This year wasn't too shabby, gaming-wise. I'd like to hear what people enjoyed most this year, hopefully limiting you to choosing five. Here are my five, in no special order:

- New Super Mario Bros. Wii
I found myself feeling cravings for this game. I went through it with my roommate and we're still getting some of the stray items and levels we missed. I wonder how the experience would have been if I had done it all in single-player.

- Uncharted 2
I missed the first one, but that didn't hurt my enjoyment of the second one. I found while playing this that I didn't actually mind cutscenes if they were brief, really good, and I cared what was happening. It helped that they also didn't fill it with quicktime events, but rather "prompts" for regular gameplay within highly cinematic scenes.

- Punch-Out!! Wii
Since I was a huge fan of the original, this was like getting a warm, nostalgic hug from Nintendo. The attention to detail they showed in animation and personalizing each boxer combined with euphoric glee of punching the crap out of somebody made this one of my favorite games this year.

- Batman: Arkham Asylum
It had me riveted from beginning to end. It's hard to describe how cool it feels to stealthily take guards down one-by-one, each time filling the remaining guards with terror. Please get here soon, sequel.

- Resident Evil 5
I know that some people will argue that this game was not that great, but you know what? I had a blast upgrading guns and unlocking achievements with a buddy in this one. You can say it lacked the novelty and gameplay of RE4 and you'd be right, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it.

Hm! It has been a slow year for a Nintendo fanboy....Or I prolly just forgot all the games I got this year....Ummm...

Henry Hatsworth, even though I only just got it on Christmas! It's just such a cruelly difficult game. It doesn't stop to think "Wait, maybe this is too hard for the player..." And that's brilliant!
Also his superpower requires him to be a dapper chap. That's awesome >.<

New Super Mario Bros Wii I agree with. I haven't played it much, but when I have played it at my friends' house, it amuses me when I kill them and they get upset! Hilarious!

Punchout I will also agree with. It was great when I first got it. I played multiplayer with my friends, and we had no idea what the hell to do, so we hated it.
However once we learned how to play we all agreed it was amazing.

Shiiit....That's all really...
No wait, I'll cheat!
Civilization IV! Wikipedia says it's a 2007 game, but the expansion pack I'm using is from 2009. Also I just found out about it this year so it still counts. :(
But yes....It's great to see Gandhi nuking people, and Abraham Lincoln adopting slavery. And Boudica if you know what I mean.
WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE.

And...Let's say Mario and Luigi, Bowser's Inside Story. I really, really like it. But the fact that the touch screen controls are made for left handed people, and that there are constant minigames annoy the goddamn hell out of me. But if I ignore that it's a brilliant game. Bowser's fights are amazing :D

Haven't been gaming recently I guess...But oh well, I'm sure 2010 will be better.

Uncharted 2
Muramasa
Critter Crunch

Beyond that, nothing really hits "favorite" satus. This year has been painfully slow when it comes to softwarte choices. Hopefully next year will be better, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.

Despite the frustrating second half, I'm going with Brutal Legend based on the quirkiness and personality of the entire experience. Didn't care much for what was released this year, otherwise.

Batman for gameplay, Dragon Age for writing, ODST for playing with friends, and Brutal Legend for \m/.

Shoot, I need one more?

...

Ah, yes. Scribblenauts.

PhilWrede
Ah, yes. Scribblenauts.

I'll double this, even though it was far from the best game, it was the most original.

One that I doubt anyone else is going to say is Time Gentlemen, Please! which I'd say is the best indie adventure game I've played.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2. It has its faults, but it's the only RTS game worth playing this year. Provided that you have a PC that can handle it.

Brutal Legend is a lot of fun, which wasn't surprising seeing as it was made by the same people that made Psychonauts (Tim Schafer, etc.). Borderlands was a pleasant surprise, considering all the mixed reviews I heard about it (then again, I am horribly addicted to FPS's).

Brutal Legends was short and sweet.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
It was a great game all together. I was skeptical about it at first, seeing that it was a superhero game.

