Welcome back. I trust that everyone had a good Christmas and enjoyable New Year’s.

With the festive season now ebbing away behind us and the tinsel being returned to its place in the loft for another 11 months, it’s time to get back to the serious business of gaming. 2009 was a good year, handing us a length list that you all obviously enjoyed if your Top 10 Games of the Year voting was anything to go by, and with the high calibre of Bayonetta leading the charge into 2010 we’re already off to a flier.

My personal aim this year is to try at least one MMO without Ali twigging and to hunt down Tony Hawk: RIDE in the January sales at a price that won’t make me weep if reports of its mediocrity are actually true.

I also aim to at least try and become competent at Smackdown v Raw between now and next Christmas; every year my cousins get the annual update from Father Christmas and every year they school me with it. It’s not like I’m unfamiliar with how a joypad works but it’s come such a long way (and that’s not necessarily a good thing) since No Mercy on the N64 that it seems more a brawler than a wrestler. Acting like an elderly relative, this contraption thrust into my hands, I spend the first five minutes asking “what does this button do?” before finding myself flat on my back and a three-count being used against me. God they make me feel old.

Article contributed by James Thomas on 4/01/10 in Blog, Features, General

James has written 216 previous posts. Archive viewable here

Bio:" I make my living as a programmer at a British games developer. In my spare time I try and spread myself between writing, gaming, drumming, goalkeeping, rolling dice and keeping my hair blue. Somewhere around that my wife fits in. Disclaimer: the views expressed are my own and do not neccessarily reflect those of my employer. "