiplayer, the zombie mode and, usually, an all too short campaign. A first for the series, BLOPs 2, has a memorable story, beefed up by Dark Knight scribe, David Goyer. The hunt to find the fiendish (yet sympathetic) Nicaraguan terrorist Raul Menendez takes place in the '80s and 2025 where the president of the United States looks and sounds like Hilary Clinton, there's an aircraft carrier named The Obama, and the Secretary of Defense is David Petraeus.
Gamers love loot and this shooter with RPG elements all wrapped in a snarky cartoony post apocalyptic world is pretty much the ultimate geek game. You can play the entire campaign with three other players if you have "friends." The writing is sharp, and the characters quite funny. Claptrap gets all the love but we heart Tiny Tina, the most wickedly demented 13-year-old eva!
Bioware's epic conclusion to their choose-your-own-adventure storytelling was out of this world. Fans knew the Commander Shepard with the best acting chops was voiced by Jennifer Hale. The production team delivered a grand finale where the consequences of all your choices are revealed throughout the 30 hours campaign. Many beloved characters (if you didn't get them killed) return for the final curtain call. Die-hard players were less than thrilled by the last ten minutes but even they could hardly say the 100-hour plus quest wasn't worth taking.
Activison's follow-up to their sleeper hit has become a full-on Pokémon-style crazy holiday must-have. The Giants are super-sized finely crafted plastic creations (that now light up!) with new attacks, upgrades, and moves. If you take a beastie (our go to guy is Bouncer) to a fellow Skylander's place no matter the system (360, PS3), all your info transfers over. Putting them on the Portal of Power never gets old. EBay's current pricing for the more rare ones tell us that kid's aren't the only ones caught up in collecting them all.
The goal: Get your mute, red-scarfed being to peak of that mountain in the distance. But what (we're saying it) a journey this game, from the creator of previous arty game Flower, becomes. Sometimes you play solo, sometimes, another player just shows up. You can't communicate via a headset or type any simple commands, though. All you can do is try to infer what the two of you should be doing. Brilliant in execution with a water color pallette of deserts and snow-ravaged lands this might be the best ever use of online connectivity. An interactive game that investigates the idea of interaction.
The Pictionary for the social media generation remains infinitely clever as every exchange between you and your mobile buddy is entertaining regardless of whether your opponent is Picasso or just cheats by just using their digital canvas to type '"TWILIGHT." Seriously, you couldn't draw a decent Bella or Edward?!
You can play this version of the hit zombie comic on a console or mobile device, either way you'll be emotionally wrecked, making hard choice after hard choice. You play Lee, a convict on his way to the big house when the undead take over Atlanta. Six-year-old Clementine is under your charge as you stop at a farm, race on a train and wrestle with a blood-pumping finale we won't spoil. Imagine a zombie game where killing zombies is an afterthought, and you're getting close to why this story has grabbed everyone who's played it.
NEXT GALLERY: Top 10 Hot Bods of 2012