Every so often, a game comes along with a story that truly blows us away. We're very thankful for these games, for they help us get through our mundane job of playing video games, specifically all the crappy ones that no one else wants to play. That's why we thought it would be appropriate to give the best of these games the recognition they deserve. This list only includes 10 games. Not because there's only ten games with excellent narrative experiences, but because ten just seems like a good number, and I don't feel like writing a list of 100 titles (call me lazy or call me smart, either would be correct). There may have been hair-pulling and fist-throwing during the selection process, but we believe we have come up with a very strong list of narrative masterpieces -- not definitive, but damn good.

10. Portal

Portal's story revolves around the character "Chell", who we eventually find out through the course of the game is basically a test experiment run by a robot.  Chell wakes up in a test chamber of sorts and is persuaded to leave by GLaDOS, an artificial intelligence, seemingly warning her of upcoming test experiments and promising cake at the end.

As you make your way through the facility, it becomes more and more obvious that GLaDOS isn't as innocent as it sounds, admitting to lying on occasions and other suspicious statements.  After having Chell move about the facility, making use of the game's portal gun, GLaDOS eventually leads Chell onto a moving platform headed straight into a pit of fire, which Chell logically escapes from with the help of her portal gun.  Chell eventually finds out that GLaDOS has become corrupt and may have even killed everyone else in the research facility.

Roaming throughout the "backstages" of the center, void of any life, you come across various graffiti warnings, such as the now-famous "the cake is a lie", among others. GLaDOS is still trying to persuade Chell from going any further, but when she finally reaches GLaDOS itself and seeing one of its core spheres fall off, throwing it into the incinerator proves to do more harm than good, because that particular sphere controlled GLaDOS' "morality core."

GLaDOS is essentially set loose, and can destroy whatever it chooses now, including Chell.  You then have six minutes to dismantle GLaDOS and incinerate all of its pieces, all while it's pleading for its life, à la HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey(though a bit more disrespectful).  After you've destroyed the final piece, your portal gun malfuctions and sends everything to the surface, landing outside the facilities gates, insinuating you've finally escaped everything.  The game ends after zooming through the facility, displaying shelves containing dozens of spheres similar to the ones you just destroyed, some of which light up before a robotic arm descends and blows out a candle on a cake. All of this, of course, is ended by the brilliant credits accompanied by Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive."

9. God of War II

God of War II picks up where the first left off. Kratos has defeated Ares, and he is the new God of War. He is not accepted by the members of the Greek Pantheon due to his ruthless attitude towards Greece's city-states. Kratos is haunted by the memories of Ares, so he finds comfort in leading his Spartan army in conquering Greece. The gods are obviously displeased with his campaign. Athena attempts to convince Kratos to stop the campaign, but she is unsuccessful.

During the game, Kratos faces the wrath of the gods, but is assisted by other Greek mythology characters. Zeus rallies the gods to defeat Kratos. The game ends with "The End Begins..."

8. Metal Gear Solid

Solid Snake, a secret agent, is pulled out of retirement and sent on a mission to Alaska. A black-ops military unit has gone rogue (not in a Sarah Palin kind of way), and they have stolen a nuclear weapon (the Metal Gear REX). Snake is sent in to penetrate the terrorists' defenses, snap some necks, save a few hostages, and put an end to the madness. Of course, some serious shit goes down and not everything goes to plan. Snake is eventually captured.

The leader of the terrorist group, Liquid Snake, is later discovered to be Solid Snake's twin brother. While imprisoned, Solid Snake is tortured, giving the player the option to give in or not. When he is returned to his cell, Snake escapes. He makes his way to the Metal Gear's hangar only to realize that Master Miller, one of the game's supposed "good" characters was actually Liquid Snake in disguise, and the entire mission was a manipulation by the terrorists to get Solid Snake to allow the launch of the nuclear device. Mindf*ck, right? It doesn't end there.

Solid Snake then learns that he and his brother are clones of the legendary mercenary Big Boss. Snake also learns the true reason he was sent: to spread a virus to all the members of the terrorist faction so that the government could recover Metal Gear. A battle ensues between Liquid and Solid Snake, with Liquid eventually dying as a result of the virus. Roll credits. What a shitstorm.

7. Beyond Good and Evil

Beyond Good and Evil starts off with Jade and Pey'j, who have been looking after children of Hillys that lost their parents to the DomZ.  Jade is eventually recruited by the IRIS Network, an underground resistance movement that believes the Alpha Sections are behind disappearances happening all over the planet.  Jade is then sent on missions to spy on Alpha Section activities with her photography skills.

She discovers evidence of human trafficking, and rescues IRIS reporter Double H, who was kidnapped by the DomZ and subjected to torture.  While battling DomZ creatures, Pey'j is abducted by the DomZ and taken to the Slaughterhouse to be launched to the Alpha Sections' lunar base. After failing to extract Pey'j from the Slaughterhouse in time, Jade learns that Pey'j was in fact the secret chief of the IRIS Network.  Oh, shit!

After rescuing Pey'j from another torture device and starting a revolution, Jade confronts the DomZ High Priest. She eventually defeats him and rescues those that have been abducted.  As the ultimate twist, a final scene after the credits show Pey'j to have an active DomZ spore still embedded within his hand, leaving the player to question whether the DomZ have truly been defeated.

6. Advent Rising

Advent Rising is like a mixture of Halo, The Karate Kid and Star Wars.  The main protagonist, Gideon Wyeth, starts off by escorting a group of human ambassadors to a meeting with an alien race (Aurelians) who warn the humans of another race (Seekers) who seek to destroy all humanity. Shortly thereafter, the space station they're on is attacked by, you guessed it, the Seekers. Gideon manages to board an escape pod and land on the planet Edumea. He finds out he has special capabilities as a human that he wasn't even aware of.

Not long after landing on the planet, Edumea is in danger of an upcoming meteor showing, so Gideon hops on board the Aurelian ship and begins his training.  Unfortunately, the ship is later attacked by the Seekers, to which Gideon and some of the Aurelians evacuate onto the Seeker vessel itself, which pleasantly enough is on a crash course with the Aurelian homeworld.  After crash landing on the planet and doing a bit of cleaning up to rid of any remaining Seekers, they travel to the Galactic Council to seek their help in combating the Seeker assault on humanity.

