Well, now EA Sports BIG has announced a PS3 update of the franchise, titled SSX. I loved that game and the idea of playing it in HD on the PS3 is… a whole lot of fun to think about.

It’s now on my must-have list.

I normally don’t play too many racing games. With two exceptions. SSX is one; skiing and snowboarding are essentially race games. The other are the Gran Turismo titles, because they’re so bloody detailed. I mean, you could almost go so far as to find an ACCEL electric fuel pump upgrade in Gran Turismo! Talk about detail.

So I now have three must-have games on my list. Which will probably take me till summer to slowly acquire. Maybe longer.

The new SSX game joins Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Mass Effect 3 on my personal list. The Silent Hill game? That’s probably fourth.

I’m glad to have found them because they’re something you can futz with a few minutes at a time throughout the day. That makes them less of a time-suck.

Why?

Gaming was moved on. While iPhone/iPod Touch/Android games are simpler than the average PS Vita title, they’re also far more affordable. Many ad-supported games are free, while few games for those systems ever cost more than ten bucks, maximum. The average Vita titles go for $30 to $40, and most consumers don’t see those titles as three to four times better.

Heck, the average Android game I play to death costs $2.99 to $4.99. And while PS Vita games are sure to be nice, I like my gaming affordable. Vita games aren’t. It’s that simple.

So take your Guitar Hero portable ripoffs, with their guitar chords charts, and your racing games and even your Silent Hill and enjoy, if you can afford it.

Meanwhile, I’ll enjoy the simple pleasures of TeamLava games like Night Club Story on my Android… 100 percent free.

The first is Final Fantasy XIII-2, which looks to be a great followup to Final Fantasy XIII. I’m a sucker for a decent SquareEnix RPG, so this one’s on my must-buy list, which is getting harder and harder for games to latch onto.

The second is the forthcoming Mass Effect 3, which promises to complete the trilogy started about four years ago. I’m looking forward to it big-time. The good news for PS3 fans is this installment is not an Xbox 360 exclusive. The bad news is, the other two were, and so there’s not much chance to draw in your character from the previous two games, if you buy ME3 on PS3 instead of Xbox 360.

The most annoying flaw in the game at this point is this: When time’s ticking down and you’re on offense, you are not allowed to tall a timeout to save precious seconds. Hate that oversight. Hopefully it’ll be fixed in next year’s version.

Also, the AI isn’t without its flaws.

One great way to win a close contest is to go for 2-point conversion. If you get it and the contest remains close, you’re guaranteed to win.

Why? Well, let’s put it this way. In a recent game, I was leading 29-21 because I’d done exactly that… gone for a 2-point conversion and made it.

On the closing seconds of the fourth quarter, my AI opponent connected on a deep pass.

Here comes overtime, I thought.

Nope. With no time left on the clock, and me leading 29-27, the game’s AI … kicked an extra point. I won, 29-28.

So, that needs fixing, too, or the programmers behind it may as well spend their time hawking manufactured homes for sale.

The game is free… kinda. It’s free in that you don’t cough up a Morgan silver dollar at the checkout of the Android market to acquire it.

However, one could be tempted to purchase an awful lot in the game. Certain plays remain locked until you win enough “game gold,” which you acquire by beating your opponents. And it takes a lot of winning to open up some plays.

I suppose they have to make their money somewhere; you can purchase game gold to unlock these items more quickly, or earn ‘em out the old fashioned way.

Beyond the costs of the game, such as they are, the controls feel natural for the touchscreen. The graphics are close to PlayStation2-era Madden games, and that’s pretty good considering that before this game appeared on the scene, some Android football games were little more than Mattel electronic handhelds of the 1970s.

And best of all, the game remains challenging and can beat you, even after a lot of games logged on the system. That, in some ways, makes it a step above Madden.

