It is the beginning of a new decade!! To celebrate the new year and the new decade, the nerDy Word has composed a list of the best games of the decade. The categories and all nominees were voted on by a panel of ten gamers of various ages. This list was challenging to compile and there were a lot of heated debates upon many of the nominees and winners. Each catagory started with a much larger list of nominees and were narrowed down to the top 3 votes, with some exceptions to certain categories. Said exceptions will be noted by the nominee for clarification. All ties were broken by voting again for the remaining titles. Some votes were overturned by persuasion during debate. The order of winners are no particular order.

RPG

1. Final Fantasy 10
2. Oblivion
3. Mass Effect

Action/Adventure

1. God Of War
2. Metal Gear
3. Devil May Cry

*special mention for Grand Theft Auto 3 because everyone agreed that it was too hard of a decision and that it deserves to be on the list*

Racing

1. Burnout
2. Mario Kart Wii
3. Grand Turismo

FPS

1. Unreal
2. Halo
3. Half Life 2

Best Console

1. PS2

RTS

1. Age of Empire
2. Civilization
3. Starcraft

Most Original Game

1. Okami
2. Flower
3. Rez

Most Revolutionary

1. Guitar Hero
2. Half Life 2
3. DDR

Puzzle

1. Portal
2. Lumines
3. Geometry Wars

Most Influential Game

1. Halo
2. CounterStrike
3. Guitar Hero

Fighting Game

1. Super Smash Brothers
2. Street Fighter 3
3. Guilty Gear Series

Most Memorable Characters

1. Snake
2. Kratos
3. Master Chief

MMO

1. WoW
2. FF11
3. Phantasy Star Universe Online

Music Game

1. Rock Band
2. Guitar Hero

1. Mario Kart (Wii): This game brings back all of our childhood memories. Many years ago we blew air into our worn out Mario Kart cartridges for the N64 and fired up another couple of laps of this amazing game. Mario Kart, revamped for the Wii, is addicting and challenging with the new feature of online play opening up a world of possibilities. Many gamers look at their Wii as an expensive paper weight, but with the release of Mario Kart and the #2 selection, it has been dusted off for more play.

2. The New Super Mario Brothers (Wii): Again, Nintendo did it perfectly with the multi player aspect. Back in the day as kids we never would have imagined up to four people playing on the same screen. This was a much needed touch for the Wii and the game is so fun and exciting that it is sure to be the highlight of 2009′s game list.

3. Left 4 Dead 2 (XBox 360): Everyone loved L4D right? You must. Zombies and online multi player at the same time in one sentence omgroflcopter! How can you not enjoy loading up your shotty with some friends and heading out to knock off some heads? Definitely a game that can be picked up at any gamer-level to enjoy some zombie apocalypse mayhem.

(To be continued..)

Just in time for those who are planning a New Year’s Resolution for weight loss. This app is completely free and for that, you can’t beat it. Sure, there are other apps out there they make promise to help you lose weight for just 9.99, but this app allows you to manage your weight loss day by day as well as your overall goal. It also has calorie counts for most every food possible and shows you how many calories you have already consumed vs. what you can afford to consume for the rest of the day! Word to wise, be truthful about your calorie intake or this app won’t help you lose much weight.

*tear* This picture stirs up so many fond memories of my very first lover, Mario. I was just a wee sprout at the age of four years old when I unwrapped my first Mario game and although I wasn’t very coordinated at the time and spent a few hours mashing buttons until I understood.. I fell in deep love. I was certain that I would forever be with Mario, we played every day until my mom would yell at me to go to bed. The days that I was punished for doing some silly child-thing and could not play Mario, those were the days that I missed Mario so excruciatingly that I would cry myself to sleep. The bright colors of Mario and the occasional noises that he makes, the songs that play in each world or stage, I have them memorized and I will never forget anything.

This picture is the best picture I have seen all month. And I hope that the artist makes t-shirts out of this, or prints. I will definitely buy both and many because I have friends and family that would feel the same way about this picture. It is beautiful.

A link to the artists page, here.

Easy as 1, 2… DONE!

1. Go here to obtain a Square Enix ID.

2. Fill out the application here.

Good luck everyone. And hope to see you there!

*** TEASE!!! ***

BAD THOUGHT. EVIL THOUGHT!

Unfortunately Nashville’s arcades have dwindled.. and one extraordinary arcade remains and gosh darn it, I want it to remain in business.

{Look at it’s glory!}

So help us save it!!

It’s easy, just go to Save the Arcades, register, play Zapataur, and donate your points to Game Galaxy. For more information just go to Game Galaxy Arcade. The contest ends early October so get to playing. You can donate as many times as you want. =)

Big news in the World of Warcraft. The expansion entitled Cataclysm is expected to release in 2010 and I don’t know about your server, but my server has been buzzing about it since we all found out.

Big news includes:

Two new races! Worgen and Goblins. Worgens have been described by Blizzard as the “Wolverines of the Alliance” and the race will be available with all classes except paladins and priests. Well, that makes sense. Goblins are servants of the Horde and will drive race cars.

New level cap! The much sought after level 80 has been vamped to level 85. I’ve heard a lot of people whining and a lot of people happy that they will have more to do than dailies.

New race/class combos! Ever wanted to be a Gnome priest? Well, this combo is available now as well as others, hopefully the list will get bigger.

Fly farther and swim on an underwater mount! Now you will be able to fly anywhere in Azeroth which is definitely handy and also announced.. underwater mounts!

More pics at Kotaku.

So at the end of July Square popped up with a countdown. And many of you may already know, but the countdown was for Lord of Vermillion 2 and I can’t read a lick of Japanese so I’m not sure what the website says. However, it’s probably going to be a Japan only release. A sequel with characters from FFIV, Romancing SaGa 2, and Magic the Gathering…. interesting. =)