When the Council calls the Seekers to explain themselves, a Koroem claiming to be a human states that he ordered the Seekers to exterminate humanity because they were human "impostors."  Koroem then slays one of the Aurelians, which of course results in a battle.  However, thanks to Gideon's abilities, he is able to conquer Koroem, and a portal is then created that sucks him into an icy world.  The end.  Wait, the end?  That doesn't sound very...conclusive, does it?  That's because the game was originally planned as a trilogy that, unfortunately, was never completed.

5. Indigo Prophecy

Indigo Prophecy follows Lucas Kane. The game begins with Lucas, in a possessed state, stabbing a man in the restroom of a diner. He escapes the scene, but his murder is followed by others. Two detectives, Valenti and Miles, who the player also controls throughout the game, are charged with solving the murders. It turns out, Lucas is involved in a two thousand year-old prophecy that determines the fate of the world.

4. Grim Fandango

Grim Fandango is divided into four acts, each occurring on November 2 (Day of the Dead) on four consecutive years. Manuel "Manny" Calavera is a travel agent at the Department of Death in El Marrow, working there to pay off his debt to "the powers that be."  Manny, sick of his clients, steals one of his co-worker's clients, Mercedes "Meche" Colomar. After sending Meche on the four-year journey, Manny discovers that his co-worker and boss have been denying clients, hording them for the boss of the criminal underworld, Hector LeMans, who sells tickets at outrageous prices. Unable to stop LeMans, Manny tries to find Meche on her journey.

Eventually Manny and Meche are able to find the real tickets and give them to their rightful owners. He and Meche are also granted their own. Together they board the the "Number Nine" luxury express train for their journey to the Ninth Underworld.

3. System Shock 2

Taking place in 2114, System Shock 2 revolves around Soldier G65434-2. Soldier G65434-2 is assigned to the Rickenbacker military spacecraft. The Rickenbacker is escorting a faster-than-light-speed ship on its maiden voyage. Months into the journey, the ships respond to a distress signal from the planet Tau Ceti V. A rescue team touches down on the planet's surface and discover strange eggs, which infect the team. The infestation overtakes the ships, which is when the soldier is awakened in a cryo-tube.  The soldier must fend of the infected while navigating the decks of the ship in order to stop the alien infection.

2. Deus Ex

Deus Ex is the story of JC Denton, a nanotechnologically-augmented agent for UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition). Upon completion of his training, Denton is deployed on several missions by Director Joseph Manderley. His objectives are to track down several members of National Secessionist Forces (NSF) and their shipments of "Ambrosia," a vaccine for the "Gray Death" virus. JC is eventually reunited with his brother Paul, and he traces the vaccine to a terminal at LaGuardia Airport. JC meets his brother outside of the airplane, and he learns that Paul has become a NSF member because the Gray Death was a man-made virus. UNATCO was only going to make sure that the elite received vaccination.

Upon JC's return to UNATCO's headquarters, he learns that both he and Paul have been outfitted witha 24-hour kill switch. JC is ordered to fly to Hong Kong and assassinate a computer hacker by the name of Tracer Tong. Tong has been communicating with Paul, and he has the ability to disable the kill switch. Instead, JC visits Paul's apartment to find Paul hiding inside. Paul attempts to convince JC to defect UNATCO also, alerting nearby NSF allies in the process. As a result, JC becomes a wanted man by UNATCO, and FEMA initiates his kill switch. JC and Paul are captured by UNATCO forces and taken to a prison below the UNATCO HQ.

JC is contacted by a computer AI called Daedalus, who informs JC that the prison is part of an Illuminati splinter faction called the Majestic 12. The AI aids JC and Paul in their escape. The two flee to Tracer Tong in Hong Kong, who deactivates the kill switches. Tong urges JC to infiltrate the VersaLife Corporation building, whom he suspects is producing the Gray Death. Doing so, JC discovers that Tong's suspicions were correct, and he is able to steal the plans for the virus and destroy the constructor for it.

It turns out the virus was conceived by the Illuminati to be used for augmentation technology. However, Majestic 12 re-purposed the virus. With the VersaLife constructor destroued, Majestic 12 attempts to recover a second constructor made by former Area 51 scientists located at Vandenberg Air Force Base. JC fends of an attack on the base and meets with one of the Area 51 scientists, Gary Savage. Savage attempts to gain revenge on Majestic 12 by unleashing Daedalus onto secure military networks. Majestic 12 counters this by releasing its own AI, Icarus, which merges with Daedalus to form a new super AI called Helios, which has the ability to control the global communication network.

JC meets the Majestic 12 leader where he is confronted with three choices to defeat him offered by Tong, the Illuminati leader, and Helios: Tong asks JC to destroy Helios and plunge the world into a second Dark Age; the Illuminati leader insists Denton brings the organization back to power and rule the world with an invisible hand by killing the Majestic 12 leader; and Helios seeks to merge with Denton to rule the world as a benevolent dictator with infinite knowledge and reason. JC's decision determines the world's future and ends the game.

1. Half-Life 2

Half-Life 2 takes place in a dystopian world run by the Combine, an extraterrestrial civilization that came to the planet as a result of the events in the first Half-Life. The game begins with our good friend Gordon Freeman being approached by the mysterious G-Man in the form of a hallucination. After the G-Man gives his cryptic speech, he places Freeman on a train headed to City 17. After Freeman exits the train, he passes through a Combine checkpoint, where he is whisked away by a civil protection officer. Once out of the eye of the Combine, the officer reveals himself as Barney Calhoun, a former colleague of Freeman from Black Mesa. Calhoun aids Freeman in getting to the laboratory of Dr. Kleiner, another former co-worker of Freeman's. He meets Alyx Vance, the daughter of a famous Black Mesa scientist, along the way.