Complaints? Sure. I’m playing the game on a T-Mobile G2 with Google. And on my phone, if you play more than one game in a row, the screen starts to lose touch-sensitivity during the passing game. It’s not fun to get sacked because the screen wouldn’t read your touches of Receiver 4, or miss a field goal due to the play clock expiring because the screen couldn’t read your kick-stroke. Usually it goes away if you put the phone to sleep and then come back to it right away.

Other than that, there are the usual minor complaints such as questionable foot placement on certain catches called good or as touchdowns. And the play clock stops at a certain point on every play; meaning in the middle or out of bounds, it doesn’t matter which way the play ends, there’s no running out the clock, at least not the Madden way where you drain game clock by waiting for the play clock to almost expire.

But as much as I love my T-Mobile G2 with Google by HTC, and the current version of the Android OS running on it, which happens to be Gingerbread 2.3, I will be massively disappointed if Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) never makes it to my phone.

First of all, Ice Cream Sandwich sounds fantastic. And cozy. Like a brand new Rheem heat pump or something. And HTC has included it on their “probably” list for OTA upgrades in early 2012.

But here’s why I’m worried.

Shortly after I bought my G2, HTC promised Gingerbread in “early 2012.” It didn’t get an OTA update until late summer. And by then, the G2, originally released in Fall 2010, will be older than 18 months since initial release, which would give HTC the perfect excuse not to upgrade the G2.

Considering how much they dragged their feet on the original upgrade from Froyo to Gingerbread, one would hope they’d be a bit more prompt on Ice Cream Sandwich.

But I’ll believe it when the OTA appears.

And while I didn’t buy many new videogames for the PS3 this year, it’s pretty easy, actually, for me to select a favorite: Elder Scrolls: Skyrim is the easy choice.

Sure, there were plenty of decent games out there this year on PS3. But none really grabbed my attention and made me say, “I gotta have it,” like Skyrim did.

Oh, sure, I enjoyed Dragon Age II. And I even appreciated the new White Knight Chronicles. But Skyrim set the bar for RPG experiences on a game console. Again. It’s that simple.

This time around, the Razr is nowhere near as impressive. Although thinner and lighter than other smartphones boasting a 4.3-inch screen, it’s features are familiar to anyone who uses an Android Gingerbread smartphone, and its battery life is horrid.

So, my perspective is this: stick with something more solid, made by HTC.

Some of them are even quite specialized; you don’t get just generic guitar controllers, but can — for a princely sum — get something name-brand and fancy like a Gibson SG. The trouble is, eventually, all these music games are pretty much alike, so the choice comes down to the game’s selection of songs.

That’s why I like the Music Wars series, currently from Wolverine Studios. The developer, Antuan Johnson, got his start with a feature-slim freeware version and took it commercial a couple years ago with Music Wars: Rebirth.

That’s why I’m excited to hear he’s in the open beta stage of his next massive update of this game. By focusing on simulating the music industry itself, the focus is less on whether a person can hit all the notes in order, and more on one’s evaluation of talent and such.

The updated game is said to have a ton of feature improvements to make it a deeper game experience than ever.

I, for one, can’t wait.

Well, let’s take a look:

First, I’d choose Disgaea 4, simply because I’ve loved the whole series and still do.

I’d then boot my other two choices into the first quarter of 2012, where the next really must-have games are waiting for me. One of them, of course, is Mass Effect 3. I want to complete that trilogy.

Then I’d probably insist on my next choice being Silent Hill: Downpour, even though Final Fantasy Vs. XIII would indeed be tempting.

Despite the science fiction dystopia represented by Fallout, The Elder Scrolls is clearly the franchise where Bethesda is clearly most at-home. The game screams developer affection for the product being presented.

When my wife and I first encountered Oblivion around the time we first got married, we ended up playing two copies of the game to death before we grew tired of it, and just my first couple hours with Skyrim tell me that my PS3 controllers are going to need some fresh duracell procell replacements by the time we grow weary of this latest installment.