Uncharted 2
It provided online shooting fun until Modern Warfare 2 came out. It was super satisfying to run up to a ledge and then pull the other player down.

And Modern Warfare 2.
Mostly playing with friends.

1. Uncharted 2
2. Scribblenauts
3. Rockband: Beatles

1. Batman Arkham Asylum

Didn't really play anything else from this year that's worth mentioning.

isukun
Muramasa

Woohoo! Glad to see I'm not the only one who enjoyed that game in here. Still bitter and angry about how Ignition botched the English localization on that game though. I felt something was missing in the story area and that was confirmed when I found out that they watered down the script and took out all of the humor :( Actually, watering down is giving them too much credit, since someone else did the work for them first (albeit to the barest minimum) and they just used that! >:(

Despite the story being ruined by some cheap idiots though it was a fun game and freakin' beautiful to look at :D

I recall some humorous moments. Did they actually cut anything or was it just in the translation? In games like this I only half pay attention to the text on the screen and generally pay closer attention to the spoken Japanese. My first degree was in East Asian Studies with a focus on Japanese Studies, so most of the references to Japanese history, art and folklore I get.

If you speak Japanese, you don't miss a thing actually. The translations to English however suffered from the incompetence of a really crappy localization.

I'll try and summarize 'cuz otherwise I might rant about it :)

First, they stole the contract from X-Seed, the company that was originally going to localize it. From what I gather, they went behind X-Seed's back and whined and begged to Marvelous to give them the contract because they would do it "cheaper". And "Cheap" they did!

Second, they announced that they would not hire voice actors for an English voice track in order to "preserve the culture and setting". They repeatedly tell us that they are going to only localize the text, and not change the spirit of the Japanese culture it was "steeped" in. So what do they do? Use another comapany's FIRST DRAFT for the whole thing. The first draft that's watered down, straightforward, missing dialogue, the flowery language and subtle humor cut right out. I would have preferred a little purple prose in the text and perhaps some jokes going over my head, over not knowing what's freaking going on except that Kisuke has "Oboro Style Secret Arts" which he brings up constantly without context. Compared to what's coming out of the character's mouths, the text is absurdly laconic.

The bad translation wasn't so much the insult as the blatant lying about it, reassuring everyone that you're "preserving" the culture and then cutting everything to do with Japanese culture completely out is just...you know. Even before I found this all out, I knew something was up when I clearly hear the name "Kongiku" be spoken but it's not in the English text (nor is she even being referred to in it)

Batman: Arkham Asylum. Someone here in the DD forums said it made them feel like they were the Dark Knight. I'd second that.

Dragon Age: Origins. The graphics are decidedly last gen (this one spent far too long in development!) and, on the XBox 360, it looks pretty shabby. That it can be so engrossing that you don't actually mind that, speaks volumes for just how much depth there is in the story and how much fun the character interactions are!

I'm not too sure. Most of the games (for the PC, DS, and Wii) I've bought this year released prior to 2009. Probably the only recent games I've bought were Scribblenauts, Pokemon Platinum, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (Sky) and while they're good, they're not mindbogglingly good. Though I have spent way, WAY too much time playing Pokemon Platinum, so I guess that tops my list for 2009.

I don't count remakes in my game of the year so out of the 5 games I got form 2009 that knocks out Persona and Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.I can't say Star Ocean 4 is GOTY worthy so I'm going to go with either SMT: Devil Survivor or Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days.

I'm going to add Demon's Souls even though I got it this year. I'm finidng it is possibly the best RPG this generation. For some reason it kind fo hits me up with a D&D vibe. At least, it reminds me of the kinds of campaigns my friends would run. I'm also really liking the combat system. I kind of like the one handed and two handed stances approach.

In no order:

COD Modern Warfare 2
Dragon Age Origins
Brutal Legend
Dawn of War 2
Resident Evil 5

1. Assassin's Creed II: I hated the original, huge improvements in this one, my choice for best game of all time.