At the lab, he first learns of the resistance movement which is about to begin. After a botched teleporation, Freeman appears outside of the lab, and he must fight his way through the canals of City 17 in order to reach Black Mesa East, another underground location of the resistance. There Gordan meets more co-workers and learns to wield the infamous Gravity Gun. Freeman is told he must go to Nova Prospekt, a former prison, now turned Combine outpost, in order to rescue Alyx's father Eli. Shit happens, and it turns out Freeman must first go through the zombie-infested town of Ravenholm. Eventually Freeman makes it to Nova Prospekt with the help of some unexpected allies.

Alyx meets up with Gordon, but before they can rescue Dr. Vance, he is taken away by Dr. Mossman, yet another former colleague. Mossman turns out to be a spy for the Combine, and she teleports herself and Dr. Vance to the Combine headquarters known as the Citadel. Alyx and Gordon attempt to teleport as well but instead end up teleporting back to Dr. Kleiner's lab...a week later. There they learn their actions have caused a full-scale rebellion, and City 17 is a warzone. Alyx stays to help Kleiner and other citizens escape the city while Freeman heads for the Citadel. Alyx is captured by the Combine and taken to the Citadel.

Amidst the chaos, Freeman reaches the Combine headquarters and eventually reaches the office of Dr. Breen, the game's antagonist. Mossman is there, as well as a restrained Alyx and Dr. Vance. Dr. Breen threatens the two and offers Gordon to work for him. However, Dr. Mossman comes to her senses and releases the prisoners. Breen flees to the Citadel's dark energy reactor and attempts to teleport. Freeman destroys the reactor before Breen can escape. The reactor explodes. Time stops. The G-Man returns, commenting on Freeman's success and places him back into a stasis. The game ends.

Half-Life 2 was then followed by two add-on episodes with a third still on the way.

This last week, we released a giant (and growing) list of games that may make 2010 the games industry's biggest year. Yesterday, we showed the top ten new IP's. Today, we're looking at the biggest current franchises to see what the top ten sequels will be!

10. Halo: Reach

It's F*ckin' Halo! Need I say more? Not to mention we finally get to meet some other Spartans.

9. Fable III

Peter Molyneux might be a hype machine, but Fable has still been a hit franchise. Fable III is going to be the best yet. You get to play as king!

8. Crysis 2

Easily the best-looking game ever, Crysis returns, and it's more badass than ever.

7. Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII sold over one million copies in its first day of release in Japan, and the Japanese know their shit.

6. God of War 3

God of War, it's why you play video games.

5. Splinter Cell: Conviction

We haven't seen a new Splinter Cell since 2006, and I think we can all agree the last one pales in comparison to the previous installments. Conviction aims to change that.

4. Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty

God knows how long this game has been in development. People in Korea would kill for a chance to play this, which is why it makes the number four spot.

3. Gran Turismo 5

The best racing franchise in the history of history is returning, and it's hotter than ever. It cost $60 million to develop, so you know it's gotta be good.

2. Bioshock 2

BioShock was a narrative masterpiece, which is why BioShock 2 is going to be a narrative masterpiece. My logic is flawless.

1. Mass Effect 2

Space frogs. 'Nuff said.

We've already shown a huge (and growing) list of games that may make 2010 the biggest year in gaming. Now, here are the top ten new IP's, which may well turn into franchises of their own, of the coming year!

10. Dante's Inferno

The epic poem meets epic gameplay with some of the most horrific, disgusting and disturbing things we've ever seen.

9. All Points Bulletin (APB)

An MMOFPS? Sign me up.

8. Alan Wake

A protagonist as a writer? I wonder if it'll make a good story...

7. LA Noire

If I knew any more than 'it looks sweet,' it might ruin the effect.

6. Epic Mickey

Think Mickey, but not in the new, child-brain-melting way (sure, it's not technically a new IP, but I don't care).

5. Brink

Mirror's Edge as a shooter, with guys only half as big as Gears of War.

4. Aliens vs. Predator

The title says it all. *Shivers* (again, not technically a new IP)

3. Rage

It's still not out, but it's all the [insert title].

2. The Last Guardian

Have you not played Ico or Shadows of the Colossus? Seriously.

1. Heavy Rain

It's like a movie you control. Now they just need to make the next Batman like it.

Within the flood of video games that get released each year, there are a few that don't quite make it. Referred to as "vaporware," these games have such a large and loyal fanbase but are ultimately shelved due to budget constraints or other "internal issues." Others we don't even know about until it's too late. Below are ten games we feel would've been great if they had survived their development woes.

Freelancer 2 | Xbox 360

The original Freelancer is one of the best space-combat sims for the PC, and it too suffered a few development mishaps but was ultimately released in March of 2003. A sequel was planned for the Xbox 360 and was in development for quite some time, consisting of several Wing Commander veterans (the original Freelancer was considered an unofficial follow up to Wing Commander: Privateer). The game would've seen Edison Trent attempt to find out the truth about the mystery of the space station disaster he survived whilst alluding some shadowy groups.

Why aren't we playing it now?

Unfortunately in late January of 2006 Digital Anvil were no more, thanks to Microsoft redeploying its developers over to Microsoft Game Studios, which also took any games Digital Anvil had to the grave with them. Although the original Freelancer was a great space-combit sim, perhaps it's for the better that its sequel didn't end up on a console.

B.C. | Xbox

B.C. would've been a third-person action-adventure game developed by Lionhead Studios for the original Xbox that pitted humans against dinosaurs in a fight for survival. Think of Turok, only more...primitive. Players would've had to make their own weapons and tools from what they found laying around and with naturally occurring materials, while also lead a tribe to advance your technology. Early previews praised the game's AI, showing dinosaurs that worked together who acted independently of the player.

Why aren't we playing it now?

Update:  I guess I missed this quote from Molynuex back in 2008:

"We're not saying it's never going to come out. Currently it's still on the shelf, but so many people ask about it and I find it absolutely fascinating that they do, because in a way some people here and at Microsoft said, 'You know, we just don't quite understand what the BC game's all about.'  But everybody seems so enthusiastic about it. It really fascinates me." Perhaps we'll see the game after all...

Surprise! Lionhead Studios canceled it in 2003 after seven years of development. Molynuex stated "the ambitious nature of the gameplay and the high standards the people developing it are pushing for" when asked about its cancellation.

