VideogameVagabond.com

Any time a game is released on one platform, and then ported to another a year later, the game often ends up seeming a bit dated and behind the curve. Unless, of course, that game is markedly ahead of the curve to begin with; such is the case with Bioshock.

A year ago, Bioshock was an action-thriller game that took the Xbox 360 by storm and wowed even us jaded DigNews.com folks enough that we named it a game of the year. Now, 2K Games has released its groundbreaking game to the PS3 and the result is, well… it’s still a stunning game that measures up well next to anything else currently on the market.

2K Games took a risk introducing a new IP like Bioshock and in this case, it paid off big time. Stuffed full of atmosphere, a creepy mix of nostalgia from the art deco 1920s and thereabouts, alongside Jules Verne-esque underwater cities and such, Bioshock delivers a specific feel and tone that stick with you long after you turn the console off following a gaming session.

The graphics, which already wowed folks on the 360, fare equally well on the PS3, with plenty of sharp, high-def textures and a great overall look and feel. The control scheme feels natural and is easy to pick up and play. And the storyline?

Well, that’s where Bioshock excels. While many games put together storylines that range from passable to decent, few at this point would be considered to be inspired by great works of fiction, let alone be such themselves. Bioshock, however, at least opens the topic up for debate.

Drawing a strong influence from the work of Ayn Rand, especially Atlas Shrugged, Bioshock is a game that has not only strong, but impressive literary influences, and the world in which it creates actually challenges the mind as much as one’s twitch-reflex and hand-eye coordination. While part action-shooter and part survival horror, and a game that drew early interest largely on the appeal of a trailer that had its protagonist wielding a chainsaw, the real appeal here is toward those who want a bit more out of their gaming session than pure visceral thrills, but perhaps a bit of an intellectual challenge as well.

Of course, don’t be intimidated; Bioshock still offers plenty of action, thrills, luggage deals, gore and excitement; it’s just a game that will give you reason to think about it afterward. Still impressive on a technical level one year after its initial release, PS3 fans should be overjoyed to have a chance to play Bioshock on their system of choice, no matter when it arrived.

A person could get a case of Plantar Fasciitis trying to run around and keep up with all the developments in the videogame world; but one of my favorites is the emergence of retro sim games on the PC platform.

As console gaming increasingly takes over as being the home of high-def gaming, it is a return to the roots of gaming that seems to be thriving on PC. Hit PC titles that employ bleeding-edge graphics, like Neverwinter Nights 2, are getting rarer and rarer, but it is the re-emergence of sim games on PC that has really captured a lot of my gaming hours on PC.

Whether it’s Grey Dog Software’s Total Extreme Wrestling 2008, or Wolverine Studios’ Music Wars Rebirth, the past year saw this reviewer lose plenty of hours to this quiet little time thief of a genre. I expect 2009 to be no different.

The Sony PSP is a great piece of technology. It’s a fun platform and in 2007, had a wonderful year for producing hit titles that I really wanted to play, including Silent Hill: Origins, Jeanne d’Arc, Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness, and so on.

Trouble is, here we are a year later and the games I’m still playing most on PSP are: Silent Hill: Origins, Jeanne d’Arc and Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness. And it’s not because I haven’t acquired other PSP games in the meantime. It’s just been a really down year for PSP.

For reasons that defy logic, developers seem to be making a bee-line toward the retro Nintendo DS, rather than a more modern portable gaming system. Weird.

But I do think the answer is for Sony to shake things up and retire the Sony PSP sooner rather than later. With Apple challenging the gaming market with its recent re-visioning for the iPod Touch/iPhone as something that can handle gaming as well as music, it’s time for Sony to reinvent the PSP.

Forget about making a Sony PSP resemble a controller for the kind of system one finds resting on their TV stand and really reshape the whole deal.

Here’s some suggestions for the PSP 2:

1) Drop the optical drive. For memory, go with flash media and a system that can either sell games via flash media or via downloads.

2) Employ a superior touch-screen technology, perhaps with handwriting recognition built-in. Let’s face it, Nintendo DS predicted the touch-screen trend and the iPod Touch confirms this new direction. Go with the flow and do ‘em one better with the handwriting recognition.

3) Make it thinner, lighter, and nearly all touch-screen. This is something Apple did well; follow the trend and improve upon it with better refresh rates, and higher resolution.

4) Leapfrog the competition by making Sony PSP2 the first portable 1080p gaming system.

5) Keep the cost of games low. Invite more indy developers by allowing lower-tech games to be made available at sub-$20 prices, and save the $30-$40 price points for premium games.

6) Most of all, make the system easy to develop for – for once!

It has been a long year full of good, even great, videogames. Some I’ve had the chance to play… some I haven’t. So when it comes to picking the silk ties from the cheap nylon ones, you have to realize that I can only go by what I’ve played, not what I’ve missed.

The year’s been full of great gaming experiences. I enjoyed seeing a lot of new SquareEnix titles, even if most of them were unexpectedly on the Xbox 360 instead of the PlayStation 3. And, as much as anyone, I loved Fallout 3. But when push comes to shove and I have to choose what game captured my heart the most, it’s really no contest.

Fable 2 was my favorite game of 2008. The game is just pure heart and, most importantly, it’s fun to play. That places the game head and shoulders above Fallout 3; for all its impressive achievements and cool visuals and such, one thing Fallout 3 fell short on was being fun to play. It was epic, sure; it was challenging and beautiful. But it wasn’t as much fun as Fable 2.

And when it comes to videogames, when it all boils down to basics, being fun to play is ultimately what counts the most.