Cry On | Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 has an obvious lack of (notable) RPG games, and the cancellation of Mistwalker's (in collaboration with AQ Interactive) Cry On certainly didn't help. Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi originally planned to make three RPGs for the Xbox 360: Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and Cry On. Cry On would've had players control the character Sally, who worked through scenarios that promised an emotional response. It took place in a world where people live amongst giant sand creatures, with Sally having one as her sidekick named Bogle.

Why aren't we playing it now?

"AQI decided to cancel the project after analyzing the current market environment and forecasts for the future. We deeply apologize for troubling those who were awaiting its release". Worse yet? The cancellation was announced on Christmas. Ouch.

Tribes Extreme | PC

I doubt many of you will remember Tribes Extreme unless you were an avid Tribes player back in the late 90's. Extreme was a single-player campaign for the original Tribes which was multiplayer-only (save for tutorial missions), and would've been sold as a stand-alone game. There weren't any new vehicles or weapons, simply the first game with a campaign that allowed players to fight against bots. One cool thing about Extreme is that it would've featured online co-op with either humans versus the AI, or both humans and AI fighting together against a team of AI. The game would've also included new multiplayer content for tournaments.

Why aren't we playing it now?

Creating a single-player campaign was a bit harder than Dynamix originally thought. At the time they were also developing Tribes 2, so when they looked at both projects they had to make a decision: Which was most promising in the long run? Tribes Extreme, at that time, just wasn't worth all the trouble. In December of 1999 they abandoned it and shifted all their focus to Tribes 2 and its campaign.

Freedom Fighters 2 | PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

The original Freedom Fighters was one of the best games for the previous generation. In it, you took on the role of Christopher Stone, and evolved from an average New Yorker into a fearless patriot who recruits and leads an army of freedom fighters in the streets of New York City. You gained points for rescuing prisoners or capturing key installations, with the number of prisoners you can recruit depending on charisma.

Why aren't we playing it now?

Simply put: it's been put on hold. IO Interactive originally planned to release the game in 2005. However, thanks to development on Kane and Lynch it was pushed aside. In 2007 IO Interactive stated the game is still on the company's 'to-do' list, so you never know.

GoldenEye 007 XBLA | Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii

This game needs no description. It's friggin' GoldenEye!  While the original hasn't aged very well, gamers were hoping to see a port of it coming to XBLA and Wii when it was announced that both Microsoft and Nintendo had plans to release it on their consoles.

Why aren't we playing it now?

Neither Microsoft or Nintendo could come to an agreement when it came to finances. Nintendo was the one who originally mentioned interest in porting the game over to the Virtual Console, but since Rare is now owned by Microsoft things just didn't mesh well. It was reported the game had been in development for several months, so it may very well be done for all we know. Bastards...

Duke Nukem Forever | PC, Xbox 360

Much like GoldenEye, Duke Nukem Forever doesn't really need a description. And honestly, no list about vaporware would be complete without it. The game's been "in development" since 1997 intended to be a sequel to 1996's Duke Nukem 3D. 3D Realms released a few screenshots over the years here and there, but nothing substantial on the game was revealed. A new Duke Nukem title called "D-Day" has recently been teased however. Whether or not it's related to Duke Nukem Forever is yet to be seen.

Why aren't we playing it now?

It basically comes down to changes to the engine and the franchise being transferred from company to company. Plus, that whole lawsuit thing probably didn't help either.

Starcraft: Ghost | Xbox, PlayStation 3, Gamecube

Starcraft: Ghost followed Nova, a Terran psychic espionage operative and was set four years after the conclusion of StarCraft: Brood War. It covered a conspiracy about a secretive military project conducted by Nova's superiors in the imperial Terran Dominion. As Nova you could cloak yourself to become invisible while also being equipped with thermal imaging goggles and a special EMP device for disabling electronic devices and vehicles.

Why aren't we playing it now?

In March of 2006, Blizzard Entertainment announced an indefinite postponement on development of Ghost while the company explored new options with the emerging seventh generation of video game consoles. Although Blizzard has yet to release Ghost, we may get to experience something very similar to it in StarCraft II, thanks to a new third-person aspect coming to the game.

Star Wars: Battlefront III

Battlefront III's development is a bit tricky because it was never officially announced. Instead, many assume it to be the "Secret LucasArts Project" on Free Radical's design website. In July of 2008 it was listed on Amazon.com to come out for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PSP on March 15 2009, but it was eventually removed. Then in December of 2008 character renders surfaced from a laid off employee of Free Radical, and included a Starwars: Battlefront III watermark. Since then more and more leaked renders and artwork have been released, leaving many gamers wondering just what the hell is going on with the game.

Why aren't we playing it now?

In October of 2008, Free Radical Design announced that they had lost the rights to develop Star Wars: Battlefront III after being acquired by game developer Crytek. The latest rumor is that Rebellion Studios are now developing the game, but again, just rumors. We may get our first official look at the game at this year's Spike VGAs according to a recent tweet from Geoff Keighly. There may be hope after all.

Perfect Dark 2

Like Battlefront III, Perfect Dark 2 was never officially announced. Rare had begun work on the game in 2007, but by late-2007 it was never greenlighted. It merely served as a prototype for an upcoming first-person shooter by Rare for Natal.

Why aren't we playing it now?

Mainly because it was never given the greelight, and the development team was eventually cut down to just three guys. Shame...

Honorable mentions:

• Call of Cthulhu sequel
• The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf
• Fear Effect Inferno
• Advent Rising 2  & 3
• Shenmue III
• Tiberium

Play Mass Effect over Thanksgiving, obviously! Honestly, Thanksgiving is four-and-a-half days off, and who wants to spend it with family? Yuck! Instead, here’s ten reasons you should pop Mass Effect back into your 360/PC in preparation for the sequel.

10) Time for a Refresh

Chances are you played and beat Mass Effect back when it first came out, two years ago. Two years is a long time, and it was great fun, wasn’t it? Chances are you don’t remember half of what happened five minutes ago, let alone two years, so it’s time to play through again to reacquaint yourself with the outrageously good storyline.

9) Get to level 60

As soon as you pop that disc back in, it’s going to hit you: should you play as your old character, make a new one, change things around…hell, there are a lot of options. Glad you remembered it’s an RPG Sherlock. Start out simple: did you get your character to level 60? Getting to level 60 and transferring that data gives you a bonus in Mass Effect 2, so make sure you get that done first. If you’ve already done it, play as a girl Shepherd. Who knows, you may look good in tight spandex.

8) Play as something different (Paragon/Renegade, Engineer/Adept/Sentinel etc.)

Got a level 60 character or higher? Great, now do it again a few more times. I bet you played Mass Effect once or twice through and only with one class, didn’t you. There are six classes, and you picked the easy soldier class. Lazy ass, it’s the fastest to play through, and the BORINGEST. Play as the other classes, and you may find that they’re not as dull or hard as you think.

7) Talk to everyone, try new conversation choices

While you’re playing as another class, take advantage of the game’s huge dialog system. There’s thousands of lines of dialog you missed the first time around. Try something new: be nice for a change you jerk, or just shoot first and ask questions never. Whatever you already did, don’t do it again, that way you keep the game fresh.

6) Make different decisions

Speaking of changing dialog, don’t stop there. Change your actions, and do everything differently. Because the saved data passes from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2, some of the decisions you made will influence the next game. Don’t you want to know how they turn out? That’s why you’re going to have at least two savegames, each one making the opposite decisions every time. Whether you’re going for a full Paragon/Renegade, or some weird crap you’ve conjured up, those decisions are important. Make sure you get them all.

5) Play on a harder difficulty

I know you’re a casual gamer. You like to play on easy, play online with your little girly friends, and stay away from ranked matchmaking. Man up wuss, and play on a harder difficulty. Mass Effect isn’t a hard game, and it’s one of the few that will teach you to play a shooter and RPG without anyone knowing how much you suck at videogames. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.

4) Buy and play the DLC Pinnacle Station

Buy and play through the DLC (or if you’re a PC gamer, download it for free. Boss!). It’s the only DLC for Mass Effect, it’s cheap, and it’s two more hours of gameplay. Stuck at level 57 and don’t want to play through the whole campaign again for three levels? This could be your ticket out of that. Plus it’s more decisions, more story, more dialog, and more fun. And if you’re on a PC, you have no excuse.

3) The holiday season is bare. Play old games!

This holiday season, almost every major release was pushed back, Mass Effect 2 included, because of Modern Warfare 2. In fact, now the staff is sitting around wondering what the hell, because we have no games to review. Sad, but it’s a golden opportunity to get through this golden oldie one more time before it ships in January. So tell your friends to piss off, sit yourself in front of the game, and beat it.

2) Get reacquainted with familiar places

Assuming you’ve read and followed the reasoning thus far, you’re going to play Mass Effect again. And perhaps again. And maybe a fourth time. While you’re doing it, get reacquainted with the locales in the game, because some of them will be coming back. You’ll probably stumble around the galaxy for an hour trying to remember where important events take place, but that’s not important. Key locations will come back, and there’s a lot of running. Get it down now so you don’t have to later.

1) It's Mass Effect. Duh! (Oh, and ME2 comes out in 2 months, and this'll take awhile)

It’s Mass Effect you wet fish. You need a better reason to play it again? Look at the metacritic score! Remember your fond memories. Hell, what else are you going to do, watch the Comedy Central Thanksgiving holiday specials? Pfft, you’ll be in front of your computer or Xbox. Might as well not waste your time with friends jumping on between 20 daily meals, and spend it productively making sure your Mass Effect 2 experience is as wholesome as can be.

The Half-Life franchise has the biggest mod community of any game. We’ve seen some amazing mods created by independent developers, some of them have grown to become major titles themselves. Here’s our list of the top 10 best Half-Life/Half-Life 2 mods ever.

10. Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat

Released in 2007, Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat is a tactical online shooter built on the Source engine. Development on the game began in 2002 by a Canadian soldier named Andrew Spearin. Spearin was later joined by Jeremy Blum, creator of the popular WWII game Red Orchestra, and other Red Orchestra developers. The developers of Insurgency aimed to build a realistic kind of first-person shooter that promotes teamwork and immerses gamers in the chaos of war. There is no cross-hair, forcing players to aim down the iron sights to fire accurately, and weapon damage is very realistic (just one or two shots from a rifle will drop you). Currently the team is working on porting the game to the latest Orange Box Source engine.

9. Frontline Force

Frontline Force is an intense, objective-based FPS that focuses on teamwork. Created by Adrian Finol in 2000, Frontline Force went through many different versions that continued to add new features. Finol handed the project to Dave Dynerman in 2001 to go work with Valve Software. The game’s popularity declined quickly when Half-Life 2 released and mods based on the Source engine came out. A new team of developers began working on Frontline Force: Classic, which was to bring the fast-paced shooter to the Source engine; however, the game was picked up by Blackened Interactive in 2008 who have since then stopped development on the game.

8. Firearms

Firearms is a Half-Life mod that actually originated as a Quake mod. The game features five different game modes, all of which are team-based. Firearms was well known for its vast arsenal of in-game weapons (over 30 of them), which were purchased using credits. It used a skill system that allowed players to spend points on things such as marksmanship, agility and leadership. Firearms was also the first FPS to feature parachutes. The game won PC Gamer’s Best Multiplayer Game of the Year Runner-up in the year 2000 among other awards.

7. The Specialists

If you’re a fan of generic action movies, then The Specialists is for you. This mod, intended to resemble generic action movies, is an awesome multiplayer game that features bullet time, stunts, kung fu and over 29 weapons. The game has many similarities to the movies Face/Off and The Matrix. Power-ups, weapon customization and destructible environments are also a central component to The Specialists. Released in 2002, the game is based on the GoldSrc engine, and the final update to the game was released in 2007. No one has attempted to bring the popular mod to the Source engine so far.

6. Sven Co-op

Sven Co-op, named after the game’s original creator Daniel “Sven Viking” Fearon, is a cooperative-style game where players must work together to defeat AI enemies, solve puzzles, and complete objectives. The mod released on January 19, 1999, making it the oldest Half-Life mod in existence that is still in “development.” Sven Co-op is also one of the highest played non-Valve games on Steam. Currently it’s in version 4.0 with a full team that continues to work on it.

5. Natural Selection

Natural Selection is a hybrid of the FPS and RTS genres. Created by Charlie “Flayra” Cleveland in 2002, Natural Selection involves two forces, an alien race called Kharaa and the human space marines called The Frontiersman. The game has two modes, Classic and Combat. Classic is the combination of RTS and FPS where one team member is elected to be the commander. The commander issues orders and purchases upgrades, and he also has a top-down view of the battlefield. Combat, the second game mode, introduced in version 3.0, is simple team deathmatch, designed to help new players learn the game. Natural Selection is one of the ten most played Half-Life mods in terms of players. Charlie Cleveland founded Unknown Worlds Entertainment, who is currently working on a sequel to the game expected to release sometime in 2010.

4. Garry’s Mod

Garry’s Mod is the sandbox of Half-Life. It allows players to play with objects from Half-Life 2 and its Valve-made mods and experiment with the Source engine’s physics system. Garry's Mod was created in 2004 by Garry Newman, starting out as a simple mod that allowed players to rope objects together.  It also made the pistol shoot out manhacks. The mod has gone through 12 different versions and is now considered as a standalone game rather than a mod. The game is well-known for its support of user-created content and mods.

3. Team Fortress Classic

Developed by Valve itself, Team Fortress Classic was a remake of the Quake mod Team Fortress. Released in 1999, TFC is a class-based FPS game that has a number of game modes, such as capture the flag, VIP protection and territorial control. Some game modes allow more than two teams, creating very frantic firefights, and the game supported up to 32 players. Each class in the game has its own strengths and weaknesses, making teamwork a central part of it. Valve hired the original quake mod creators to head the mod’s sequel Team Fortress 2. TF2 went through a long development process where the game was rehashed numerous times, eventually ending in a cartoon-like art direction.

2. Day of Defeat

Day of Defeat is a WWII mod based in the European theatre of war. The game is also class-based and attempts to simulate squad infantry combat. Certain maps have certain objectives, consisting of conquest, destroy the target, capture the target and a couple others. Day of Defeat started as a Half-Life mod in 2000. The developers behind the game joined Valve Software and the group created Day of Defeat: Source, which released in September 2005. Day of Defeat is one of the most popular mods on Steam.

1. Counter-Strike

And last but not least, we have Counter-Strike. Easily the most popular mod of all time, Counter-Strike is a tactical FPS that involves two teams: terrorists and counter-terrorists. The mod was originally made by Minh “Gooseman” Le and Jess Cliffe in 1999 (both of which later joined Valve). The game is round-based and has teams trying to complete a number of objectives like planting/defusing a bomb, rescuing hostages, and escorting a VIP. Because of its competitive nature and huge popularity, Counter-Strike saw a massive amount of cheating where players used hacks to give them an edge in the game. After the mod was picked up by Valve and went through a number of changes, it was re-released on the Xbox. Valve released Counter-Strike: Source in 2004.

Honorable Mentions

• Science and Industry
• Action Half-Life

From the people who run major corporations to the people who make the games, there's a lot of big names in the video game industry. Many of these big names have even achieved what one could call "celebrity status" because of how well-known they are and how often they're in the news. We went through this list of people and selected those who we believe are the top 10 video game industry celebrities. Here's what we came up with...

10. Gabe Newell

Would you guess that the co-founder of the powerhouse developer Valve was a Harvard dropout? Meet Mr. Gabe Newell. Prior to founding Valve, Newell worked at Microsoft for 13 years. He left Microsoft in order to start the game studio. When the studio was formed in 1996, Newell expected his venture to produce one "mediocre game" and then it'd all be over. The studio’s first title was a little game called Half-Life. You might have heard of it. Newell is responsible for much of the effort that has gone into Valve’s titles like Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal, as well as the developer’s game platform Steam. Don't disturb Gabe, he's busy being awesome.

9. Cliff Bleszinski

Informally, Cliff Bleszinski (aka CliffyB, aka, Cliffster, aka Dude Huge) is the poster boy of Epic Games, and he's got the charm to make even the most hardened gamers question manliness. Formally, he’s the design director for the studio. He’s most well known for his work on the Unreal and Gears of War franchises.

Bleszinski’s first game was an adventure game for PC called The Palace of Deceit: Dragon's Plight, which he made in 1991. He’s also known for being the lead designer on the platformer Jazz Jackrabbit. Bleszinski will be an executive producer on the Gears of War movie.

8. Bobby Kotick

I must clarify that this list isn't based on likability.  Bobby Kotick is probably one of the most hated people in the industry right now, at least by gamers.  Why?  Because of his stance on the process of creating a game and video games in general.  Kotick is currently the CEO and President of Activision Blizzard, though he was previously the CEO of 4Kids Entertainment and served as a founder of International Consumer Technologies, whom he was president of from 1986 to 1995.  From March of 2003 to August of 2008 he was also a Yahoo! Board member and was also a board member for the Center for Early Education, the LA County Museum of Art and the Tony Hawk Foundation.  It all sounds innocent, right?  Keep reading.

When asked why Activision Blizzard chose not to publish certain games following the Activision/Blizzard merger, he stated that focusing on certain franchises that "have the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million franchises" has "worked very well for [Activision Blizzard]".  He also stated that if it were up to him, he'd raise the prices of controllers for games such as the Guitar Hero franchise.During a 2009 speech he stated "We have a real culture of thrift. The goal that I had in bringing a lot of the packaged goods folks into Activision about 10 years ago was to take all the fun out of making video games", and that he tries to promote an atmosphere of "skepticism, pessimism, and fear."

Though, he did want Sony to release the PlayStation 3 at a lower price.  So perhaps he does have a soul...of sorts...Either way, I don't see gamers liking him anytime soon.

7. Will Wright

Will Wright founded Maxis (which is now owned by EA) in 1987. Wright was brought to prominence in the industry for his creation of SimCity; however, his most popular creation was The Sims series, which is the best-selling PC game to date.

As a child, Wright was an avid builder of models, and he has often described himself as obsessive in his pursuits. His first game was for the Commodore 64. He believes that computers extend the imagination and that they help power a collective of information called the "metabrain."

Any human institutional system that draws on the intelligence of all its members is a metabrain. Up to now, we have had high friction between the neurons of the metabrain; technology is lowering that friction tremendously. Computers are allowing us to aggregate our intelligence in ways that were never possible before. If you look at Spore, people are making this stuff, and computers collect it, then decide who to send it to. The computer is the broker. What they are really exploring is the collective creativity of millions of people. They are aggregating human intelligence into a system that is more powerful than we thought artificial intelligence was going to be.

Wright received countless awards for his work. His latest game was Spore, which focused on the concept evolution. It sold 406,000 copies in the first three weeks of its release.

6. Reggie Fils-Aime

Reggie Fils-Aime, as many of you know, is the President and CEO of Nintendo of America.  He shot to fame after stating "My name is Reggie. I'm about kickin' ass, I'm about takin' names, and we're about makin' games." during Nintendo's E3 presentation in 2004.

Before joining Nintendo, Reggie Fils-Aime was actually the Senior Director of National Marketing at Pizza Hut, launching the Bigfoot Pizza and The Big New Yorker soon-thereafter.  He then moved onto Guinness, taking on Head of Marketing in the United States and then becoming the Chief Marketing Officer of Derby Cycle Corporation.  He was also briefly the Managing Director of Raleigh U.K, Derby's British Operations in 1999.

Fils-Aime was also Senior Vice President of Panda Express, the world's leading Chinese food service provider.  In April of 2001 he was then appointed Senior Vice President of marketing at VH1, charged with overseeing efforts for the flagship, and was credited for a 30% increase in ratings by refocusing the channel's content to appeal to a younger audience.  So after tackling beer, pizza and Chinese food, venturing into the games industry only seemed logical.

In 2003 he joined Nintendo as their Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and in May of 2006 became the President and CEO of Nintendo of America, which is his current position.  His future?  Unknown, but his specialty seems to be in marketing, so I'd be surprised to see him stray far from his profession.

5. Larry Hryb

Microsoft’s Larry Hryb, better known as Xbox Live’s Major Nelson, plays a leading role in the world of Xbox. Despite his title as Xbox Live Director of Programming, Hryb is more widely known as the voice of all things Xbox.

Hryb is a graduate of Syracuse University. He was a programmer and on-air host with radio broadcaster Clear Channel Communications prior to taking his position at Microsoft in 2004.

With his popular blog and weekly "blogcast," Major Nelson provides insight and inside information regarding the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live platform to gamers worldwide.

4. Peter Moore

Peter Moore is best known a number of things:  his dedication to Halo 2, amazing Rock Band skills, and oh yeah, being the former VP of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division.  Moore had only been with Microsoft for 4 years, after being brought aboard in 2003 to help the original Xbox compete against the PlayStation 2 and Gamecube.  Considering it was their first game console I think he did a pretty good job at Microsoft.

Things seemed to be going pretty good for Microsoft in mid-2007, and their E3 conference was one of the better of the three major companies. Despite however bad Moore's Rock Band presentation was, it proved to be great entertainment.  So it was rather shocking, at least to us, to see him leave Microsoft for EA's Sports division.  He announced it just 5 days after hosting Microsoft's E3 conference on July 11, 2007.

When Moore joined Microsoft he brought with him more than 20 years of experience and leadership in the consumer business.  While at Sega, Moore played a pivotal role in the companies decision to change its business strategy to become a platform-agnostic software publisher.  He was also the senior vice president, meaning he was responsible for all marketing initiatives.  Along with this experience, he also holds a bachelor's degree from Keele University and a master's degree from California State University.

So it's safe to say EA hired an experienced man, but why did Moore pick EA?  More specifically, why the sports division?  Well, one can't help but wonder if it has to do with his previous employment, before working with Sega.  Before joining Sega, Moore was actually president of Patrick USA, a popular  sportswear company that originated in France.  He managed all the companies operations, including marketing, sales, finance and distribution.  So, in a way, he has come "full circle." Since joining EA we haven't seen too much from Moore.  Last we heard he was pretty happy with how FIFA 10 was selling in Japan.

3. Peter Molyneux

Peter Molyneux has given us games such as Populous, Black and White, Fable and a slew of others I'm sure most of you have at least heard of, if not played.  But to gamers he's mostly known for his ability to hype a game beyond our, possibily even his wildest dreams.  I'm sure we  all remember his claim of Fable II as being his "best, most complete game I've ever worked on," or how it "will set the standard for which all RPG's are compared."  By now everyone knows this wasn't true, at least his statement about setting the standard for future RPG's.

Before Molyneux turned into a hype-machine he sold floppy discs for Atari and the Commodore 64 that contained video games.  He believed that by including games on the discs it would improve sales, and later decided that they were the main selling point.  I think he was onto something way back in 1982.

He created a text-based business simulation game called The Entrepreneur in 1984, selling a whopping 2 copies, one of which may have been from Molyneux's own mother.  The failure of The Entrepreneur made Molyneux step away from gaming for a while, and started a company called Taurus Impact Systems that designed office databases.  Using the money he got from Taurus Impact Systems, he and Les Edgar founded Bullfrog Productions in 1987 and released Populous in 1989.

Molyneux became an Electronic Arts vice-president and consultant in 1994, and in 1995 EA acquired Bullfrog Productions.  In 1997 Molyneux left Bullfrog and founded Lionhead Studios, which was eventually bought by Microsoft Game Studios in 2006, which he then became the Creative Director of in June of this year though will still produce games with Lionhead.  He's currently working on Fable III, which I'm sure we'll hear quite a bit about, along with 'Milo' for Project Natal.

2. Hideo Kojima

Hideo Kojima is someone I'm sure most of you are familiar with.  You've heard his name thrown around whenever people bring up the industries most influential or important game creators, and rightfully so.  Kojima is currently Executive Corporate Officer Director of Kojima Productions, and formerly the Vice President of Konami Computer Entertainment Japan.  He's credited with creating the highly-successful Metal Gear series, along with Snatcher and Policenauts.

His first released game was Metal Gear for the MSX2 in 1987.  Before that, however, he had worked on a game called Penguin Adventure as assistant director and then Lost Warld in 1986.  The former was never released after being rejected by Konami.  Kojima has often criticized Metal Gear for the MSX2 due to the changes Konami made prior to release.  In 1988 he then made Snatcher, a graphic adventure game heavily influenced by Blade Runner for both the NEC PC-8801 and MSX2.

It wasn't until the 1990s however that Kojima found fame.  In 1990 he worked on a RPG spinoff of Snatcher called SD Snatcher, and then Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, both for the MSX2.  In 1992 he remade Snatcher for the TurboGrafx-16 that included voice acting, then in 1994 released Policenauts, a film noir adventure game set in a space colony for the PC.  In 1998 Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation was released, and the world then knew who Hideo Kojima was.  He became an international celebrity due to Metal Gear Solid's 3D graphics, voice acting and well-designed gameplay.

The subsequent sequels  to Metal Gear Solid (8 so far) have only solidified Kojimas presence in the gaming industry, and in 2008 he received a lifetime achievement award at the MTV Game Awards in Germany.  During his speech he stated "I have to say, even though I received this award, let me state that I will not retire.  I will continue to create games as long as I live."

The announcement of Metal Gear Solid: Rising during this year's E3 pretty much confirms this.  While he's stepped down from being the lead director of the MGS series, he will undoubtedly still have input on any future entries.

1. Shigeru Miyamoto

Shigeru Miyamoto is arguably the most influential video game designer ever. He’s been labeled as the "father of modern video games" and "the Walt Disney of electronic gaming." Miyamoto is the mastermind behind numerous mega-franchises, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, and a number of other big titles.

He says he works on nearly a dozen games at a time, collaborating with hundreds of people. Despite this, he prefers to focus on games in order when possible. It’s known that Miyamoto has forced Nintendo to delay major titles in order to produce a game of the highest quality possible, even if it meant scrapping the entire project.

Miyamoto has received many awards for his efforts in the gaming industry, and did we mention he’s a semi-professional dog breeder? Yes, he gets our number one pick for the biggest video game industry celebrity.

Honorable Mentions

• Kaz Hirai
• Warren Spector
• Tim Schafer
• Robert Bowling

10. Jet Set Radio Future

JSRF launched on the original Xbox back in 2002. It was a well-received game and, in fact, one of my favorites on the big black box. That being said, it was pretty strange. The player controls a character from a gang of Japanese in-line skaters, and the goal is to cover up rival gang graffiti. Simple enough on paper, but the game’s wacky animations and cell-shaded graphics, bizarre soundtrack and eccentric characters get it onto our list of biggest WTF games of all time.

9. Space Giraffe (aka Tempest on Acid)

I have a lot of respect for Jeff Minter, after all, he did create the Xbox 360’s original media visualizer, but his XBLA game Space Giraffe is one of those games that makes you go “WTF is this?” The game had very polar reviews, some bashed it (it won Official Xbox Magazine’s Worst Game of the Year award for 2007) and some praised it. Whether you think the game is good or not, there’s no denying that it’s the closest thing to an acid trip you’ll ever get without acid.

8. Barbie Horse Adventures: Wild Horse Rescue

I’m all for appealing to the casual gamer market, but come on! Does this really warrant a game? And to add insult to injury, it’s one of the rare games that is forward-compatible on the Xbox 360. We know what Bill Gates is playing…

7. Shaq Fu

A fighting game based on the pro basketball player Shaquille O’Neal? Who thought this was a good idea, and how could Electronic Arts actually publish this? In the game, you play as – wait for it – Shaq, who wanders into a kung fu dojo while heading to a charity basketball game in Tokyo. There, he stumbles into another dimension, where he is forced to rescue a young boy named Nezu from the evil mummy Sett-Ra. I just hope he can throw a punch better than he can throw a free throw.

6. Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing

Need I say more?

5. Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker

A drug dealer has kidnapped some children and takes them to the Moon, where he plans to use a laser cannon to destroy Earth. This already qualifies it for our list, but wait, there’s more! As Michael Jackson, you have to defeat the drug dealer (whose name is Mr. Big) and his cronies by using dance moves that shoot magic rays. Done deal.

4. Monster Party

Released for the NES in 1989, Monster Party is one weird game. The story starts off normal enough: on his way home from a ball game, a boy named Mark is approached by a winged gargoyle alien monster appropriately-named Bert. Then it just gets weird. The monster fuses with Mark and they go to the Dark World where they beat on monsters with a baseball bat. What kind of party is this?

3. Alien Disco Safari

Seriously, who comes up with this stuff? The game’s box just about does it for me. Still, I have to hand it to them, it’s pretty original. NASA launches Deep Probe Nine into space. In hopes of making contact with extraterrestrial life forms, they crammed the shuttle with cultural mementos, photos, and human’s most precious resource, disco. Years later, Deep Probe Nine is picked up by an alien species who take an unearthly liking to the disco records and they invade Earth in search of disco.

2. Custer’s Revenge

This game is just absurd. The player controls the character of General George Custer, depicted as a man wearing nothing but a cavalry hat, boots, and a bandana, and sporting a visible erection. Custer has to overcome arrow attacks to reach the other side of the screen. His goal is to have intercourse with a naked, large-breasted Native American woman. I kid you not. This game is real, and it received tons of criticism. It’s also been banned from nearly all stores, easily putting it on the list of biggest WTF games.

1. Katamari Damacy

Who knew rolling a giant adhesive ball around could be so fun? The story in Katamari Damacy deals with the aftereffects of the planet-sized King of All Cosmos' binge drinking spree that wiped out all the stars and other celestial bodies from the sky. The King charges the Prince to go to Earth with a katamari – a magical ball that allows anything smaller than it to stick to it and make it grow – and collect enough material for him to recreate the stars and constellations. The game has a brilliantly original soundtrack and features a funny-looking man in tights. Well played Namco, well played.

Honorable Mentions:

• Takeshi’s Challenge
• Bible Adventures
• Chou Aniki
• Noby Noby Boy